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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 7 page book report on Henry Petroski’s “The Pencil.” No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JR7_RApencil.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
of those tools that people simply take for granted, not knowing where it came from and not truly knowing how it played a big part in the world of manufacturing,
deforestation, and other conditions. It is much the same implement as it was decades ago, and it is an implement that almost everyone uses. Henry Petroskis book "The Pencil: A
History of Design and Circumstance" is a text that covers much of the history of the pencil. The following paper provides a book report of his work. "The
Pencil" by Henry Petroski Petroski begins his book by illustrating the journey and life of Henry David Thoreau as he listed, item by item, what he took with him into
his woods. He was specific about many different items, even how many pounds of bread he took and the importance of a tape measure. However, Petroski notes that he forgot
to write on his list the fact that he must have had a pencil. He indicates he must have had a pencil to sketch and write and he quotes Ralph
Waldo Emerson, a very good friend of Thoreaus, who noted that Thoreau always had a diary and a pencil in his pocket.
Petroski notes this absence of information in Thoreaus list to point out how common pencils were, how they are often taken for granted. He notes, "Perhaps the very object with
which he may have been drafting his list was too close to him, too familiar a part of his livelihood, too common a thing for him to think to mention"
(Petroski, 1992; 4). He then points out that in many old shops, shops that carry antiques and implements, pencils are rarely found because they are so common place that the
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