Comment
Comment
re: #71 Decatur Deb
If you ever get to the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, there is an ivory comb for grooming out nits. It’s part of the materials recovered from the 1st Cent BCE Essene settlement at Qumran. While is is meticulously handmade of ivory, not plastic, it is exactly like a 20th Cent comb. Never seen such technological stability.
ah!
this subject is addressed in petroski’s ‘the evolution of useful things’
How did the table fork acquire a fourth tine? What advantage does the Phillips-head screw have over its single-grooved predecessor? Why does the paper clip look the way it does? What makes Scotch tape Scotch?
In this delightful book Henry, Petroski takes a microscopic look at artifacts that most of us count on but rarely contemplate, including such icons of the everyday as pins, Post-its, and fast-food “clamshell” containers. At the same time, he offers a convincing new theory of technological innovation as a response to the perceived failures of existing products—suggesting that irritation, and not necessity, is the mother of invention.
