Second the recommendation of Professor Gordon's book.

It was of the few books on my university architecture reading list that
I actually read.  And still have.

David West
Executive Director
internationalconservationservices
T:     +61 (2) 9417 3311
M:    +61 (411) 692 696
sustaining your heritage
-----Original Message-----
From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin C.
Tangora
Sent: Saturday, 30 January 2010 11:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BP] Speaking of hell ...

... 

On (almost) the same topic, I once again recommend to all of you
the book by the late Professor J. E. Gordon,
"The new science of strong materials,
or why you don't fall through the floor."
If any of you ever reads a book with pleasure,
I promise you that you will read this one with pleasure.
Depending on your tolerance for actual science,
you might have to skip a couple of chapters,
but the rest of the book is about failure of materials,
which you are all interested in, written by a guy
who worked on why WW2 bombers failed,
how to build wooden boats, etc.
(I urged you all to read it many years ago,
when Professor Gordon was still alive,
but as far as I know none of you followed my advice.)

Martin C. Tangora
University of Illinois at Chicago
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