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Suggested Readings for Engr Students 40

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braxtonlewis

braxtonlewis

Civil/Environmental
Oct 11, 2005
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Quite a few of my undergraduate students from this semester have been asking me to recommend to them 'books' or other readings that will help them toward their development as a human being as well as an engineer. So I created my first ever blog to answer this question.


The books listed are the one's that I seem to recommend most to just about everyone. Would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think? What else would you recommend to me and to our students?



Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV
 
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@DWHA, it seems that Ralph Peck was from my Department here at West Virginia University. Perhaps this little gem has been lost to several generations of both student and faculty. I have ordered it from our library archives and will review it immediately. Thank you for the suggestion.

Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV
 
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I can't see your list, but I would recommend "What Went Wrong". Definitely for ChEs but probably helpful for others as well to understand the impact engineering can have.
 
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@ash9144, I'm sorry that you aren't able to view the blog. Regarding your suggestion of "What Went Wrong", are you speaking of the series of Plant Disasters books?
 
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Anything written by Henry Petroski.

His books are great, many of them concentrating on what we can learn from failures. He makes a very relevant, yet often overlooked observation that as engineers, there is MUCH more which can be learned from a single failure than what can be learned from dozens of successes.

Some of the titles that I've read of his include:

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985)

Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (1994)

Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. (2006)

Anyway, these reads are well worth the time and he does a great job of explaining not only what there is to be learned from looking at a failure but why in retrospect, we should not have been surprised when they occur. Note that he spends a lot of time on bridges (after all, he's a Civil Engineer), but than as he explains, bridges are particularly prone to that which causes engineering failures and if you read his books you will see that this often goes well beyond the physics or mathematics of the problem, but also what role does public policy and how such projects are financed have an impact on what actually gets built and how this can make an eventual failure inevitable.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
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Absolutely not being snarky, but what about their textbooks? Do they actually read them and work through the example problems?

And again, seriously, ASCE 7 and the IBC/IRC codes. Such fun, light reading, but super helpful.

For folks getting into structural design, especially residential, I'd recommend a subscription to the Journal of Light Construction.
 
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@slta, I should have mentioned in the original post that I'm looking for something 'outside' of their textbooks. It's only too reasonable to expect that they read their textbooks. However based upon the rate of students who rent or sell back their books after each semester, we can see what little long-term benefit that investment is creating. Thank you for the comment. Now I have to get back to reading LRFD.
 
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LRFD. Yeah, right.

I read almost the complete works of Agatha Christie in undergrad. They helped me stop reading about concrete and use my brain in a totally different way. But, I believe, it is important to think about every aspect of every problem - just ask Bill LeMessurier if a small connection change doesn't matter, you know?
 
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Another tact which I think is relevant for anyone about to start their career, particularly if it required as much attention to detail and narrowness of focus during college as does many engineering disciplines, is to also look at the history behind your choice of endeavors. Along those lines, here are another couple of interesting books which will also be a break from the normal engineer text:

Engineering in History (1990), by Richard Shelton Kirby, Sidney Withington, Arthur Burr Darling and Frederick Gridley Kilgour

Technology in the Ancient World (1970), by Carleson S. Coon

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
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@JohnRBaker, I share you viewpoint about the development of our discipline through its history. Thank you for the comment, however I can only find reference to 'Technology in the Ancient World' by Henry Hodges (1970). Is this to whom you are referring?
 
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You're correct. I mistakenly took the name of an author who wrote a comment about this book (which appears on the book's jacket), totally missing the actual author, Henry Hodges. Thank you for catching that since Mr. Hodges deserves the credit.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 
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I would agree with the suggestion to read anything by Petroski. Additionally, I'd read anything by Sam Florman.

Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of a New Machine" is great, especially for electrical/computer engineers.

Another good one is "How Round Is Your Circle?" by Bryant and Sangwin.

If you are looking for something a little more philosophical, take a look at Vincenti's "What Engineers Know and how they Know It" or Peter-Paul Verbeek's "What Things Do."

Oh man, I keep thinking of others:

"Where Good Ideas Come From" by Johnson
"Stuff you Don't Learn in Engineering School" by Selinger
"Designing Engineers" by Bucciarelli
"Flying Buttresses, Entropy, and O-Rings: The World of an Engineer" by Adams
 
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This has been a wonderful conversation. I'm happy to see such great points of reference to share among ourselves and our students. John, Brad, DWHA, ash, and slta, thank you for your input. My 'to do' list has grown quite a bit today, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it.

 
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Yes Braxton that is the book I refer to. Case study of Bhopal, Flixborough and others.

Another that came to mind is some type of interview skills book. I recently interviewed some young candidates (not quite new grads) and their interview skills were generally awful.
 
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KENAT,

I have not read The Fountainhead. Atlas Shrugged is a melodramatic screed. Like all melodrama, Rand clearly shows which people she considers virtuous or evil, but she does nothing to show why we should believe her, or take any of it seriously.

The rigid, black and white logic coming from groups like the Tea Party, probably is learning some of this from Ayn Rand. I would rate Ayn Rand is a strong Not Recommended.

Critter.gif
JHG
 
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I didn't say I was suggesting Ayn Rand, just surprised someone else hadn't.

I never got far enough with Atlas Shrugged to really comment, I just see it referenced fairly often on this site so thought I'd bring it up.

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
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