If you read this book, absorb its timeless principles and work your way through the examples, you will learn a great deal and it will serve you well in your career.
--Allan Mann, FREng
"The skill of the structural engineer lies in creating possibilities where others see the impossible. This skill requires years of nurture and practice, which is why this book is a must have on any book shelf. It focuses on the embedment of fundamental principles in structural mechanics to design. Read it! Enjoy it! Apply it!"
-- Tim Ibell, University of Cambridge and past-president of the Institution of Structural Engineers
"Mike Byfield has hit on an essential first principle of his own: To make
things as simple as possible but no simpler. His illustrations are deceptively minimal, but they demonstrate another engineering first principle....to an engineer, a line is not just a line....it is short-hand, code, for a real structure, responding to mathematics, physics, environment, gravity, people, money, time, weather. The structure to which these first principle should apply are practical, useful, modest, connected to the rest of the world....they have foundations, mass, structural integrity, and in the right hands can be made to actually work beginning with the principles in the book. Here is an approach that brings first principles in an accessible way to everyone whether student engineer or ancient practitioner. After all, why would any engineer learn "second principles", without nailing the first ones first? As I looked through his examples I found myself thinking: "You know what, perhaps engineering's not quite so hard after all...."
-- Chris Wise, FREng, HonFRIBA, Expedition, UK"I consider this book to be good value for money. I would recommend it especially to those who are interested in crossovers between building structure design and bridge structure design."
-- John Lyness in
The Structural Engineer"...simplifies and demystifies the theory of structural design and, through practical examples, makes the principles simple and easy to understand."
-- Yancheng Cai in
Civil Engineering (Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers)
