Top Engineering books curated by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we have connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Engineering books – and here are the answers.

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Top Engineering books recommended by experts
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Fundamentals of Engineering

Understanding the concepts of Engineering starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

The existential pleasures of engineering

The existential pleasures of engineering

Humans have always sought to change their environment--building houses, monuments, temples, and roads. In the process, they have remade the fabric of the world into newly functional objects that are also works of art to be admired. In this second edition of his popular Existential Pleasures of E…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Goal

The Goal

Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try and improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant - or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious -- even liberating -- book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users an…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Designing Engineers

Designing Engineers

The products of engineering design are everywhere, but who or what determines their form and function? Their surfaces are usually cold, seemingly objective, as if they existed outside of history of the technologies that are so much a part of our lives. Written by a practicing engineer, Designing…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Engineering in the Ancient World

Engineering in the Ancient World

This extraordinary book reveals the engineering know-how of the ancient Greeks and Romans, explores in fascinating detail how they developed and constructed their machines, and considers how the same principles are used in modern-day engineering.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts in Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact

The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts in Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact

The most effective engineers — the ones who have risen to become distinguished engineers and leaders at their companies — can produce 10 times the impact of other engineers, but they're not working 10 times the hours. They've internalized a mindset that took me years of trial and error to figure…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Additional Engineering Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Engineering, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World

The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the appl…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering

Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering

This fully revised and updated edition of the 1944 classic serves as a crucial compilation of 'house rules' or a professional code. This new edition keeps the style of the original and much of its content. Changes reflect shifted societal values, changed employment laws and evolved corporate str…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Mythical Man-Month

The Mythical Man-Month

Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project m…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Carroll Smith's Engineer to Win

Carroll Smith's Engineer to Win

Current state of the art in racing technology by a foremost expert in the field. Covers all forms of racing cars and includes a thorough analysis of metallurgy, metal fatigue and general materials technology. Details specific components and specific activities such as heat treatments, stress rel…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Soul of a New Machine

The Soul of a New Machine

Computers have changed since 1981, when The Soul of a New Machine first examined the culture of the computer revolution. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly u…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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