The problem of the lights going out may only be a notional one for most of the industrialised world, but many believe that it’s going to prove to be the defining topic of our age. As uncertainty over the long-term availability of resources leads to massive price volatility, is there a large-scale energy crisis on the horizon, and what can we do to the keep the world moving while addressing the broad consensus about the threat of climate change? Doing nothing is hardly a credible option, but the technical and socio-economic challenges are almost overwhelming. For anyone seeking a broad … Continue reading New book blog: Keeping the world moving with ‘Energy: All That Matters’ by Paul L Younger

It’s nearly 20 years since Steve Jobs told Wired magazine that throwing computers at American schools was never going to tackle the problem of falling standards. “I used to think that technology could help education.” he said. “But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent. It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical… The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.” A lot has changed since then … Continue reading New book blog: Lessons in digital learning from ‘Minds Online’ by Michelle D Miller

However rational you might consider yourself to be, there’s still likely to be one urban legend that sounds just plausible enough to believe. After all, these are stories are usually grounded in the truth and have evolved, often over decades, being fine-tuned with very re-telling to make them just about plausible. In ‘Too Good to be True’, American folklorist and academic Jan Harold Brunvand analyses some of the best that he’s collected over the years. It’s one of the more entertaining books that’s arrived in the E&T inbox recently and we asked 14-year-old Anya Vitaliev, who’s been interning with us, … Continue reading New book blog: Tales to stretch your credibility in in ‘Too Good to be True’ by Jan Harold Brunvand

Why do risk-assessment tools make good servants, but poor masters, is it time to bring back the slide rule, and would Jane Austen have made a good engineer? Sometimes, the best education is gleaned from a conversation with someone who’s been through the mill and can give you the benefit of their experience, along with a healthy dose of humour and scepticism. Harvey T Dearden is a chartered engineer and Fellow of both the IET and IMechE who has worked in the process industry sector for over 35 years. He’s been employed by a variety of vendors, contractors, consultants and … Continue reading New book blog: Practical advice in ‘Professional Engineering Practice’ by Harvey T Dearden

Power-station turbine failure, genealogy and the question of whether marriage will survive in the 21st century may seem an odd mix of themes for a debut novel, but they’re all major elements of a book that came about when chartered engineer and first-time author John Parker needed something to occupy him in the run up to an operation. ‘The West Winford Incident’ started life as a life story, but quickly grew into something much more ambitious. “My novel emerged from the framework of my autobiography,” says Parker. “Having time on my hands whilst waiting to have a pacemaker implanted, I … Continue reading New book blog: Engineering meets genealogy in ‘The West Winford Incident’ by John Parker