[.ca] Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the ... (ISBN 0679760210)

From Amazon.com:
Henry Petroski's lyrical history of bridge builders in America is organized around five engineers: James Eads (inventor of the diving bell, which bridged Mississippi at St. Louis); Theodore Cooper (railroad bridge engineer and designer of the ill-fated Quebec Bridge); Gustav Lindenthal (Hell Gate Bridge, New York); Othmar Ammann (George Washington and Verrazano-Narrow bridges); and David Steinman (Mackinac bridge). Petroski's opening and closing chapters, "Imagine" and "Realize," remind us how a bridge starts out as a dream of engineering, but ends as a reality of compromise and maintenance. Edward Tenner says that "The profound contribution of Engineers of Dreams is to remind us that communication across generations may be the most important bridge of all."

The Mackinac Bridge is finally recogized:
Finally, FINALLY: a recognition of David Steinman's achievements. The Mackinac Bridge has been described as a "symphony of concrete and steel". If Steinman had not been an enginneer, he may have been a musician.Some structures clearly belong where they are placed. Just a few, though. Steinman had the eye for such places: Messina, for example. It was nice to see a chapter devoted to him, and the rest of the book was good, but otherwise documented.

Not up to Petroski's usual high standard:
I am a great fan of Henry Petroski, engineering professor and author of such minor classics as The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things. Perhaps it is because of these high expectations that I was so disappointed by Engineer of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America. In the end, Petroski seems much better at writing about engineering artifacts - pencils, paper clips, or, in this book, bridges - than the makers of those artifacts. Much of Petroski's "biography" here seemed nothing less than mere formula: you could almost see him filling in his computer template for "name, date and place of birth, school, mentor, etc." each time a new engineer was introduced. Further, he did not even attempt to vary the template from person to person, so that the repetitive style becomes unmistakable. This book is worth reading insofar as it provides a history of the bridges themselves, and the limits of engineering technique and imagination.

BridgePros Review:
If you want to learn more about the best American bridge designers and their bridges, this is the book for you! In particular it has a very good chapter on Steinman (the designer of the Mackinac Bridge). This book will tell you the stories and politics behind each one of the designers featured and their bridges.

Book evokes a sense of wonder:
Engineers of Dreams is a book I've read several times because it involves me in the history behind some of engineerings greatest triumphs... and failures. The story of great engineers with various combinations of vision and practicality, as well as perseverence in all cases, makes for a kind of drama. In some cases, we know how the story ended, with a great bridge we can see. In other cases, the story ends with a wreck and bodies. From the story of the San Francisco Bay Bridge to the story of the first Quebec Bridge, this book itself spans a range of ability and satisfaction that is a joy to perceive.

A fine book explaining the history of building bridges:
There are very few books which deal with the detail of what it took to build some of the most useful bridges that , even though they were built almost a hundred years ago, are still used and appreciated by millions of people today. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the subject and am not surprised, but disappointed that the book is not currently available by the publisher.I was going to purchase several copies as gifts to fellow engineers. I look forward to the second edition