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Can I read The Pencil : A History of Design and Circumstance on EtoBox?
The Pencil : A History of Design and Circumstance by Henry Petroski is a science book available to read on EtoBox.
What is The Pencil : A History of Design and Circumstance about?
Henry Petroski traces the origins of the pencil back to ancient Greece and Rome, writes factually and charmingly about its development over the centuries and around the world, and shows what the pencil can teach us about engineering and technology today.From the Trade Paperback edition.Amazon.com ReviewLike most other human artifacts, the common pencil, made and sold today by the millions, has a long and complex history. Henry Petroski, who combines a talent for fine writing with a deep knowledge of engineering and technological history, examines the story of the pencil, considering it not only as a thing in itself, but also as an exemplar of all things that are designed and manufactured.Petroski ranges widely in time, discussing the writing technologies of antiquity. But his story really begins in the early modern period, when, in 1565, a Swiss naturalist first described the properties of the mineral that became known as graphite. Petroski traces the evolution of the pencil through the Industrial Revolution, when machine manufacture replaced earlier handwork. Along the way, he looks at some of pencil making's great innovators--including Henry David Thoreau, the famed writer, who w
Who reads The Pencil : A History of Design and Circumstance?
It is typically read by self-directed learners exploring a subject in depth.
Common subject areas: history, science, philosophy, social sciences.
- Author
- Henry Petroski
- Publisher
- Knopf : Distributed by Random House
- Published
- 1989
- Language
- EN
- ISBN
- 9780307772435
- Category
- science
- Subjects
- History, Engineering, Technology
- Rating
- 3.78 / 5 (413 ratings)
- Updated
- 2026-03-14