Inspirational Reading for Engineers (and Aspiring Engineers)

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Contrary to popular stereotypes, you will find that engineering is at its heart an extraordinarily creative endeavor, and the top people in this field can only be described as artists.

Since few of these books are bestsellers, I provide here a list of recommended ''inspirational reading'' for engineers and those who wish to understand engineers.

Recommended Reading (in order of publication)

• The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder, 1981
  A classic tale of a year in the trenches at Data General in the late 1970s during the design of a new 32-bit minicomputer. The story illustrates the nature of teamwork and compromise in a modern high-tech corporation. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, by Steven Levy, 1984
  Another classic. This book profiles ''hackers'' of the law-abiding variety: innovative, unorthodox programmers and electronics hobbyists from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Highlights include: the world's first video game, developed by MIT grad students in 1961; the Homebrew Computer Club, Steve Wozniak, and the invention of the Apple II; Bill Gates' first programming job and the origins of Microsoft; and the video game programming wizards of the early '80s.

• ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'': Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard P. Feynman, 1984
  Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was a Nobel-Prize-winning physicist, not an engineer. Still, this collection of personal anecdotes, humor, and autobiographical tidbits should be required reading for every college student in America. This book conveys the essence what it means to think clearly and critically, and how to approach and solve problems. Plus, it is easily the most entertaining book on this list. If you have any friends who think technical folks are somehow lacking in humanity, give them this book.

  If, after reading this book, you become a Feynman fan, I recommend the following titles:

  • ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?'': Further Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard P. Feynman, 1988
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick, 1992

• The Eudaemonic Pie, by Thomas A. Bass, 1985
  This book recounts the unlikely (but true) story of a band of students/hippies at UC Santa Cruz in 1976 in their (mostly successful) quest to built a wearable computer capable of predicting the trajectory of a roulette ball in real time and thus make untold riches in Nevada casinos. Information theory pioneer Claude Shannon makes a surprising cameo appearance.

• Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology, by George Gilder, 1989
  Although much of this book is heavily dated (particularly the economic observations), it contains some real gems related to the origins of the integrated circuit, Intel's rise to power, and Carver Mead's prophetic view of VLSI technology. Plus, Chapter 19 ("Analog People") is a great profile of Bob Widlar (the hard-drinking, hard-living genius) and other engineers who developed the first integrated operational amplifiers.

• Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, by Tom Lewis, 1991
  Edwin Armstrong is probably the least well-known of the few people who could be considered geniuses of the 20th century. This book recounts the origins of radio and the brilliant (but ultimately tragic) life of the man who invented most of the original radio circuits.

• Skunk Works, by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos, 1994
  This book recounts Lockheed's legendary, ultra-secret Skunk Works group from their design of the U-2 spy plane in the 1950s and the Mach 3+ SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s to the development of the F-117 stealth fighter. The author joined the Skunk Works in 1954 and headed the organization from 1975 until his retirement in 1991. An amazing tale spanning the Cold War and describing the invention of planes that propelled CIA and Air Force pilots to speeds faster than a rifle bullet.

• Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel, 1995
  This book chronicles the efforts of British commoner and self-educated carpenter John Harrison (no relation) who designed one of the most significant technological advances of the 18th century. A clock that saved countless lives and revolutionized ocean travel...

• The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer, by Charles J. Murray, 1997
  From the late 1950s until the early 1990s the fastest computers in the world were designed by one man: Seymour Cray. Most of these remarkable machines were developed by a small team of engineers in the town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (population 12,000). This is the story of Cray and the genesis of the supercomputer.

• Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew with Annette Lawrence Drew, 1998
  While this book does not directly chronicle engineers, the recently declassified technology described in the book is nothing short of amazing. One example: custom-built electronic eavesdropping pods that were attached to Soviet undersea telecommunications cables by submarine-based divers in near-freezing waters. Another incredible view of Cold War technology.

• The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers, by Tom Standage, 1998
  A brief but enlightening look at the dawn and rise of the telegraph from about 1830-1880. This book chronicles the genesis of what later became known as electrical engineering. If you think the modern internet brought unprecidented change to the world and that hackers didn't exist until the 20th century, read this book for a healthy historical perspective.

• Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer, by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, 2002
  The story of physicist/engineer Robert Moog, the most significant pioneer in the development of synthesizers and electronic musical instruments in the 1960s and '70s. The book describes an interesting dynamic between the engineers and musicians during this ''pre-digital'' era.

• Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, by David Kushner, 2003
  This book follows John Carmack and John Romero -- the programmers behind Doom and Quake -- from their childhoods in the 1970s and '80s to their creation of first-person-shooter video games in the '90s. A modern rags-to-riches story that takes place far from Silicon Valley in Shreveport, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas.