Structural Engineering books
Structural Engineering books
(OP)
No, this is not another thread about what books are essential for a SE's library. Rather, it is about an observation I have made recently in our office.
Have you ever noticed that we structural folks seem to have the most extensive collection of books and references? Its almost like we collect or hoard them as a hobby. I am guilty of this also and have no explanation. Perhaps we are just wired this way or it could be due to new codes come out before we even have a chance to crack the spine on the previous code book.
I have noticed that mechanical and electrical engineers in our office, for the most part, just have manufacturer catalogs on their shelves with maybe a binder or two and on the rare occasion a single book. How do they possibly get by everyday? What do they reference for calculations and examples?
SE's on the other hand seem to have every structural book and example problem known to man in addition to the most obscure reference papers. What gives?
Have you ever noticed that we structural folks seem to have the most extensive collection of books and references? Its almost like we collect or hoard them as a hobby. I am guilty of this also and have no explanation. Perhaps we are just wired this way or it could be due to new codes come out before we even have a chance to crack the spine on the previous code book.
I have noticed that mechanical and electrical engineers in our office, for the most part, just have manufacturer catalogs on their shelves with maybe a binder or two and on the rare occasion a single book. How do they possibly get by everyday? What do they reference for calculations and examples?
SE's on the other hand seem to have every structural book and example problem known to man in addition to the most obscure reference papers. What gives?






RE: Structural Engineering books
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.
RE: Structural Engineering books
At second job, one of the higher ups was retiring and I approached him about buying some of his older codes and texts. His first response was no. About two weeks later he dropped several books on my desk and said they were now mine. I offered to pay and he said no. I was the only one who asked and he was glad to know they would still be useful to someone. I still have them.
gjc
RE: Structural Engineering books
Also, I really like the looks of a book library in the office.
RE: Structural Engineering books
I never got the hang of reading digital textbooks, especially when you need to flip back and forth between multiple pages to reference a chart/table.
I keep an Amazon wishlist of books that I
needwant. I also used to live near a commercial used book store that offered semi-reasonable buy-back prices (read: where your spouse brings your books if you die first); I have found a few gems at this store.RE: Structural Engineering books
RE: Structural Engineering books
RE: Structural Engineering books
RE: Structural Engineering books
RE: Structural Engineering books
RE: Structural Engineering books
Consider the design process as having three aspects:
1) At one extreme, sometimes you're doing APPLIED SCIENCE. Statics, heat transfer, whatever electrical folks do. You really don't seem to need many books for this as it's pretty fundamental stuff that you've probably got committed to memory. I don't even keep a statics book at the office on account of my being so darn awesome at it.
2) At the other extreme, you have straight SPECIFICATION based on project requirements that may well have been arrived at from effort expended on #1. In structural, this may be delegated design stuff like connections or roof deck. In mechanical and electrical, it seems to be specifying the requirements for generators, air handling units etc. This requires only product literature, most of which is available online. No textbooks.
3) In the middle, between the extremes listed above, you have what I'll call APPLIED TECHNOLOGY. This is designing your own stuff rather than delegating it. In structural, this takes mountains of reference material because, as any practicing SE can tell you, a sound knowledge of physics will render one qualified to design not a damn thing in the real world of structural engineering. Not even a bolt. You can kind of see this here on Eng-Tips. Mechanical folks, who have the same fundamental applied science training as SE's, if not more, often struggle to design the simplest of structural members properly.
So, with that background in hand, here's my speculative theory:
A) Compared to structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers spend a lot more time in categories one and two where few textbooks are required.
B) Compared to M&E, structural engineers wallow endlessly in category there where you perpetually have the sense that, if you just bought one more specialized textbook, you might be able to feel as though you finally know what your doing well enough to justify your stamp/paycheck.
Obviously, I'm only capable of seeing all this from my own perspective which is structural. I've worked in a couple of ASME offices though so I've got a modicum of street credibility.
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.
RE: Structural Engineering books
My library is about 675 hard copies and several thousand digital articles, books, standards and codes.
It is good to look at the different perspectives for solutions to issues. As engineers, we often think in the "black and white", when in fact, there are sometimes several correct solutions to issues and problems. Multiple references help us to sort these out.
RE: Structural Engineering books
Ron, you're absolutely right. In my library, I have over 1000 sets of plans. Sometimes they give me ideas how to solve a problem or serve as a sanity check for details I've developed. Unfortunately, I think many in the younger generation don't appreciate the value of building a reference library.
RE: Structural Engineering books
I did keep most of my text books from college, and on occasion, refer to some of them. Vibrations, fluids, heat transfer most commonly. That came in handy for my PE tests, which covered material I hadn't even thought about since graduating 10 years prior.
One thing that may affect the SE books is that in a lot of areas, you only need the "latest" version of a book, whereas with building codes, you need to have umpteen different versions.
I find myself keeping fewer catalog-type items. If it's available on the internet, it's quicker to look it up again there than it is to locate that one old catalog under a pile of similar material.
RE: Structural Engineering books
JStephen....hang on the to old catalog info as well. I know from a structural standpoint, the old product info comes in handy more than you'd expect, since we often get called in to deal with issues in buildings that might be anywhere from 6 months old to 60 years old (and more!). Materials change, configurations change and construction techniques change.
Check with SlideRuleEra on the value of keeping the old stuff.....he is one of our most valuable resources in the forums for stuff no one else has kept!!
Here's a link to his website:
SlideRuleEra.net
RE: Structural Engineering books
Please remember: we're not all guys!