The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems

by Henry Petroski

Book Overview

From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human , The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307272451
• ISBN13: 9780307272454
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Science and Engineering

Petroski aims to clarify the difference between science and engineering. He says that "engineering and medicine are more like each other than like science." The book's subtitle, //Why Science Alone Will not Solve Our Global Problems,// focuses Petroski's conviction, drawing upon the support of some of the most creative scientific minds of the 20th Century, including Albert Einstein. One of the main problems with technological rescue, Petroski claims, is its high cost. The Europeans, he says, are way ahead of the U.S. in the race for renewable energy. The reason for their success is the high cost of petroleum-based fuel. When the cost of petroleum energy exceeds renewable energy, technology will expand in that direction. Petroski explains in clear English how our engineering will find a new way to harness the vast technology already within our grasp. His ideas bridge the once-clear gulf between science and engineering. Engineering has shifted away from mere scientific application. The new technology, he claims, emerges from the amalgamation of different areas. If need is the mother of invention, then technology is the godfather of engineering. The author sees the day when technology will fill niches and support our ingenuity to fabricate a more efficient world. Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky

An eloquent case for engineering

In this highly engrossing book, Petroski eloquently challenges a fundamental and profound bias in our society--the relegation of engineers and engineering to second-class status among professions. He traces to roots of the perceived primacy of science over engineering to the Western Platonic bias that "ideas are superior and prerequisite to things" and to the simplistic linear model of research-before-development promulgated by science administrator Vannevar Bush in the 1940s. Petroski uses examples such as the steam engine, powered flight and rocketry, to demonstrate that engineering often leads science, and also that science is a tool of engineering. He also compellingly describes the optimistic, challenging, rewarding nature of engineering, showing its satisfying creativity. And to demonstrate the richness of engineering, he takes the reader through a tour of technologies as seen through the eyes of an engineer, including speed bumps and humps, dams, climate change, "geoengineering" of the earth to combat climate change, renewable energy, nanotechnology, robotics, structural earthquake engineering, hurricane protection, airline accidents, the electric power grid, evolution of the automobile, and "financial engineering." This book is essential reading, not only for engineers and students, but for all of us who benefit from the vast wealth of technology that makes modern life possible.

About the similarities and differences between science and engineering

"The Essential Engineer" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Petroski's book interview ran here as the cover feature on March 26, 2010.