Engineing Resources: Learn Modern Engineering History

[sulicat]

Hi,
I just started college and was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of my classmates know a lot about different engineering stuff. Some would know all the parts of a car and maybe how the ac worked etc... for me other than programming I was ashamed of how limited my knowledge of these things are.

So I am asking you what you think are good books, websites and maybe even classes you think are a must or just good for someone studying engineering to read ? What is a good way to learn about how modern day engineering evolved into what it is now ?

this may be a bad place to ask this, seeing as the internet is at my fingertips :/ anyways thank for the help.

 

[Windadct]

A) Don't sweat it - most entering freshman are very nervous and will talk / brag about what they know, but in reality they do not know that much.
B) IMO - you can not read about something on your own that you are not interested in and learn much.
C) Doing things teaches you more - if you are good a programming - do a project on your desk ( like an arduino) the hands-on experience will be valuable. -- Even then find some DIY project and do it... I had a digital dice box I had built when I went to college ( granted some time ago) but the EEs wanted to play games with that ...

 

[berkeman]

websites

The HowStuffWorks website has some useful information. Unfortunately it's been over-run with advertisements the last couple of years, but if you can find your way around them, there is a lot of good information there about lots of things.

 

[sulicat]

A) Don't sweat it - most entering freshman are very nervous and will talk / brag about what they know, but in reality they do not know that much.
B) IMO - you can not read about something on your own that you are not interested in and learn much.
C) Doing things teaches you more - if you are good a programming - do a project on your desk ( like an arduino) the hands-on experience will be valuable. -- Even then find some DIY project and do it... I had a digital dice box I had built when I went to college ( granted some time ago) but the EEs wanted to play games with that ...

I hope that its just everyone playing way too much of their cards way too early ...
I am very grateful I was reading a book about wings and was bored as hell, but I get your point, I learned nothing from my reading so far. My time could have been better spent doing something that I actually learn from. Thank you

 

[SteamKing]

Hi,
I just started college and was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of my classmates know a lot about different engineering stuff. Some would know all the parts of a car and maybe how the ac worked etc... for me other than programming I was ashamed of how limited my knowledge of these things are.

So I am asking you what you think are good books, websites and maybe even classes you think are a must or just good for someone studying engineering to read ? What is a good way to learn about how modern day engineering evolved into what it is now ?

this may be a bad place to ask this, seeing as the internet is at my fingertips :/ anyways thank for the help.

It's not clear which branch of engineering you are interested in. "Engineering" is composed of many different sub-disciplines, and each sub-discipline followed its own particular path of development.

For good general reading, I recommend the books of Henry Petroski:

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

 

[Windadct]

"Engineering" is composed of many different sub-disciplines, and each sub-discipline followed its own particular path of development.

My son just started at PSU - there are no declared Eng majors until around 40-50 Credits. All of the Students are just in College of Engineering. The they have to meet different GPA requirements for the different disciplines.