Article by Lillian Shieh, Design by Claudia Chow

American inventors, with their idiosyncratic ideas about progress, have transformed the revered tradition of the fireplace fire into yet another opportunity for convenience and instant gratification. With the technology of remote controlled gas fireplace logs, anyone can have a roaring fireplace blaze without buying or chopping firewood, without having continually to feed the fire, and without cleaning ashes from the grate. But is such convenience worth the sacrifice of a cozy, comforting ritual?

Gas logs were invented in 1947 by an engineer named Robert H. Peterson, who was inspired by the problem of keeping a fireplace fire stoked properly. One night when he was dining at a restaurant, he noticed that it was difficult for the staff to tend the fireplace regularly. He told the restaurant owner, a friend of his, that he would design a log that wouldn't stop burning. After his first set of ceramic logs was created for the restaurant, restaurant patrons and neighbors who had seen the logs requested their own sets. As the orders increased, Peterson started Real-Fyre Gas Logs as a division of R. H. Peterson Co. In the last fifty years, Real-Fyre has maintained its standing as the most popular brand of gas log because of such features as a "Radiant Heat Chamber."