Engineering, at its origins, was a profession of problem solving. The classic text, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei is revisited in this ambitious and comprehensive book by Milton Shaw. In-depth discussions of passages from the Galileo text emphasize the ""mind set"" of engineering, specifically the roles played by experimentation and dialog in analysis and creativity.

In the epilogue, the author points out that engineering students are usually exposed to two types of faculty. The first type is mathematically oriented and mostly interested in analytical solutions....

Grinding is one of the most important operations employed in production engineering to remove unwanted material and to introduce desired geometry and surface properties. Once considered only a secondary finishing operation, grinding is now more widely employed as suggested by the term, "abrasive machining." The approach to grinding taken here is to consider the basic processes in fundamental terms rather than to attempt to present a large mass of empirical results. Thus, the emphasis is placed on why things occur as they do rather than on specific solutions to problems ordinarily met. The...

This book identifies the major problem areas of metal cutting during the production of mechanical components. Thoroughly updated with new questions and exercises at the end of each chapter, the book relates observed performance in metal cutting to fundamental physics, materials behavior, and chemistry. In addition, heat transfer, tribology, and solid mechanics are covered in appropriate detail.