Engineering in History

by Richard Shelton Kirby

Broad, nontechnical survey offers fascinating coverage of history's major technological advances: food-producing revolution, appearance of urban society, birth of Greek science, revolution in power, steam and the Industrial Revolution, electricity and the beginnings of applied science, and the age of automatic control. 181 illustrations. "Excellent." — Isis.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Engineering, Physics

544 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1956

About the author

b. 1874

Reviews

[Smitesh Bakrania]

Excellent account of events and organized in a logical fashion. The narrative however is challenging to follow. It is more an account and less a connected discussion of the history. Still lots of threads to pursue here.

[Brian Stein]

Overall, I consider Engineering in History to be an extremely interesting look back at engineering and its relation to the advancement of civilized society. I found the sections on the development of the steam engine, the sections on bridge building and the nascent field of electrical engineering especially fascinating. Unfortunately, the authors focus primarily on European and American engineering history, with only brief forays into early Egyptian and Mesopotamian engineering. China is mentioned only in passing. Otherwise, the authors concern themselves only with western development, which I consider a major weakness and missed opportunity. In addition, the authors occasionally espouse social opinions that strike me as out of date and slightly offensive; however, given that the book was published in 1955 and rarely ventures outside its purview, this can largely be overlooked. A highly edifying read for any engineer interested in placing their work in a larger historical context or to anyone else who loves a highly detailed and thoroughly researched historical primer. Count me in both former and latter groups.

[Tinwerume]

This was really good! The chapters on greek and roman engineering were pretty bad and I just skipped them, and overall I would have preferred more technical details (especially more diagrams), but overall enjoyable.

[Sudharsan]

Good

[Nicole]

Fairly well written - most lay people would have no problem understanding it.

I enjoyed the parts about building and bridges. Totally not interested in electricity and there's too much information about canals.

Totally focused on the West. Asian countries were mentioned only in passing, if it at all. But, I guess this should be expected as it was written in the 50s.

[Kent Archie]

A little dry, but it covers a great deal of history and technologies.
The same areas are discussed in different times (bridges, buildings) so you can see the changes.
Too many assumptions about the readers knowledge of construction terms.