Suggested Readings for Engr Students 40

[braxtonlewis]

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.

http://braxtonlewis.blogspot.com/

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

 

[FeX32]

How about telling them to read their text books, study hard, do well, and on the weekends "do" other things to relive the stress.....
That what most successful uni. student does right?


Fe

 

[Comcokid]

Some of the books I would recommend below are out-of-print.

A book about the actual experiences of a Civil Engineer that I would recommend reading is 'Getting Sued and Other Tales of the Engineering Life' by Richard Meehan. Even as an Electrical Engineer doing RF and switch-mode power design, his chapter "Snowbound on the Rio Pangal" touches upon what it means to be an engineer searching for the ideal solution that even gave me an appreciation for soil mechanics and hydraulics as a site is evaluated for building a dam.

More real-life books, especially for an electrical engineer would be 'The Soul of a New Machine' by Tracy Kidder (previous listed by Brad1979) which gets into the effort to design a better computer amid the politics and pitfalls of the corporate world. Many a time I've encountered managements refusal to provide a crucial resource as is quoted in the book "Logic Analyzers cost $10,000... Engineering overtime is free".

A book that if you read-in-between-the-lines provides many pointers for how to set up an environment to enable engineers to do the best engineering possible would be "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. My copy has been marked-up by a highlighter.

A book with a real-life story about the social pitfalls of the work environment, potential problems of group interactions, and problems of political management as well as an example of when engineering goes bad would be 'The Challenger Launch Decision' by Diane Vaughan. It makes me think of past workplaces in which the method of operation was 'Normalization of Deviance', and just how slippery the slope is that leads to it.

And finally, to have a humorous discussion of the downside of workplace and organizations, I would recommend 'Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat' by Archibald Putt. "Every technical hierarchy, in time, develops a competence inversion."

 

[KENAT]

Dilbert might qualify I suppose, but may not be what you're aiming at.

Glad to see you already had 'Black Swan', it's one I was thinking of but couldn't remember the title. I haven't read it, only heard a review but with things like Fukashima (sp?), the east coast earthquake etc. it's probably an interesting read to respond to 'but why wasn't it designed to cope with that'.

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
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[JohnRBaker]

Another recent edition to my library was:

'Everything is Miscellaneous: The power of the New Digital Disorder' (2007), by David Weinberger

And if nothing more than inspiration, may I suggest:

'No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman' (1994), by Christopher Sykes

And while we're on the subject:

'Six Easy Pieces and Six Not So-Easy Pieces', (1963), by Richard P. Feynman

But for the person who's a real history fan, here's a jewel of a book written from a very unusual prespective, a chronological story of America leaving OUT a couple of topics which often dominates most history texts, politics and war:

'The Americans: A Social History of the United States, 1587-1914' (1969), by J. C. Furnas

If nothing else you'll learn why Americans use their knife and fork in a manner very different than how their European brethren do (BTW, I've always eaten 'European style', despite being raised in America, which drives my wife nuts since she insists that it's barbaric. I attribute this to having spent several summers, while growing-up, with my grandparents who were both from the 'old country').

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[IRstuff]

Have you considered any books by James Burke, specifically "Connections?"

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[Guest262653]

What about plain and good literature?
- "Crime and Punishment", by Dostoievsky
- "The unbearable lightness of being", by Milan Kundera
- "100 years of sollitude", by García Marquez
- "The Enchantress of Florence", by Salman Rushdie
- "The White Tiger", by Aravind Adiga
- "Essay on Blindness", by José Saramago
- "Conversation on the Cathedral", by Mario Vargas Llosa
- "The wind-up bird chronicle", by Haruki Murakami

 

[moltenmetal]

Ethics in Engineering, Martin and Schinzinger

Need more details about this "What Went Wrong", as the examples of disasters (Bhopal, Challenger and numerous others) given in M&S's text on ethics are the most important and interesting for students. They need to understand that disasters aren't usually single-cause events that can be solved merely by a better application of engineering principles.

And of course, Kipling's "the Sons of Martha". Most students these days would also need help to understand the references used in the poem, to properly appreciate it.

 

[Latexman]

For deductive reasoning (problem solving) at it's best, even though it is fiction, I'd recommend The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arther Canon Doyle.

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[braxtonlewis]

Thank you all for such great recommendations. Each have been added to the list. I thank you for taking the time to share your ideas and personal viewpoints about the texts mentioned, and why they are important to you and toward your development as an Engineer.

My students were 'blown away' by the overall response to the original post and with the sincerity of many of your recommendations. I feel that I must now re-organize the 'list' into a much more usable 'Database of Ideas'; a problem that I truly welcome. Thank you again.

http://braxtonlewis.blogspot.com/

Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV

 

[PatCouture]

I truly enjoyed "The design of everyday things" by Donald A. Norman It helped me better recognize a good design and how to reproduce it in regards of human interaction with machines.

Patrick

 

[JohnRBaker]

Have you considered any books by James Burke, specifically "Connections?"

While that's a great book (and BBC/PBS miniseries), James Burke's other book, 'The Day the Universe Changed' (1985) (also a BBC/PBS miniseries) if probably even more relevant for this thread.

From the flyleaf:

In The Day the Universe Changed James Burke argues that knowledge is a manmade artifact, and the when man's views of reality are changed by knowledge, reality itself changes. Armed with this provocative thesis, he charts a course from the Middle Ages to today, examining those critical periods in history when the ideas and institutions that have transformed man's understanding of the world were born.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I loved that show Connections on PBS, though I haven't seen it for ages... really made you think about how certain things have shaped us as a people. I always wondered what kind of prep was put into those shows to find all of those connections... did it take months/years, or was someone sharp enough to think of enough in 15 minutes.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[FeX32]

Anyone read this one? :

http://www.13thingsthatdontmakesense.com/

Fe

 

[gadkinsj]

There are some great books on your list.

My 5 cents

A couple novels.
The Power of One. Bryce Courteney.
The Count of Monty Cristo. Alexandre Dumas
Flowers for Algernon. Daniel Keyes

Psych stuff.
The Games People Play. Eric Berne
Crucial Conversations 'Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High'.

All of these helped expand up my sometimes limited prospective.

 

[JohnRBaker]

'13 Things that Don't Make Sense' was on Apple's iStore so I just downloaded it. I'll let you know what I thought of it after I finish.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[ImminentCollapse]

Also can't see the blog, but a must read is Chapter II from J. A. Waddell's "Bridge Engineering" (1916). It is available on GoogleBooks. The chapter is titled "The Bridge Specialist", but it is applicable across all branches of engineering, even close to a century old now.

"The life of a bridge specialist [any engineer? IC] is by no means easy, for like everyone one else he has his grievances; but he must learn to bear with those that are unavoidable and overcome the rest; and his governing motto should ever be "integrity, thoroughness, and progress."" - J.A. Waddell 1916.

IC

 

[braxtonlewis]

My apologies to those of you who cannot load the blog. This is my first-ever attempt at creating one. Perhaps it is a browser issue. It would be helpful if you would let me know which browser you are using that cannot access it. I have asked google how to address the issue.

The list has continued to grow with valuable addtions from each of you. I brought it to some faculty colleagues yesterday who weren't stunned by the response but seemed to sigh a relief. Their appreciation for your continued interest in: Literature, Technical and Non-technical Engineering topics, Philosophy, Psychology, Economics, Legal, and general experience driven texts from the Engineering discipline have breathed fresh life into these withering old professors.

The list has sparked a great deal of conversation, and I have been asked to address 500 of our newest (1st semester freshman) engineering students about what it means to have a response like this from you, seasoned professionals.

As you may be aware, many of our younger students don't read much outside of cell-phone text messaging. Those students that I have shared your posts with have thus far, seemed moved. It is important, and it has been extremely beneficial for all of our students who now recognize that engaging in the ideas of people both inside and outside of our field (through reading) can offer tremenous benefits toward one's career and overall self.

I grant that each student should have been exposed to such a lesson at home, early in life. However as a friend once told me, "the best time to start a positive habit was ten years ago, the next best time is now."

This post has become truly rewarding for my students and to me personally. I can't share my appreciation enough for your sincere thoughts and recommendations. I will look forward to hearing more of them. Thank you all.

http://braxtonlewis.blogspot.com/

Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV

 

[ornerynorsk]

Tesla's Colorado Springs notebook.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[KENAT]

It's not a book, and may not be very applicable to civil folks but I came across this poem some time back, and thought it rather amusing but with some stuff that might make you stop and think.

Oh, sorry I can't find it on line now, but here's a link to a previous thread where I typed it out thread769-210372 4 Jun 08 23:23

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
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[SLTA]

Well, if we're talking big picture here, how about "The Coolest Cross Sections Ever!" by Stephen Biesty. Lamest book title imaginable, but truly, one of the most amazing books I've ever seen. It contains Castle, Man-Of-War, Incredible Body, and also lots of buildings, the Grand Canyon, how wigs are made, Life in a Monastery, and on and on.