Marvelous engineering.

It was always my secret dream to marry an engineer.

You'll notice I've always been a pragmatic girl; I recognized early on I wasn't going to have the brains to BE an engineer, so I tweaked my dream accordingly. It didn't come true, but the fact remains I've always been a big fan of engineers. My brother is an engineer. I used to be an engineering librarian, and students training to be engineers remain the nicest group of students and people I've ever worked for. (In fact, when I left the engineering library for the public library, the members of the public were so shockingly mean, when compared to engineering students, that I cried after work the whole first month.)

So the other day when I was browsing the library stacks and found the book Marvels of Engineering, I thought, hey, I miss engineering. So I brought it home and spent a very enjoyable Saturday evening perusing it. I know. I'm the biggest nerd ever. But did you know that "in 1824, Joseph Aspdin concocted 'Portland cement' by burning a mixture of clay and lime. He had rediscovered the art of making cement, which was known to the Romans"? I thought not. It covers a ton of subjects: waterways, bridges, railroads, tunnels, skyscrapers, sports arenas, pyramids, and gothic cathedrals (among many others).

It's a great book, worth it for the pictures alone, but also for the explanatory text. It is, in short, the type of book you should buy if you have kids, and just leave it laying around for them to discover and look at. I may have missed the boat on marrying an engineer. But maybe if we have kids I can keep the dream alive by hoping they'll become engineers?

Comments

[Sarah]

And we NEED engineers!! Especially for rebuilding infrastructure, green technology, updating manufacturing . . . . I should have hung around engineering students instead of bus/law ones.

Can Mr. CR change lightbulbs etc? I'd consider getting married if I could find someone to fix my sink and walk the dog we'd be getting. Well, a few other qualities but you get the idea.

[Donna]

An engineer? I should have settled for a handyman...hanging towel bars, weather-stripping doors, assembling furniture. But this looks like an interesting book; I'll have to look for it.

[Care]

You must like me, then. I have such a degree AND I married a guy with a masters in engg...

[Melanie]

Every night (it seems like) we watch Modern Marvels on the History channel. All about bridges, mining, machinery, dams. I love learning that stuff.

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
I agree. Although both engineers and doctors seem very, very useful, I still prefer engineers. Maybe because they don't scare me like doctors do. Also because it sometimes seems in medicine they're doing stuff for the hell of it rather than to solve a specific problem, which is more the feeling I get from engineers.

Mr. CR is not, emphatically not, a house guy. I change the bulbs. I wish I was handier at other stuff too, although I'm going to try and learn. But I could never go and do what Mr. CR does all day, so I'm more than happy to change the bulbs. Keep this in mind when you're considering marriage. Do you want a husband? Or just a really reliable and reasonable Mr. Fix-It?

Do your other qualities have anything to do with looking like Mr. Thornton? :)

[Citizen Reader]

Donna,
Yes, it was really neat. Any book in the engineering section of a public library (Dewey number 620) with lots of pictures would probably do, too.

Care,
I DO like you. Yay engineers!

Melanie,
Oh, the Modern Marvels series. I LOVE those! They even had a program on Las Vegas that I thought was going to be dull but turned out to be really interesting. And dams! Fascinating. Sigh. I go all atwitter when I think about engineering.

[Mrs. Thornton]

A husband who can save a hundred bucks by fixing the dishwasher handle IS Mr. Thornton, don't kid yourself.

[EACH LITTLE WORLD]

I've driven over the Cornish/Windsor covered bridge — between Vt. and NH — which is considered one of the engineering marvels of the world. It was pretty cool and we stopped to read the sign and take photos.

[Citizen Reader]

Mrs. Thornton,
Well of course Mr. Thornton could fix a dishwasher handle--he could run a whole cotton mill!

ELW,
Ooh, covered bridges. I've never seen one but I'd like to. I also wouldn't mind seeing some of the big Roman aquaducts in Italy and elsewhere. So cool.

Wow--I just looked it up: that Cornish/Windsor bridge is awesome:
http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges/p39.html

[Sarah]

There was an article yesterday on Yahoo - it seems that highly skilled immigrants (the ones populating our IT etc depts) are leaving the U.S. for greener pastures like China and India. OK. So let's finally TRAIN our people to fill those jobs, permanently. It's also happening in Ireland where the Celtic Tiger is no longer roaring - not only are guest workers, esp. Eastern European, leaving, but some Irish are following them back to Poland etc. That "miracle" didn't last long.

[Sarah]

Straight, sane, single, and solvent. Am I too picky?

[Sarah]

OK one last comment - there was something on NPR a few days ago about how we don't have the engineers we need to do all of the structural reconstruction etc. that we need. Another reason for geeks to rule!

[Citizen Reader]

Hey Sarah--
I think it's starting to sound like I'm not the only one with a little crush on all engineers. I totally agree with you that I wish we had more of them, and that we put more effort into training our workers here to do such jobs.
Now. We just have to be on the lookout for a straight, sane, single, and solvent engineer for you. That shouldn't be too much to ask for! Although--how flexible are you on "sane"? (I don't know that many men qualify for that.)