Customer Reviews

The Fantastical Engineer : A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Fantastical Engineer" provides an opportunity for students and teachers alike to get inside the exciting world of theme parks and roller coasters. While teachers have been traditionally limited to showing pictures of theme park attractions and talking to students about what it must be like to actually get inside such attractions from the ground up, this book provides a guide that takes the reader right into the fray. You suddenly have a "how to" when it comes to the engineering of theme parks. Students are especially fascinated with roller coasters and "The Fantastical Engineer" serves as good motivation toward directing them not only into further study in this area, but to a possible career in engineering and theme park design as well. It is an excellent supplementary resource for High School Physics and Physical Science students as well as college students and beyond.

As an engineer contemplating a career change into the theme park industry, I was hoping for some good leads and background information to help me in my search. However, the book was way too general to be of much value for this. There is a listing of several companies in the industry, including addresses, phone numbers and contact names, which will be helpful, but all that information (minus the names) is also available on some of the industry association's web sites. The 144 pages is deceiving, as the type is large and there are several pages of references. It only took me about 1.5 hours to read the whole thing. If you are looking for general information about what theme park engineering is, this book will be good for you. It is written for the high school and perhaps college age student, not for the serious job searcher.

I am a high school student looking forward to some sort of structural/civil engineering career, and a career in the amusement industry sounded really great, so when I found this book I was really excited. A week later, I got it in the mail, and was dissappointed. The book seems weakly set-up and organized, and too generalized when it shouldn't be, and way to specific in some spots. One chapter, to my surprise, had several pages just on how to build a model of a rollercoaster! Interesting, nevertheless, but in a childrens' book about wolves or something, would you have a chapter about collecting feces samples? I am not going to put this book down too far, though. The appendix is the most helpful part, with reccomended reading and all sorts of info (web sites and e-mail even) about most entertainment industry manufacturers, designers, etc., etc... It was good, but gave a too generalized view of the industry, I think, and not enough about how to get into it. Took me about a couple of hours of easy reading to finish it--if that says anything.

After reading this book my daughter feels she can become an engineer! This book made her excited about her future. I highly recommend it for any parent that wants to encourage their child to become an engineer. Only now, she wants to go to theme parks every weekend.

This book is the cheering section for hish school physics teachers to encourage students to go into engineering. It uses the amusement park as a model to showcase the different disciplines within engineering. There is a good list of good reading, manufacturers, trade magazines, and the like.

This book should not be confused as a book for someone who loves rollercoatsers and wants to learn more about them or just see lots of cool information or cool pictures of roller coasters. This is a book for engineering students.

The Fantastical Engineer provides an unusual focus on careers in theme park engineering, blending a comic, upbeat approach with numerous tips on how to apply engineering skills to a theme park environment. The chapters which tell how to work with software and how to produce desired results are light and intriguing.

A career guidance book that introduces the reader easily into the wonderfull world of Theme Park engineering.

Very interesting for anyone who has ever thought about a career in the entertainment world.

I was reading the reviews of this book and think they are all very valuable. Celeste's books aim to inspire middle and high school students, so a serious job searcher will be let down if they are looking for leads. But what a job she does in inspiring through her writing on this book! The theme park world is the subject of video games and something many kids think about, especially when they are at the park. But too often, kids sell themselves short, thinking that this sort of work is probably impractical and unachievable. Celeste shows real people doing amazing work, and I know that even I, a structural engineer creating and fixing bridges and tunnels for about 24 years now, was seriously contemplating transforming myself into an imagineer after reading this book!

This is a GREAT book for people just feeling out the field of entertainment engineering. The author does a good job of explaining the industry and the many positive challenges that are part of theme park engineering and attraction design. Some great practical examples. For those interested in Coaster design, this book has a chapter just for that discipline. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, is just because of how short it is. For me, I felt it could have used some more content. But I am sure for many - it is the perfect length. A great introductory read!