-
To Engineer Is Human
- The Role of Failure in Successful Design
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Categories: Computers & Technology, History & Culture
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Premium Plus
$14.95 a month
Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
To Forgive Design
- Understanding Failure
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When planes crash, bridges collapse, and automobile gas tanks explode, we are quick to blame poor design. But Henry Petroski says we must look beyond design for causes and corrections. Known for his masterly explanations of engineering successes and failures, Petroski here takes his analysis a step further, to consider the larger context in which accidents occur. In To Forgive Design he surveys some of the most infamous failures of our time.
-
-
I love the author, the reader of this book though...
- By Don Wright on 12-04-18
By: Henry Petroski
-
The Design of Everyday Things
- Revised and Expanded Edition
- By: Don Norman
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious - even liberating - audiobook, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints.
-
-
The book works well in this format
- By CD3748 on 05-21-19
By: Don Norman
-
The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
-
-
Somewhat less than perfect
- By enya keshet on 06-19-18
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Road Taken
- The History and Future of America's Infrastructure
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has, in its latest report, given American roads and bridges a grade of D and C+, respectively, and has described roughly 65,000 bridges in the United States as 'structurally deficient'. This crisis - and one need look no further than the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota to see that it is indeed a crisis - shows little sign of abating short of a massive change in attitude amongst politicians and the American public.
-
-
Well put
- By Lawrence on 08-10-17
By: Henry Petroski
-
Applied Minds
- How Engineers Think
- By: Guru Madhavan
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through narratives and case studies spanning the brilliant history of engineering, Madhavan shows how the concepts of prototyping, efficiency, reliability, standards, optimization, and feedback are put to use in fields as diverse as transportation, retail, health care, and entertainment. Equal parts personal, practical, and profound, Applied Minds charts a path to a future where we apply strategies borrowed from engineering to create useful and inspired solutions to our most pressing challenges.
-
-
Applied Minds
- By curtis on 12-12-19
By: Guru Madhavan
-
The Essential Engineer
- Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human, The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our world's most pressing issues, from dealing with climate change and the prevention of natural disasters to the development of efficient automobiles and the search for renewable energy sources.
-
-
Awesome
- By Dheepan on 07-01-16
By: Henry Petroski
-
To Forgive Design
- Understanding Failure
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When planes crash, bridges collapse, and automobile gas tanks explode, we are quick to blame poor design. But Henry Petroski says we must look beyond design for causes and corrections. Known for his masterly explanations of engineering successes and failures, Petroski here takes his analysis a step further, to consider the larger context in which accidents occur. In To Forgive Design he surveys some of the most infamous failures of our time.
-
-
I love the author, the reader of this book though...
- By Don Wright on 12-04-18
By: Henry Petroski
-
The Design of Everyday Things
- Revised and Expanded Edition
- By: Don Norman
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious - even liberating - audiobook, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints.
-
-
The book works well in this format
- By CD3748 on 05-21-19
By: Don Norman
-
The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
-
-
Somewhat less than perfect
- By enya keshet on 06-19-18
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Road Taken
- The History and Future of America's Infrastructure
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has, in its latest report, given American roads and bridges a grade of D and C+, respectively, and has described roughly 65,000 bridges in the United States as 'structurally deficient'. This crisis - and one need look no further than the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota to see that it is indeed a crisis - shows little sign of abating short of a massive change in attitude amongst politicians and the American public.
-
-
Well put
- By Lawrence on 08-10-17
By: Henry Petroski
-
Applied Minds
- How Engineers Think
- By: Guru Madhavan
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through narratives and case studies spanning the brilliant history of engineering, Madhavan shows how the concepts of prototyping, efficiency, reliability, standards, optimization, and feedback are put to use in fields as diverse as transportation, retail, health care, and entertainment. Equal parts personal, practical, and profound, Applied Minds charts a path to a future where we apply strategies borrowed from engineering to create useful and inspired solutions to our most pressing challenges.
-
-
Applied Minds
- By curtis on 12-12-19
By: Guru Madhavan
-
The Essential Engineer
- Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems
- By: Henry Petroski
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human, The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our world's most pressing issues, from dealing with climate change and the prevention of natural disasters to the development of efficient automobiles and the search for renewable energy sources.
-
-
Awesome
- By Dheepan on 07-01-16
By: Henry Petroski
-
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
- By: Will Larson
- Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Getting to the good solutions of complex management challenges can make the difference between fulfillment and frustration for teams, and, ultimately, the success or failure of companies. Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle orients around the particular challenges of engineering management - from sizing teams to technical debt to succession planning - and provides a path to the good solutions.
-
-
Terrible narration
- By Tess Beck on 01-05-20
By: Will Larson
-
Ignition!
- An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
- By: John Drury Clark, Isaac Asimov - foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ignition! is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise that eventually took men to the moon.
-
-
Science man lists names of chemicals for 9 hours
- By Adrian on 05-06-19
By: John Drury Clark, and others
-
Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Kelly
- More Than My Share of It All
- By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith, Brig. Gen. Leo P. Geary USAF (ret.) - foreword
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
-
-
Memoir of a Legend
- By Jean on 08-26-19
By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, and others
-
Stuff Matters
- Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
- By: Mark Miodownik
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does a paper clip bend? These are the sorts of questions that Mark Miodownik is constantly asking himself. A globally renowned materials scientist, Miodownik has spent his life exploring objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world.
-
-
Surprisingly good
- By D. MacLeod on 01-29-15
By: Mark Miodownik
-
Thermodynamics: Four Laws That Move the Universe
- By: Jeffrey C. Grossman, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jeffrey C. Grossman
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing has had a more profound impact on the development of modern civilization than thermodynamics. Thermodynamic processes are at the heart of everything that involves heat, energy, and work, making an understanding of the subject indispensable for careers in engineering, physical science, biology, meteorology, and even nutrition and culinary arts. Get an in-depth tour of this vital and fascinating science in 24 enthralling lectures suitable for everyone from science novices to experts who wish to review elementary concepts and formulas.
-
-
This is good but.....
- By Bookish Me on 02-03-19
By: Jeffrey C. Grossman, and others
-
Longitude
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Neil Armstrong
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on....
-
-
To hear Neil Armstongs Voice
- By Boots on 01-19-13
By: Dava Sobel
-
Theme Park Design
- Behind the Scenes with an Engineer
- By: Steve Alcorn
- Narrated by: Steve Alcorn
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever gone to a theme park and wondered, "How did they do that?" At last there's a book that tells you. Theme Park Design reveals the secrets behind some of the world's greatest attractions. Take a peek behind the scenes, with a theme park engineer. Aimed at theme park enthusiasts, the book features behind the scenes information based upon author Steve Alcorn's 35 years designing attractions.
-
-
What goes into a theme park?
- By E. C. Naville on 09-13-15
By: Steve Alcorn
-
How Innovation Works
- And Why It Flourishes in Freedom
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: Matt Ridley
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. Forget short-term symptoms like Donald Trump and Brexit, it is innovation itself that explains them and that will itself shape the 21st century for good and ill. Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen, hard to summon into existence to order, yet inevitable and inexorable when it does happen.
-
-
Bad scholarship and bias that overwhelms his facts
- By RickyF on 07-01-20
By: Matt Ridley
-
The Great Bridge
- The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 27 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.
-
-
Another Outstanding McCullough
- By Ohad on 09-02-15
By: David McCullough
-
The Design of Everyday Things
- By: Donald A. Norman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First, businesses discovered quality as a key competitive edge; next came science. Now, Donald A. Norman, former Director of the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of California, reveals how smart design is the new frontier. The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how - and why - some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
-
-
Badly needs updating
- By Sean on 10-29-11
By: Donald A. Norman
-
Growth
- From Microorganisms to Megacities
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 26 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit aim of our individual and collective striving. It governs the lives of microorganisms and galaxies; it shapes the capabilities of our extraordinarily large brains and the fortunes of our economies. Growth is manifested in annual increments of continental crust, a rising gross domestic product, a child's growth chart, the spread of cancerous cells. In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations.
-
-
PDF should come with this book...
- By Sebastian on 04-22-20
By: Vaclav Smil
Publisher's Summary
How did a simple design error cause one of the great disasters of the 1980s - the collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel? What made the graceful and innovative Tacoma Narrows Bridge twist apart in a mild wind in 1940?
How did an oversized waterlily inspire the magnificent Crystal Palace, the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture and engineering? These are some of the failures and successes that Henry Petroski, author of the acclaimed The Pencil, examines in this engaging, wonderfully literate book.
More than a series of fascinating case studies, To Engineer Is Human is a work that looks at our deepest notions of progress and perfection, tracing the fine connection between the quantifiable realm of science and the chaotic realities of everyday life.
More from the same
What listeners say about To Engineer Is Human
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CHRIS
- 09-13-20
A very thought provoking analysis
The title says it all. It's a an analysis of the human element of engineering. It's detailed and thorough but, not pendantic.I found it very thought provoking. The narration is good and is what I imagine the author intended as far as tone.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- zachbloomfield
- 02-17-19
great book
It's a great book on the theory behind engineering failure's and their affects on future design.
-
Overall
- Owen Grubb
- 09-21-18
Very interesting
Sometimes dry and sometimes outdated, but it did introduce many interesting outlooks on engineering that are still relevant today.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eva Liu
- 07-23-18
Good insights on the history of engineering
Mainly focusing on engineering incidents in the 20th century, the book narrates the history of engineering and technological considerations without using jargons. The insights given in the book can be applied to all fields alike. True stories are entertaining. Don’t expect very recent engineering achievements: the book was written in the 1980s! Narration is being done in brillant pace and tone. Highly recommend to all.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angel
- 06-18-18
Very useful insights
Shows how successes become failures and failure may become successes. A book I feel I will listen to for years to come.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-29-18
What were they thinking or did they?
As an engineer with advanced degrees and 45 years of experience, this book did not tell me anything new. However, it was an interesting presentation on design failures more geared to the layman.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Miss P.
- 11-18-19
Really boring!
As someone with an interest in engineering, I thought this book would be a great addition to the reading list. However I felt that most of examples are basically common sense applied back to engineering. For example the author uses the analogy of planning a trip and the different considerations required to make the point that there are many alternatives in design. The examples are painfully obvious and, worse still, over laboured. Rarely do I not finish a book but I couldn't bare to lose another minute of life to this one.
1 person found this helpful