TOOTHPICK, THE(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　A celebration culture and technology, as seen through the
history of the humble yet ubiquitous toothpick, from the
best-selling author of The Pencil.
　　From ancient Rome, where emperor Nero made his entrance into a
banquet hall with a silver toothpick in his mouth, to
nineteenth-century Boston, where Charles Forster, the father of the
American wooden toothpick industry, ensured toothpicks appeared in
every restaurant, the toothpick has been an omnipresent, yet often
overlooked part of our daily lives. Here, with an engineer’s eye
for detail and a poet’s flair for language, Henry Petroski takes us
on an incredible tour of this most interesting invention. Along the
way, he peers inside today’s surprisingly secretive
toothpick-manufacturing industry, and explores a treasure trove of
the toothpick’s unintended uses and perils, from sandwiches to
martinis and beyond.