Here are 10 technology- and engineering-related books we think should be on your reading list this year!
1. Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi 2nd Edition
Discover how to set up Raspberry Pi to play classic games in the brand-new version of this retro gaming guide.
In this 164-page book, you’ll learn how to build a portable games machine, assemble a full-sized arcade cabinet, and emulate classic computers and consoles. The step-by-step guides make each build easy! Plus, you’ll even learn to program your own versions of classic arcade games using Python and Pygame.
2. Engineering for Teens: A Beginner’s Book for Aspiring Engineers by Pamela McCauley
The job of an engineer is to solve all sorts of complex challenges facing the world while improving our lives through creative, innovative ideas.
This engineering book for teens gives you a look into what engineers do and how they drive society forward through math and science.
From designing tablets and smartphones to reimagining the way we collect and store renewable energy, this book introduces you to the major engineering disciplines and their distinct specialties, famous engineers throughout history, and more.
3. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft.
In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible.
His insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.
4. Engineering in Society by Rob Lawlor
Students often have misconceptions about a career in engineering. They often underestimate the importance of communication and negotiation, or don’t realise the amount of responsibility that they are likely to have, and the extent to which they will have to use their own judgement and make their own decisions.
The purpose of this ebook is to give students new to engineering an initial insight into the profession of engineering and some idea of what their future career might look like.
This e-book is published by the Royal Academy of Engineering and is available as a free (pdf) download from the RAEng website.
5. Bebop to the Boolean Boogie: An Unconventional Guide to Electronics by Clive Maxfield
This book provides a solid, comprehensive introduction to contemporary electronics.
It’s not a ‘how-to-do’ electronics book, but rather an in-depth explanation of how today’s integrated circuits work, how they are designed and manufactured, and how they are put together into powerful and sophisticated electronic systems.
In addition to the technical details, it’s packed with practical information of interest and use to engineers and support personnel in the electronics industry.
6. Think Like an Engineer by Guru Madhavan
This book takes you inside the minds that are changing our lives.
With the help of a cast of star engineers and fascinating, unexpected real world examples, Madhavan offers a framework for thinking creatively, systematically and strategically so that we can all learn to make better decisions in a complex world.
7. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion.
Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of Musk’s life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits.
Vance uses Musk’s story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition?
8. The Unwritten Laws of Engineering by W.J. King & James G. Skakoon
On the 75th anniversary of its original publication, this new, second edition of the 1944 classic serves as a crucial compilation of ‘house rules’, or a professional code.
It addresses three areas: what the beginner needs to learn at once; ‘laws’ relating chiefly to engineering executives; and purely personal considerations for engineers.
As a fifteen-year engineering industry veteran and mom of 3, Stephanie Slocum uses a conversational and down-to-earth approach to teach you how to succeed as a female engineer.
Each chapter concludes with actions you can do in 30 minutes or less for immediate results. As a female engineer herself, she knows first-hand the value of your time and has packed her years of experience, stories, and lessons learned into one concise, easy-to-read resource for other female engineers.
10. The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz & Winfield Hill
This is a revised and updated second edition of the successful The Art of Electronics.
Widely accepted as the authoritative text and reference on electronic circuit design, both analogue and digital, this book revolutionised the teaching of electronics by emphasising the methods actually used by circuit designers – a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks.
