A Century in the Works

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 1031 relli notes, things get more complex: some decisions are based on the engineering mind-set, but others are affected by cost factors, power battles, organizational allegiances, and a variety of other social influ­ ences. Although Bucciarelli provides some real insights into the objectworld mind-set of engineers, his analysis of the social dimensions of the design process is not as satisfactory. He does not say anything that is outrageous or wrongheaded. Not at all. The problem is that he deals with these social influences in a very tentative and inconclusive manner. In his “Ecology” chapter, for example, he offers no system­ atic accounting of when and how different groups in his three firms attempted to influence the design process. In “Design Discourse,” he offers the observation that the overriding issue for design teams is “achieving consensus among participants with different ‘interests’ in the design” (p. 159). But he never clearly documents how this consen­ sus-building process unfolded. There are also some stylistic problems with Designing Engineers. Bucciarelli does not provide a clear sense of direction in his chapters, tends to jump around from one observation to another, includes too many unexplained or irrelevant quotes from his field records, and provides no summaries at the end of the chapters. Some of these problems are perhaps due to Bucciarelli’s lack of experience with writing this type of analysis. Whatever the case, Designing Engineers is a challenging read. But it is still an interesting volume, and will undoubtedly find an audience among engineering scholars and oth­ ers seeking a better understanding of the design process. John Magney Dr. Magney is an assistant professor in the Department of Technical and Resource Management at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He teaches courses in labor relations and data analysis and is doing research on quality control, team-based decision making, and cooperative learning. A Century in the Works: Freese and Nichols Consulting Engineers, 18941994 . By Simon W. Freese and Deborah Lightfoot Sizemore. Col­ lege Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1994. Pp. xix + 435; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $34.50. This is the extremely well written centennial history of one of the Southwest’s leading consulting engineering firms. The remarkably long career—sixty-nine years—of coauthor and principal Simon Freese enables him to provide a highly detailed firsthand account of a major part of that century. As the saga unfolds we learn that it is the story of an ongoing struggle between engineers and water, as they search for it, contain it, treat it, and finally distribute it. It is a fascinating record that began in 1891 when engineer John B. Hawley arrived in Fort Worth, Texas. He was sent there to submit 1032 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE a proposal for a municipal water system. Opening his own office in that city in 1894, he became the state’s first consulting engineer specializing in water and sewer work, albeit with little demand for his hydraulic skills until after 1900. Even as the number of his engage­ ments increased, realist Hawley throughout his career continued to maintain a construction company, as a hedge against those times when engineering work was scarce. His work came to encompass all facets of hydraulic engineering, including the design and construc­ tion of dams and water treatment and sewage plants. Waterways that flowed as open sewers were not only a nuisance but could hardly be used as a source for potable water. The firm went about cleaning up the state’s waterways long before the advent of environmental engineering. Joining the office in 1922 was a particularly capable young engi­ neer, Simon Freese. Hawley encouraged Freese, like all others who would work for him, to continue his education, believing “advanced academic work essential to the training of a professional engineer” (p. 72). Freese’s time spent studying sewage treatment in Europe soon qualified him as a leader in the field. Appreciating the need for a local venue in which engineers could exchange ideas, Hawley was a founding member of the regional body or section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. When the firm became known as Hawley and Freese in 1925, its major

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