[Maro]

One of the best general Engineering books I've read is 'Design Paradigms'. It's an excellent book about the importance of understanding failures in Engineering. The author is Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, so all the examples are roads/bridges/etc.

As a Data/SWE guy, I still enjoyed reading it a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/Design-Paradigms-Histories-Judgment-E...

[wpietri]

Ooh, that reminds me of another excellent book on failure, Sidney Dekker's "Field Guide to Understanding Human Error": https://www.amazon.com/dp/1472439058

It's about investigating airplane crashes, and in particular two different paradigms for understanding failure. It deeply changed how I think and talk about software bugs, and especially how I do retrospectives. I strongly recommend it.

And the article made me think of Stewart Brand's "How Buildings Learn": https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140139966

It changed my view of a building from a static thing to a dynamic system, changing over time.

The BBC later turned it into a 6-part series, which I haven't seen, but which the author put up on YouTube, starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEqfg2sIH0

I especially like that in the comments he writes: "Anybody is welcome to use anything from this series in any way they like. Please don’t bug me with requests for permission. Hack away. Do credit the BBC, who put considerable time and talent into the project."

[mcguire]

That first episode should be required viewing (repeatedly!) by all architects, physical or software. Geeze.

[rojobuffalo]

Appreciate the recommendation. I haven't read much on this topic, but the two I've liked so far:

Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down by J.E. Gordon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245344.Structures

Science and the City https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28260428-science-and-the...

[jaclaz]

I would suggest - as basic readings for those that are not structural engineers or however working in the field or familiar with it - these two (by now "classics") by Mario Salvadori:

Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture

Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail

[galaxyLogic]

Here's a book that's given many software practitioners inspiration:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building

[mauvehaus]

Thank for the recommendation! If you're into that sort of thing, you might also enjoy Why Buildings Stand Up and Why Buildings Fall Down.

Why Buildings Fall Down includes a case study on a seemingly minor change during construction that caused a walkway to collapse once it was put in use.

At the risk of stating the obvious, these are focused on buildings rather than roads :-)

[mcguire]

All of Henry Petroski's books are good. A couple that I'm particularly fond of are The Pencil and The Book on the Bookcase.