On April 23, Plainsboro Library will host author Edward Tenner for the launch of his new book Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences.

As an independent historian and public speaker, Edward Tenner has spent his career deploying concepts from economics, engineering, psychology, science, and sociology, to explore both the negative and positive surprises of human ingenuity. He has become an expert – and a legend – on the subject of unintended consequences. Since the 1980s, Tenner has contributed essays on technology, design, and culture to leading magazines, newspapers, and professional journals, and has been interviewed on subjects ranging from medical ethics to typography. Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge—named for one of the paradoxes that can result from the inherent contradictions between consumer safety and product marketing—brings many of Tenner’s essays together into one volume for the first time, accompanied by new introductions by the author on the theme of each work.