Welcome to Reverse Engineered
Where Design Choices Meet Their Consequences
How Did We End Up Here?
I’ve always been obsessed with why things are designed the way they are. Not just the successes—but the miscalculations, unexpected trade-offs, and outright disasters that have shaped the world of engineering.
You see, every great invention, every towering bridge, every nuclear reactor, and every microchip carries with it a history of decisions—some brilliant, some flawed, and some that teetered right on the edge of catastrophe. Engineering is not just about getting things right; it’s about learning from the times we got it wrong.
That’s why I created Reverse Engineered.
I want to take you behind the blueprints, into the control rooms, onto the factory floors, and inside the minds of the engineers who had to make the tough calls—sometimes under impossible pressure.
What You Can Expect
Twice a week, I’ll break down real-world case studies of engineering decisions—big and small—that had unexpected, sometimes catastrophic consequences.
We’ll explore questions like:
Why did the Titanic’s rivets contribute to its sinking?
How did a single stuck valve nearly cause a nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island?
What made the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in spectacular fashion?
Why do bullet trains have such absurdly long noses?
How did the semiconductor industry push Moore’s Law to its limits?
This isn’t just about engineering failures—it’s about the lessons learned, the trade-offs made, and the innovations that came out of those moments of crisis.
Why Now?
We live in a world built on engineering, yet most people never think about why things work the way they do. At a time when technology is advancing faster than ever, understanding past design choices is more relevant than ever.
Reverse engineering the past helps us make better decisions for the future.
Join the Community
🔹 Subscribe for free to get every post delivered straight to your inbox.
🔹 Upgrade to a paid subscription for deep dives, bonus content, and interactive discussions.
🔹 Share Reverse Engineered with fellow engineers, designers, historians, and anyone who loves a good case study.
If you love dissecting real-world engineering stories, questioning design choices, and learning from the past, you’re in the right place.
Let’s reverse engineer history—together.
👉 Subscribe Now and never miss an engineering misadventure.