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

 

[TenPenny]

KENAT - your reference to the 'Sons of Martha' is certainly appropriate; it should be familiar to any Canadian engineering graduates (or at least those who were vaguely sober at the Ritual of the Calling of the Engineer ceremony).

 

[KENAT]

Actually, it was a reference to 'The Successful Designer', 'Sons of Martha' was a bonus listing;-) and I think someone else had mentioned it above.

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[Guest262653]

On the same note, I think that you can tell your students the old quote that says that "that who knows only engineering, not even engineering he knows".

 

[jmw]

I'd recommend the Ringworld books by Larry Niven.
These are more scientifically thought out than Bob Shaws book on a similar concept.

I'd also recommend reading Neville Shute Norway's autobiographical work, Slide Rule. Amongst other things, he worked on the R100 airship and makes some cogent comments about the differences between privately financed (R100) and government financed (R101 which crashed and burned).

In fact biographies of engineers are often readable and encouraging.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[Comcokid]

You book list and the books listed here should be made required reading by business majors.

 

[braxtonlewis]

A degree in engineering should be required for business majors.

Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV

 

[IRstuff]

No way... There might be some that think they want to be engineers and drive our salaries down.

TTFN

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[lacajun]

The Bible (NASB, King James, or New King James versions)
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
All books by Thomas Sowell
Walter Williams column
Robert Higgs
Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom
Fredrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom
The Declaration of Independence
The US Constitution
Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist Papers
US Founding Fathers writings and not what is written about them.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

http://www.wallbuilderslive.com

podcasts to learn Early American History no longer taught
mysteries and novels to give your mind a break
Dilbert
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

[FeX32]

A degree in engineering should be required for business majors.

Haha. Then we would have no business majors left on the world in 5 years.... a BA in business is a joke compared to engineering.


Fe

 

[csd72]

Why buildings collapse
and
Why buildings stand up.

 

[sreid]

"The Right Stuff." It tells the real story of the first American Astronauts. They are Real Human Beings, not the idealized version of our heros as usually presented to youth.

 

[mauricestoker]

Two I would recommend:

"Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail", Hunter Thompson, it's hilarious and describes how so many swinish people make it to elective office.

"Dark Benediction", Miller, a short story, not a book; protagonist is a mechanical engineer dealing with things entirely alien. An empathetic mechanical engineer, what a concept.

"The Futurological Congress", Lem. Good ideas on how to deal with overpopulation, energy crisis and food shortage.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I counted THREE, so which TWO are you recommending and which ONE do you want us to ignore?

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.

 

[MikeMech]

Many of Neville Shute's novels feature engineers or technical people as protagonists. All excellent reads. I have collected his complete works and reread them regularly. An excellent storyteller who offers insight into engineering, business, and design.

 

[SAITAETGrad]

Biographies of engineers are indeed a great resource. Here are two of my favourites:

Sky Fever - Geoffrey DeHavilland (Auto)

This guy did it all!

Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War - Michael Neufeld

Von Braun faced a Voltarian dilemna...


Some thought provoking books for engineers & designers:

Engineering and the Mind's Eye - Eugene S. Ferguson

Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down - J.E. Gordon

I also would suggest that engineers read about the ethics issues outlined by the Manhattan Project and the Nuremburg trials. These were very important lessons for engineers out of WWII. Sorry, I'm looking myself for seminal works on these topics.

 

[Maui]

I would recommend the book listed on my web page (see below). I would suggest that students pay particular attention to the preface. It describes the trend in metallurgy that is likely to continue to play out in the decades to come.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[21121956]

Hello everybody:

Here is my two cents:

"A Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days", all of them by Jules Verne.

It is really a challenge to facing up the science fiction versus the real world.

El que no puede andar, se sienta.

 

[jmw]

Manhattan project? Ethics?
"The voice of the dolphins" by Leo Slizard....

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[Mr168]

See the attached file.

This one was sent to me by my current boss, and close friend. He hasn't steered me wrong yet, especially when consulting with him regarding how to handle professional matters, e.g. how to word certain e-mail replies for sensitive subjects, etc.

I find it to be a pretty good synopsis of how a budding engineer should handle his/her self, as it touches upon a number of viewpoints that are often overlooked or viewed differently by people with jobs of what are seemingly a purely technical nature.

 

[KENAT]

There was an entire thread about that a few years back as I recall Mr168, thread731-216753

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