or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
53 used & new from $1.07
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Civilized Engineer
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Civilized Engineer (Paperback)

~ (Author) "my best work in mathematics, and was gently urged by several of my teachers to consider a career in science. There were no "two cultures..." (more)
Key Phrases: civilized engineer, engineering ethics, existential pleasures, United States, New York, American Society of Civil Engineers (more...)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
List Price: $15.95
Price: $10.85 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.10 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Thursday, February 11? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
14 new from $4.31 38 used from $1.07 1 collectible from $15.95

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   -- $1.73
Paperback $10.85   $4.31 $1.07

Frequently Bought Together

The Civilized Engineer + The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book) + To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design
Price For All Three: $31.19

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Civilized Engineer by Samuel C. Florman

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book) by Samuel C. Florman

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design by Henry Petroski

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book)

The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book)

by Samuel C. Florman
4.5 out of 5 stars (11)  $10.17
To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

by Henry Petroski
3.6 out of 5 stars (33)  $10.17
Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering

Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering

by Henry Petroski
3.5 out of 5 stars (11)  $10.52
Engineering and the Mind's Eye

Engineering and the Mind's Eye

by Eugene S. Ferguson
4.9 out of 5 stars (10)  $26.10
Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering

Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering

by Henry Petroski
4.5 out of 5 stars (4)  $11.66
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Civil engineer Florman ( The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, Blaming Technology here indulges in sufficient autobiography to reveal how, instinctively, he reached out for a well-rounded education in the arts and humanities, which he now sees as crucial to human survival. This lends a charming informality to his book's undisguised mission: to drive home to the young the necessity of avoiding too-narrow specialization, noting that technology seems to have become the obsession of the success-minded. He presents his case for the cultural development of today's youth, using examples as current as the Challenger tragedy to suggest that technological minds tend to downgrade human risks and responsibilities. "If I were king," writes Florman, he would require major courses in history and literature at all engineering schools.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Essential reading . . . [Florman's] lucid prose is readily accessible to anyone who wants to know more about the profession most influential in shaping the 20th Century."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"With The Civilized Engineer, Florman has written his most substantial book to date . . . Enjoyable to read . . . The book is a useful aid for focusing one's own (often unexamined) views on what it now means and what it should mean to be an engineer."—Technology and Society

"Florman is the man we've been looking for. Incredible as the combination may appear, he is both a practicing engineer and a truly gifted writer."—Fortune

"The Civilized Engineer is remarkable simply because there is no other engineer author who talks to engineers the way Florman does. Any intelligent engineer who doesn't want to think like a frog in an enclosed pond would do well to read this book."—Engineering Times

"Mr. Florman is a respected professional engineer and a man of wide cultivation. He writes with beautiful clarity and his wit springs from his material; it is not applique. The reader is never in doubt about what Mr. Florman is saying. in an age of murky prose. this quality alone would win him an enthusiastic readership."—The New York Times Book Review
-- Review
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (December 15, 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312025599
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312025595
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,590 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Samuel C. Florman
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Samuel C. Florman Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
my best work in mathematics, and was gently urged by several of my teachers to consider a career in science. There were no "two cultures" in those days and I can recall no division between students of different sorts of talents, rather mutual respect and a shared appreciation of achievement. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
civilized engineer, engineering ethics, existential pleasures, engineering view, engineering educators, dual ladder, liberal learning, engineering education, individual engineers
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, American Society of Civil Engineers, National Research Council, World War, National Science Foundation, Soviet Union, Industrial Revolution, Bell Labs, Brooklyn Bridge, Los Alamos, New Hampshire, New Machine, Offshore Technology Conference, Robert Fulton, Sloan Foundation, Stone Age, John Smeaton
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 57 books:
See all 57 books this book cites
 
25 books cite this book:
See all 25 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Civilized Engineer
53% buy the item featured on this page:
The Civilized Engineer 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
$10.85
The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book)
27% buy
The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (Thomas Dunne Book) 4.5 out of 5 stars (11)
$10.17
To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design
9% buy
To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design 3.6 out of 5 stars (33)
$10.17
Engineering and the Mind's Eye
7% buy
Engineering and the Mind's Eye 4.9 out of 5 stars (10)
$26.10
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars passionate and introspective, June 26, 2000
By M. Russell "bama-fan" (CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is an excellent book for anyone who's ever wanted to take a look into the mind of an engineer. Many of the examples are outdated and the later capters degrade into seemingy-endless lobbying for increased integration of liberal arts into engineering education (a noble, but unrealistic goal). However, this book provides insight into the engineering profession by asking questions that all engineers should ask themselves (but many may not have). Questions such as: what makes and engineer an engineer? how did engineering develop from its early days as informal apprenticeships into a "civilized" profession? how does an engineer balance the demands of his/her employer against his/her own conscience? One may not always agree with the answers given, nonetheless, the questions provide insight into what makes at least one engineer tick. As an engineer, I could identify with the author and his quest for self understanding.

This book provides a refreshing alternative to the "nerdy" image with which engineers are often identified. It provides a chance to view the "anonymous profession" of engineering as a sum of its individual parts. Yes, as professionals engineers must be exact, but we must also be creative. Yes, engineers must be loyal to their employer and work from withing the system, but as individuals, we carry with us our individual identities, political ideals, and codes of honor. Yes, we must learn math and science (and dare I that many of us even enjoy doing so), but many of us also enjoy literature, music, art, and other "liberal" studies. This book proves that at least one engineer can WRITE a well-researched book that is also enjoyable to read. Indeed an engineer can be both technically competent and civilized.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Essential Florman, May 22, 2000
By Carra R Lane (Bishop Hill, IL United States) - See all my reviews
Samual Florman is graceful and balanced writer, as well as a very proud and sensible practicing civil engineer. All of his writing is well worth reading, especially for professional humanists wisely or foolishly spooked by technology, which is not going away, but this one gets to the heart of ancient and impending problems. Florman notes a cultural disrespect, perhaps fading by now, for his profession and looks within, especially at the standard American university engineering curriculum, rather than simply, and simple-mindedly, assigning all blame to others. What a concept! Recommended for all ages and prejudices.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Critically Thinking Engineer, September 22, 1998
By A Customer
To call this book a classic would be stretching the metaphor a bit. It's audience is, perhaps inappropriately, far too small. But, for those engineers who may wish to understand their academic training and subsequent practice as more than a vocational exercise will appreciate Florman's thesis, and may even be profoundly changed by it. Florman takes great care in describing how engineers, as creative artists, are not immune from the so-called "liberal arts", and can actually benefit from them. Engineers need critical thinking. The author was able to teach me that, even though I don't practice engineering, the intellectual stimulation I felt while studying it is an invaluable asset. That stimulation encouraged me to continue--to satisfy that innate curiosity independent of subject. Technology has an intangible element that Florman captures and describes beautifully.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for engineers
Although somewhat dated, the concepts and basic message are timeless and presented in a very readable fashion. Helps round out an engineer's education.
Published 11 months ago by J. Lisenko

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitive, Long-Winded Engineering Nolstagia
Despite leading projects with complex dynamics between people, technology, business and strategic issues, engineers often get bad-press for being too scientific, logical and... Read more
Published on March 13, 2000 by Prof David T Wright

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than "To Engineer is Human."
This book has probably changed my future some what. I am a pre-eingineering student, and found this book very approprate. Read more
Published on February 4, 1999

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:












i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.