Newly published, this lavishly produced 340-page hardcover book fills a critical void as it references over 1500 toothpicks and compendiums dating from classical antiquity to the Victorian era ...

. Petroski teaches civil engineering and history at Duke University.

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 ...

The toothpick is not just “among the simplest of manufactured things,” Petroski explains, but one of the oldest: Grooves on fossilized teeth suggest that early hominids might have regularly applied ...

Ian Towle receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC DP240101081). Luca Fiorenza receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC DP240101081). For decades, small grooves on ...

Professor Henry Petroski pays homage to the toothpick, one of the oldest, yet simplest tools, in his book, The Toothpick: Technology and Culture. Petroski teaches civil engineering and history at Duke ...