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Engineering is a skill you grow with time through experience and learning. While there are many engineering majors and subfields, the principles that make an engineer successful are not different.
The following offer the top 24 books (Not Textbooks) for every topic and field of engineering:
Top 3 Books Every Engineer Should Read To Be Successful
1- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
| Author | Stephen R. Covey |
| Type | Self-Help Book |
| Date Published | 1989 |
The 7 habits of highly effective people provide an in-depth analysis of the habits everyone needs to develop to become very effective and successful in their career and life.
2- How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
| Author | Scott Adams |
| Type | Self-Help Book |
| Date Published | 2013 |
The story behind Scott Adams of how mindset and the way you look at things change your perspective. This book gives you steps to follow to improve and find a way to succeed at anything through an engaging story that is fun to read.
3- The Existential Pleasures Of Engineering
| Author | Samuel Florman |
| Type | Passion For Engineering |
| Date Published | 1996 |
Wanna change the way you view engineering and design, this book gives you all that and more. Samuel disproves the radical thinking that engineering is passionless and cold with a new refreshing viewpoint on engineering and how ordinary people who sought to make big changes with simple ideas inspired the world’s biggest innovations.
Top 3 Books Every Civil Engineer Should Read
1- To Engineer Is Human
| Author | Henry Petroski |
| Type | Failure In Engineering |
| Date Published | 1985 |
How failures in engineering inspire more complicated and successful designs. This book takes us on a journey of some of the most catastrophic failures in engineering, specifically in civil engineering, and the lessons learned from those failures.
2- Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down
| Author | J. E. Gordon |
| Type | Civil Engineering |
| Date Published | 1978 |
This book explains the engineering behind buildings, bridges and dams from a common sense perspective. This book is excellent for curious people who want to expand their knowledge and vision and is suitable for any engineer.
3- Man of Iron: Thomas Telford and the Building of Britain
| Author | Julian Glover |
| Type | The Biography Of Thomas Telford |
| Date Published | 2017 |
The biography of Thomas Telford, the genius behind who built Britain. This book takes us on the journey of how Thomas Telford, a poor Scottish, rises to become one of Britain’s best civil engineers. He is the man behind many bridges and national roads tying England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales together.
Top 3 Books Every Mechanical Engineer Should Read
1- Engineer to Win
| Author | Carroll Smith |
| Type | Mechanical Engineering Book |
| Date Published | 1984 |
The engineering behind racing cars. This book takes you behind the mechanics and engineering of developing fast formula one cars by detailing specific components and principles such as brakes, aerodynamics and heat treatment.
2- The Way Things Work Now
| Author | David Macaulay |
| Type | Mechanical Engineering Book |
| Date Published | 2016 |
This book takes you on a journey of the mechanics behind everything from windmills to WIFI. The principles behind those technologies are brilliantly explained with tons of information in a descriptive approach that leans more toward explaining the common sense behind those inventions rather than the technical aspects.
Highly recommended for mechanical engineers specifically but also a good book for any engineer.
3- Mechanical Engineering For Makers
| Author | Brian Bunnell & Samer Najia |
| Type | Mechanical Engineering Book |
| Date Published | 2020 |
A practical approach to mechanical engineering is written for those with no mechanical engineering degree to give them a process for creating things. This book is not a textbook that will bore you to death. Instead, it provides mechanical engineering concepts illustrated by hands-on projects.
Top 3 Books Every Electrical & Computer Engineer Should Read
1- Steve Jobs
Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs and more than 100 family members, this biography brings forward the man behind one of the biggest tech companies known today. Highly recommended for computer engineers.
2- Electrical Engineering 101
This book explains electrical engineering principles in a down-to-earth format. It uses real-world examples to explain the principles to help engineers understand and have the technical know-how to build and troubleshoot electrical systems.
3- Clean Code: A Handbook Of Agile Software Craftsmanship
As the name suggests, this book teaches how to write clean and reliable code that is easy to maintain. This book aims to introduce order to writing codes that save time and effort. This book will challenge the reader to practice how they write codes to become agile coders.
Top 3 Books Every Chemical Engineer Should Read
1- Chemical Engineering: An Introduction
This book explains the science behind chemical engineering with all its subfields using examples to explain the principles of modern chemical engineering.
2-Chemical Engineering For Non-Chemical Engineers
Do not let the name fool you. This book is jam-packed with tones of chemical engineering principles and basics. This book is suitable for both engineers and non-engineers.
3- Rules Of Thumb For Chemical Engineers
For those who want a reliable source of chemical engineering principles to solve problems on the job, this book is for you.
Top 3 Books Every Industrial Engineer Should Read
1- The Design of Everyday Things
| Author | Don Norman |
| Type | Product Development & User Experience |
| Date Published | 2013 |
This amazing book around product development and user experience explains how average consumers dislike a product unconsciously due to bad design. The book explains the cognitive psychology companies use to develop products that relate to people and solve problems.
2- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, And The Quest For A Fantastic Future
| Author | Ashlee Vance |
| Type | Life Of Elon Musk |
| Date Published | 2015 |
Elon Musk is a self-taught engineer, specifically an industrial engineer. This book takes us on the journey of the silicon valley entrepreneur and his rise to become the smartest man alive with his success in the tech industry with both his companies, Space X and Tesla.
The Goal: A process of ongoing improvement
| Author | Eliyahu M. Goldratt |
| Type | A Business Graphic Novel |
| Date Published | 1984 |
Want to transform your management thinking? This book will do that and more. This book uses a story to show practical management concepts to improve operations management and strategic planning efficiency. You can apply those ideas in management and your personal life.
Top 3 Books Every Entrepreneur Engineer Should Read
1- Zero to One
| Author | Peter Thiel |
| Type | Entrepreneurs & Business Startups |
| Date Published | 2014 |
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund and the first outside investor in Facebook, aka Meta. Zero To One describes the humble beginnings of PayPal and how its innovative idea of online transactions brought the success of this small silicon valley startup.
2- The Lean Startup
| Author | Eric Ries |
| Type | Entrepreneurs & Business Startups |
| Date Published | 2011 |
Entrepreneurship can be engineered, which means it can be taught and mentored. After failing in his startup company during the dot com bubble and later finding success, Eric Ries developed principles that can lead to success in new startups.
3- That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix
| Author | Marc Randolph |
| Type | The Evolution OF A Tech Company |
| Date Published | 2019 |
Although Marc Randolph does not have a background in engineering, he has successfully created one of the top tech companies in the world: Netflix, the giant streaming service.
This book takes you on the journey of how tech startups should test their idea or, as Marc likes to say, “collide your ideas with reality” to test how well they can perform and how much attraction it gets before deciding to go fully with the idea.
Very interesting book for those with big dreams with no idea how to start.
Top 3 Books To Improve Your Engineering Communication
1- How To Win Friends And Influence People
| Author | Dale Carnegie |
| Type | Self-Help Book |
| Date Published | 1936 |
This book is generations old but still the best communication and business book you can ever read. It is written to improve communication but also to formulate long-lasting relationships.
This book is recommended for anyone who wants to improve communication and learn to be more confident and say the right things at the right time.
2- How To Talk To Anyone
92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships
| Author | Leil Lowndes |
| Type | Self-Help Book |
| Date Published | 1999 |
Written on the same principles as How To Win Friends And Influence People, this book provides a step-by-step guide to being more confident in social situations, especially in business and engineering, with cool 92 tricks.
3- Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High
| Author | Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler, Ron McMillan |
| Type | Communication Book |
| Date Published | 2002 |
Crucial communication is the perfect book for engineers to improve their communication skills. Negotiation, Winning relationships and maintaining a highly technical conversation are skills all engineers need to learn, and this book offers that and more.
