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Grady Hillhouse opens Disasters by Design with his own mistake

Practical Engineering's new book arrives March 2, 2027, tracing how engineering failures changed the rules for building.

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Practical Engineering Story of November 15, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

My First Mistake as an Engineer

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0:00Disasters by Design connects historical engineering failures with the building codes that followed.
0:39Hillhouse reads his preface, recalling a first site assignment sampling groundwater from a monitoring well.
1:54A rope that was too short sent his bailer down the well, raising fears of costly consequences.
2:31He and a colleague devised a fishing rig to retrieve the sampler, turning the mistake into a lesson.
6:40Hillhouse confirms he will narrate the audiobook and shows the UK edition's cover.
7:33The acknowledgments page credits Practical Engineering's viewers.

The rope was too short, and the groundwater sampler disappeared down the well. Grady Hillhouse's first construction-site assignment supplied an uncomfortable introduction to engineering, and now it supplies the opening to his new book.

In Practical Engineering's only upload this week, "My First Mistake as an Engineer", Hillhouse reads the preface to Disasters by Design: How Engineering Failures Shaped the Modern World. His younger self feared the cost of redrilling and possible environmental penalties. Instead, he and a colleague improvised a fishing rig to retrieve the lost bailer.

The lesson isn't that competent engineers never get things wrong. As Hillhouse puts it: "We learn from each other's mistakes. One person's error quietly becomes someone else's precaution." That connects his small, personal mishap to the book's larger subject: historical failures and the building codes that grew from them.

The upload has reached roughly 270,000 views. In the comments, geologists and engineers swap their own stories of equipment lost down wells, while several viewers ask for Hillhouse to narrate an audiobook. He confirms in the video that he will.

Across the channel, "Windows Are Absurd" is drawing the most daily views, with "Whatever Happened to Fire Escapes?" also bringing readers of the constructed world back for more. Practical Engineering gained 10,000 subscribers over the week, although its current daily viewing is well below its usual level. Be Smart is seeing above-usual daily viewing nearby in the science group; minutephysics is having a slower spell.

Hillhouse closes his book announcement by showing the acknowledgments page, where Practical Engineering's viewers receive a credit of their own.

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What viewers say

Experience is something you gain right after you need it.
@hughjass1274See it on YouTube
As a geologic engineer, that does environmental consulting, we lose many things down wells, too many bailers to count. I still have some specialized grabbers in my field tool bag to this day, LOL. A great story, thanks for sharing.
@MrSnowlverSee it on YouTube
I hope you're able to voice the audiobook if you release one. It's always a pleasure to listen to the author's own voice.
@communalransackSee it on YouTube

6 more comments

"My first mistake as an Engineer"
>Holds up the book hes written
@ClippydoesntwantaRevolution000See it on YouTube
I'm a Geologist and know way too much about "fishing for a bailer"
Fish hooks are the way to go!!
Well done! (pun intended)
@sandbar83See it on YouTube
I think it's really nice to open a book that's not about mistakes, but about learning from them, with a mistake of your own. It very clearly communicates that you're not trying to be mean, and you don't think you're better than engineers of old. And that you're willing to teach the next generation.
@PingviinimursuSee it on YouTube
As a geologist it was quite cathartic to hear about you losing a bailer. I've done it too. We all have. It's the worst, especially with the 1 inch bailers. I had the loop at the top of the bailer break off once so I couldn't even hook on loose line. That bailer never came out of that monitoring well.
@Orange_TangSee it on YouTube
Failure truely is the best teacher, if not an unwelcome one.
@jortandSee it on YouTube
Good judgment is the result of experience. Experience is the result of bad judgment.
@mikus4242See it on YouTube