Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Suggested Readings for Engr Students
(OP)
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?
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





RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
http://braxtonlewis.blogspot.com/
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
That what most successful uni. student does right?
Fe
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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."
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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'.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
'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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
TTFN
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RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
- "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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Patrick
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
http://www.13thingsthatdontmakesense.com/
Fe
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
"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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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: The Sons of Martha by Kipling 4 Jun 08 23:23
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Braxton V. Lewis
Morgantown, WV
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
and
Why buildings stand up.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
"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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Maui
www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
"The voice of the dolphins" by Leo Slizard....
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
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.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
http://industrialpress.com/9780831128289
It is also available on Amazon.com, and numerous other websites.
Maui
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Kedar
http://www
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I didn't view it as propaganda but her reasoning based upon her experiences in a communist country during her formative years. I wish she had written as a Christian but her atheism would never have allowed that.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Her books are a good read, once you understand them in their proper context. They're a textbook example of how you can be made to believe anything as long as you are suckered into buying illegitimate first premises. Engineers and other technical people have been among the most vigorous supporters of ideological tyrants for similar reasons.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I saw the contradictions with Christianity in Atlas. I am not rationalizing her atheistic viewpoints with anything other than her experiences with communism. I should clarify my statement with the overwhelming point that came across to me was the parallel I saw and still see with current events. What I see public and private leaders do and say often leaves me dumbfounded. After reading "Den of Thieves" by James B. Stewart, I concluded some CEO's need their heads examined.
My disabled brother lives with me so I know a little about altruism and its benefits for others. I am the baby of the family and have had to help both of my siblings. I don't mind and haven't complained.
Mr. Baker, I don't follow what others do, as a rule. I suppose I should view the Bible and every other book I was required to read from a very young age forward as propaganda simply because they were required reading. I don't hold to that opinion. How can motivating people to be creative and work hard be harmful to others? The Bible is very clear about work ethic in 2 Thess. 3:10, i.e., if you don't work, you don't eat.
There are people who should be working but choose not to because they know how to game the system and people. I don't want to support people like that and I don't feel bad about it either. I've been working hard since I was 6 years old. It didn't kill me. It won't kill them. I know people who think I should give a lot more than I do because they think I can afford it. What is that?
I've listened to pastors in the pulpit say things that raised my eyebrows because I could find no Biblical support for it. Did I follow their direction, simply because they said I should? No. God gave me a brain and I use it to the best of my feeble abilities.
To get back on topic, I'll add "Den of Thieves" by James B. Stewart as a book to read.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
My favorite quote from Atlas Shrugged.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
It isn't just what the writer says that is of interest but the message they offer. It repays effort if you actually think about what is said or seen or portrayed.
For example, I just wish I knew more Russian history and could understand more of the subtle nuances of Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita". I read it first and found it a very entertaining read. It was only during trips to Russia discussing it with our agent there that some of the hidden meanings and the ironies were explained which made it even more interesting and added a new dimension to the book.
It was one of those books written under the very noses of an oppressive regime and which managed to get its message past the censors unseen to a populace who saw the message.
A similar story with East German Rock and Roll.... Ostrock ...
This radio show:
.
The same with films like "The Seven Samurai".
After a repeat viewing or two you realise that the Samurai who die were all of them killed by rifle fire.... Kurasawa commenting on the effects of western technology on Japanese culture?
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs
Read this recently. Fun book.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I agree. It is fiction, after all.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Atlas Shrugged is fiction, but it is not remotely value neutral.
Imagine ASME Y14.5-2009, the Movie! (The book is too boring) The GD&T expert heads out his front door in the morning, walks down his street, and stops to help a little old lady across the street. On the other side of the street, he helps the police stop an old, traditional drafter from beating his wife. I am still trying to figure out how to fit in the car chase...
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
While to the discerning reader, that may be the case, there are clearly others who, upon reading such tripe, will take up the cause promoted by her books. So, the symbolism is certainly there, whether you care about it or not. However, if you don't care about it, you can't begin to understand the people who have incorporated such concepts into their beliefs and actions.
In many cases, this is the root philosophy building up to anti-union and anti-government sentiments. And the fallacy there is the notion that everyone, when left to their own devices, are all budding John Galts. But, that's clearly not the case, EVER, as demonstrated, over and over, throughout history. The near slave labor conditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is what spurred the creation of unions. These workers could never be John Galts, because they had ZERO power and ZERO resources. And the people that ran these factories had might on their side.
Likewise, one can consider the American Indians, to be John Galt-like, and the lack of a common government that could command the total resources of the Indian tribes again allowed those with "might," i.e., the US Army, to take those lands away from the Indians and "give" them to the settlers that moved in. Of course, it's unclear whether the Indians could have ever won, given that they were numerically outnumbered, but, they probably could have made it a lot more difficult, e.g., the defeat of Custer.
TTFN
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RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
They all had a message which persuaded people that black was white.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
My understanding is that Darwin was a very good, professional scientist. His work does not sound ideological.
You are absolutely correct about George Orwell. I strongly recommend Decline of the English Murder, a collection of essays he wrote. It is easy to forget that Orwell was a left-wing socialist.
I think Orwell was way more observant than Ayn Rand. His fiction rises way above the melodrama of Atlas Shrugged, especially, Animal Farm.
On the other hand, Orwell was writing about the politics of the 1930s and 1940s. The bloody minded, lawless politcal ideologies of the 1930s were discredited by WWII, and they did not survive the collapse of the Soviet Union. His essays are a good read, and essays obviously are an opinionated medium. I don't think his fiction is politically relevant anymore.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I never said it was not. BTW, I have friends, who make the same comment about the Bible and are atheist. They believe all kinds of stuff written about Jesus but not one word He said, which I find interesting. They also wonder why American society and culture has coarsened over the last two or three decades. But, they outright reject the value of the Bible. Man came up with the Ten Commandments and other "things" they deem worthy in the Bible. I've had those conservations with them often.
I don't view too many things with people as value neutral. People will take up causes for all kinds of reasons and some are completely unprovoked by anything other than their own prejudices and biases. I've had to stop some friends from railing on and on about Obama. I am Republican and would never vote for him but it is completely unwarranted on my part to not defend his character and ethnicity, when being attacked for any reason. I disagree with his world view but that does not mean he is a man lacking in character and that his black heritage should be attacked. If I didn't defend his character and heritage, my inaction would be just as despicable as my friends' actions.
I suspect that will follow their deficit spending philosophies.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
If someone claims that gravity is "just a theory", you can ask them to demonstrate what nonsense it is. Reality TV seems to be full of people trying this very thing.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
lacajun: you can't rationalize Christianity with a book by an author whose underlying "philosophy" is that selfishness is virtuous. This viewpoint permeates her fiction. Jesus preached the exact opposite.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I view the Bible as completely non-fiction, i.e., the infallible, inerrant word of God, the mind of Jesus Christ, God breathed, etc. It is the best and only guidebook for living life. It is the revelation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Why would anyone with those beliefs rationalize it with any other book and especially one from an atheist? Why do you insist that is what I am doing? You don't know me beyond a few posts here. We've not sat down and discussed life with the Bible open before us. I am open to that, if you are.
I view Ayn Rand's books as fiction. I know people who view Atlas Shrugged as the greatest book ever written and the Bible as irrelevant. I know some of those people live together as man and wife, or have, without the benefit of marriage. I view that as sin; therefore, I will not vote or support a man like Gary Johnson as a presidential candidate or any other public office. We don't need a man in the highest office of the USA parading his sin before us. I have friends who sin to this day as a way of lifestyle but I don't let them influence my thinking and decisions. My thinking and decisions are between me and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I am clearly and unequivocally on the right. I am a social and fiscal conservative. I have learned that is what works and that is what is in the Bible. Socialism is not in the Bible I study. I understand Progressives are trying to change that but ultimately they will fail.
I have given above and beyond my 10% tithes for years. I've helped people a lot more than I should have because it enabled them and aided their irresponsibility. I've seen others do the same thing. I believe in helping those who need a helping hand but it has to be extended very prudently. If I hadn't been so helpful to others, I would be in much better financial shape today; however, my spiritual life would be in a shambles. I tithe today even though I have zero positive cash flow. Do you think for one minute I believe selfishness is a virtue?
My disabled brother lives with me rent free because he can't afford to live anywhere else. He has a sizable portion of my home. He can use anything I have including my motorcycle. I am working with him on his problems in addition to providing a free place to live. I cook for him sometimes and especially so when his pain level is high. Is that someone who rationalizes selfishness is virtuous with the Bible?
I understand we are to be friendly, charitable, encouraging, etc. I also understand we are to spread the Gospel Message, which is a mandate from Jesus Christ. I also understand I have limitations in many ways. I understand a lot more than there is room here to write.
I also believe you are attributing something to me that is false and I would ask that you stop. I do not subscribe to selfishness as a virtue. I take exception to your claim that I am and do. Indeed, I find it offensive. I am not angry with you and would meet you for coffee, if you lived in the Denver metroplex, to discuss this issue. Yet, I do think you are being unfriendly towards me. That, moltenmetal, is a problem for you not me.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Is there anything available for FREE i.e online reading?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Project Gutenburg
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
The tricks people use to mislead others include such things as presenting only partial options. For example:
"Is it better to be poor and happy or rich and unhappy?"
This offers only two choices and many people respond only within the limitations imposed by the question.
The best way to answer is to identify the full range of options which includes also "poor and unhappy" and "rich and happy".
Lateral thinking suggests that problem solving should look at the most desirable outcome as an objective and find ways to meet it.
There is a very good example, "The Two Pebbles" in one of the books involving the story of a young girl faced with the problem of the moneylender and her grandfather's gambling debts.
(the story is slightly different at the link included but the answer is the same. I suggest anyone trying this take a long time to think how the deviousness of the moneylender gave her a sure fire solution before jumping to the answer.)
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Never give them a yes no option, always a this or that choice and then load the report so they choose the right answer.
So maybe they also should watch the entire "Yes Minister" and "Yes Prime Minister" series.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Also my final term's Design Engineering project required that we make an oral presentation to our professor and our peers, where we were subject to being asked questions from anyone (and if your peers didn't step up to the plate the professor always had a set of questions to fill the 'dead air'). Now we could use any material or props that you wanted (this dovetailed nicely with what you had hopefully learned in the 'Report Presentation' class that you had just taken, hopefully the term before) but this stand-up presentation was a significant part of your final grade (for the record, I got an A+ in the class, the first A+ given by this professor in what was already a rather long career, but I had been working as a draftsman during my previous summers so unlike many of my peers, I may have had an unfair advantage with respect to having seen engineers in action and observing the ones who were most effective in getting their ideas sold).
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
A very fine illustration of the ingenuity of earlier generations in the USA is found in the Foxfire books Foxfire, museum and books
They may be inspired enough to want to make some of the things for themselves just to see if they can make what their ancestors made.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Ironmaking and Blacksmithing
- BLAST FURNACES
- BELLOWS
- FIREPLACE POKERS
- FORGE SHOVELS
- FROES
- COWBELLS
- HORSESHOES
GunmakingJMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Really? Animal Farm may have been about the Communist, however, the warning "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others" will always be true.
"...Darwin was a very good, professional scientist..."
The trouble is society can't seem to make a distinction between the science of evolution and the philosophy of evolution.
Here's an interesting book: "New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy" by Robert Spitzer.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Again, I strongly recommend Decline of the English Murder. The book is a collection of essays, mostly book reviews. It shows you where George Orwell's head was at as he prepared to write 1984 and Animal Farm. His pieces on Dickens, Salvadore Dali and Rudyard Kipling are worthwhile reads.
It is also a good look at the intellectual culture of the WWII period. People had a lot of enthusiasm for brute force, and very little concern for the consequences. This made possible the Stalinist purges, the Holocaust, and the Cultural Revolution and Pol Pot.
I do not think we face tolitarians anymore. The Chinese Communists are still with us, but their leaders are people who survived the Cultural Revolution. They know.
Right now, we are dealing with religious extremists, objectivisits and other intellectual types who are too convinced of their own correctness.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
To say nothing of firebombing Dresden and various Japanese cities, or even the rational behind using nuclear weapons to end the war.
Although I'll have to admit that with respect to the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people working on the Manhattan Project, while they understood the dangers of nuclear radiation they were totally unprepared for the consequences of fallout as that concept never crossed their minds.
In the books I've read on the subject the consensus among the people at Los Alamos was that anyone close enough to the blast who could have suffered from the effects of radiation would have been killed instantly and since the blasts were air-bursts there was this idea that actual radioactive debris would be minimal. In fact when the reports first started to come in concerning people becoming ill and dying not from the blast itself but something else, it was suggested that this was simply the Japanese government fabricating these claims so as to make the case that the United States was using chemical or biological weapons against civilians in the hope of gaining some sympathy with the rest of world when it came time to negotiate a peace treaty. It was not until American medical personnel were able to enter the area after hostilities had ceased before it was confirmed that this was NOT the result of some bio-chemical event but rather was linked directly to the effects of the bombs themselves.
While it's only my personal opinion, I think it was the sudden awareness of the consequences of 'fallout' that turned many of the scientists who worked on the original Manhattan Project into anti-nuke activitists. In other words, if nuclear bombs had turned out to be nothing more than just highly efficient and effective weapons based on their albeit horrendous blast damage and nothing else, I think people's opinions of them would have been very different. Later there was research into 'clean bombs', and I even understand that some of the early work with Hydrogen Bombs, which were 'fusion' weapons as opposed to Atominc Bombs being 'fission' weapons, was based on the hope of them being cleaner in terms of fallout, which of course proved to be incorrect.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
The German work is probably well more well known but that Germany was sharing technology with Japan and that Japan had its own program, most people either don't know or do not acknowledge.
http://en.
A lot of people tend to neglect this when they condemn the US dropping these bombs.
If the US was not the first or chose not to drop the bombs, what might have been the outcome?
Most people do not include a scenario where Japan was able to complete their program and explode an atomic bomb either over the US Mainland (what kind of delivery system? submarine maybe?) or over a concentration of US forces in the Pacific? or perhaps symbolically, Pearl Harbour again?
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Balloon.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
And while it may be feasible to saturate the air with balloons and conventional bombs such that one or two might get through, you probably only have one atom bomb or two maybe, and you need a more certain way to deliver it or them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon
300 out of 9000+ reaching the USA is not a very good system.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
My comment was to point out that there was feelings in this country during the war, particularly in the case of Japan, that ANY use of force was justified. However, I believe that the President and the military leaders were taking into consideration the human cost, on both sides, which would have to be paid if we were forced to invade Japan's homeland (we already had a taste of that on Okinawa whom many Japanese considered one of their 'home islands') so they were making a 'shorten the war' decisions. That being said, I suspect that the man on the street would have taken a very different view of this. If people had been aware of the existence of atomic weapons, even with respect to the horrific effects of fallout and lingering radiation sickness, the average joe-sixpack would have 'voted' to use the bombs on Japan, even if they were about to surrender on their own. It was a combination of revenge for Pearl Harbor, as well as the idea that the 'Yellow' race was inferior, if not even sub-human, and therefore it was not the same as if this were a decision to nuke Berlin or Rome.
I still believe that if the scientists, the President and the military leaders knew exactly what was going to happen with respect to the civilians not killed in the blast but who succumbed to or suffered for years from the effects of the radioactive fallout that perhaps the suggestion that a 'demonstration' blast would be more appropriate would have been given more consideration, which is what many scientists had assumed was going to be the course of action. And remember, many of them were still thinking that it may have to be used against Germany and that would have presented larger moral problems then if they had known that Japan would be the only target right from the start.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
On the other hand, a nuke explosion almost anywhere in the US would have been pretty alarming.
However, way off topic.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
my point was that, post war, a lot of people have judged this as if the US and the US alone had a nuclear weapons program. They tend, with their rose tinted glasses, to discount the worries about what might have happened to POWs in Japan had Japan been invaded as must surely have had to happen otherwise and they tend to not consider that had the US not used the bombs and the Japanese Atom bomb program been more advanced allowing them to bomb their enemies. AT that time I think we should agree, the Japanese would have had less compunction about using the bomb even had they been aware of the fallout issues.
On the other hand what I don't know is how aware the US and Truman were of the Japanese program and those elusive WMDs... certainly the allies were aware of the German program and destroyed their heavy water plants.
Certain too is that they were aware of the Japanese scientific capability. the only real uncertainty would have been how advanced their program was.
Remember too that Japan had access to a lot of territory to find raw materials and they could not be certain that they hadn't found some sources in China, for example.
In a very true sense, the nuclear arms race had begun early in the war if not before though many people seem to think the only Atom bomb development was the Manhattan project and that the nuclear arms race didn't begin till the cold war.
No doubt though that you are correct about the anti Japanese feelings at the time and we should also remember a certain US general who wanted to drop the big one on North Korea.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
The ability of mini-subs to enter well guarded harbours was well demonstrated during the war by such as Buster Crab and the Italians.
The Japanese might also have tried to insert a minisub into Pearl Harbour, San Diego, San Francisco etc.
Indeed, in 1941 they did attempt to enter Pearl Harbour with one.
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/midget.html
ht
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Let me clarify my statement on Animal Farm. I wasn't referring to communists, fascists, etc.
I was thinking of the political climate in the US with too many ideologues - as you put it: religious extremists, objectivisits and other intellectual types who are too convinced of their own correctness.
To me, these types are as much of a danger to the nation as a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Deals with what it takes working offshore, how to plan before implementation, and dealing with uncertainty.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
There is a factual error in the book: Gerald Ford wasn't the Speaker of the House, but I'll cut him some slack. After all, any one who remembers the movie "Not of this Earth" (the original version not the two remakes)deserves a break.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Your students might find the following free short "ebook" useful to get rid of boring power point presentations:
http:
In a general perspective, I recommend "Unwritten Laws of Engineering" by W. J. King.
Mechanical Engineering magazine has published a summary of this book in a series of three articles starting in its October 2010 issue. I'm sure that you've got this magazine in your library. Here's a scan of the first page of the first article to give a taste:
http://f
Good readings!
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
h
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
This is a scary book.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Try Balzac, Montesquieu, Dostoevsky, etc.
And, Every engineer should get a therapy as soon as they get out of school or at least as soon as they get married. We Engineers tend to get into more divorces than any other trade, college graduate level i.e.
We tend to think we know it all, when we don't know s..*
I wish I did, I would've avoided a Psychotherapy late in life. I should have gotten my therapy early on in my life. I wish I knew more about psychology.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
But I do second your suggestion that engineers read literature.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
I don't know, we'll be married 45 years this next June, but then I did take some psych classes my senior year when I needed a few more 'humanities' electives to graduate.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
UG/NX Museum: http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
It's not political so no political comments are needed. It's a good read on how to make a speech, which some engineers are called to do sometimes.
Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
RE: Suggested Readings for Engr Students
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor
These are not proper engineering texts, but they really help you understand the subject.