Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down

Very interesting book, I learned a lot. Gordon's prose is readable. He is also opinionated and throws in just the right number of anecdotes. I read this book while also watching the "Great Courses" class, "Understanding the World's Greatest Structures," by Stephen Ressler, and think those lectures covered a lot of the same material but with more compelling examples, buildings and bridges.

Стигнах някъде до 20% и се отказах - книгата страхотно описва историята, практиката и математиката на инженерните достижения, свързани с качествата на сгради и съоръжения, но в мен няма грам инженерна и математическа жилка така че се отказах със съжаление.

Finally finished this after an abortive start a few years ago (the original ebook produced chapters in a totally random order). It's an interesting and fairly accessible look at how structures and materials work. My basic scientific background definitely helped, but the book is full of diagrams and examples - and it helpfully emphasises that the equations can be skipped.

That being said, it was originally published in 1978, the author flourished in the 1940s, and that does show up both in the examples used and in the odd, dated way he talks about women in a few places (nothing pervy, not complaining women can't be engineers or anything - just odd). Presumably it's been updated somewhat for the 1991 edition, but that's still 30 years of show more social progress. There's probably a better equivalent out there nowadays. show less

Structures, or Why Things Don't Fall Down
J.E. Gordon
May 22, 2013

A Folio reprint of a 1978 book on engineering, mostly engineering materials. The author seems to be an engineer possibly summing up his career, with a direct and opinionated voice. He explains technical details artfully, describing Young's modulus of elasticity, mathematics of cantilevers, and the desirable properties of wood. The volume has excellent, but too few photographs, and good stories of structures that were unexpectedly good and spectacularly bad.

: A book that simplifies the basics of engineering and I still found it tough reading. I enjoyed the examples he gives, but the general concepts in dry form were hard to comprehend. It still is worth reading in only that it makes you think of the way things are made; natural and man-made.

Interesting. Easy to understand. Somewhat old fashioned writing style.

Definitely read this book if you're planning on building things; memorize it if you're planning on building things in public.