Duke University professor Henry Petroski is fascinated by disasters. He believes tragedies can also serve as valuable learning experiences. In his new book, "To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure" (Belknap Press/2012), Petroski looks at catastrophes like the sinking of the Titanic and the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and explains why human error – not engineering flaws – led to such disasters. Host Frank Stasio talks to Petroski, a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Duke, about how we can better understand and avoid failure.
Understanding Failure
