Folio Society Published Works Number 2813
Gordon, J E - Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down
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Gordon, J E - Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down (Published in by The Folio Society in 2013. Bound in buckram. Blocked with a design by Adam McCauley. Set in Sabon. 408 pages. 25 pages of colour photographs. Book size: 9.5" x 6.25". 'Practically everything,' says J. E. Gordon, 'is a structure of one kind or another.' Structures: or Why Things Don't Fall Down reveals the unseen forces that hold up buildings, bridges and aeroplanes – but also animals, plants and human beings. How do our tendons work? What do Chinese boats have in common with the wings of a bat? Why did the ancients take the wheels off their chariots at night? How did a Parisian couturier's designs contribute to space travel and military technology? The answers are all here in this engrossing narrative. J. E. Gordon began his career as a naval architect before designing aircraft during the Second World War and later becoming Professor of Materials Science at Reading University. Writing with wit and clarity, he brings his subject alive for even the least technically minded reader, demystifying concepts such as 'shear and torsion' and the difference between stress and strain. He explores the history of design, aesthetics and accidents such as the catastrophic sinking of the H. M. S. Captain in 1870. Above all, he pays tribute to nature, the greatest designer and also the most pragmatic – 'after all, bad designs can always be eaten by good ones.' )
