Yes, the populist-biography kind of writing you describe is unsatisfactory, to say the least; the reason I point to Petroski's work is that he did not write like that.
Another great book to read to examine modes of engineering failure is Feynman's "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" which includes some of his thoughts on the Challenger disaster.
Another great book to read to examine modes of engineering failure is Feynman's "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" which includes some of his thoughts on the Challenger disaster.