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Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand 12

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"Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" both by Ayn Rand, should be required reading for all engineers.

My Economics Professor recommended both to me years ago - I am indebted forever. He also told me to read the "Tao Teh Ching" frequently, which I do.

These three literary works have help me improve myself which in turn helps me get ahead in my work.

Can anyone recommend other great reads to help achieve these ends?

Thanks.
 
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"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and along the same vein, "A Book of Five Rings" by Myanmoto Musashi. Both are good reads on strategy and evaluating situations. While not exactly a book, Zenger Miller does a training series "Frontline Leadership System" that has resources both enjoyable to read, and practical to use.

Regards
 
"Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" both by Ayn Rand, should be required reading for all engineers.

Agreed, those are great books.

You might try Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. Not in exactly the same category as the Rand selections that you mentioned, but a good book, and one that can provide some perspective on a few of the peculiarities of our culture.

We the Living and Anthem are a couple of other Rand books that are nice to read, but don't quite have the same depth as the two above. I'd steer clear of For the new Intellectual, unless you liked John Galt's speech about money so much that you'd like to read 180 more pages of it.

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is another light read (sike!) that you might find interesting. The engineers mentioned in TGA share some traits with those in TF and AS.

He also told me to read the "Tao Teh Ching" frequently, which I do.
I'll have to check this one out.
 
Isn't engineering school punishment enough? Why flog ourselves with the poorly written, overly long, "every (wo)man for himself" quasi-philosophical creed of Ayn Rand passing itself off as literature? I fail to see how society would be served by the widespread embracing of objectivism, at its core a "survival of the fittest" philosophy that would further divide society into the haves and have-nots. And we all know how well that is working.
 
Thanks for all of your input, I look forward to checking out the other books mentioned above.

I appreciate your comments also redtrumpet, I have several friends who disagree with Rands' views. I personally like them very much.

The Tao Teh Ching is like an anti-Rand infussion of overall insignificance. I like it also.

If you don't like the writings of Rand perchance you might enjoy Lao Tzu.

I don't really want to debate viewpoints or philosophy. I hope to get some good leads on excellent reading material that have helped others become better at who they are.

Thanks to all.
 
Ragbag of engineering ish books:

Essential:

The New Science of Strong Materials JE Gordon

Structures JE Gordon

The Machine that Changed the World

Interesting:

The Goal

The Soul of a New Machine

Godel Escher Bach by Hofstadter

Very funny (if sickening) book about the Tech Bubble:

Burnrate

The first three books should be read by anyone who is thinking about becoming a mechanical engineer. The Gordon and Hofstadter books in particular are quite superb.



Cheers

Greg Locock
 
Greg,

Have you ever read The Hunters and the Hunted? (blah blah lean thinking blah blah non-linear blah blah)

I've not read TMTCTW, but a co-worker of mine who really enjoyed that book also enjoyed TH&TH. TH&TH was required reading for new-hires at a previous job o' mine.

Isaac

 
The Hunters and the Hunted
By James B. Swartz, Productivity Press

No, haven't read it, the excerpt I've just found seems likely to make people squeal like stuck pigs, so it is on the right lines.

Here's a bit:

Early Warning Signs For a Non-Competitive Delivery System

· Customers are hard to please; they want faster response and seemingly unreachable quality levels.

· Much of management’s time is spent prioritizing work, solving crisis.

· Time to obsolescence is decreasing faster than time to bring new products to market.

· Quality levels are not improving rapidly, and customers complain the competition offers higher quality.

· More inspection is necessary to meet customer requirements.

· Price must be reduced constantly to meet the competition.***

· It seems that competitors are using unfair tactics to take your customers.

· There are continual surprises from competitors and customers.

· Blame placing and in fighting are rising.

· Management is arrogant about the superiority of their system and a no-bad-news is welcome atmosphere.

Who hasn't seen that lot before?

*** we did this at launch on the last model and it really hurt us. If you are confident (we were) in the product then price it at a premium.

Cheers

Greg Locock
 
To be frank, 'Atlas Shrugged' is the stupidest book I have ever read. I don't suggest it even to a moron.(why engineers should read that is a Hitchcockian suspense to me, perhaps hackers out there who detest Mr. Gates would give me some idea). Split personality was so awkwardly shown in that book that all reformers in the world could have comitted Harakiri at once, if read the book.It affected the writer herself in her last days.

The art of war as suggested by PSE is very good.

If motivation and creativity is what an engineer is required I would settle for Cartoon Network. (I atleast see 4 hours a day)

Cheers! Repetition is the foundation of technology
 
quark,

Your review of Atlas Shrugged made me laugh. Ayn Rand was a twisted sister - but also an excellent author.

Thanks for your comments.
 
I like The Existential Pleasures of Engineering by Samuel C. Florman.

The book gives a great description of why engineers do what they do, even when the world is criticisizing every aspect of the profession that only engineers understand. The best part about the book is that it isn't written for a third grader. Mr. Florman actually uses multi-syllable words.

--Scott
 
Yes, like polysyllabic. But I was even referring to existential. Right from the start you can tell this isn't a book for 3rd graders.
 
Perhaps not third graders, but I was in the fourth grade when I learned the song "existential blues," and began demanding an explanation.

...I cry out "My name is T-bone" and the hound dog digs a hole...


 
Last week I finished Sinclair Lewis' "Babbit."

I would think every engineer should read everything by Robert A. Heinlein (he was a degreed engineer) and L. Sprague De Camp (also an engineer). Don't forget E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and, of course, Lionel Fanthorpe.
 
Thanks DaveViking,

I haven't read anything by any of them, at least not that I recall. But I will.
 
"PO Beyond Yes and No" by Edward De Bono is a very good book.(I got one critical problem solved by those methods) Repetition is the foundation of technology
 
Although I have never read any of the books mentioned (and never really want to), I live and work by Murphy's law. I am sure you are all familiar with it but I will repeat it anyway.

Murphy's law states; "If it can go wrong it will go wrong".

This is possibly the most sensible thing that anyone has ever said and it only takes a couple of seconds to read. Thereby freeing up some time to go and do something less boring instead.
 
You know, I've gotta agree with Scoobystu.... if you want required reading for engineers, that one line of Murphy's Law is about as good as you can get. However, there are a lot of corollaries which warrant equal mention (these are just a few -- I believe there's a book that has these and more, and you can probably find more on the web):

- If nothing can go wrong, something will.
- If nothing is going wrong, you have overlooked something.
- If only one thing goes wrong, it will do maximum damage.
- Everything will go wrong at one time:
--- When you least expect it;
--- When it causes the most difficulty; and
--- After any warranty expires.
- Things always go from bad to worse.
- Mother Nature is...
--- Not indifferent to intelligence; she is actively hostile;
--- She always sides with the hidden flaw.
- Nothing is as easy as it looks; everything takes longer than expected.
- Having found a solution to a problem after immense work, one usually realizes that it or another was apparent from simple inspection.
- Errors usually sum in the same direction.
- Fault cannot be properly placed, or credit properly given, if more than one person is involved.

I'll admit, Murphy's Law and corollaries are primarily humorous in nature, but there's a lot of truth in there about engineering and life in general.
 
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