Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design by Henry Petroski

Small Things Considered

I enjoyed this discussion of the design of everyday objects and why there are minor drawbacks to so many products, from cupholders to toothbrushes.

Why are the numbers arranged differently on phones and calculators or computer keypads? Why were toothbrushes made that didn’t fit into traditional toothbrush holders? Who decides the height and location of doorknobs and light switches? The history and design of many other products are considered, including paper bags, paper cups, filtered water pitchers, WD-40 and duct tape, desk chairs, supermarket layouts, and toll transponders. This book was published in 2003, so a few things are more nostalgic than current, but still interesting reading. The author has written many books, including a microhistory of the pencil, and was a professor of engineering and history.

I am including a longer quotation from pages 77-78, which you may find interesting, and I thought was very funny, for reasons I’ll share after the passage.

“Arranging everything in the [car] trunk efficiently is always a challenge, but one that I enjoy. Perhaps all engineers delight in the challenge of packing a car trunk. A woman once told me about growing up in a family of five children: her engineer father may have taken the challenge to extremes. On vacations, each child was responsible for packing his or her own luggage, but only the father was allowed to put the bags in the trunk. Before setting out in a trip he would pack and unpack and repack the space until everything fit to his satisfaction. The bags were then tagged to identify their place. Each morning, the children were responsible for carrying their own luggage to the car and placing it on the ground, arranged according to its place in the trunk. The father would then pack the car for the day. I don’t recall being so obsessive on family vacations, but my wife and children may remember differently.”

My own father, also an engineer, wasn’t that organized or methodical, but he certainly was interested in fitting everything in or on top of the car for family camping trips.

I’ve also enjoyed reading The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors by the author, and will probably read more. He makes ordinary topics and objects quite interesting to read about.

Brenda