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The Engineering Book: From the Catapult to the Curiosity Rover, 250 Milestones in the History of Engineering
Engineering is where human knowledge meets real-world problems—and solves them. It's the source of some of our greatest inventions, from the catapult to the jet engine. Marshall Brain, creator of the How Stuff Works series and a professor at the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at NCSU, provides a detailed look at 250 milestones in the discipline. He covers the various areas, including chemical, aerospace, and computer engineering, from ancient history to the present. The topics include architectural wonders like the Acropolis, the Great Wall of China, and the Eiffel Tower; transportation advances such as the high-speed bullet train; medical innovations, including the artificial heart and kidney dialysis; developments in communications, such as the cell phone; as well as air conditioning, Wi-Fi, the Large Hadron Collider, the self-driving car, and more.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2015
62 people are currently reading
398 people want to read
About the author
Marshall Brain
42 books46 followersMarshall David Brain II was an enthusiastic American author, public speaker, futurist, entrepreneur, and professor, who specialized in making complex topics easier to understand for the general public. Brain was the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and the author of the How Stuff Works book series. He hosted the National Geographic channel's Factory Floor with Marshall Brain and Who Knew? With Marshall Brain.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 4, 2017
I have not read much of this yet, but I won't be able to finish it for a while so I wanted to get an opinion out.
I have read 4 of these 250 milestones books so far, and this I think is the worst. The author seems to have no sense of history and the historical value of certain "milestones", the importance of their creation in a given time period. He therefore collects things that he only sees around him, tries to date them back as early as possible (which almost exclusively lands him in >1800) and describes their modern value. This is evident in the entry on carbon fibers; he dates it to the mid 1800s because Edison used a thin string of it for the lightbulb. Needless to say, most of the entry has nothing to do with that, and is about the modern material. Then he completely neglects some of the most fundamental inventions in history such as the printing press, which single handedly reshaped the world.
Then, he writes poorly. His paragraphs are barely structured, sentences are sometimes incoherent. He starts saying America has a shortage of engineers and then that engineers would go to England for an education then return home. What am I supposed to get out of these two statements back to back? In the early entries he often starts with "imagine...", and then the world without that thing, as if we had never had the chance to see a movie or read a book set in the past. He also spends way too much time glorifying the works of engineers, basically because anything that has ever been invented gets ascribed to "engineers". You don't have "chemists" anymore, you have "chemical engineers".
When I finish, I will update my review
I have read 4 of these 250 milestones books so far, and this I think is the worst. The author seems to have no sense of history and the historical value of certain "milestones", the importance of their creation in a given time period. He therefore collects things that he only sees around him, tries to date them back as early as possible (which almost exclusively lands him in >1800) and describes their modern value. This is evident in the entry on carbon fibers; he dates it to the mid 1800s because Edison used a thin string of it for the lightbulb. Needless to say, most of the entry has nothing to do with that, and is about the modern material. Then he completely neglects some of the most fundamental inventions in history such as the printing press, which single handedly reshaped the world.
Then, he writes poorly. His paragraphs are barely structured, sentences are sometimes incoherent. He starts saying America has a shortage of engineers and then that engineers would go to England for an education then return home. What am I supposed to get out of these two statements back to back? In the early entries he often starts with "imagine...", and then the world without that thing, as if we had never had the chance to see a movie or read a book set in the past. He also spends way too much time glorifying the works of engineers, basically because anything that has ever been invented gets ascribed to "engineers". You don't have "chemists" anymore, you have "chemical engineers".
When I finish, I will update my review
January 19, 2019
I've worked my way through this one slowly--it's perfect to read while having coffee and/or breakfast in the morning. Unfortunately, this means I end up only reading about three milestones out of the book's 250 per day. Slowly but surely!
3.5/5 stars
Structure:
Like the other books in the series, The Engineering Book's 250 milestones each include a page long description and a large, captioned photo. This isn't really the type of book you read in a few sittings over one or two days. It was perfect for me to keep on or near the kitchen table, reading a few milestones a day while I ate meals. Not everybody is a fan of this type of structure, but I've definitely accumulated a lot of random information thanks to it.
One thing I noticed is that the milestones aren't very evenly spread out: maybe three-quarters are from the 1900s. While I still wish they had been more evenly distributed across time, this can largely be explained by the fact that engineering wasn't even a major, well-respected field until about that time: professional engineering licensing wasn't even established until 1907, according to Brain.
Content:
As I mentioned earlier, you learn a lot from the short and simple (for the most part) descriptions, although a few can be difficult to understand without some background knowledge of physics, chemistry, etc. Overall though, this isn't too bad.
The descriptions aren't completely objective and soulless, either. Marshall Brain (aka, the founder of How Stuff Works) is clearly very passionate about engineering, and also inserts some humor into several of his discussions. This is how he concludes a discussion of anti-lock brakes:
The thing engineers cannot do is keep a driver from being a knucklehead. If someone is driving too fast on an icy road, he is probably going to crash. Engineers compensate for knuckleheads with airbags.
The only two things that really got on my nerves were (one) the obvious typos. They didn't impede understanding, but they really should have been edited out. Two, this was unfortunately very male-centric. Not all of the milestones were accredited to only one or two inventors, but when they were, those inventors were male almost every time. I've also read The Chemistry Book by Derek B. Lowe in this series, and it did not have either of the same problems.
This book didn't change my entire view of engineering, but I did enjoy reading and learning from it. So, if you don't like math or science, I wouldn't read it. However, if any of my fellow bookworms reading this are also fellow STEM nerds, read this book if you get the chance!
Recommendations:
The Chemistry Book by Derek B. Lowe: If you are interested in chemistry and enjoyed the structure of The Engineering Book, you'll probably enjoy The Chemistry Book (and likely the rest of the books in this series) too.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson: a very short read that is an interesting take on the science of outer space.
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe: This is a hilarious read taking on some of the greatest engineering feats using only the thousand most common words.
3.5/5 stars
Structure:
Like the other books in the series, The Engineering Book's 250 milestones each include a page long description and a large, captioned photo. This isn't really the type of book you read in a few sittings over one or two days. It was perfect for me to keep on or near the kitchen table, reading a few milestones a day while I ate meals. Not everybody is a fan of this type of structure, but I've definitely accumulated a lot of random information thanks to it.
One thing I noticed is that the milestones aren't very evenly spread out: maybe three-quarters are from the 1900s. While I still wish they had been more evenly distributed across time, this can largely be explained by the fact that engineering wasn't even a major, well-respected field until about that time: professional engineering licensing wasn't even established until 1907, according to Brain.
Content:
As I mentioned earlier, you learn a lot from the short and simple (for the most part) descriptions, although a few can be difficult to understand without some background knowledge of physics, chemistry, etc. Overall though, this isn't too bad.
The descriptions aren't completely objective and soulless, either. Marshall Brain (aka, the founder of How Stuff Works) is clearly very passionate about engineering, and also inserts some humor into several of his discussions. This is how he concludes a discussion of anti-lock brakes:
The thing engineers cannot do is keep a driver from being a knucklehead. If someone is driving too fast on an icy road, he is probably going to crash. Engineers compensate for knuckleheads with airbags.
The only two things that really got on my nerves were (one) the obvious typos. They didn't impede understanding, but they really should have been edited out. Two, this was unfortunately very male-centric. Not all of the milestones were accredited to only one or two inventors, but when they were, those inventors were male almost every time. I've also read The Chemistry Book by Derek B. Lowe in this series, and it did not have either of the same problems.
This book didn't change my entire view of engineering, but I did enjoy reading and learning from it. So, if you don't like math or science, I wouldn't read it. However, if any of my fellow bookworms reading this are also fellow STEM nerds, read this book if you get the chance!
Recommendations:
The Chemistry Book by Derek B. Lowe: If you are interested in chemistry and enjoyed the structure of The Engineering Book, you'll probably enjoy The Chemistry Book (and likely the rest of the books in this series) too.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson: a very short read that is an interesting take on the science of outer space.
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe: This is a hilarious read taking on some of the greatest engineering feats using only the thousand most common words.
November 25, 2018
This book outlines advancements made in design. I loved reading about the classics and thinking about some of these 1st designs and how they led the way to many other great and important inventions. I enjoyed the history and filling in some informational gaps. The author gives credit to people, agencies, private businesses and the governement when addressing projects. I also really appreciated that the information was written up through the present. Great job in covering a timeline...the book starts with the bow and arrow and ends with Things We Have Yet To Engineer! Ex. Flying cars, Time machines, immortality and instant healing
July 13, 2019
An excellent compendium of the greatest engineering accomplishments of humankind. Every page was interesting, and every page taught me something I did not know. Highly recommended for anyone interested in science and technology; it would also make a great gift for any technically inclined person in your life.
June 8, 2015
Beautiful pictures. Love how everything is broken up by years. Gives a nice overview of the different technology/engineering feats.
March 16, 2023
Leí este libro cuando quería ser ingeniera pero elegí arquitectura así que meeeh
May 28, 2020
A fun, easy, interesting read.
January 4, 2026
A nice, pleasant read. It was easy to get through and felt like I learned a lot. Would recommend to a friend.
May 9, 2016
So this book, like the Biology book, has a simple structure; one side is printed with words and the other side has an image relating to the engineering marvel we are talking about. Now, engineers might not have invented a lot of the things in this book, but they make the idea more practical and cost effective. Take the Wright Flyer of 1903. It was made of wood and cloth and went at a speed that was not all that impressive. Over the years, planes have come to their own in being made of stronger materials and having better propulsion systems. This was all done by teams of engineers working to improve stuff.
Not that there aren't mistakes or missteps out there. The book also lists the Hindenburg disaster, the Chernobyl disaster, the Fukushima Plant disaster and others.
All throughout the book, you can feel the reverence that Marshall Brain feels for these men and women that have made life easier for the billions of us that live on this planet. It goes slightly into the Science Fiction genre at the end, but not entirely. The final few entries are for things that have yet to be invented and can only have an estimated date. They are Vactrains, Brain Replication, Mars Colony and Things We Have Yet To Engineer. All of these things are unfeasible with our current technology, and Mr. Brain explains why, so I suppose they make sense in being in there.
Things we have Yet to Engineer could cover a whole book on itself I am sure. A lot of them are silly ideas, or taken from movies and thus have no basis in current science. For instance, it mentions the Flying Car as something that would present a host of problems due to cost, stability and weight concerns. However, the author does have hopes for the future. After all, the communicator in Star Trek was a lot like the cell phones of today, and that only took them about thirty years. I certainly look forward to what people are capable of.
Not that there aren't mistakes or missteps out there. The book also lists the Hindenburg disaster, the Chernobyl disaster, the Fukushima Plant disaster and others.
All throughout the book, you can feel the reverence that Marshall Brain feels for these men and women that have made life easier for the billions of us that live on this planet. It goes slightly into the Science Fiction genre at the end, but not entirely. The final few entries are for things that have yet to be invented and can only have an estimated date. They are Vactrains, Brain Replication, Mars Colony and Things We Have Yet To Engineer. All of these things are unfeasible with our current technology, and Mr. Brain explains why, so I suppose they make sense in being in there.
Things we have Yet to Engineer could cover a whole book on itself I am sure. A lot of them are silly ideas, or taken from movies and thus have no basis in current science. For instance, it mentions the Flying Car as something that would present a host of problems due to cost, stability and weight concerns. However, the author does have hopes for the future. After all, the communicator in Star Trek was a lot like the cell phones of today, and that only took them about thirty years. I certainly look forward to what people are capable of.
July 24, 2015
I had a love/hate relationship with this book. I loved the concept of an overview of engineering milestones but was disappointed by the (necessary) brevity of the articles. I was also confused by the placement of photos with the articles which did not show the subject of the piece. For example, the article about the "Harry Potter Forbidden Journey" ride at the Universal Theme Park is accompanied by a photo of a "robocoaster" in Hanover, Germany. When all was said and done I found this book to be just ok.
October 14, 2015
This book has really cool facts about really big (and some little) things such as how they managed the heat from the setting cement as they formed Hoover Dam. Sure, you might know some of them already but this book has many and it's all laid out in a very approachable format.
March 16, 2016
This book was mildly interesting. I found that some of choices for this book seemed to arbitrary. Some even redundant. And not a mention of the printing press, which seems little confusing considering that the book is a print medium.
October 12, 2015
Some interesting info, but the poor selection of pictures really detracted from the book.
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December 4, 2015620.009 B8144 2015
January 23, 2016
Thought I'd enjoy it more. POV very male-centric.
December 6, 2016
Picture book with descriptions. The pictures sometimes don't really align with the text, such as some modern era image is illustrating something from earlier historical times.
August 4, 2022
Esta interesante pero no describe totalmente cada invento o descubrimiento, además de que en algunos la información es errónea o desactualizada
April 21, 2025
a catalog of possibility, the giants to stand on. It’s not about rediscovering the wheel—it’s about using the wheel better, smarter, in ways that matter now.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews