This book is dedicated to the evolution of a simple pencil - one of the most simple and ordinary objects in our everyday life. Drawing on hundreds of sources, the author shows the long, convoluted, experimental, and discovery-filled story behind the transformation of a short-haired brush into a wooden frame with a graphite shaft. All these events are woven into world history, and the author himself needs the pencil to draw - literally and metaphorically - the path for the development of engineering thinking and the profession of civil engineer. According to the author, a simple pencil and a complex multi-tier bridge across the bay are phenomena of the same order, generated by a person’s desire for creative search and the ability to solve problems at the intersection of scientific and practical knowledge.