The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor

This book is part of the Princeton Science Library, the best collection of books on mathematics and science for the intelligent layman. Like other books in that series, it is succinct and clearly written. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the positive reader reviews are right on. Because I liked it so much, I purchased Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down also by Professor Gordon. As it turned out, that book covers the same material, but in greater breadth and depth, and with more illustrations. There's much to be said for reading both books, but if you're only going to read one, "Structures" is the one.

Professor Gordon is the sort of teacher I would have appreciated in school. One imagines him as a grey haired gentleman in rumpled slacks and cardigan with a pipe and sneakers who makes it his kindly mission in life to fill his students with a zest for his chosen calling.His explanations are elegant, simple and fascinating. I can't think of higher praise for someone trying to make sense of a discipline as complicated as materials science.The problem with most academics is an inherent need to appear learned. This leads to obscure and convoluted explanations that are, if not overtly, at least subconsciously designed to maintain the gap between the ignorant masses and the enlightened adepts. Even when such academics make a conscious attempt to simplify, their efforts are too often sabotaged by the bad habits of a lifetime.This is why good popularisers are so difficult to come by, and why the Gordons of the world should be so prized.This book isn't just about the science of materials, but about how such an exotic subject actually connects with our everyday lives. We live in a certain way, and not in a different way, because of the strengths, weaknesses, costs and working difficulties in the materials that we use. I don't think most laymen ever bother thinking about the world in quite this way.This book is not actually meant for engineers or scientists, although most such technos would greatly benefit from reading it (if only to learn the meaning of true grasp and clarity). Its true benefit is to those curious laymen who wish to know more, but who find the usual explanations beyond them.This book should be required reading for all undergraduates, not just aspiring scientists or engineers. In fact, it should be especially required for non-technical types.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. It is fun to read the practical examples and has unusual technical insight into how materials fail (or don't). Some very technical ideas are presented very simplely and clearly.

Far more than a textbook intro, it is a biographical narrative of the discovery of why some materials are strong, some not; how wooden airplanes were made in WWI and I, how plastics were found to be strong, or not, why fiber composites, such as fibreglass, were found to be so strong. Immensely entertaining, very educational .

This book, and it's companion, "Structures, or why things don't fall down" should be standard reading material for every engineering undergraduate. Mr. Gordon is the only author I've found that has a real practical insight into these arcane areas of science. The reason I've ordered two more of each title is that my orignal copies have fallen apart from being read and re-read by myself and others for continued education and enjoyment. You can't say that about many other science related textbooks! I'm just happy to see they are still in print.