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Whenever there is a bridge failure (or similar, highly-visible civil engineering failure) I recommend to engineers of all stripes that they go read the works of Henry Petroski. In particular:

- To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985) [1]

- Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (1994) [2]

and

- Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and The Spanning of America (1995) [3]

He also wrote a salient op-ed after the 2007 bridge failure in Minneapolis: Learning from bridge failure. [4]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679734163

[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521466490

[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679760210

[4] http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-petroski4aug04-story.html




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