Engineering and inventions books
Engineering and inventions books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Evolution of Useful Things
Henry PetroskiShows how everyday objects such as forks, paper clips, and the zipper changed through small modifications, and argues that design follows from failure and need.
The Way Things Work
David MacaulayA heavily illustrated guide that explains mechanisms like levers, engines, and computers with cutaway drawings and clear diagrams; a common entry point for the genre.
Invention by Design
Henry PetroskiExamines how engineers reason about function, failure, and trade-offs, with an emphasis on how design processes are actually carried out.
How We Got to Now
Steven JohnsonFollows six everyday technologies, including glass, cold, and sound, through their development and the social changes they brought.
My Inventions
Nikola TeslaA first-person account by Tesla, first serialized in 1919, covering his work on alternating current, motors, and other projects; a primary source with a self-presenting perspective.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More engineering and inventions books
- Technics and Civilization
Technics and CivilizationLewis Mumford - Profiles of the Future
Profiles of the FutureArthur C. Clarke - Where Good Ideas Come From
Where Good Ideas Come FromSteven Johnson - Out of Control
Out of ControlKevin Kelly - Girls Think of Everything
Girls Think of EverythingCatherine Thimmesh - Mistakes That Worked
Mistakes That WorkedCharlotte Foltz Jones - Six Dots
Six DotsJen Bryant - How the World Really Works
How the World Really WorksVaclav Smil - Good to Great
Good to GreatJim Collins - Multimedia Database Retrieval A Humancentered Approach
Multimedia Database Retrieval A Humancentered ApproachLing Guan2010 - Signal Processing and Networking for Big Data ApplicationsSignal Processing and Networking for Big Data ApplicationsZhu Han2017
- Mechatronics and the Design of Intelligent Machines and Syst
Mechatronics and the Design of Intelligent Machines and SystemsDavid Allan Bradley2000