BiblioVault - Books about Engineers

The Accidental Network

How a Small Company Sparked a Global Broadband Transformation

Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard

West Virginia University Press, 2025

“How would our lives change,” wondered entrepreneur Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard in 1987, “if everyday people had a stable, high-speed data connection to the Internet?” While he wasn’t the first to imagine a world of digital connectivity, Yassini-Fard was in the vanguard by creating the cable modem, which transformed residential Internet access from its slow, frustrating dial-up origins to a fast, always-on, and extraordinary connectivity tool by harnessing the existing infrastructure of the residential cable network.

The Accidental Network shares the untold story of the invention of the cable modem by the small, struggling tech company LANcity in the early 1990s, illustrating how Yassini-Fard overcame a cascade of technical challenges, investment community naysayers, and unnerving business obstacles to create the cable modem technology that has changed the way billions of individuals across the globe now manage their daily lives and commerce. The cable modem delivered broadband, with speeds ranging from 10 megabits per second (Mbps) to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps)—a big leap from the dial-up speeds of 56 kilobits per second (Kbps). This platform, along with the adoption of the DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) standard, engendered the modern revolution in broadband Internet access. Shunned by venture capitalists and surviving on a shoestring budget, Yassini-Fard and his colleagues were willing to bet it all (including the deed for Yassini-Fard’s home) on the creation of the cable modem and the pursuit of global adoption.

The Accidental Network is both a valuable history of technology innovation and an engrossing account of business conducted at high speed. The book details Yassini-Fard’s journey from electrical engineer to entrepreneur in the race to secure technology partners, create a wholly new marketplace, and convince cable industry executives that a bold business awaited in transmitting data to households at a time when skepticism about the reach of personal computing was the norm.
Written from the lens of a devoted idealist and WVU alum known as “the father of the cable modem,” this book reveals how a perfect storm of forces—the rise of cable television, the onset of the personal computing era, a growing awareness of the Internet for information and commerce, and the development of the cable modem—converged to usher in the age of broadband access.

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Buckminster Fuller

Anthology for the Millennium

Edited by Thomas T. K. Zung

Southern Illinois University Press, 2014

Originally published as Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium, this popular anthology contains chapters from Fuller’s many books, with each chapter introduced by a notable figure such as Calvin Tomkins, Sir Harry Kroto, Lord Norman Foster, Arthur L. Loeb, Allegra Fuller Snyder, Very Rev. James Parks Morton, Shoji Sadao, and others. Thomas T. K. Zung has revised the book, adding vignettes and images not included in the first edition, to reflect a culture that has changed with time, much of that change predicted by Fuller.

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The Callendar Effect

The Life and Work of Guy Stewart Callendar (1898-1964)

James Rodger Fleming

American Meteorological Society, 2007

This is the untold story of the remarkable scientist who established the carbon dioxide theory of climate change. Guy Stewart Callendar discovered that global warming could be brought about by increases in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide due to human activities, primarily through burning fossil fuels. He did this in 1938! Using never-before-published original scientific correspondence, notebooks, family letters, and photographs, science historian James Rodger Fleming introduces us to one of Britain’s leading engineers and explains his life and work through two World Wars to his continuing legacy as the scientist who established The Callendar Effect.

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Concrete Century

Julius Kahn and the Construction Revolution

Michael G. Smith

University of Michigan Press, 2024

At the turn of the 20th century, industrial manufacturing was expanding dramatically while factory buildings remained fire-prone relics of an earlier age. That is, until a 28-year-old civil engineer finally achieved what engineers around the world had unsuccessfully attempted. Working in his brother’s basement in Detroit, Julius Kahn invented the first practical and scientific method of reinforcing concrete with steel bars, which finally made it possible to construct strong, fireproof buildings. After Kahn founded a company in 1903 to manufacture and sell his reinforcement bars, his system of construction became the most widely used throughout the world.

Drawing upon Kahn’s personal correspondence, architectural drawings, company records, and contemporary news and journal articles, Michael G. Smith reveals how this man—whose family had immigrated to the US to escape antisemitism in Germany—played an important role in the rise of concrete. Concrete not only turned the tide against widespread destruction of buildings by fire, it also paved the way for our modern economy. Concrete Century will delight readers intrigued by architecture and construction technology alike with the true origin story of modern concrete buildings.

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Continuing Professional Development

A practical approach

John Lorriman

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 1997

Managing your CPD as a professional engineer.

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Effective Team Leadership for Engineers

Pat Wellington

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009

This book is a must for engineers who have just, or will soon, become team leaders. It is also an essential guide for more experienced team and project leaders who wish to brush up their skills and knowledge.

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The Engineer in America

A Historical Anthology from Technology and Culture

Edited by Terry S. Reynolds

University of Chicago Press, 1991

With some two million practitioners, engineers form one of America's largest professional groups; indeed, it is the single largest occupation of American males today. The rise of this profession and its place in American society provide the focus for this anthology.

Spanning two centuries and the various subdisciplines of the field, these essays demonstrate the paradoxical role engineers have played in building (although usually not controlling) the infrastructure on which America's prosperity is based. This collection of seventeen essays traces the rise of the engineering profession and its evolving contribution to the development of America's material and economic success. Topics addressed include:

*American engineering's birth from European traditions
*Impact of science on engineering practice
*Changing relationship between engineers and bureaucratic organizations
*Growth of engineering professional institutions

Thoughtfully organized and unique in its scope, this volume will be a welcome overview for both students and scholars of the history of technology.

These essays were originally published in the journal Technology and Culture.

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Engineering Security

The Corps of Engineers and Third System Defense Policy, 1815–1861

Mark A. Smith

University of Alabama Press, 2009

Thorough examination of the antebellum fortifications that formed the backbone of U.S. military defense during the National Period

The system of coastal defenses built by the federal government after the War of 1812 was more than a series of forts standing guard over a watery frontier. It was an integrated and comprehensive plan of national defense developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and it represented the nation’s first peacetime defense policy.

Known as the Third System since it replaced two earlier attempts, it included coastal fortifications but also denoted the values of the society that created it. The governing defense policy was one that combined permanent fortifications to defend seaports, a national militia system, and a small regular army. The Third System remained the defense paradigm in the United States from 1816 to 1861, when the onset of the Civil War changed the standard. In addition to providing the country with military security, the system also provided the context for the ongoing discussion in Congress over national defense through annual congressional debates on military funding.

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Hardy Cross

American Engineer

Leonard K. Eaton

University of Illinois Press, 2006

Intellectual Property Rights for Engineers

Vivien Irish

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2005

This fully revised and updated edition of Intellectual Property Rights for Engineers addresses recent developments in the area. The book explains the general principles behind the law protecting innovation, quoting cases from the engineering domain in order to clarify legal issues. Chapters outline the basic rights through automatic protection (copyright, design right) and registration systems (patent, registered design, trade mark), and also discusses the issues surrounding confidential information. The book clarifies precisely who owns the rights and how their use is constrained by EC law, and goes on to explain how to license or even litigate when necessary. Finally, strategic aspects for decision-making and management are discussed.

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Intermediate Technical Japanese, Volume 1

Readings and Grammatical Patterns

James L. Davis

University of Wisconsin Press, 2002

Learn how to read and translate technical manuals, research publications, and reference works. This two-volume set is designed to help the intermediate-level learner of Japanese build a technical vocabulary, reinforce understanding of frequently used grammatical patterns, improve reading comprehension, and practice translating technical passages. The glossary in volume 2 clarifies words and phrases that often puzzle beginning readers.
The sample readings on technical topics are drawn from a broad range of specialties, from mathematics and computer science to electronics and polymer science. The initial grammar lesson and the first nine field-specific lessons constitute the common core to be used by all instructors or students. Topics of interest from the remaining thirty-one field-specific lessons may be selected to produce a customized course of study. Intermediate Technical Japanese is designed to fulfill a typical two-semester sequence.

Volume 1 contains:
o information about 600 key kanji
o explanations of 100 important grammatical patterns
o more than 700 scientific or technical essays
o an index of the grammatical patterns.

Volume 2 contains:
o a complete glossary

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Intermediate Technical Japanese, Volume 2

Glossary

James L. Davis

University of Wisconsin Press, 2002

Learn how to read and translate technical manuals, research publications, and reference works. This two-volume set is designed to help the intermediate-level learner of Japanese build a technical vocabulary, reinforce understanding of frequently used grammatical patterns, improve reading comprehension, and practice translating technical passages. The glossary in volume 2 clarifies words and phrases that often puzzle beginning readers.
The sample readings on technical topics are drawn from a broad range of specialties, from mathematics and computer science to electronics and polymer science. The initial grammar lesson and the first nine field-specific lessons constitute the common core to be used by all instructors or students. Topics of interest from the remaining thirty-one field-specific lessons may be selected to produce a customized course of study. Intermediate Technical Japanese is designed to fulfill a typical two-semester sequence.

Volume 1 contains:
o information about 600 key kanji
o explanations of 100 important grammatical patterns
o more than 700 scientific or technical essays
o an index of the grammatical patterns.

Volume 2 contains:
o a complete glossary

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Mining the Borderlands

Industry, Capital, and the Emergence of Engineers in the Southwest Territories, 1855-1910

Sarah E. M. Grossman

University of Nevada Press, 2018

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the US-Mexico border was home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced industrial copper mines. This despite being geographically, culturally, and financially far-removed from traditional urban centers of power. Mining the Borderlands argues that this was only possible because of the emergence of mining engineers—a distinct technocratic class of professionals who connected capital, labor, and expertise.

Mining engineers moved easily between remote mining camps and the upscale parlors of east coast investors. Working as labor managers and technical experts, they were involved in the daily negotiations, which brought private US capital to the southwestern border. The success of the massive capital-intensive mining ventures in the region depended on their ability to construct different networks, serving as intermediaries to groups that rarely coincided.

Grossman argues that this didn’t just lead to bigger and more efficient mines, but served as part of the ongoing project of American territorial and economic expansion. By integrating the history of technical expertise into the history of the transnational mining industry, this in-depth look at borderlands mining explains how American economic hegemony was established in a border region peripheral to the federal governments of both Washington, D.C. and Mexico City.

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Science and Engineering Careers in the United States

An Analysis of Markets and Employment

Edited by Richard B. Freeman and Daniel L. Goroff

University of Chicago Press, 2009

Beginning in the early 2000s, there was an upsurge of national concern over the state of the science and engineering job market that sparked a plethora of studies, commission reports, and a presidential initiative, all stressing the importance of maintaining American competitiveness in these fields. Science and Engineering Careers in the United States is the first major academic study to probe the issues that underlie these concerns.

This volume provides new information on the economics of the postgraduate science and engineering job market, addressing such topics as the factors that determine the supply of PhDs, the career paths they follow after graduation, and the creation and use of knowledge as it is reflected by the amount of papers and patents produced. A distinguished team of contributors also explores the tensions between industry and academe in recruiting graduates, the influx of foreign-born doctorates, and the success of female doctorates. Science and Engineering Careers in the United States will raise new questions about stimulating innovation and growth in the American economy.

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Secret Origins of Modern Microeconomics

Dupuit and the Engineers

Robert B. Ekelund Jr. and Robert F. Hébert

University of Chicago Press, 1999

How did contemporary microeconomic theory emerge? Who were its chief architects? Conventional wisdom points largely to the work of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) and his colleagues in England in the late nineteenth century. In this highly original and important contribution to the history of economic thought, Robert Ekelund and Robert Hébert convincingly argue that the intellectual tradition of microeconomic inquiry was initiated by members of the Corps des Ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées (French corps of state civil engineers), most notably Jules Dupuit (1804-66). Using documents previously unavailable in English, the authors present a cohesive and original picture of French economic thought that solidly documents the contributions of Dupuit and his colleagues. This is a seminal work about the foundations of modern microeconomics.

"A very fine piece of work that provides material I have never seen before, is well written, and has undoubtable merits."—William Baumol, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University

"By bringing to the forefront the achievements of French engineer Jules Dupuit, this work changes our view of the history of microeconomics. Secret Origin of Modern Microeconomics is a commentary on our discipline's mythology of origins: it reminds us that, in the construction and maintenance of canonical authority, the recoginition of founding fathers requires simultaneous, often subtle, gestures of exclusion."—Philippe Fontaine, école Normale Supèrieure de Cachan

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Skills Development for Engineers

Innovative model for advanced learning in the workplace

Kevin Hoag

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2001

This book presents an innovative model for skills development for engineering professionals. Organizations operate in an increasingly competitive environment, which drives a need for continuous employee skills development. The rapid pace of technological change requires everyone to continue learning throughout life and this book questions the effectiveness of current employee learning in most organizations. Conversely, the new lifelong learning model described in this book has been proven very successful and less costly than existing systems. This highly readable book is amply illustrated with many practical examples and case studies based on the author's experience as a training manager in a large North American engineering company.

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Stormwater

A Resource for Scientists, Engineers, and Policy Makers

William G. Wilson

University of Chicago Press, 2016

As cities grow and climates change, precipitation increases, and with every great storm—from record-breaking Boston blizzards to floods in Houston—come buckets of stormwater and a deluge of problems. In Stormwater, William G. Wilson brings us the first expansive guide to stormwater science and management in urban environments, where rising runoff threatens both human and environmental health.

As Wilson shows, rivers of runoff flowing from manmade surfaces—such as roads, sidewalks, and industrial sites—carry a glut of sediments and pollutants. Unlike soil, pavement does not filter or biodegrade these contaminants. Oil, pesticides, road salts, metals, automobile chemicals, and bacteria all pour into stormwater systems. Often this runoff discharges directly into waterways, uncontrolled and untreated, damaging valuable ecosystems. Detailing the harm that can be caused by this urban runoff, Wilson also outlines methods of control, from restored watersheds to green roofs and rain gardens, and, in so doing, gives hope in the face of an omnipresent threat. Illustrated throughout, Stormwater will be an essential resource for urban planners and scientists, policy makers, citizen activists, and environmental educators in the stormy decades to come.

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Technoscientific Imaginaries

Conversations, Profiles, and Memoirs

Edited by George E. Marcus

University of Chicago Press, 1995

What is it like to be a scientist at the end of the twentieth century? How have shifts in power and in assumptions about knowledge affected scientific practice? Who are the people behind the new technologies, and how do they address the difficult moral and professional issues during a time of global change? Techno-Scientific Imaginaries explores these and other important questions at the approach of the new millennium.

In these penetrating essays, twenty-four distinguished contributors from a broad range of fields present the voices of the scientists themselves—through interviews, conversations, and memoirs. We hear from Lithuanian physicists who discuss science after Communism and their own fantasies about what Western science is; a Japanese-American woman struggling with her ambivalence over designing nuclear weapons; political activists in India who examine relations among science, environmental politics, and government ideology in the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster; and many others, including biologists, physicians, corporate researchers, and scientists working with virtual reality and other cutting-edge technologies.

The contributors to this volume are Mario Biagioli, Maria E. Carson, Gary Lee Downey, Joseph Dumit, Michael M. J. Fischer, Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good, Hugh Gusterson, Diana L. L. Hill, James Holston, Herbert C. Hoover, Jr., Gudrun Klein, Leszek Koczanowicz, Irene Kuter, Kim Laughlin, Rita Linggood, George E. Marcus, Kathryn Milun, Livia Polanyi, Christopher Pound, Simon Powell, Paul Rabinow, Kathleen Stewart, Allucquere Rosanne Stone, and Sharon Traweek.

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Two Years Below the Horn

Operation Tabarin, Field Science, and Antarctic Sovereignty

Andrew Taylor

University of Manitoba Press, 2017

U.S. Engineering in a Global Economy

Edited by Richard B. Freeman and Hal Salzman

University of Chicago Press, 2018

Since the late 1950s, the engineering job market in the United States has been fraught with fears of a shortage of engineering skill and talent. U.S. Engineering in a Global Economy brings clarity to issues of supply and demand in this important market. Following a general overview of engineering-labor market trends, the volume examines the educational pathways of undergraduate engineers and their entry into the labor market, the impact of engineers working in firms on productivity and innovation, and different dimensions of the changing engineering labor market, from licensing to changes in demand and guest worker programs.

The volume provides insights on engineering education, practice, and careers that can inform educational institutions, funding agencies, and policy makers about the challenges facing the United States in developing its engineering workforce in the global economy.

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Women and Ideas in Engineering

Twelve Stories from Illinois

Laura D. Hahn, Angela S. Wolters

University of Illinois Press, 2018

The increasing presence of women within engineering programs is one of today's most dramatic developments in higher education. Long before, however, a group of talented and determined women carved out new paths in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. Laura D. Hahn and Angela S. Wolters bring to light the compelling hidden stories of these pioneering figures. When Mary Louisa Page became the College's first female graduate in 1879, she also was the first American woman ever awarded a degree in architecture. Bobbie Johnson's insistence on "a real engineering job" put her on a path to the Apollo and Skylab programs. Grace Wilson, one of the College's first female faculty members, taught and mentored a generation of women. Their stories and many others illuminate the forgotten history of women in engineering. At the same time, the authors offer insights into the experiences of today's women from the College -- a glimpse of a brighter future, one where more women in STEM fields apply their tireless dedication to the innovations that shape a better tomorrow.

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