Yesterday I picked up my roomie's copy of The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are
and was immediately engrossed. I'm looking forward to finishing it today.I had previously never given any thought to the optimal number of tines on a fork...
Re: Tines on a fork-
ReplyDeletePer Dr. Sheldon Cooper:
Forks have four tines. Tridents have three tines.
Forks are for eating.
Tridents are for ruling the Seven Seas.
TBG
A three-tine fork is Metro.
ReplyDeleteLove me some Uncle Henry. I haven't read all his stuff, because I'm rationing it.
ReplyDeleteI love Petroski, mainly because he explains what us engineers do in a way that makes non-engineers want to read it. I have 3 of his books on the shelf here at the office.
ReplyDeleteThey cohabitat with the stuff engineers write for other engineers, which have exciting titles like Impact on Composite Structures and The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding.
WV- cispate, as opposed to the more normal transpate
I am going to read Petroski, it looks good.
ReplyDeleteBryson has a new book, he is generally a very good read.
His new one is an examination of the history behind rudimentary and banal materials which I hope to find as good as his previous material:
At Home: A Short History of Private Life