Top 15 Books About Engineering Updated 04 /2024

Are you an engineer and want to know what books to read?

Below, we look at our top 10 books that we think every engineer should read. All of these books will be useful and interesting if you work in the engineering field, no matter what kind of engineering you do or how old you are. One of them might even make you want to start looking for a new job so that your career can get back on track.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Author: Eliyahu Goldratt

Even though this book focuses on manufacturing, it will make any engineer think about efficiency and design. If you're interested in the Theory of Constraints, this book is for you. Because it's written as a piece of fiction, it makes the information easier to understand. Alexandra Rogo is the main character in this story. She is in charge of a production plant where schedules aren't always on time, and she has to turn things around in a short amount of time. Especially if you work in industry or manufacturing, but also if your job is to make changes and improve things in the way that things are done.

​The Design of Everyday Things

Author: Donald Norman

A book about product design, it was written a long time ago, but it still has the same value now as when it was written. It talks about why things are made the way they are and how to make things that are useful. It was written by a cognitive scientist named Donald Norman, but it has since been revised. It shows how purely aesthetic design can sometimes make products not work well and emphasizes the importance of user experience and functionality. Engineers who make anything, from bridges to apps, should read this.

​The Existential Pleasures of Engineering

Author: Samuel Florman

A look at how engineers think about their job and how they think about engineering in general. There are many misconceptions about what it is like to be an engineer, but this book shows that it isn't all cold and calculating. That engineers build things for people is almost like an instinct, and the book celebrates this fact.

​Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

Author: Ben Rich

If you didn't already know, the Skunk Works is a group at Lockheed Martin that works on some of the most cutting-edge technology and planes, often in secret. It was founded by Kelly Johnson, who designed 40 civilian and military planes. The U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird are two of the planes she designed. Ben Rich was in charge of the Skunk Works for almost 20 years. His book tells the brilliant stories of the group, which includes the production of the F-117 stealth plane, which Rich was in charge of.

Why Buildings Fall Down

Authors: Mario Salvadori & Marco Levy

This book focuses on structural engineering, but it also looks at how people, nature, and materials interact with each other and how buildings have failed. Each chapter focuses on a different topic and looks at examples of both failure and success. The underlying theme of the book is that engineers need to learn from their mistakes so they don't make them again, and this book is a must-read for all engineers, no matter what field they work in.

Engineering in the Mind’s Eye

Author: Eugene Ferguson

Eugene Ferguson's book says that engineering education that doesn't include nonverbal and intuitive thinking will produce engineers who can't solve real-world problems because they are very different from math problems in the classroom. To make a machine that works in the real world is not the same as the only way to solve a math problem. He emphasizes the importance of using real-world experience and practical thinking, as well as being able to be creative and show how things could work out.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Author: Stephen R Covey

It was written by Stephen Covey, a business and self-help author, in 1989. It will help any engineer learn the basic skills they need to be good at their jobs. The 7 habits start the maturity continuum, which shows the three stages of becoming more mature. Because Covey's writing is so easy to read and understand, anyone can go deeper into his work.

Afterwards, Covey wrote a second book called The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, which re-emphasized some of the points from the first book and added new ones.

Unwritten Laws of Engineering: With Revisions and Additions

Author: W. J. King 

This updated version of the 1944 classic has a professional code that should be used by all engineers who want to be successful in their field of work. This is a great book for people who want to move easily from academia to the real world. It has advice and guidance for many different things, and it's been around for a long time. This "code of conduct" was put together by real engineers based on their experiences in the field. This book isn't just for engineers. Managers and leaders in a wide range of fields could learn a lot from this great book.

The Four Hour Chef

Author: Tim Ferriss

You may be wondering why we're suggesting a cookbook for engineers, but we think it's a good idea. Well, this isn't your average cookbook. Tim Ferriss makes a complicated process easy to follow. This isn't your average cookbook. When you become an engineer, you'll have to deal with complicated processes all the time, in every part of your life.

This is a five-stop journey through the art and science of learning that takes place over four hours. As well as a guide to cooking, this is a guide to life. This book gives you some important ideas for dealing with difficult problems and helps you learn new and difficult things a little easier.

She Engineers: Outsmart Bias, Unlock your Potential, and Create the Engineering Career of your Dreams

Author: Stephanie Slocum

Women who work in engineering should read this book because it talks about gender issues in a way that goes beyond what most people talk about. Women who want to be engineers can learn from Slocum, who has worked in the field for 15 years. She tells them how to be successful in an industry that is usually dominated by men. Don't just take our word for it, though. She Engineers has a lot of good reviews on all the major online stores, and it still has a lot of fans today.

Is it interesting to you to learn more about the challenges that women face when they work in engineering in 2019

Women in Energy survey findings can be downloaded to see what women think about the energy industry, how they got their jobs, and what it's like to work there.

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