Customer Reviews

The Engineering Handbook, Second Edition (Electrical Engineering Handbook)

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This huge book contains almost everything the practicing engineer needs, including definitions of engineering terms, solutions to common problems, rules-of-thumb, tables and equations, and references to other engineering sources.

Keep in mind that no matter how big (2800+ pages) an engineering reference could be, there is no way that you will be able to find every single detail in every field of engineering covered in enough depth to write your thesis. You will find the fundamental information, principles, quick calculations methods, illustrations, and diagrams, which will save the industrial practitioner valuable time.

I really believe this book is an excellent engineering reference. I am an Electronic Engineer, but I have been working for the last 16 years as an Instrumentation, Automation and Process Control Engineer for the Oil & Gas Industry. As a result I have been involved with Chemical and Mechanical Engineering issues in a day to day basic. I found this book to be a helpful reference in those fields and also in other very different fields, like engineering economics and management.

I own this book, and for me it was a very good investment.

Generally I like Dr. Dorf's work, but this particular volume is not one of my favorites. It's not really a handbook; it's a broad survey course for sophomore engineering students. There simply is insufficient depth in any one subject for a working engineer to design or simulate a machine or process or structure. I read a few pages everyday and managed to get through the whole book, but I cannot say it was a pleasant experience.

Here is a brief list of real handbooks I own which have the necessary depth to use in the real world:

1. Condon's Handbook of Physics
2. Eshbach's Handbook of Engineering Fundamentals
3. Mark's Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineering
4. Markus Guidebook of Electronic Circuits
5. Potter's Handbook of the Engineering Sciences
6. Tuma's Handbook of Physical Calculations
7. Grigoriev's Handbook of Physical Quantities
8. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
9. Allen's Astrophysical Quantities
10. Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data
11. CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics

All of these works contain substantially more information per page than The Engineering Handbook.

The organization is also somewhat questionable. The math and materials sections are in the back of the book, instead of the front. The chapter on linear systems and models is separated from the chapter on control systems, etc.

I don't want to imply that there aren't any worthwhile chapters. I liked the chapter on wind energy...
Recommended to sophomore engineering students, not working engineers.

This handbook is a bunch of articles about several topics in engineering.
The collection is impressive, but every article, per se, is too brief to be useful to anyone.