Ask HN: Book recommendations that made you a better engineer overall?

28 points by noob_eng 3y ago ↗ HN

The type of engineering doesn't matter. It may be electrical, mechanical, biomedical, computer, literally anything.

"Engineering is the purposeful use of science" - a quote I heard somewhere and have forgot who said it.

Name some books that made you a better engineer. The books need not necessarily be from your field. You may have drawn inspiration from a related or a non-related subject. E.g.: learning some form of mathematics may make you a better programmer.

Also mention a line of two about why the book has a special place for you.

8 comments

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austin-cheney 3y ago ↗

DOM Scripting - https://www.amazon.com/DOM-Scripting-Design-JavaScript-Docum...

XML Schema - https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-XML-Schema-Charles-Goldfar...

You don’t have to be a slave to some framework to do frontend web work. You can actually learn how these technologies actually work.

avinassh 3y ago ↗

Designing Data-Intensive Applications (DDIA) - https://dataintensive.net/

surprisetalk 3y ago ↗

• Smalltalk-80 : http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook....

• Godel, Escher, Bach : https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0...

• Crafting Interpreters : https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Interpreters-Robert-Nystrom/...

• SICP : https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Pro...

dranudin 3y ago ↗

"Finite Elements Using Maple", "The finite element method displayed" - I am a mechanical engineer by education. These are two of the first books that made me understand finite element simulations, more than a decade ago. By programming these simulations I started to write code almost every day. Today I work as a software engineer and it's great!

elevanation 3y ago ↗

How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influen...

Because in the long run, it's not just about having great ideas, it's about collaborating with other people, and convincing those people about your great ideas.

surprisetalk 3y ago ↗

I cannot recommend this book enough.

HTWFAIP is the definitive guide on interacting with people (yes, even now in 2023).

When it comes to your career, social skills far outweigh technical skills.

2rsf 3y ago ↗

Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/accelerate/978145719143...

There are a lot of books on good practices, this one has proofs and research included

sangpal 3y ago ↗

Code Complete - great for understanding how to actually go about building large scale programs effectively