An Engineer's Alphabet

An Engineer's Alphabet

Author: Henry Petroski

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-10-10

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1139505300

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Written by America's most famous engineering storyteller and educator, this abecedarium is one engineer's selection of thoughts, quotations, anecdotes, facts, trivia and arcana relating to the practice, history, culture and traditions of his profession. The entries reflect decades of reading, writing, talking and thinking about engineers and engineering, and range from brief essays to lists of great engineering achievements. This work is organized alphabetically and more like a dictionary than an encyclopedia. It is not intended to be read from first page to last, but rather to be dipped into, here and there, as the mood strikes the reader. In time, it is hoped, this book should become the source to which readers go first when they encounter a vague or obscure reference to the softer side of engineering.


Remaking the World

Remaking the World

Author: Henry Petroski

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1998-12-29

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0375700242

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Science/Engineering "Petroski has an inquisitive mind, and he is a fine writer. . . . [He] takes us on a lively tour of engineers, their creations and their necessary turns of mind." --Los Angeles Times From the Ferris wheel to the integrated circuit, feats of engineering have changed our environment in countless ways, big and small. In Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering, Duke University's Henry Petroski focuses on the big: Malaysia's 1,482-foot Petronas Towers as well as the Panama Canal, a cut through the continental divide that required the excavation of 311 million cubic yards of earth. Remaking the World tells the stories behind the man-made wonders of the world, from squabbles over the naming of the Hoover Dam to the effects the Titanic disaster had on the engineering community of 1912. Here, too, are the stories of the personalities behind the wonders, from the jaunty Isambard Kingdom Brunel, designer of nineteenth-century transatlantic steamships, to Charles Steinmetz, oddball genius of the General Electric Company, whose office of preference was a battered twelve-foot canoe. Spirited and absorbing, Remaking the World is a celebration of the creative instinct and of the men and women whose inspirations have immeasurably improved our world. "Petroski [is] America's poet laureate of technology. . . . Remaking the World is another fine book." --Houston Chronicle "Remaking the World really is an adventure in engineering." --San Diego Union-Tribune


Coal, Steam and Ships

Coal, Steam and Ships

Author: Crosbie Smith

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-07-05

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 1107196728

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An innovative account of the trials and tribulations of first-generation Victorian mail steamship lines, their passengers and the public.


Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography

Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography

Author: John Hannavy

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-12-16

Total Pages: 1630

ISBN-13: 1135873267

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The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography is the first comprehensive encyclopedia of world photography up to the beginning of the twentieth century. It sets out to be the standard, definitive reference work on the subject for years to come. Its coverage is global – an important ‘first’ in that authorities from all over the world have contributed their expertise and scholarship towards making this a truly comprehensive publication. The Encyclopedia presents new and ground-breaking research alongside accounts of the major established figures in the nineteenth century arena. Coverage includes all the key people, processes, equipment, movements, styles, debates and groupings which helped photography develop from being ‘a solution in search of a problem’ when first invented, to the essential communication tool, creative medium, and recorder of everyday life which it had become by the dawn of the twentieth century. The sheer breadth of coverage in the 1200 essays makes the Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography an essential reference source for academics, students, researchers and libraries worldwide.