FORCE

In his new book, Dr. Petroski trains his eye on one of the most elemental, yet unexamined, topics: our experience of physical force in our daily lives, whether in the form of opening a door, shaking a hand, touching a keyboard, or walking. Force, as manifested in our sense of touch, is a unifying principle, metaphor, and meme that pervades the human experience.

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 a former professor of civil engineering at Duke and the acclaimed author of books that have sold cumulatively close to a million copies and sold in 15 countries. He has written about everything from the invention of paper clips, pencils and the zipper to the role of engineering in our lives, and is known for his ability to explain the rich science and history that inform the objects of our daily lives. Henry Petroski's nonfiction trade books include The Pencil (Knopf), The Evolution of Useful Things (Knopf), and To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (St. Martin's / Vintage paperback). He is the author of many articles in magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. He writes a regular column for American Scientist and Prism magazine. He has been profiled in the New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and many other magazines and newspapers, and has appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show, All Things Considered, Science Friday, NBC's Today Show, and on shows on the Discovery Channel and History Channel.