Have you ever wondered how bridges don't fall down? Or how really old buildings stay standing up? In the How Do series, readers are welcome to guess along with the rest of us-and then explore the science behind the right answers. Basic principles of architecture and engineering, including an introduction to bridges, locks, arches, columns, and skyscrapers are explored through diagrams, photos, and informative and engaging text.

How to Not Fall Down ...life lessons on aging By: Susan A. Hamann, RN Life: As the saying goes, "Man plans, God laughs." You walk into a party thinking you look pretty cool, only to have someone point out the back of your dress is tucked into your underwear.... You move to a new city and by accident land in a neighborhood of the best neighbors you could ever want.... Your cat dies.... You find your favorite earrings, lost a year ago, under the dresser (has it really been that long since you cleaned???). You find a lump—the biopsy is negative. Yes, life—the good, the bad, the funny, the sad. Some days, even with the best intentions, we still fall down. These short essays are about just those things, taken from Susan Hamann’s life and yours, that remind us what it means to fall down but keep on trying. It's about the learning to get back up, brush off the dust, and try again.

Introduces engineering concepts through twenty-five simple experiments that involve building several bridge and tunnel models.

In "The New Science of Strong Materials" the author made plain the secrets of materials science. In this volume he explains the importance and properties of different structures.

Bridges are a big part of how people get from place to place. But how do they work and how are they built? In this engaging text, readers will explore these important engineering marvels that link places divided by water. Along the way they’ll learn how to build their own model bridge with a step-by-step guide accompanied by full-color photographs of each step. Accessible text illuminates the science behind every span we drive over—and sometimes under!

About the reasons for structural collapse, including earthquakes, metal fatigue, and terrorism.

I am very much aware that it is an act of extreme rashness to attempt to write an elementary book about structures. Indeed it is only when the subject is stripped of its mathematics that one begins to realize how difficult it is to pin down and describe those structural concepts which are often called' elementary'; by which I suppose we mean 'basic' or 'fundamental'. Some of the omis sions and oversimplifications are intentional but no doubt some of them are due to my own brute ignorance and lack of under standing of the subject. Although this volume is more or less a sequel to The New Science of Strong Materials it can be read as an entirely separate book in its own right. For this reason a certain amount of repetition has been unavoidable in the earlier chapters. I have to thank a great many people for factual information, suggestions and for stimulating and sometimes heated discussions. Among the living, my colleagues at Reading University have been generous with help, notably Professor W. D. Biggs (Professor of Building Technology), Dr Richard Chaplin, Dr Giorgio Jeronimidis, Dr Julian Vincent and Dr Henry Blyth; Professor Anthony Flew, Professor of Philosophy, made useful suggestions about the last chapter. I am also grateful to Mr John Bartlett, Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Brook Hospital. Professor T. P. Hughes of the University of the West Indies has been helpful about rockets and many other things besides. My secretary, Mrs Jean Collins, was a great help in times of trouble. Mrs Nethercot of Vogue was kind to me about dressmaking. Mr Gerald Leach and also many of the editorial staff of Penguins have exercised their accustomed patience and helpfulness. Among the dead, l owe a great deal to Dr Mark Pryor - lately of Trinity College, Cambridge - especially for discussions about biomechanics which extended over a period of nearly thirty years. Lastly, for reasons which must surely be obvious, l owe a humble oblation to Herodotus, once a citizen of Halicamassus.