Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-297) and index.
Contents:
Epilogue: A forceful end. Pushes and pulls : sources of forces -- Gravitation : the heavy force -- Magnetism : telephones and tricky dogs -- Friction : house slippers and finger prisons -- Fractious forces : shaking and sliding -- Lever, lever, cantilever : a single-handed force -- Forces, forces everywhere : getting dressed and going out -- Moments of inertia : mass transit and the transit of masses -- Forceful illusions : schools and spools -- From physics to the physical -- Forces on inclined planes : unlevel playing fields -- Stretching and squeezing : springs and packaging -- A round cake in a square box : and a sagging triangle of pie -- Deployable structures : tapes measure -- Anthropomorphic models : from caryatids to avatars -- Visible and invisible hands : wind, warp, and woe -- Overarching problems : helping hands -- Pyramids, obelisks, and asparagus : ramping up the force -- Moving with the planet : feeling the earth quake -- Forces felt and hears : precursors to an end -- Epilogue: A forceful end.
Summary:
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.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.