| Author/Title: | Petroski, Henri. The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. NY: Knopf, 1989. | |
| Call #: | Ramsey Library: TS1268.P47 1990 | |
| Recommended by: | Jim Kuhlman, Ramsey Library | |
| Rating: (5 "books" max) |
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| Comments: | ONE OF THE GREAT BOOKS, EVER!! 434 pages of luscious history beginning with Roman writing instruments and concluding with the development of the pencil industry in India after World War II and the mechanical pencil. Along the way you'll discover how they got the lead inside the wood, who developed the most advanced "lead" formula in early 19th century America (clue: he invented raisin bread), and the advantage the pencil brought armies in the Napoleonic era. TOO GOOD TO MISS!! | |
