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Cloth, small 4to, 22 cm, x, 166 pp, 24 plates. Engineering Design is an art, based on knowledge of many kinds and the ability to conceive and carry through a projectto completion. creative design involves working at the frontier of knowledge and pushing into the unknown, in order to achieve the aims of the designer. An engineer uses as much formalised science as is available to aid him, but relies, for the greater part of his design, planning, and execution of works, on that great body of much more incoherent knowledge which lies at the base of all human action. The designer plans work to be carried out by and for men, and is dependent for his resources upon all aspects and institutions of organised society. It is the purpose of this book, by taking a brief backward look at the history of engineering activities, to assess the present-day position of the engineering designer, his contributions to society, and his responsibilities. An attempt is made to stress the unity of human knowledge and aspirations: civilisation advances as a whole, though vitally dependent upon those who design and construct great engineering works. There is a unity in engineering which overrides all divisions, but the traditional distinctions have some validity, and are retained. The aim throughout is to draw attention to the position of the engineer and what he had to work with at different periods. The first eleven chapters have given a general picture of engineering in its human context, its origins, and its developments, with considerable selected technical detail. Chapters 12 to 19 go on to treat eight particular topics of great importance in engineering design. The final four chapters attempt to draw the reader's thoughts to the role of theory in engineering practice, to trends in training engineers, to the actual process of design, and to the role which the engineer has played and can play in society; in each case the history is referred to, but modern developments are stressed. There is something uniquely creative in the engineering attitude. All engineers are essentially designers, if the term is considered to include planning work and running jobs. The engineer must have a wide acquaintance with, appreciation of, and a respect for all kinds of human knowledge, including that originating in the trades and crafts as well as the sciences; he must be aware of the goals usually included in humanistic studies, and be in touch with political, legal, commercial, and economic thought and trends. All this he must imaginatively combine to specify the full details of a design which can be actually carried out by engineers, craftsmen, and workers of all kinds. The purpose of this book is not to give general factual historical data (that is well covered elsewhere), but to present a viewpoint on the attitude and the role of the engineering designer. Very Good in dustwrapper.
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