Every field has one or several “standard” textbooks and references, but for an outsider, it’s hard to know which ones are the classics. I’m a science student who needs to study some engineering, but I don’t know which books to get. It looks like there are quite a few engineer types here - what would you recommend? Specifically I think I need something on:
[ul]
[li]Electronics. Already got Horowitz and Hill but it doesn’t have enough math (network theory, active filters, etc.)[/li][li]Machining and drafting. Just general textbooks or references.[/li][li]Control theory[/li][li]Thermodynamics and heat transfer.[/li][li]Anything else that engineers need to know (structures? material?).[/li][/ul]
You would also want a good book on mechanics – preferably including both statics for civil engineering and dynamics for mechanical engineering.
I’m sure you could find booklists for various universities on the net. I forget the names of some of the authors we used, but I will look for you later.
In the ME world, Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers (McGraw-Hill) is the most widely used general reference, and can orient you on most of the topics you’ve asked about. It ain’t cheap, though.
To expand on what Dr_Paprika said, you might consider a set of three books (which are sometimes combined in various ways): Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials. I’ve used the books by Beer and Johnson; one of my colleagues recommends the set by Hibbeler. There are a few other “standard” sets, too, the names of which escape me.
For machining, you might want to look at Machinery’s Handbook. Not really a textbook, but chock full o’ reference material on machining.
Depending on what your intentions are, you might also consider something like Mark’s Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers or Lindberg’s Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual (I imagine civil and electrical, etc. have analogous texts). These are a sort of cross between text books and reference manuals: you get a quick overview of theory (written more densely than a textbook) as well as reference tables. Your science background might give you enough insight to understand the simpler things quickly; there’s an obvious advantage from only having to read one book instead of eight or so.
General mechanical engineering analysis and design: Mechanical Engineering Design by Shigley and Mischke.
Stress (structural) engineering formulas: Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain by Roark and Young. Requires basic knowledge of stress theory to really understand what’s going on with this one.