I read about this book in the WSJ. I am not an engineer but have a D who is a rising junior ChemE. I was wondering if anyone has read it and would it be a good book for a budding engineer?
Scanning through it on Amazon, it seems like it’s the kind of book that feeds into the “proud to be an engineer” mentality for those who have it, but I wouldn’t say it serves any practical purpose beyond that. Scan through it yourself if you like.
No I already know my own mind, there is no need to read about it. 
But my husband and I we rarely like fiction, not even science fiction. But we read lots of stuff. And this has been a while, leaning that way. While my humanities kid loves fiction.
I read the review and the beginning of the book on Amazon. Luckily for me it doesn’t seem to be a technical book. One story it tells is of the discovery of penicillin and it’s uses. They were only able to produce enough for a few patients a day. It took chemical engineer Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau to develop a deep tank fermentation method to allow it to be made in mass quantities during the WW2 before the invention really became useful. I decided to get the book for me and let our D read and have it if she wants it. My understanding is the book is a bit like NeoDymium describes it. I guess there is no harm in seeing what those in your chosen profession have accomplished.
@lvvcsf, Thanks for calling our attention to this nonfiction book about engineering. Hope you and your daughter enjoy it. If you have a chance, would appreciate your review of it. I am always looking for a good book for Christmas for my husband. I always get him new crossword puzzle books but like to add something else as well (either fiction or nonfiction since he likes both).
It should arrive Aug 12. I’m not a great reviewer but I’ll give my thoughts.
Great, thanks. He enjoyed the book about the Wright Brothers. I still need to read that too. The book about Bell Laboratories was interesting . Maybe someone has an idea of other books a ChemE in particular like your daughter might like.
I’ll be reading the “Wright Brothers” shortly. I live in Dayton so we hear about them occasionally.
I would like to read about the “Wright Brothers” too. I’m going to check them out from the library. I have no room to buy any book in my house.
I try to get most things from the library too , DrGoogle. Too many books around already. Funny about the Wright Brothers, lvvcsf. I think it’s good when a community is proud of their native sons (or daughters). We have really enjoyed our visits to the museum in Kitty Hawk.
Well I’m not quite done, but I promised I’d attempt a review such as it is. Non engineer that I am, I am really enjoying the book. It’s not one that I can’t put down but it is also easy to pick up as it were. Essentially it is a book about several products, services and processes that we now take for granted. He discusses the engineers that had a major hand in developing them and the thought processes and circumstances that went into their development. It is not a technical book although I suspect that those with some technical knowledge may understand some of the details better than I. Back in the 1980’s there was a book turned into a TV series called “The Day the Universe Changed”. It reads a bit like that concentrating on engineers. It is not long and well worth a trip to the library.