Petroski, Henry. To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. 1984; Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer- sity Press, 2006.

Failure Learning more from mistakes than success Necessity of failure

Potential Reasons for Failure “Usually buildings fail through men’s ignorance, carelessness or greed.” (McKaig)

Factor of Safety https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFzu6CNtqec

Kansas City Hyatt Regency Skywalk Collapse 114 killed 216 injured Last-minute changes to design Did not meet code

Crystal Palace (London -- 1851) Joseph Paxton Skyscrapers

Evolution Calculators vs. Slide Rules Human vs. Computer “Don’t fly too close to the sun”

"Success ultimately leads to failure: aesthetic failure, functional failure, and structural failure. The first can take away the zest for life, the second the quality of life, and the third life itself" (222). “While the curse of human nature appears to be to make mistakes, its determination appears to be to succeed” (105).