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Applicant Information

 

Engineering students in the past have found that the following books give an interesting insight into engineering. Please remember that these books are NOT required reading for the course – you don't have to buy any books before you come to Cambridge. We hope you enjoy reading from this selection.

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Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air
by David J.C. MacKay
Published by UIT, 2008
ISBN: 0954452933

This book is available as a free download from www.withouthotair.com/download.html

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How Do Wings Work?
by Holger Babinsky
Published by Physics Education, 2003
doi: 10.1088/0031-9120/38/6/001

Not a book but a paper published in the Institute of Physics journal Physics Education that is available as a free download from the Physics Education website

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Sustainable Materials – With Both Eyes Open
by Julian Allwood and Jonathan Cullen
Published by UIT Cambridge Ltd., 2012
ISBN: 190686005X

This book is available as a free download from http://withbotheyesopen.com/read.php

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Engineering in Society
edited by Rob Lawlor
Published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, 2013

An e-book published by the Royal Academy of Engineering that is available as a free (pdf) download from the RAEng website

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Engineering: A Beginner's Guide
by Natasha McCarthy
Published by Oneworld Publications, 2009
ISBN: 1851686622

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The New Science of Strong Materials – or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor
by J.E. Gordon
Published by Penguin, 1991
ISBN: 0140135979

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Structures – or Why Things Don't Fall Down
by J.E. Gordon
Published by DaCapo Press, 2003
ISBN: 0306812835

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Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People
by Steven Vogel
Published by W.W. Norton & Co., 2000
ISBN: 0393319903

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The Gecko's Foot: How Scientists are Taking a Leaf from Nature's Book
by Peter Forbes
Published by Harper Perennial, 2006
ISBN: 0007179898

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What Engineers Know and How They Know It: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History
by W.G. Vincenti
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993
ISBN: 0801845882

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Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-Rings: The World of an Engineer
by James L. Adams
Published by Harvard University Press, 1992
ISBN: 0674306899

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Bebop to the Boolean Boogie: An Unconventional Guide to Electronics
by Clive Maxfield
Published by Newnes (Elsevier), 2009
ISBN: 1856175073

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Invention by Design – How Engineers get from Thought to Thing
by Henry Petroski
Published by Harvard University Press, 1998
ISBN: 0674463684

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To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design
by Henry Petroski
Published by Vintage Books, 1992
ISBN: 0679734163

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Remaking the World
by Henry Petroski
Published by Vintage Books, 1999
ISBN: 0375700242

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Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design
by Henry Petroski
Published by Random House, 2004
ISBN: 1400032938

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Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering
by Henry Petroski
Published by Vintage Books, 2005
ISBN: 1400032946

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Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering
by Henry Petroski
Published by Cambridge University Press, 1994
ISBN: 0521466490

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Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design
by Henry Petroski
Published by Princeton University Press, 2008
ISBN: 0691136424

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The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems
by Henry Petroski
Published by Knopf Publishing Group, 2010
ISBN: 0307272451

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Why Buildings Fall Down
by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori
Published by W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1994
ISBN: 039331152X

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Why Buildings Stand Up
by Mario Salvadori
Published by W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1991
ISBN: 0393306763

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The Science of Formula 1 Design
by David Tremayne
Published by J.H. Haynes & Co. Ltd., 2009
ISBN: 1844253406

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The Simple Science of Flight
by Henk Tennekes
Published by MIT Press, 2009
ISBN: 0262513137

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Understanding Flight
by David W. Anderson and Scott Eberhart
Published by McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009
ISBN: 0071626964

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Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century
by Philip Ball
Published by Princeton University Press, 1999
ISBN: 0691009759

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Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart
by Mark E. Eberhart
Published by Three Rivers Press, 2005
ISBN: 1400048834

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Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
by Deborah Cadbury
Published by Harper Perennial, 2004
ISBN: 0007163053

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The Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin
by Francis Spufford
Published by Faber & Faber Ltd., 2004
ISBN: 0571214975

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The Existential Pleasures of Engineering
by Samuel C. Florman
Published by Souvenir Press Ltd., 1995
ISBN: 0285632876

Think Like An Engineer

Think Like An Engineer
by Guru Madhavan
Published by Oneworld Publications, 2015
ISBN: 1780746377

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How Things Work – The Physics of Everyday Life
by Louis A. Bloomfield
Published by John Wiley & Sons, 2009
ISBN: 0470223995

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Advanced Design and Technology
by Eddie Norman, Joyce Cubitt, Syd Urry and Mike Whittaker
Published by the Longman Group Ltd., 2000
ISBN: 0582328314