 Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down.
Nice introductory book on Architecture and the "Why" of their structure. Book treats the reader as an intelligent guest and encourages him to understand the fundementals of structure. An easy read and primer for those who want to continue further.
A very interesting read written for any audience
Well written, interesting book on a subject that most of us see daily.
Explains basic principals in terms of real life examples from ships and bridges to animals.
Material is presented with a minimum of math and provides an excellent conceptual overview of the subject. This is my second copy, I mailed my origional copy off to our daughter. Second read was as good as the first.
Simultaneous Enlightenment and Enjoyment
This book is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and deservedly so. Thank goodness it's still in print!
From cover to cover, the book is packed with deep and valuable insights into the behavior and design of structures, including the natural structures "designed" by evolutionary processes. And at the same time, the book is written in a delightfully chatty and unpretentious style which makes it a joy to read, and often even something of a page turner.
The ideal audience is probably structural engineers, and even seasoned ones are sure to learn a thing or two. But most interested lay readers can also benefit from the book, and the author has clearly made a sincere effort to help bring the subject within their grasp.
This book gets my highest possible recommendation, and the price is so low that there's no reason to hesitate to purchase it.
Finally, an engineering book that's won't make you go insane
I'm a starting-out engineer with a degree in aerospace. This is the sort of book that I would've "wanted" to read while in school. I personally haven't had chance to use 90% of what I've learned in school. But this book has opened my eyes to the root of what we do as engineers. Not something that'll get you a better grade in school. Instead, it will motivate you to really learn the most basic and important thing in engineering and to realize how important and crucial what we do at work are. 100% recommended for all my fellow engineering geeks out there!
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul..."
The author, who worked as an aeronautical engineer during the war, was fond of asking his colleages "but shouldn't we put feathers on the wings". That his answer effected an instrument design of my own is strange enough, but it's his persistence in asking such a question well into middle age that is perhaps of higher value. It illustrates the childlike joy that marks the pleasures of engineering. In another example, a drawing of a wing feather showing the quill not centered but close to the leading edge provides a vivid punchline to the story of the development of the mono-plane. How putting struts in the center of their wings made them twist off when pulling out of a dive - resulting in the deaths of many Fokker pilots. He deepens our understanding of shear stresses through examples of form-fitting cocktail dresses made of fabrics cut 'on the bias' - heightening my appreciation both for the human form and Poisson's Ratio. That a book on structural enginnering was a pleasure to read was a surprise. That it was un-put-downable boggles the mind. He enables what we most hope for and least expect from a book: to see the world afresh.
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