Holiday Reading List
Holiday Reading List
(OP)
With the holidays fast approaching, I am excited to elbow through the crowds at Amazon to buy myself some more books, but I would appreciate some suggestions in the nonfiction category (I have read many older threads on this topic, but new books hit the markets everyday).
Books I have recently read and would recommend:
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
History of Strength of Materials (this book was recently discussed in one of the other forums).
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
Colossus: The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam
I have yet to find a good book about the westward expansion in the United States. I have a Lewis & Clark book listed above, but I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for a book about building the railroads through (over) the Rockies, and also about the interstate highway system. The next book that I am going to tackle is The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible, this should cover the railroad and interstate topics, but I am not sure how in-depth it goes.
Regardless of my list above, I am also open to books on other topics:
Edit: fixed a link
Books I have recently read and would recommend:
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
History of Strength of Materials (this book was recently discussed in one of the other forums).
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
Colossus: The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam
I have yet to find a good book about the westward expansion in the United States. I have a Lewis & Clark book listed above, but I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for a book about building the railroads through (over) the Rockies, and also about the interstate highway system. The next book that I am going to tackle is The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible, this should cover the railroad and interstate topics, but I am not sure how in-depth it goes.
Regardless of my list above, I am also open to books on other topics:
- They can be non-engineering related
- They can cover time periods other than 1800 - 1950 +/-
- They do not need to be about the United States
Edit: fixed a link





RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
Timonshenko's "History of Strength of Materials" is interesting; I'd known him only as an academic writer until now. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
My contribution to the list:
Not Much of An Engineer - Sir Stanley Hooker
More Than My Share of it All - Clarence "Kelly" Johnson
Skunk Works - Ben Rich
Failure Is Not an Option - Gene L. Kranz
For a little more fun (this is holiday reading after all) try browsing carefully through the Haynes Manuals.
Among the piles of Toyotas and Chevies, you will come across some surprises, if you haven't already found them.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the depth of detail and thorough mission descriptions of the "Gemini Mission Manual, 1965-1966".
It is much more complete that the typical "dumbed down for the public" version of the story, but very readable.
Also gives a nod to designers such as Jim Chamberlin who deserve so much credit for that successful program.
STF
RE: Holiday Reading List
Steve
RE: Holiday Reading List
My contribution to this list would have to be:
Why Buildings Stand Up
Why Building Fall Down
Both are pretty easy reading, and contain a lot of information on historic structures.
RE: Holiday Reading List
For those with an interest in aviation, the space race, the history of computers and software, and a fascination with the intricacies of the motions of true "free bodies" I can recommend Digital Apollo by David Mindell. A true "nerd's book", but could not put it down.
I can also very strongly recommend this DVD, Moon Machines. 94% 5 star ratings! I'll just quote from an Amazon review "Unlike most programs dealing with space flight, this series is about engineers rather than astronauts. Seeing the cleverness that went into the different elements of Apollo should make you proud of your species." The segment on the development of the navigation computer is especially captivating. (Segments are also available on YouTube.)
RE: Holiday Reading List
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RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
Please remember: we're not all guys!
RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
I really like just about anything by Henry Petroski also (i.e. To Engineer is Human)
RE: Holiday Reading List
When writing The Wright Brothers, McCullough made no effort to gain any understanding how aircraft fly, or what the Wright Brothers did that was so special that allowed them to be the first.
According to his book, they wrote a few letters to Octave Chanute, figured out the missing pieces, and got started making parts. The rest of the book is concerned with all the nice places they went with their airplanes.
IMHO, McCullough missed the most valuable part...
According the Wright Brothers themselves (How We Invented the Airplane) they explain that much of Chanute (and other correspondents) was quite wrong, and they spent years testing everyone's ideas until they were equipped well enough to test their own ideas and prove they would succeed. They built a wind tunnel, for pete's sake, but that accomplishment was not mentioned at all in McCullough's book.
McCullough had an opportunity to show his readers (hidden within all of the technical notes) the persistence and meticulous care the put into the research and testing they did, in order to make their accomplishment happen. It was sufficient for him to show their dedication through the many test flights, but IMO they wouldn't have got that far if they hadn't started many years before.
STF
RE: Holiday Reading List
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
Devil in the White City
In the Garden of Beasts
Dead Wake
Isaac's Storm
He has a gripping way of keeping you interested while already knowing the general outcome of the historical events...
RE: Holiday Reading List
I also recommend anything related to The Lord of the Rings.
The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver is a decent read.
The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall is an interesting introduction about "PhDs on Wall Street trying to predict the market".
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis is a nice foray into high frequency trading via a case study of someone trying to fight against the practice.
RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
A fascinating, behind the scenes, look at the development of the SYSTEMS that made the Apollo mission work.
Very detailed, and of particular value to any systems engineer, especially one who is integrating design work from many contractors/subcontractors into a final product, big or small.
I see many "systems integration" issues in my work, and some of the solutions that I tentatively put forth in my workplace have actually been used effectively in many spheres, including the NASA space program.
Joe Shea is my new hero.
STF
RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
Digital Apollo sounds great, that will be my next one.
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: Holiday Reading List
https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Great-Small-Nation-T...
A briefer version of the story is here, but the book has details that are glossed over:
http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/06/02/a-long-wa...
RE: Holiday Reading List
"Elements of Style". Should be read once a year.
RE: Holiday Reading List
And a couple of more recent additions, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation", by Lynne Truss, and "Fumblerules: A lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage", by William Safire.
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Holiday Reading List
RE: Holiday Reading List
STF
RE: Holiday Reading List
Old farts on computers are the bane of my employment, some days... I'm the youngest in my office area and always get bugged when their windows won't do a thing, or when "this is just like when they upgraded me to window 98, that thing was <expletive> and nothing ever worked right since" or there's a printer error, etc etc etc...
RE: Holiday Reading List
Another reason why our house is an Apple-only environment. Granted, I was subjected to Windows-based PC's at work, but I was able to escape that situation this past January when I retired
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Holiday Reading List