A rare and useful book straddling the two cultures of engineering and STS (science and technology studies) ( )

The most thorough and insightful historical study of how engineering research was and is done. Vincenti has the advantage of having worked as a researcher in aeronautics before switching to writing histories, at NASA and Stanford. As a result, he can appreciate and explain the subtleties of the work he describes. Anyone who works in technological R&D should read it. ( )

Through the use of case studies in aerospace engineering, Vincenti illustrates how engineering knowledge accumulates over time, often contrasting it with how scientific knowledge advances. Vincenti coined the terms "normal design" and "radical design". ( )