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An eminent engineer and historian tackles one of the most elemental aspects of life: how we experience and utilize physical force.
«Another gem from a master of technology writing». Kirkus Reviews.
Force explores how humans interact with the material world in the course of their everyday activities. This book for the general reader also considers the significance of force in shaping societies and cultures.
Celebrated author Henry Petroski delves into the ongoing physical interaction between people and things that enables them to stay put or causes them to move. He explores the range of daily human experience whereby we feel the sensations of push and pull, resistance and assistance. The book is also about metaphorical force, which manifests itself as pressure and relief, achievement and defeat.
Petroski draws from a variety of disciplines to make the case that force — represented especially by our sense of touch — is a unifying principle that pervades our lives. In the wake of a prolonged global pandemic that increasingly cautioned us about contact with the physical world, Petroski offers a new perspective on the importance of the sensation and power of touch.
Henry Petroski is the author of nineteen previous nonfiction trade books, including The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things, which consider the invention, design, and cultural significance of common objects. He is a distinguished professor emeritus at Duke University.
Preface.
Prologue.
Pushes and Pulls.
Gravitation.
Magnetism.
Friction.
Fractious Forces.
Lever, Lever, Cantilever.
Forces, Forces Everywhere.
Moments of Inertia.
Forceful Illusions.
From Physics to the Physical.
Forces on Inclined Planes.
Stretching and Squeezing.
Deployable Structures.
Anthropomorphic Models.
Visible and Invisible Hands.
Overarching Problems.
Pyramids, Obelisks, and Asparagus.
Moving with the Planet.
Forces Felt and Heard.
Epilogue.
Acknowledgments.
Bibliography