Henry Petroski on the history of the toothpick

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, October 30, 2007 11:22 AM | permalink

NPR has an audio excerpt from Henry Petroski's latest book, The Toothpick: Technology and Culture.

For author Henry Petroski, the simplest of instruments — be it a pencil or a telephone keypad — can offer fascinating stories of engineering, design and cultural history.
Even toothpicks don't escape his inquisitive eye. His latest book explores the history of this seemingly mundane tool — and why picking our teeth is among mankind's oldest bad habits.
In The Toothpick, Petroski, who is a professor of civil engineering and history at Duke University, chronicles the instrument's odd and funny history, taking readers back to the time of the Neanderthals. Anthropologists have found evidence of grooves on fossilized teeth that resulted from rough-hewn toothpicks. Later, in ancient Rome, the emperor Nero entered a banquet hall with a silver toothpick lodged in his mouth.

Link (Thanks, Partha!)

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Discussion

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#1 posted by tanner

, October 30, 2007 11:34 AM

tootpick

ha!

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#2 posted by mikesum32

, October 30, 2007 11:39 AM

Tootpick you say ?

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

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#3 posted by Andrew B. , October 30, 2007 11:59 AM

tootpick: a catalog for flute/guitar music.

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#4 posted by MPF , October 30, 2007 12:05 PM

There was a very funny Joe Queenan piece on this book in last Sunday's NY Times. I hadn't heard of the book, and thought he'd completely invented it as a satirical sendup of the “How Longitude or Beer or the Irish or Something Changed Civilization” genre [Queenan's term]. The bits he quoted were so over-the-top -- such a hash of grandiose & mundane -- that I figured it had to be a spoof. Pencils, I get; toothpicks, I don't. Guess I'll have to read it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/books/review/Queenan-t.html

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#5 posted by travelina

, October 30, 2007 1:17 PM

Besides his definitive book on pencils, Petroski also wrote entertainingly on the history of forks, paperclips, zippers and other mundane tools in "The Evolution of Useful Things":
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Useful-Things-Artifacts-Zippers-Came/dp/0679740392/ref=pd_sim_b_shvl_title_1/002-8129293-4361633

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#6 posted by batchild , October 30, 2007 1:35 PM

When I heard this was the topic on KUOW's "The Conversation" yesterday I thought it would be boring, but it was quite interesting. Check out the interview here: http://kuow.org/programs/theconversation.asp?Archive=10-29

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#7 posted by Anonymous , October 30, 2007 4:21 PM

I am a big fan of Petroski and was excited to find a new book by him. I think all of his books are entertaining, instructive, and generally pretty fascinating.

This book is not like the others. The material does not support 400+ pages. The 19th-century pioneers of toothpick technology are not giants like Isembard Brunel. They are boring, tedious businessmen.

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#8 posted by Stacyj , October 30, 2007 4:53 PM

Wow, what a -neat- idea for a book, I'm most definitely adding it to my Xmas list. I -love- it when someone takes something seemingly mundane and uninteresting and shows us why even -it- has something fascinating to tell us. Everything is secretly amazing! You just have to look hard enough into it.

I love that =)

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#9 posted by PT , October 31, 2007 3:44 AM

Somehow this sounds way too similar to parts of John J Heskett's book "Toothpicks and Logos: Design in Everyday Life".