A classic examination of how engineers think and feel about their profession and its philosophy."A useful read for engineers given to self-scrutiny, and a stimulating one for the layman interested in the ancient schism between machines and men's souls." — TimeHumans 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 functi...

An award-winning civil engineer and contractor explores the impact advanced technology has on the world and society.Blaming Technology: The Irrational Search for Scapegoats is Samuel C. Florman's 1981 discussion of the state of technology and engineering in the United States, including the pros and cons, and the public's perceptions and opinions. An optimist at heart, he believes that technological innovation improves lives and defends his profession and a...

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. Samuel Florman explores how engineers think and feel about their profession in The Existential Pleasures of Engineering.Florman celebrates engineering as not only crucial and fundamental but also vital and alive; he views it as a response to som...

Civil engineer Samuel C. Florman's The Civilized Engineer is aimed at both those observing and commenting externally on engineering, and the practicing engineer—to reveal something of the art behind great engineering achievements, and to stimulate debate upon the author's hypothesis that "in its moment of ascendance, engineering is faced with the trivialization of its purpose and the debasement of its practice."

From the author who inspired inaugural poet Richard Blanco! Engineering and the Liberal Arts remains a fresh and provocative book, using the familiar world of technology to guide a new generation of engineers through the stimulating world of the liberal arts.Beginning with a penetrating and enlightening discussion of how exposure to the arts can enrich and reward nearly every aspect of an engineer's life, Samuel Florman—himself a decorated engineer with ove...

Good Guys, Wiseguys, and Putting Up Buildings is an engaging memoir about one man's career in construction--rising to the top of an industry renowned for crime, corruption, violence, physical danger, and the chronic risk of financial catastrophe.Starting in the Navy Seabees at the end of WWII, Samuel C. Florman made his way as a general contractor in New York City through the period of explosive development, private exuberance and the historic growth of pu...

An exciting look at how engineering can shape the future of our society and offer creative technological solutions to our twenty-first–century problems.The profession of engineering is rarely the topic of serious public discussion. Multimedia, virtual reality, information superhighway-these are the buzzwords of the day. But real engineers, the people who conceive of computers and oversee their manufacture, the people who design and build information systems, cars, b...

The year is 2010 and the world as we know it has come to an end. A huge comet has smashed into the earth off the coast of California, vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that engulfs the globe in a destructive holocaust. But at the opposite pole of the planet, there is a "safe zone" encompassing part of the southeast African shore and the southern tip of Madagascar where the damage is extensive but not total.Spared from destruction is a luxury cruise ship, the Queen of Africa, wh...