Why teach history to engineers?

Many engineers think that history for engineers is a soft option, somehow ´not real engineering´. But engineers should value history precisely because it can be a soft option: it can help find the cheapest and simplest solution to an engineering problem and that is what engineers are paid to do. Furthermore, there are few more shameful errors than stubbing one´s corporate toe twice on the same stone. This article examines some of the benefits to be gained from a study of the history of technology and provides examples of ´unhelpful´ history and suggestions for better history