author : Samuel C. Florman

Since time began humans have sought to change their environment – by building houses to live in, monuments and temples, roads and enclosures. They have carved and constructed. designed and adorned, striving to produce edifices that were not merely functional but works of art to be admired and wondered at.

Why, then, asks the author of this inspiring and brilliantly eloquent book, has engineering sunk into disfavour? Is it right to blame the whole profession for pollution, desecration of the landscape, lack of taste? Are engineers really so cold and passionless, so insensitive to the finer feelings of others?

Samuel Florman, himself a distinguished and highly erudite civil engineer, sets out to dispel the myth that has darkened the image of his profession, celebrating it as a vital, living force that is an essential part of human nature, rich in spiritual and sensual rewards.

Whether we like it or not, we are dependent on engineers and the benefits they can provide; without them our lives would be immeasurably poorer. In opposing the ‘antitechnology’ stance that has become so fashionable, Florman emerges triumphantly with a practical, creative and fun philosophy of engineering that boasts his pride in his craft.

Stimulating, illuminating and rich in humour, this book opens our eyes to our inner need to build and adapt, to invent and manipulate. which engineering alone can satisfy. Not only a source of inspiration to engineers at every level, it is essential reading for all who seek to understand their primal instincts.