joining us is professor henry petroski. fessor petroski, what do you do for a living besides teach it to? what is your background? >> guest: my background is mostly academic. about 20 or 30 years ago i began writing about engineering, increasingly books. since then, that is a principal occupation, lecturing and generally doing a lot of thinking about engineering. >> host: what is engineering? >> guest: that's a good question. that is really what motivated my first book. i packed this as an engineer and if a neighbor asked me what is engineering, i really didn't have any there. so i thought the best way to develop would be too made up of. i found readiness by best way of thinking. so my first book is what is engineering and i have to admit i didn't go in to 200 i say really was a mean when i pressure on their engineers, some people confuse it with science and say it's just a branch of science or applied science. it is a

. >> host: henry petroski, professor of civil engineering and a professor of history here at duke university. you are watching booktv here on c-span2.

. >> host: henry petroski professor of civil engineering and a professor of history here at duke university. you are watching booktv on c-span2's. >> i have a general philosophy that i'm approaching on all issues and it starts with the basic premise with which i approach editing. economic freedom and from that comes for factors. one does the commission of authority to act on a particular issue? what authority is congress given us in the statute? two is of harm to consumers and the solution that we can remedy for whatever harm is brought forward. three is the solution tailored to the particular problem we are addressing and would not weaken it by analogy and forth even with all those three elements to the benefits of regulation outweigh the costs? that is how i'm approaching each issue individually but you do tend to take each issue as they come before you with my overall philosophy. >> the limits of government are clear in the constitution. the administrative functions or enforcing contracts can't do this sort of thing in coining money and then you have actual functions and when government

today we are on duke university campus in durham north carolina and joining us is professor henry petroskisessor petroski what do you do for a living besides teach at duke? what is your background? >> guest: my background is engineering, mostly academic but about 20 or 30 years ago i began to write about engineering, first essays but increasingly books. since then that has been my principle occupation is to write about engineering and lecture on books about engineering and generally doing a lot of thinking about engineering. >> host: what is engineering? >> guest: that's a good question and that is what motivated my first book. i have taught engineering. i registered as an engineer and if the neighbor interviewer asked me i've really didn't have a good answer. i thought the best way to develop an answer would be to write a book. i found that writing is my best way of thinking and understanding. my first book the working title was what is engineering. i had to admit i didn't go into it with any preconceived definition or understanding. i really was confused and i found when i would pressure