[Music]
we all know that books are vital as
structural engineers however structural
engineering books can be quite pricey so
it's important you pick up the right
ones so these are my top recommendations
of engineering books that you can have i
will be referencing them from different
codes for more the specific ones that we
see in australia to more of those
general ones
and make sure you stick to it to the end
because i got some unique
recommendations on how to improve your
soft skills which is your most important
asset my name's brendan you're
structural engineer now let's get into
it if you just need to pick up one book
you need to make sure it's a general
book as it needs to cover a broad range
of topics
much like this book here now this is
more of what you would call a desktop
book as it is old but it looks nice on
top of your table
it has some really amazing pictures you
can see that it's beautifully
illustrated with pictures diagrams
and documents that's what makes it a
desktop book but doesn't mean that
something should pass up the one that i
would recommend is the structural
engineering handbook by fiona cobb
covers a broad range of topics so
normally if you're trying to scheme
those buildings you can have a look at
there and get some of that basic
knowledge that you need giving you from
all the way from the basic loads to
timber steel and concrete it covers that
broad range so if you just need to pick
up one book it's that pocket engineering
handbook now if you're picking up more
specific books it doesn't mean you
should pass it up either as there's some
generals of thumb and other knowledge
that you won't find in those more
specific volumes now talking about
coffee table books as engineers making
sure that we got our correct diagrams
and drawings is really important this is
where i would recommend
you don't pass up sketching for
engineers and architects that's an
amazing book that not only shows you how
you can display your engineering
knowledge but also allows you to have a
coffee table book where people can pick
it up and look through some of the
fascinating images and maybe ask some of
those questions so especially if you're
really into engineering like i am it's
something that you need on your coffee
table
while you're talking about general
knowledge another thing that you should
pick up is how to calculate different
deflections from different loading
patterns it's something that you use
quite often so you've got point loads
udls you can even combine them together
to either get moments or deflections if
you superposition the loads on top of
each other so there's a free compendium
that's been produced that i'll link up
here and in the below description that
allows you to pick up a great compendium
of knowledge quite a lot of people have
got it out there and they've offered it
for free so it's something that you
should just pick up and have in your
literature this brings us perfectly into
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to see you over there now let's keep
learning about the different books that
i recommend now let's move into some
more specific handbooks and this would
be something like a steel designer's
handbook as no engineer can go
throughout their career without
designing any steel there's a number of
these that you should probably look at
the first one that i recommend if you're
looking at engineering is that more
general and broad range topics now this
is the steel designer's handbook this
one's specifically for as4100 so it's
for steel design in australia however
i'm sure there's similar ones in the us
and the uk so this gives you a broad
range of topics from connection designs
to steel beam designs to joints giving
you a broad knowledge of what you need
to focus on in engineering the other one
i would recommend that you look at is in
the still institute of australia as well
where they have these handy books for
connection designs as steel is really
all in the connections so you've got
specific ones for cleat plates fixed
connections base plates and you can go
through there and look at in detail from
start to finish through worked examples
making sure you've got a thorough
understanding of connections which is
important if you're doing any steel
structure
now concrete this is such a broad topic
so you got from reinforced concrete to
post tensioning you've got columns beams
walls and how they behave differently to
strut and tire so i would recommend
probably picking up a couple of
different books here however the first
one i would recommend pretty much covers
everything you need to know about
concrete design this book is an easy to
understand it integrates both reinforced
concrete and post tension structures
covering from columns walls beams floors
not only does it just break it down from
what you need in australian standards it
also breaks down the mechanics so if
you're designing something in the uk or
elsewhere this would be a good handy
addition to your knowledge there's also
a new one by stephen foster which is the
reinforced basic concrete which should
be updated to the latest standards and
the latest knowledge steven foster is
one of the leading engineers within
australia in the concrete field he will
break down the basic mechanics allowing
you to understand concrete structures
more thoroughly now you may think
concrete structures that's all we need
to know however there's more bespoke
knowledge about concrete structures and
mainly about precast design as opposed
to the in-situ concrete that we were
just talking about before i would
recommend you pick up some bespoke books
around precast design and making sure
that you're designing it correctly and i
would go no further than the precast
handbook by the precast institute of
australia this gives you an in-depth
knowledge from precast from start to
finish doesn't matter what parts whether
you're doing hollow core walls slabs
gives you detailed designs on each of
the components about how you need to
calculate how you need to analyze it
it's not just focusing on australian
standards here either it does go into
the mechanics and how the loads transfer
through these structures timber design
is something that is up and coming in
our future so it's making sure you're
picking up the correct literature when
you're learning about timber design as
there's some unique knowledge that you
need to have due to the way it behaves
and integrates timbers are an amazing
engineered material and luckily for us
the wood solutions has released a unique
set of free manuals where you can go in
there and learn about timber design
making sure you're from start to finish
see wood solutions has been funded by
the timber institutes encouraging
engineers to use timber more
so they've taken a lot of time to put
together a great compendium on how to
design timber offering it free to the
engineering community i'll have links up
here and in the below description that
you can find if you're looking at how to
find the material from wood solutions
when you get into the more advanced
topics it can be quite hard to find an
easy to understand book that covers
everything you need overall raw stress
and strain formulas is one of these
books that every engineer needs in their
library
you see it covers the more advanced
topics for how structural mechanics
actually works how vibrations are felt
through structures which is really
important especially if you get into
hospitals or high-end residential we
don't want that floor vibration felt
throughout the structure so rock stress
and strain formulas is something that
every engineer needs as it will help you
out you may not think you're ever going
to do it when you look through it and
you see some of the knowledge that has
in there it's really helpful and it's
helped me out of a couple of jams so
would recommend you pick up that book
and with the push of structural
engineering pushing stuff off site and
moving towards those precast structures
there's another book that you need which
is the time dependent behavior of
concrete structures you see concrete
shrinks and moves as you pour it so when
you pour a precast element it will
shrink before it gets to site then if
you pour another institute element on
top of it that will shrink putting
additional stresses in it luckily
someone's taken the time and knowledge
and this is the time dependent behavior
of concrete structures they'll give you
that knowledge to make sure you're not
missing everything you may just think
i've got a concrete up there i'll pour
some concrete on top there's no
additional factors that's where you
would be wrong and this is where you
need the time-dependent behavior to see
how it behaves over time and what those
additional stresses and deflections may
be in your design one thing that i would
also recommend as well is joining a
couple of organizations as they not only
give you discounts on lectures that you
should be attending regularly to keep up
your knowledge but they also typically
produce great magazines and supporting
them will allow them to keep producing
such works the first one that i would
recommend is joining eyestruck d which
is a uk-based organization all about
structural engineering not only does it
cover the more advanced topics about how
to design structures has a great
compendium of knowledge that you can
backtrack after signing in with them but
it also goes into risks and also how to
run businesses
so eyestrike d is something that i read
on a regular basis listening to
lecturers and even if you're in
australia or overseas typically they've
got little mini organizations which you
can sign up to and attend their lectures
so we'd recommend you looking out
doesn't matter where you're in the world
to see whether there's a group signed up
to i struck d and the lectures that
they're producing they're typically
normally good quality
their magazines is also worth it the
only thing i'd sign up for would be
their magazine let alone all the
additional benefits that you get from
them another one that's also great here
in australia quite similar to the cia in
the us
is the concrete institute of australia
now they're all about concrete
structures now they go into more detail
and more about advanced knowledge
they've got some great journal articles
in here producing a great compendium of
knowledge not only that they've also got
lectures that you can also get a great
discount on so there'll be two
organizations that i'd also recommend
you signing up to
another one that i would recommend now
this is a free one and it produces a
newsletter about all those near-misses
or failures that may not have occurred
and something that we should share
regularly as engineers about what we've
seen what we need to do to address it so
everyone can learn from it and cross
offers this so cross is the
collaborative reporting for safer
structures they've got ones in australia
the uk and all over the world so we'd
recommend you signing up to the
newsletter to make sure you're learning
from the knowledge from others so you
don't make the same mistakes something
else i'd also recommend you do as well
is pick up a little hard drive
now i would be lost if i lost this i've
got so much knowledge that i've stored
over time it's quite often you pick up
different articles or journals that you
buy over time and just collecting a
compendium of knowledge that you have
now when you've got it making sure
you're filing in the correct way not
just a big party so you're saving stuff
into concrete design you're saving stuff
into timber design maybe even creating a
little excel sheet that can reference it
so if you ever need to find something
it's quickly and easy to find a
structural engineering doesn't really
change that often now there is new
knowledge out there that we need to
learn but the general mechanics doesn't
so even something that's old can be very
beneficial so couldn't go far without
having such thing as these hard drives
which nowadays are getting so small so
you don't have an excuse for not
throwing it in your bag
now we just went through some of the
hard skills that you need as structural
engineering and you can see it's a
really broad topic where this is not
your most important asset yes you do
need to know it to make sure you're
doing it correctly
however it's more important that you
have better communication skills so
people can understand you there's a
couple of books that really change my
mindset the first one is how to win
friends and influence people by dale
carnegie this is a really old book but
he spent a lot of time and knowledge
he's put into that compendium it's still
even relevant today
so i would recommend you picking up and
reading it now if you're looking
something with a little bit more of a
modern trend it's never split the
difference now this was written by an
fbi negotiator so you can more
thoroughly understand people's
motivations and how to bring people
around to your point of view so this
will help you the communication skills
but also understand some of the
motivations behind why people are doing
what they're doing just because you've
got a problem here you need to
understand someone else's problem so you
can come to a solution that you both
agree to if you're looking for a more
broad range topic on soft skills there's
also another book soft is the new heart
which it covers down different types of
communication styles from both verbal
and written and it was really
transformative this is what really set
me on the journey of learning those soft
skills
the next one is a more of a motivational
book at how you can remove barriers that
you've been placing in front of yourself
and that is the subtle art of not giving
an f
not only is this book great to listen to
there's also some good youtube videos as
well where you can understand the
thoughts behind the writer i would
recommend you both picking up the book
listening to it and listening to some of
the feedback of the author through his
progression engineering can seem quite
daunting especially after read all these
books we can see how complex it is
however structural engineering is really
simple and a simple principle that you
may not know that will make not only
your designs easier and more simple but
give you a better understanding of
structural mechanics that i'll link up
here and if you're looking for the 10
essential skills that i think every
engineer needs to be successful i'll
link it here as well and if you're
interested in supporting the channel
i've got links to my patreon in the
below description but i've also set up a
youtube membership if you feel more
comfortable supporting my channel
through youtube i'd just like to give a
quick shout out to two of my newest
patreons that's campbell wood and chanwi
lee without your support and support of
my other patreons this type of content
will not be possible as always stay safe
keep learning i'll see you next week bye