Grade 5-9?Bortz considers six spectacular engineering debacles?the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt skywalks in 1980 and of "Galloping Gertie," the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in 1940; the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in Florida in 1972; the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986; nuclear power-plant accidents (Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl); and "The Great Northeast Blackout" of 1965. In the introduction, the author establishes what these catastrophes have in common?human neglect to attend to what Murphy's Law really means: "If you want things to go right, pay attention to everything that can go wrong." He covers what happened, the reasons, and the successes possible as scientists and engineers have studied and learned from these mistakes. The lively text and the high-quality black-and-white photographs vividly set the scene and report the details. The clear explanations of the science behind each event is enhanced by diagrams. This fascinating, thought-provoking book on the role of failure in successful design reads like an adventure story from the first to the last page.?Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Gr. 4^-6. Beginning with the origin, meaning, and usefulness of Murphy's law, Bortz looks at events involving a skywalk at a Kansas City hotel, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, DC-10 airplanes, the space shuttle Challenger, nuclear power plants, and the northeastern U.S. power grid. Throughout the book, Bortz focuses on the avoidance of problems through anticipation of unusual situations. Attractive to browsers, the book offers engineering information in a readable text, illustrated with black-and-white photographs and diagrams. Carolyn Phelan
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