In today’s age of electronic communications and the Internet, it’s not surprising that increasing numbers of people receive their news and facts electronically, and that the desire to read good books is waning. As a longtime lover of books, I’m saddened by this trend.

In high school, I greatly impressed our school librarian, the kindly Sister Angelus, by reading at least three books a week (a teenage football player interested in books, on a wide range of subjects no less, wow!).

This fading interest in book reading, however, doesn’t mean that all books are doomed. It means that fewer will be read and consequently saved in bound-book form. It also means books retained in public library collections will go through increasingly more selective processes.

We can have an influence on which books are selected and saved, I suppose, by serving on local library boards or advisory committees.We certainly have complete control over which ones are saved in our own personal libraries.

Although personal libraries reveal a lot about their owners, how extensive, complete, and far-reaching they become remains their own business, no one else’s. However, I would suggest that—among all of the technical engineering design books—every structural engineer’s library includes books dealing with big-picture issues by visionary writers/ thinkers. And some of those should be written by engineers. Why? Because their in-depth understanding of engineering leads engineer readers to be more introspective about our profession and the impact it has on society.

Three recommended contemporary authors, all visionary engineers, are David Billington, Samuel Florman, and Henry Petroski.Their writings should be in every well-read engineer’s personal library, and should be referred to frequently. Notable among their reflective books are The Tower and the Bridge and The Innovators by Billington;The Civilized Engineer and The Existential Pleasures of Engineering by Florman; and To Engineer is Human and Pushing the Limits by Petroski.

In The Tower and the Bridge, Billington introduces the fascinating concept of "structure as art," which he describes as "the discipline of efficiency, a desire for minimum materials, resulting in less weight, less cost, and less visual mass.

These results provide structures that are efficient and economical and, in the hands of the aesthetically sensitive engineer, become objects of structural art." A stellar example of an "aesthetically sensitive" engineer is the legendary Swiss structural engineer Robert Maillart, about whom Billington has written three books. Maillart’s spectacular concrete bridges soar—masterpieces of concrete design. According to Billington, "They exemplify structural engineering as an art form parallel to, but independent of, architecture."

Florman wrote in The Civilized Engineer,"One of the failings of engineers is they overestimate the power of logic and underestimate the power of emotion." Engineers can’t convince people not to be afraid of nuclear power or flying simply by quoting statistics. They must reach them emotionally as well. And in today’s increasing technologically dependent world, it’s important that a significant number of engineers play a prominent role in American society. He said, "To do this, engineers must be smart and broadly educated. It’s also important that engineers become more effective in a technical sense as well as creative and competent, able to keep the United States in the forefront of the industrial world."

In The Aftermath, Forman describes how a group of engineers do this. They become the leaders, and brains, behind rebuilding a better new world after a comet destroys Earth. The engineers, who are attending an international engineering convention aboard a cruise ship off the Southeastern coast of Africa when the comet hits, are among only a few thousand people who survive the deadly collision. They take charge and do all the right things. Finally, here’s a book in which the heroes and heroines are engineers!

A unifying theme in Petroski’s many writings is answering the question, "What is engineering?" His books examine structural engineering through the interrelated concepts of design theory and failure analysis. They delve into the role that innovation and invention, along with human error, have played (and will continue to play) in the evolution of the structural design process. Petroski, who has written about everything from paper clips to suspension bridges, said, "I have used such diverse examples to illustrate what I see as universal principles of design, especially those rooted in the concept and avoidance of failure."

The function of engineers in our society needs to be expanded. In my book, Forks in the Road, I challenge all engineers to broaden their perspective and reach for their highest level, beyond as well as within our profession. Reading this—as well as the works of Billington, Florman, and Petroski—provides numerous ideas that can greatly aid in accomplishing those objectives.

Richard Weingardt, P.E., is CEO and chairman of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., a Denver-based structural engineering firm. He can be reached via e-mail at
editor@gostructural.com.