The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (In Russian) e-book

This book is dedicated to the evolution of the pencil, one of the most commonplace and ordinary everyday items. Resorting to hundreds of sources, the author follows the long and complex history full of experiments and discoveries that led to the transformation of a short-hair brush into a graphite core enclosed in wooden casing. All these events intertwine with world history, while the author himself uses the pencil to trace, both literally and metaphorically, the development of engineering thinking and the profession of a civil engineer.

According to the author, a simple pencil and a complex multi-level bridge are phenomena of the same order, born out of the human desire for creative search and ability to solve tasks involving both scientific and practical knowledge.

The edition is intended for a broad audience.