Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167203 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Synopsis
James Adams begins with a history of technology and the engineering profession. The author next takes the reader on a guided tour of the engineer's world, beginning with design and invention - the part of engineering that generates new ideas. The next stop is in the field of mathematics, the discipline that allows engineers to build sophisticated products yet makes it a mystical enterprise to the lay public. Science and research, we learn, are the source of many creative directions in technology, but the interrelations between "basic" and "applied" professions are reciprocal and subtle. Experiment and testing introduce the trial-and-error aspect of engineering, which reduces, but can never eliminate, risk and failure. The author also covers manufacturing and assembly, practical processes that impose constraints on the idealistic inventions of the designer's mind; business and money, the latter being required to finance engineering and the former being the means for generating the money; and the controversial but inevitable role of technology regulation. "Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-rings" aims to demystify a profession that is quite often taken for granted and to inspire an appreciation of the world of engineering.

Customer Reviews

nice overview
Being an engineer as well I fully identify with lots of the stuff written in this book and I enjoyed it very much. It would be a good book to read for recent graduates about to embark on the real work. Although heavily geared towards mechanical engineering, the message can be transposed to other fields of course.
Highly recommended.

A nice book for those unsure about the subject 'Engineering'
This is a very nice book, which aims to describe what exactly the engineering profession is.

It is thus perfect for youngsters whom are unsure whether to take on engineering as a profession, after school.