author : Stephen Ressler

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 24 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

This is one of the best Great Courses so far. The topic is interesting, well-presented, and has made me look at buildings in a new way. Architects are most interested in form (what it looks like) and sometimes make a nod to function (how it works and is used); engineers emphasise structure (how it is put together, and why it stands up).

Ressler starts off with some background material, explaining the engineering maths behind columns, beams, arches, and trusses, and the importance of tension, compression, and buckling in structures. It could have been very dry, but he illustrates all the points with diagrams and physical models, making it all vividly intuitive. For example, we learn that Trajan’s column, or any other stone column, could be a mile high before the compression crushes the material; it buckles much sooner, though, unfortunately. And we learn why gothic arches are narrower than Roman arches, and even that arches can be flat.

He then goes on to talk about particular buildings and bridges that exhibit these features, and how they have evolved through the ages. That he has kept the technicalities relatively simple is clear when he talks about structures formed from shells: there are a couple of models, but no equations.

Importantly, he shows how before the engineering mathematics was known, engineers still built extremely impressive structures using empirical knowledge. Once the maths was known, the designs could become more ambitious, but that pragmatic knowledge was still important (as demonstrated by some equally impressive failures).

Great stuff, and I’m now looking forward to watching Everyday Engineering.

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 24 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

The course covers a wide range of ancient engineering in Greece and Rome: buildings, war machines, and infrastructure like water supply and roads.

This is fascinating. Ressler demonstrates how innovative the ancient Greeks were, in overcoming the limitations of their building materials: rope, wood and stone. And he shows how the Romans took many of these innovations, and upped the scale of application. The town planning, the sheer scale of the waterworks, the sophistication of the engineering and logistics, all achieved with no more than human and animal power, almost beggars belief. And Ressler clearly greatly admires Vitruvius and his De Architectura.

All the demonstrations are cleverly designed and clearly explained. And Ressler exudes enthusiasm for all things engineering: Roman sewers are made fascinating. And he puts to bed the idea that the fall of the Roman Empire was due to lead poisoning from their lead water pipes: firstly, the pipes furred up very quickly, and secondly, it was a moving water system, so the water was not in contact with the pipe for any significant length of time.

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 36 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

The course covers the engineering behind all the modern technology we take for granted: the house, car and telephone; power generation and the electrical grid; water, sewerage, and waste disposal; tunnels and trains. This is both informative and delightful.

The amount packed into 36 half-hour lectures is amazing. The explanations are illustrated with diagrams and glorious wooden models: I think the highlight must be the explanation of how car gears work – and then automatic gears are just mind-blowing. It is US-centric, but much carries over to other places. The sheer complexity of the infrastructure parts should be compelled viewing for politicians, many of whom I am sure know little of how the places they govern actually work.

The delight comes from Ressler’s own enthusiasm for all things engineering: even sewerage and land-fill design! How could the viewer not be equally enthused? Like all great teachers, he leaves you wanting more.

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 24 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, along with engineering design drawings, equations, and calculations. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

This is another one of Ressler’s excellent courses, with a twist: instead of explaining how existing structures have been designed, here Ressler designs and builds his own structures, using (mostly) only materials and tools found in any well-equipped home workshop.

This is proper engineering: the projects are first designed, with the important underlying physical and engineering principles explained. The sizes, weights, torques etc are calculated (in weird Imperial units for the most part), then translated into plans, then the parts constructed and assembled, and the final artefacts tested in (sometimes literally) the field. The projects include a (model) tower, bridge, sailboat, aeroplane, helicopter, rocket, ballista, water turbine, and clock. In the final lecture he designs and build a magnificent Rube Goldberg machine that incorporates every principle introduced in the earlier lectures.

As ever, each lecture is delivered with wonderful clarity, and engaging enthusiasm. Super stuff. (An if watching the lectures, definitely stay for the out-takes at the end: not everything works first time!)

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 26 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

Like all of Ressler’s courses, this is sheer delight. We learn about structures throughout history to the present day, how they failed, why they failed, and what we learend (or maybe didn’t) from the failures.

He structures the course around the engineering requirements, design, analysis, construction and maintenance life cycle, which allows him to move around history, giving us a mix of old and new as we progress through the course. As ever, the little models and demonstrations, here of failure modes, add to the technical details. Some of the failure modes seem obvious with hindsight; others seem less predictable.

Although the presentation isn’t historical, several big failures (Challenger, Chernobyl, Deepwater Horizon, Boeing 737 MAX, and Hurricane Katrina) come at the end. This is because they are in the section on management failures, which play an ever-increasing role in the ever-increasing scale of engineering projects. He names villains, and heroes, and at least one person who was both.

As Ressler emphasises, we make progress by pushing the technological knowledge envelope, inevitably leading to some failures of innovation, but allowing us to learn how to do better, push the envelope even further, and repeat the cycle. Knowledge is hard-won indeed. So it would seem that, as a consequence of the envelope increasing in size, we should expect an ever-increasing scale of failures.

Even though the topic is grim in places, as most of the failures resulted in many deaths, Ressler’s enthusiasm for, and deep love of, engineering make this a brilliant course.