Structural Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by David Blockley

Very Short Introductions #309

by David Blockley

Engineering is part of almost everything we do--from the buildings we live in and the roads and railways we travel on, to the telephones and computers we use to communicate and the X-ray machines that help doctors diagnose diseases. In this Very Short Introduction, David Blockley explores the nature and practice of engineering--its history, its scope, and its relationship with art, craft, science, and technology. He begins with its early roots, ranging from Archimedes to some of the great figures of engineering such as Brunel and Marconi, right up to the modern day, describing the five ages of engineering--gravity, heat, electromagnetism, information, and systems--and showing how they relate to one another. Blockley discusses some of engineering's great achievements as well as its great disasters--such as when things went catastrophically wrong at Chernobyl--using examples of everyday tools to reveal how engineering actually works. He also looks at some of the contributions engineers will have to make in the future in order to sustain and promote human well-being.

Genres: Engineering, Science, Nonfiction, Technology, Stem, Reference

Paperback Bunko

First published March 22, 2012

About the author

David Blockley is an engineer and academic scientist. He has been Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Arts.

Reviews

[Dan Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a bad book but I was very disappointed by it because it was not what I was expecting. Indeed, I don't think it meets the description in the opening line that the book "is to explore ... what engineering is all about". Early on, there's a section in which the author carefully differentiates the elements of "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) but then he says he will equate Engineering and Technology for the purposes of the book. Lo and behold, most of the remainder of the book is a competent brief history and explanation of Science and Technology, and poor old Engineering is hardly covered! Finally, in the last chapter, the author starts writing about Engineering questions (eg. risk, social context, hard vs soft systems, some engineering techniques) but it's way too little and too late. I don't get it - if he wanted to write a potted history of Technology that's fine, but why label it as an introduction to Engineering?

The author spends significant time on philosophical or abstract questions, which is fine, although I thought some of those sections required more examples to bring them to life.

It's a shame, because I thought there were some really interesting concepts in the book. For example, in the final chapter the author draws an interesting analogy between properties of electrical systems and teams. Most of the sections in the bulk of the book (that I've described as a history of Science and Technology) are well written and useful. I particularly liked the explanation of electrical resonance for an LC oscillator (which later links nicely to the analogy mentionned above).

[Eric Muellejans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun pocket read that I kept in my jacket - can tell the author is trying so so hard to cover so many core engineering concepts and their application to modern day.

Thermodynamics ~ Combustion Engine
Electricity ~ circuits
Semiconductors ~ digital information

Author jumps around from concept to concept without much connection or gets too lost engineering philosophy.

Do appreciate the mini history lesson for each.

If you like engineering overviews and history stick to Vertasium videos.

[Rick Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book to get myself more into Engineering. I was surprised to find, Civil Engineering as the mother of all engineering. I already know the meat of Chapter 2, 3, 4 on Age of Gravity, Heat, Electromagnetism from other readings. Those chapters are pieces of scientists, you learn in High school jumbled together.


Chapter 5, and 6, Age of Information, and Age of Systems seemed to be new to me. I learned about Systems thinking in this book.

I would recommend checking the last two chapters.

Deus Vult,
Gottfried.

[Fernando Suarezserna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love this book series, this title being the exception. I was looking for a book on the mindset of engineers (being a civil engineer myself) and what I found was a book that briefly covers engineering history (or maybe even history of technology), such as the inventions of capacitors, etc. Not what I was expecting.

[Meadhbh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like pornography, I would certainly recognize engineering when I saw it.

But I recently found myself wondering about the philosophy of art, science and engineering and this "I know it when I see it" definition is not sufficient for rigorous study of such subjects. Which is why I bought this small text. The introduction and opening chapter give succinct definitions for engineering, craft, art, science and technology. And David Blockley, a professor of engineering at Bristol University, is certainly qualified to develop this taxonomy.

To quote the text: "... science is a branch of knowledge which is systematic, testable and objective.
Technology is the application of science for practical purposes. Engineering is the art and science of making things such as engines, bridges, buildings, cars, trains, ships, chemical plants, mobile phones and computers. Mathematics is the logical systematic study of relationships between numbers, shapes and processes explained symbolically... Art is difficult to define but is a power of the practical intellect, the ability to make something of more than ordinary significance. Craft is an art, trade or occupation requiring special skills - especially manual skill." [pp. 6-7]

I'm slightly concerned that the definition of Engineering is ostensive. That is, it simply points out examples of things that are "Engineering-ish." Other definitions I've seen describe engineering as the application of rigorous symbology and specialist knowledge to make predictions about the design, construction and use of artifacts of practical utility. Blockley's text touches on this aspect of Engineering, but doesn't dive into it whole-hog. But it does discuss the ramifications of such a definition. It's not enough to use craft or skill to build a bridge, it's not "Engineering" unless you've created a communicable model describing the bridges components that predicts the behaviour of the bridge if critical parameters (height, length, bearable weight, construction materials) are modified.

I would also add that Art and Architecture often make plain the relationship of an artifact's components in an effort to achieve an affective (emotional) response. In the case of classical architecture, the relationship tends towards "harmonious" relations. Modern architecture focuses more on the utility and relationship of an artifact's components from the perspective of the user / inhabitant (see Christopher Alexander's essay "A City is Not a Tree.") Over the past two centuries, popular art has increasingly used humorous or even jarring juxtapositions of component elements to amuse or enlighten the viewer (see John Berger's "Ways of Seeing.")

I quibble about the verbiage used to describe different disciplines, but the remainder of the text provides ample detail to being discussing an intensional definition of Science, Engineering, Technology, etc.

Following the introduction comes a review of Engineering's classical sub-disciplines: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical. Add to that a discussion of newer fields of study: Systems and Computer Engineering. I'm also reminded of how what we now call "Operations Research" was once called "Industrial Engineering." (As an aside, I learned from this text that "Civil" engineering got it's name to distinguish it from "Military" engineering. I guess if you were building a bridge, you were a "Civil Engineer" but if you blowing one up you were a "Military Engineer.")

It's a short book, 114 pages of primary text. It's light on diagrams, but they are not completely absent.

Well worth the read if for no other reason than to collect references to other, larger texts. You can read this text in an afternoon, and is worth it if you've ever wondered why Engineers and Scientists often seem to be from different intellectual planets.

[Wibisono Yamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book turns out to discuss process safety concept in a bit detailed

"'Swiss cheese’ model represents the various barriers that keep a system from failing, such as good, safe technical design, alarms, automatic shutdowns, checking and monitoring systems, as separate pieces of cheese with various holes that are the hazards. The holes are dynamic in the sense that they move around as they are created and destroyed though time. The problems arise if and when the holes in the ‘cheese’ barriers suddenly ‘line up.’ In effect, they can then be penetrated by a single rod representing a path to failure – a failure scenario."

And a good analogy for system failure..
"
I have described his ideas using an analogy with an inflated balloon where the pressure of the air in the balloon represents the ‘proneness to failure’ of a system. The start of the process is when air is first blown into the balloon – when the first preconditions for the accident are established. The balloon grows in size and so does the ‘proneness to failure’ as unfortunate events develop and accumulate. If they are noticed, then the size of the balloon can be reduced by letting air out – in other words, those responsible remove some of the predisposing events and reduce the proneness to failure. However, if they go unnoticed or are not acted on, then the pressure of events builds up until the balloon is very stretched indeed. At this point, only a small trigger event, such as a pin or lighted match, is needed to release the energy pent up in the system. The trigger is often identified as the cause of the accident but it isn’t. The over-stretched balloon represents an accident waiting to happen."

Plus some touches on "system thinking". A book that I would recommend.

[Michael D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. It indeed touches upon SOME aspects of engineering, which was the intention of the entire book. However, I felt that most of the book is just history and it rarely goes into the application and the prominent mechanisms of the extremely broad field. The book wanders around a bit rather than sticking to the subject at hand. Frequently the book delves into philosophy and even religion, among other matters.
I can safely say this book was designed for younger students in high school, and even in middle school. As a student in high school, I think it is far too simplistic to be of much practical use to anyone who wants to learn engineering as a discipline, which what seems to be advertised.
In spite of its title, this book is not about technological principles, but rather about the history of technology and how it has matured and developed over the years.
If you are in store for a simplistic book regarding the mere history of a field much bigger than this book ever hopes to be, knock yourself out.

[Vincent Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very broad introduction to engineering, having split itself into 6 chapters involving the meaning of engineering and the fields of physics that are commonly utilised in engineering solutions. I would say the main theme of this book is not totally clear because of the lack of a coherent structure. Mainly, this book illustrates the history of physical discoveries, not much technical knowledge is conveyed. For example, in the chapter "The age of electromagnetism", it focuses heavily on how previous engineers had taken advantaged of electromagnetism and built revolutionary products (such as AC generator, radio, telephone etc.), rather than portraying the principles that underpin these products.
Having said that, the insights on failures and "system thinking" is what I consider to be the key takeaways from this book.

[Izzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely hated this book. First of all, it is titled and introduction to engineering not an introduction to the history of engineering. This may not sound like it makes a difference but reading a chapter that solely list the names of random ancient engineers, scientists and mathematicians, who I have never even heard of, and then not elaborating was frustrating. And then it went on to detail specifics on various pulleys and mining solutions in somehow too much detail and too little detail so I was bored of hearing about it but still did not understand (not really an introduction). I could not even finish this book.... It may get better but even if it does the first half of the book is not worth reading.

p.s. this is from the perspective of someone who has applied to study engineering at university so obviously has some interest in the subject

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 'A Very Short Introduction' series always have a difficult remit. To introduce a subject to the reader, keeping it understandable for those with limited knowledge, but not making it so simple tha the book is effectively worthless. Blockley and OUP have judged this addition to the series very well.

Split into Gravity, Heat, Electromagnetism, Information and Risk this was easy to read and follow with simple diagrams where required. As much a 'History of' as an introduction it explores Engineering in the past, present, and (slightly) the future.

I found the 'Information' and 'Risk' chapters the most interesting, as I had a better initial knowledge of the background of the other 3 chapters.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 'A Very Short Introduction to Engineering', Blockley covers the basics and what engineering actually is. It tells a large and informative overview of the history of engineering and the way it links to nowadays is fascinating.

This book isn't particularly challenging in terms of scientific terms and engineering principles so is excellent for people, like me, who are interested in a career in this discipline.
I found the later chapters to be more interesting, especially the chapter on systems which I found fascinating!

This is a really good starting point but for those who are looking for a focused insight into engineering are probably going to be let down by this book.

[An Te · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and rather abstract at times with some heady philosophical summaries. It begins with the history and then embarks on some thermodynamics (mechanical) and then the modern developments in electrical engineering. The civil is more or less left out other than a mention for Vitruvius. But all in all, I'm glad I read this book as recommended by my engineer brother. An orientation for more reading.

[Abhishek Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is great for those who want to know about engineering from a broader perspective.This book is very unlike the regular engineering books that we read in our college.this book basically tells us about the growth of engineering from nature ,how small things that we see around ourselves matter the most .It gives you a perspective of engineering that how engineering grows from books to big buildings, aeroplanes, train engines. This book is for a newcommer.

[铭 杰 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers an idea about the history of engineering and what engineers historically do but does little to provide the juicy details about the work of engineers and the environment that they work it; let alone the type of people engineers tend to be. Not very informative but more of a history book.

[Timea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different vertical than expected

I was hoping this book would start where it ended. It gave a great historic overview and good causality on how engineering became what it is today, but I was looking to make sense of the systematic cooperation of the different engineering fields today. Great teaser though, and put me in the direction of my next step of my research..

[sophia sahonero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was talking to a D1 yapper wtf. I thought I picked up an engineering book not a philosophy book beeee so serious rn but, I guess it does explain a lot about engineering actually made me think more about it then just technical engineering!

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more brief than I thought it would be

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, but enjoyable.

Good for someone that would like to understand the basics of engineering and it's history. I would like liked to see more civil/structural talk.

[afrin b · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to give this 4 stars bcos i used this in my
personal statement for uni. the risk chapter was a sick one ngl

[Jonathan Leo]

dnf - tending on esoteric

[Luyi]

Read the half and skimmed the rest. Interesting and informative but not so helpful to do engineering.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engineering is all around us. It’s impossible to imagine the modern life without all the products, constructions, tools, systems, and myriad other objects and utilities that have been developed and constructed through the all-encompassing activity that we refer to as engineering. Yet, as it’s often the case, sometimes the most ubiquitous terms and concepts are the ones that are the hardest to define properly. In “Engineering: A Very Short Introduction” David Blockley tries to answer that question, and provide the historical and cultural context for the development and evolution of the engineering techniques, materials, and practices.

Engineering is often associated closely with science, and the distinction between engineering and applied science is all but nonexistent. It is then no coincidence that the major shifts in the engineering tools and techniques have happened as the humanity has gained access and understanding of bigger and wider realms of scientific knowledge. This connection between science and engineering is also reflected in the way that this short book is organized. The main chapters of the book are dedicated to gravity, heat, electromagnetism, information, and systems. They don’t only reflect the historical development, but also the increase in complexity. I only wish there had been a chapter on bioengineering. This nascent field is bound to have significant and unimaginable impact in the upcoming years.

One of this book’s biggest strengths is its willingness to take a look at engineering from a very deep and philosophical point of view. It makes this a very challenging read, and it can also make few sections feel perhaps unduly dry. Nonetheless, the book also provides plenty of concrete examples, insights, and tidbits of knowledge. I’ve learned for the first time that the term engineering is derived from ingenuity, and not from engine. I also understood for the first time how the cellular phone networks work, as well as a few other little engineering secrets. Overall, this is a very interesting book, but if you don’t have the stomach for philosophical musings (broadly understood), you may not like it all that much.

[Chris Foley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. Even for a short intro I found it hard to get through. Interesting fun fact. Engineering, the term, has nothing to do with engines.

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Engineering A Very Short Introduction by David Blockley which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book is part of a series where they get an expert on a given subject to wite an introductory text of about 150 pages and on the whole they are pretty good and there are around 300 books in the series. Engineering is defined as turning dreams into reality and apparently there are over 30 separate engineering bodies in Britain alone. The engineering organisations often operate at a country or provincial level. The Ancient Greeks used a type of touriquet to reset bones which is an early example of engineering. The whole field of engineering is huge and engineers must specialize in a particular discipline. Of course examples of modern engineering are abundant from trains to skyscrapers. The earliest steam engines were Newcomens machines and later came the 1st steam locomotive The Rocket capable of pulling a carriage of 30 passengers at 30 miles per hour. James Watt developed a very efficient steam engine which was enclosed and didn't use atmospheric pressure internally. Another huge development is the suspension bridge which must take huge loads as well as be capable of tolerating extreme weather. Of course there is a downside to modern technology like global warming and the nuclear reactors in Japan & the Ukraine which have sustained considerable damage. I enjoyed reading this book which is about an interesting subject.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is commonly misconceived that the word 'engineer' comes from 'engine', thus an engineer is someone who works with engines. In fact, the relation is the other way round - the word 'engine' derives from 'engineer', which derives ultimately (via French) from the Latin ingenarius, that is to say, someone who uses ingenuity. So, what does this mean? Is an engineer someone who turns theory into practical application? On the contrary, technology and engineering were streets ahead of (theoretical) science for most of history, as Dr Blockley ably shows in this excellent introduction. The book essentially amounts to a potted history of invention. Many scientists with no specialism in history display a profound ignorance at this stage, but there are no gaps or heinous generalisations here, despite the slimness of the volume. In fact, the author stands out for being circumspect and generous to other disciplines - not many people, after all, are fellows both of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Arts. The result is both an informative and stimulating read - my chief complaint being that it could not have gone on far longer.

Chapter 1: From idea to reality
Chapter 2: The age of gravity - time to work
Chapter 3: The age of heat - you can't get something for nothing
Chapter 4: The age of electromagnetism - the power of attraction
Chapter 5: The age of information - getting smaller
Chapter 6: The age of systems - risky futures

[Brett Potts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had a hard time with this book. Not all the fault of the author, though. When you set out to write an introduction to engineering in 117 pages, and cover 5000 years of engineering history, it’s bound to fail. But most of the book was either fluff that didn’t need to be said, or explanations of complex science without the aid of good diagrams or full explanations. If I actually want to learn more about engineering, it has to be with books that go much farther than this did.

[Luis Enrico Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is asking broader questions about risk, systems thinking, ethics, and the role of engineering in society. Blockley defines engineering as the art of making things work safely and efficiently in the real world. He emphasizes how engineering is not just applied science—it’s a unique way of thinking, balancing constraints, costs, and consequences.

[Ben Gutteridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle chapters are pretty interesting but first and last chapters are very rambling and waffly

[Fadri Mokolintad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, bahasannya loncat sana sini. Tapi lumayan siiip lah.