essential reading for structural engineers

huangyhg

essential reading for structural engineers
i'm just starting out working life as a structural engineer having recently graduated and was wondering if anyone had had any advice on 'must read books for structural engineers?
i'm particularly interested in any slightly less technical books that will improve my overall understanding & knowledge!
check out our whitepaper library.
i like the books by henry petroski.  
to engineer is human
remaking the world
success through failure
this one is an excellent book, just what you'd be looking for:
why buildings fall down - levy & salvadori - easier to stay stay interested in than petroski's book and funny as well (see the section on how he handled lawyers as an expert witness)
why buildings stand up - also by the same people i think.
i'd get as familiar as possible with the aisc steel construction manual & asce 7 minimum design loads for buildings & other structures.  i use these much more than anything else.
definately read through the commentaries for all the codes - this will give you a better understanding of the background.
quite honestly, i would rate this forum as a must read.  be glad you found this early on in your career.  i am out of school a little over over a year and a half and am far ahead of my peers in technical competence (many of whom have graduate degrees from some very prestigious engineering schools which will remain nameless).
this forum will expose you to many problems (in a short time) which would take years to come across in practice.
take some time to think through some of the posts that interest you and it will help tremendously.
check into "history of the strength of materials" sometime, by timoshenko- i think it's a dover book.
ditto structural eit.  there's nothing like having a large pool of engineers to give and get opinions on a wide variety of engineering topics/issues.
i have found that this sort of thing depends a lot on what sort of structural work you are doing. a good place to look for "must reads" is probably on the shelves in the office.
for example, i've yet to bother rereading the building code commentaries since graduating (read it for uni work previously), since i never design buildings.
"grey's anatomy"
really - its a study unto the structure of the human body - very complicated, but logical.
mike mccann
mccann engineering