Books on science
“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”.
Newton’s third law of motion, Newton 1687
Due to a lack of formal scientific scholastic training I have developed an interest towards do-it-yourself sciencebooks. That is books which explain scientific topics without their formal notations. Some time ago I ran into difficulties passing my last exams on the Politecnico di Milano. A course called ‘Tecnica delle costruzioni meccaniche’, in short it talks about beams, internal actions, and more. The real thing I would say. However this courses required a certain — but for me unknown — knowledge of Mathematics. The problem was born.
But I still I had to pass this exam, luckily my mechanics professor was willing to except my alternative approach. A friend of mine informed me about a book written by Prof. J.E. Gordon called Structures, or why things don’t fall down. This book talks about structures and mechanics with much less mathematics. The book reads like a novel and explains some basic concept about structures, cracks, and materials in a very concise way which much less mathematics.
Long story short: I studied this book and had an private exam. I passed gloriously. Problem solved and I’m happy. For anybody interested in these kind of books have a look at the following:
1. On Mathematics
Innumeracy, Mathematical Illiteracy and its consequences
John Allen Paulos, 1988, ISBN: 0679726012
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper
John Allen Paulos, 1995, ISBN: 038548254XThe Number Devil – a mathematical adventure
Hans Magnus Enzensberger, 1997, ISBN: 08050629982. On Materials
The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don’t Fall through the Floor
J.E. Gordon, 1984, ISBN: 06911254813. On Mechanics
Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down
J.E. Gordon, 1978, ISBN: 0306812835To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design
Henry Petroski, 1985, ISBN: 0679734163
Beyond Engineering: Essays and Other Attempts to Figure Without Equations
Henry Petroski, 1986, ISBN: 0312077858Walter Lewin (MIT)
About: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lewin
Some video’s: http://tinyurl.com/zov9w
I´m in good company. Late Jef Raskin wrote a similar list: http://jef.raskincenter.org/unpublished/book_reviews.html