Paperboy: Confessions of a Future Engineer - Softcover

"Petroski writes . . . with the observant eye of an engineer and the imaginative heart of a novelist." -Los Angeles Times

"A fond but clear-eyed glance back at what it was like growing up middle-class and upwardly striving in 1950s New York." -The New York Times Book Review

"[Petroski] once again discovers mystery and magnificence in the mundane. . . . By the end, we're convinced that no metaphor for life is more apt than a paper route." -Kirkus Reviews

"[A] pleasant trip though an America that has faded into history, with a tour guide who shares with us both the eyes of a young boy and the wisdom of a grown man." -Civil Engineering

"Petroski . . . can see the poetry in a bicycle." -The New York Sun

"Petroski not only can put science in laymen's terms, but also can do so without killing its magic." -The Christian Science Monitor

"Petroski . . . asks us to see the extraordinary in the ordinary." -Chicago Tribune

"Petroski . . . offers a charming account of adolescence in a much different era." -Booklist

"[Petroski is] the poet laureate of engineering." -Rocky Mount Telegram

"The book is a joy to read for anyone who enjoys a good story, not just working on a challenging project." -CE News

The author of To Engineer Is Human describes his teenage years in the Cambria Heights section of Queens during the Eisenhower era and his job delivering the Long Island Press, work that taught him valuable lessons in commitment, labor, community-mindedness, and responsibility. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.