Why read The Pencil?

Book cover of The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance

Book description

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.

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Poetry

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Pencil as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Rachel Plotnick

Author

I opened up this book as a skeptic–how interesting could a history of this ubiquitous writing tool be? However, I quickly ate my words (a fitting metaphor for such a book) after diving into Henry Petroski’s meticulously researched and easy to read tale of how a common thing becomes common in the first place.

While the book is a study in engineering, it’s also a story of people who doodle, think, design, and imagine. Petroski taught me that much as we live in a digital age, we’re indebted to the simple and impressively designed artifacts that stick around century after…

From Rachel's list on The best books about technologies that seem boring but aren’t.