while I agree with some of the previous reviews that Petroski may overstate and repeat a little bit, this book is an excellent in depth look at the invention process as practiced by many people in parallel and in concert.If you have any interest in Industrial Design, Interaction Design or just trivia for how object evolve this is a great read and Petroski surely knows his stuff.I don't agree with some who call it too academic, the text is in depth, but not dry. It is not breazy or flip either...Just right*