Recommended novels for an engineering student

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#102
another non-fiction work, but I found quite delightful (maybe my Canuckian heritage)

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#103
thadman said:
Thats a bit disappointing. My imagination takes the best of me sometimes.

I purchased the Modern Library Basic Writings of Nietzsche. I believe beginning with an earlier philosopher may have been of benefit, but it was the only worthwhile hardcover philosophy text that Borders had in stock.

I now understand why everyone raves about this man. His writing style is very unique (from my perspective) and his personality is quite interesting. I found his Attempt at a Self Criticism astonishing. He attacks his own work with a severity that would appear difficult to match by anyone.

Since I am not studying this in a University setting, I do not have the benefit of a professor to lead discussion nor do I have any essay assignments to focus critical thinking on specific topics. What would be the best way to approach self-study? For individual philosophers, I assume a biography would be a very valuable resource to place their statements in a historical context and highlight biases. What about secondary sources? What order should I read the works in? (biography --> primary source --> secondary source?)
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As someone who teaches in the Philosophy field, I would agree with some of the others here who suggested that you go wherever your curiosity takes you. If you want to study it more systematically, then at some point you might need to direct your readings in a more critical, methodical manner, but for now just read the things that seem to address questions or topics that you find philosophically interesting.

In general, I would start with texts that are well written and reasonably accessible (i.e. texts that don't assume a broad background in philosophy).

If you want to read a good counterpoint to Wilson, then Mary Midgley's Beast and Man is a good read. She writes in a very accessible manner and provides an interesting critique of reductionism, including the kind of sociobiological view expounded by Wilson.

You might find books on the philosophy of technology interesting. David Rothenberg's book, Hand's End: Technology and the Limits of Nature is a good, accessible introduction to the field. Also, while he's not a philosopher per se, Neil Postman has also written some interesting books on technology that might qualify as 'light' philosophical reading. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology comes immediately to mind.

There are many good introductory texts in philosophy out there as well. Robert Martin's wonderful book There are Two Errors in the Title of This Book is a great introduction to philosophical thought in general. Similarly, a little book like Stephen Mumford's Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction is a good introduction to the kinds of questions that philosophers tend to ask.

There are lots more, of course, but these are some that immediately come to mind.

As for fiction, I second Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It is a fun read that draws on a lot of philosophical work. His more recent book Reamde is also a good read. It's a kind of thriller that involves international spies, online gaming, and so on. Great fun.

Cormac McCarthy is one of my personal favorites.I would recommend pretty much anything by him, but The Crossing or The Road kind of stand out for me.

Neil Gaiman is a good one if you like fantasy/science fiction. American Gods is great, as is his more recent, haunting little book The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Great to see you trying to expand your mindset by reading these kinds of things. I wish more people would do the same.
 
#107
I said I was kidding. Lewis Carrol was a mathematician I believe, many people who wrote excellent literature were also interested in science. Whatever happened to the Universal man? You should know about everything and then, ask for more.
 
#108
Another EE weighing in.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Fer de Lance by Rex Stout
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Spinoff by Charles Sporck (President of National Semiconductor)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
To Build a Fire, and other stories by Jack London
Kelly: More Than My Share Of It All by Kelly Johnson (designer of SR-71 Mach 3 airplane)
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Digital Dice by Paul Nahin
Numerical Recipes by Press et al. This nonfiction book will save your buttocks countless times, in your EE career
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver​
 
#110
while a college student in a Science program I didn't have time for Russian Novels

if they haven't read Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare and Dumas by the time they graduate from college, they've been robbed.
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on the Science/Engineering side you can find many putting forth the claim that Maxwell's equations are one of the greatest pieces of poetry of the physical world, certainly of the 19th century - and college students deprived of its language and poetry are severely intellectually impoverished


and if want further analogy to Literature there is a history of the "language" of Maxwell's Equation's evolving from the 1st publication ~ Sonnet length in "Cartesian" form to nearer Hiaku in Quaternions

and of course Maxwell's Equations violation of Galilean Invariance leads to Einstein's Relativity


too much philosophical musing can ruin good technical works

Hamilton's Quaternion writings are pretty unreadable, Tait really developed the practical system that Maxwell wrote his 2nd pass in, which then lost the war of ideas with Gibbs/Heaviside "Vector Algebra"

Grassman had a superior system that was buried even deeper in philosophical musings that caused the few to try penetrating it to comment on needing to take up smoking

but Clifford's recognition, extension of Grassman's system gives a single line equation for EM in Cl(3,1) - so now its a Koan


more fun with "big L' literary pretension: Shakespeare in the Bush | Natural History Magazine
 
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#111
We're talking novels for engineers, correct? -- how about merchant seaman Josef Conrad -- "Heart of Darkness", "Narcisus", "Typhoon", "Lord Jim" -- they'll all make you perspire.

Winston Churchill was a fan of H.G. Wells, and lifted some of his ideas as when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. H.G. Wells "Anticipations" is available as a digital reprint.

Not a novel -- I would highly recommend Alfred P. Sloan's "My Years with General Motors", all that stuff which went on in Dayton, OH

John Brooks is probably most noted for "The Go Go Years" (highly readable), and "Once in Golconda". He was a great writer for The New Yorker, follower of business and compiled a number of tales of failure in "Business Adventures".

One of the priest I know said he wishes they taught mechanical engineering and accounting in the seminary.
 
#112
jcx

I think it's misplaced for anyone with as poor a grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar to be offering advice on English composition.

I have seen you berate posters who were no more than ill-informed about some aspect of electronics as having 'learning difficulties'.

All-lower-case without punctuation is no less irritating than all-caps, betrays an indifference to the discomfort of the reader, and many of your sentences are as impenetrable as the pronouncements of the Oracle at Delphi.

Get a reality check and stop being so rude.
 
#113
counter culture said:
jcx

I think it's misplaced for anyone with as poor a grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar to be offering advice on English composition.

I have seen you berate posters who were no more than ill-informed about some aspect of electronics as having 'learning difficulties'.

All-lower-case without punctuation is no less irritating than all-caps, betrays an indifference to the discomfort of the reader, and many of your sentences are as impenetrable as the pronouncements of the Oracle at Delphi.

Get a reality check and stop being so rude.
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Everything he's stated above is correct and is excellent advice. My personal experience has been that a lot of Engineers and Techs are very bright, but come across as being practically illiterate. Reading good (Classic) literature is helpful to one's own ability to communicate effectively and quite often will open avenues to other interests and ideas.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
#116
everyone gets to be a critic and that is part of my point

I don't claim to be a good writer, and as to style forum posts are quite different than other forms of writing too

otherwise thanks for the writing tips but I think I'll just continue talking with my decades long climbing partner and downstairs tenant who has taught creative and technical writing at the university for most of that time, his girlfriend who was an editor at a major publisher and now works in the Humanities department, both as lecturers teaching the budding engineers and scientists writing

while I haven't climbed with Jim recently for a few years, he is a Humanities Professor and was a frequent addition to our climbing trips, got drafted as head of the department for a bit

spent lots of time with them on road trips, in the car, climbing, dinning, listening in on their conversations which often turned to their work: teaching, student difficulties, course design


hard to recommend books with so little info - most of my recreational/escapism reading is Science Fiction and Fantasy

Neil Gaiman can be good, Charles de Lint, Kage Baker, Jay Lake...


for technology and culture interaction Jared Diamond wrote a couple more books after Guns, Germs, and Steel that may be worth reading
 
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