Applied Minds: How Engineers Think

by Guru Madhavan

Overview

“Engineers are titans of real-world problem-solving. . . . In this riveting study of how they think, [Guru Madhavan] puts behind-the-scenes geniuses . . . center stage.”—Nature

In this engaging account of innovative triumphs, Guru Madhavan examines the ways in which engineers throughout history created world-changing tools, from ATMs and ZIP codes to the digital camera and the disposable diaper. Equal parts personal, practical, and profound, Applied Minds charts a path to a future where we borrow strategies from engineering to find inspired solutions to our most pressing challenges.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393248005
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/27/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	667 KB

About the Author

Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering. He is a prizewinning author of essays and books, including Applied Minds: How Engineers Think. He lives in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Invisible Bridges 1

1 Mixing and Matching 15

2 Optimizing 36

3 Enhancing Efficiency and Reliability 59

4 Standardizing with Flexibility 78

5 Solutions Under Constraints 94

6 Crossing Over and Adapting 118

7 Prototyping 137

8 Learning From Others 158

Fade-Out: A Mind-Set for the Multitudes 181

Sources and Resources 191

Acknowledgments 231

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

05/18/2015
Biomedical engineer Madhavan (Practicing Sustainability) sets out to “reverse-engineer the engineering mind-set” to show lay readers the versatility of engineering techniques in everyday life. He considers different engineers or individuals who have solved engineering problems as exemplars of aspects of this mind-set, such as modular systems thinking or working on functional prototyping. His wide-ranging examples include Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval’s redesign of French cannons and Alfred Hitchcock’s approach to filmmaking, and demonstrate that engineering methods can be applied to every walk of life. While Madhavan does use some jargon, his problem-solving vignettes are accessible to non-engineers, particularly as he uses examples of familiar problems or inventions such as traffic congestion, sewage treatment, or the coordination of GPS and 911 services. Madhavan’s work will help readers move from the common understanding of engineering as a set of technical skills for building objects to the realization that engineering is a way of looking at and solving problems, and is not limited to situations involving science and math. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"This thoroughly engaging book demonstrates that engineering thinking is truly multidisciplinary, multinational, and multicultural. Through its diverse cast of engineers and wide-ranging examples of their achievements, Applied Minds leaves little doubt that our world is a better place because of the engineers who inhabit it."

Henry Petroski

"The heroes of Guru Madhavan’s compact book about the logical habits of engineers are not the usual suspects of the iPhone era. With barely a mention of Wozniak or Jobs, the author takes us back to an earlier time so that we can witness the solving of problems that have long since gone away."

Wall Street Journal - Jon Gertner

"Engineers are titans of real-world problem-solving, yet are strangely invisible, notes biomedical engineer Guru Madhavan. In this riveting study of how they think, he puts behind-the-scenes geniuses such as Margaret Hutchinson, who designed the first penicillin-production plant, centre stage."

Nature

"Engaging…[and] insightful."

Science - Sybil Derrible

"An accessible and very human story of innovators."

Discover - Gemma Tarlach

"A real pleasure to read, and lots to learn."

Tim Harford

"In this smart, insightful, and fascinating book, Madhavan shows how engineers turn problems into opportunities. The engineering mind-set is something we should all study and embrace. It applies to every aspect of life."

Walter Isaacson

"An unabashed celebration of engineers and their ‘plug and play’ thinking tool kit…. Applied Minds is worth sharing with young engineering students."

Robin Tatu

"Anyone trying to interest America’s young people in technical careers should read Applied Minds…. Writing with a liveliness that reflects the energized, creative, problem-solving people he talks about, Madhavan, a biomedical engineer, presents a completely engaging survey of what engineers do—and why you wish you could do it, too."

Nancy Szokan

"Engineers are titans of real-world problem-solving, yet are strangely invisible, notes biomedical engineer Guru Madhavan. In this riveting study of how they think, he puts behind-the-scenes geniuses such as Margaret Hutchinson, who designed the first penicillin-production plant, centre stage."

Nature Lib

06/01/2015
This latest book by Madhavan (editor, Practicing Sustainability), biomedical engineer at the National Academy of Sciences, can proudly takes its place alongside other esteemed works on engineering such as Samuel C. Florman's The Existential Pleasures of Engineering and Henry Petroski's Pushing the Limits. Written in a clear, conversational style that doesn't compromise the explanations of how engineers solve problems, it is enhanced by stories of innovators that illustrate principles such as standardization, optimization, and prototyping. Many of the accounts relate inventions now taken for granted, including the self-service grocery store with organized aisles and front checkout stations pioneered by Clarence Saunders at his Piggly Wiggly stores and Margaret Hutchinson's process borrowed from breweries that allowed Pfizer to first mass produce penicillin. A theme throughout is the systems-thinking approach successful engineers take in using their minds as "inference engines." Madhavan also reveals much about his life and career in telling the story of generations of engineers working to clean up India's Ganges river. VERDICT A delightful book that will appeal to readers interested in human innovations. Expect to be convinced by the author's thesis that an engineering mind set can be helpful to anyone.—Sara R. Tompson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lib., Archives & Records Section, Pasadena, CA

Library Journal

2015-04-15
Want to be an engineer? Then learn to think like one, especially by learning how to see structure where chaos abounds. Engineers aren't like ordinary mortals. Ideally, they're Spock-like creatures who think logically about all things. That's one reason, writes engineer/economist/National Academy of Sciences adviser Madhavan in an interesting aside, engineers aren't often found in politics, in which participants in the melee "show no reluctance to make bold pronouncements beyond their areas of competence." Engineers, conversely, dislike making mistakes and oversimplifying, and in theory, their line of reasoning steers clear of value judgments of the sort politics is built on. Not that the engineering mind yields utopias: as Madhavan sagely notes, optimization algorithms may yield financial windfalls, but they also "had an ‘invisible hand' in financial disasters," just as the liberating technology of cellphones now means that people are chained to their work at all hours. So how do engineers think? With quantitative rigor, of course, and with qualitative objectivity. Madhavan's opening case studies, which "demonstrate the power of engineers to convert feelings into finished products," take their time in cohering, but eventually they settle down to look at the issues of structure, constraint, and trade-off, as well as the allied concepts of "recombination, optimization, efficiency, and prototyping." One need not be employed as an engineer in order to put these principles to use; as Madhavan notes in one of the best case studies in the book, the film director Alfred Hitchcock was trained as an engineer and employed these practices in his movies: "Hitchcock was a backward thinker. His final product was preordained but flexible. He valued implementation over improvisation." Madhavan is a less engaging writer than Henry Petroski, who covers much the same ground, but he provides a readable survey for would-be engineers and those seeking to understand them.

Kirkus Reviews