system to classify Engineering Books

[mecheil.edwar]

in this thread , I have one suggestion , and I hope if we can do this idea...

Nowadays , regarding to PDF books, so much books are available , for many subjects of engineering... But the problem with this huge number of books the learner in some cases can not find the prober book that can help him to learn...

So I suggested to attach one department with PDF books...

this dept is used to classify the books...

for example I read many books in strucutral dynamics ...
I can put my experience of reading this books as following

the best book I read in this subject
the level of each book
the advanced topics that cover by this books

...

I mean by this way ... the reader from the experience of other engineers , can imediately know which book is suitable for him , and with which book he can start his study

I hope my collegues we improve my ideas , and the team work of our fourm will help us to apply this idea ...

Regards for all

[ynopum]

My experience tells me that this will not work as you wish. Here are some arguments.
Everybody is lazy to write "top-charts" of books. There is almost no discussion on the books contents here in the forum. Usually the discussions are specific and "problem oriented" and not "subject oriented".

And why you should believe somebody's opinion, if his interests (in the engineering field) are different than yours? For somebody a book will be "very detailed and difficult to read", for another one it will be too concise and lacking of detailed theory. I mean, every reader has his own level of knowledge and point of interest, so for a specific book one would say "it's fine", and another reader would say "it is not enough".

Another argument is that it is very, VERY EASY now to download any book, take a look at it (just scroll all the pages) and check if it suits you, if it describes your problem, etc. You'll have your own first impression, and you can compare easily many books in area of interest. Why you should wait for somebody else to review the book?

If you need an advice for a good book on a subject (i.e. "Please recommend a good book on reinforced concrete") you can post in the "Books request" section. There are such requests, and the responding users are even giving the links to the topics where the links for those books are.

Also consider that almost every "american" book has some review at the Internet bookshops, or at the publishers webpage. So, if you are still not sure if this book will suit you after scrolling its contents - just type its title in the browser and check for reviews.

By the way, my personal experience shows that most of the books have very optimistic and high grade marks, without deserving this. One of the big problems is that the titles are very loud and they sound like it a book for engineers, but the contents inside is enough only for students and represents the basics of the subject. Usually the good practice in this case is to put a "Basics","Foundamentals","Introduction", etc. describing words that show the depth of the topic coverage for university textbooks. On contrary books with deep and practical coverage of the topic usually have "Advanced", "Design", "Engineering", etc, and the reader expect that the authors are practicing engineers. Nevertheless, many authors \especially at the universities) put confusing titles, probably for increasing the interest and the buyers of the book beyond their own students. And this is the case where you need an advice from somebody - if this book is useful for the practice, or useful for the student.

[ska51]

I am also agree with ynopum (post#2) and i would like to add some sorts of specific points in this regard.

I may choose a book (e.g. book A) is best in the field of RCC design among the books I have gone though (e.g. i have studied around 15 books for the same). Another member may choose another book (e.g. book B) as best in the same field (e.g. he/she studied around 20 books for the same, which I missed to study). In that case several choices will be created by which readers and newbie will be confused to select their own choice and it won't serve the purpose which has been mentioned earlier.

Last but not least, I would like to tell that choice will be certainly different and vary from man to man and it may create problems, I think.

There is an idea, by which we can resolve the problem like this. Our admin and moderators can think of this issue and they can arrange a poll for relevant topics and ask which books are best in that section and in that case members can apply their knowledge and skills to select the books for that subject/area of specialization and/or similar. I do believe that the readers can select the desired book/material from the highest result of that poll. Even the result can show the which books should be given more priority for that specific topics.

All the best
ska51

[chottabhai]

sounds interesting,

do you suggest we should start a new section or just a thread?

besides the search function would effectively nullify classification, in my experience, since your storage can be a mess, but with the current search tools if your search parameter is correct you can locate the book where ever it has been posted.

just my two-bit.

[mecheil.edwar]

my dear friends ,just I want to get the opinion from profisional engineers , to know their best books...

For example in my opinion the best books written in concrete ACI code is done by MacGregor.. the best book to start study of strucutral dynamics is Mario paz...

after reading many books you can find what we can say .. Mother books...

to study physics I suggest for everyone to ready Halliday book...

this is what I mean... if any reader find the book is not matched with his requiremnts ..ok the Pdf library is there....

this is my idea .. it is also good for softwares .. you see some users ask which software is good ..

this in many cases saving times and it can lead to the start point...

Before also I suggested to arrange the PDF books and many people rise objections .. and finally I see the PDF library is very good...

I hope this time also , we can contribute this idea .. let every one learn for expeience of others also in field of reading books.

Regards