Subject: A really excellent "materials" book

From: [email-masked] (Bob Powell)
Date: 2 Jan 1995 10:18:44 GMT

Just had to pass this on.  The New Science of Strong Materials,
J.E. Gordon, Princeton University Press, 1968 (1st ed.), 1976
(2nd ed.), 1984 (Penguin paperback).

This wonderful 280 page paperback lucidly covers the realm of
materials science and engineering, in lay terms rather than
textbook theory, but with enough depth and detail to satisfy
an engineer in a different discipline (such as myself).

Explains, along the way, the physical and chemical nature of
wood, and the nature and evolution of all common glue types,
plastics, composites from straw-clay brick to fiberglass to
kevlar, through iron and steel and alloy metals.  Elasticity and
the theory of strength and toughness, with basic beam theory
developed from first principles.  Cracks, defects and crack
propagation (why glass bends then shatters), hardening 
and tempering, and to boot, the best explanation I've
seen of all the classic iron and steel making processes.

For the wood-inclined, a whole chapter on timber and cellulose
>from  the molecular level up through the evolution of the
structural design of wooden ships and (wood) airplanes, with
insight into wood drying and wood rot.  Dedicates a chapter
alone to the evolution of wood glue and the operation and
properties of each type.

Sounds trite I know, but I'll never look the same way at a block
of wood or metal about to be cut and assembled into something 
useful.

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From: [email-masked] (Bruce Winterbon)
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 1995 13:24:05 GMT

> This wonderful 280 page paperback lucidly covers the realm of
       ^^^^^^^^^
Yes! It's been one of my favourites for years. He wrote another one,
Structures, or Why Things Don't Fall Down, which is merely excellent,
rather than wonderful. My copy is also Penguin, printed '86, first
published '78.

--
Bruce Winterbon, Deep River, Ont.