As you prod at the turkey stuck in your teeth, take a moment to ponder the technology of your toothpick, says Adam Leith Gollner

摘要

We've always picked our teeth. Scrape marks on early human incisors suggest the use of twigs and grass. Since then we've used cactus thorns, spider fangs, vulture quills, dried mosquitoes, raccoon penises and rat thigh bones ('once valued in social clubs'). As mundane and flimsy as toothpicks appear, their story is meatier than one might imagine, as Henry Petroski's 464-page book testifies.