The Existential Pleasures of Engineering

Humans have always sought to change their environment--building houses, monuments, temples, and roads. In the process, they have remade the fabric of the world into newly functional objects that are also works of art to be admired. Samuel Florman explores how engineers think and feel about their profession. A deeply insightful and refreshingly unique text, this book corrects the myth that engineering is cold and passionless. Indeed, Florman celebrates engineering not only crucial and fundamental but also vital and alive; he views it as a response to some of our deepest impulses, an endeavour rich in spiritual and sensual rewards. Opposing the “anti-technology” stance, Florman gives readers a practical, creative, and even amusing philosophy of engineering that boasts of pride in his craft. Why, asks Samuel Florman, has engineering sunk into such disfavour? Can engineers be blamed for pollution, the desecration of the landscape, a lack of taste? Samuel Florman is himself a distinguished and erudite engineer and he sets out to dispel the myth that has darkened the image of his profession, celebrating it as a vital, living force that is an essential part of human nature, rich in spiritual and sensual rewards. We are all dependent on engineers and the benefits they can provide, in opposing the fashionable 'anti-technology' stance, Florman emerges triumphantly with a creative, practical and fun philosophy of engineering that will boost his profession. Stimulating and illuminating, this book opens our eyes to the inner need to build, invent and manipulate, which only engineering can satisfy. This is essential reading for all who seek to understand their primal instincts. An eloquent, witty and perceptive celebration of our deepest creative impulses, an informative account of the modern-day engineer's experience of his/her profession.