History of Strength of Materials

by Stephen P. Timoshenko

This excellent historical survey of the strength of materials features many references to the theories of elasticity and structure. Based on an extensive series of lectures, it explores the early roots of the discipline from the great monuments and pyramids of ancient Egypt to the temples and fortifications of the Greeks and Romans. 245 figures.

Genres: Engineering, Science, History, Technology

480 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1983

Reviews

[John Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Possibly the driest book I'll post on Good Reads. Definitely interesting to see how people in the past figured stuff out pre-computers. I barely followed the math. Figures on separate pages made it difficult, but that's also a commentary on my laziness.

The most titillating part was the author writing about Bernoulli Beams, their assumptions and conclusions, as if the author hadn't already enlightened the world with Timoshenko beams. He never lays them out in the book, which was a missed slam dunk on the entire history of beam analysis. Call it humility I guess...

[Tinwerume]

I'm dropping this book for now - the author assumes a fair amount of engineering knowledge that I just don't have, which makes it really hard to appreciate the various theories. I'll come back to it after I've read a book on current theories of strength of materials.

[Matt Gallant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for those with a background in engineering and enjoy history

[Vitalii · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is useful for stress and civil, who can see all the progress of their science.

Personally, I like the story of Saint-Venant most of all.