Read two good books the other day.

The first is really great for anyone interested in things mechanical, and especially the making of those things (or of course getting them made).

It’s called The Student Engineer’s Companion and comprises simply hundreds of line drawings accompanied by quick and simple explanations. The author is J. Carvill.

Opening it at random are definitions (actually, short descriptions) of poppet and sleeve valves, feeler gauges, sleeve couplings, helical torsion springs, forgings, flywheels and fillets. These are just a tiny sampling.

The book is English (my copy published in 1980 and reprinted in 1990 – ISBN 0-408-00438-X) and for readers from other countries there are a few descriptions that are a little puzzling, however in the main, the book accurately lives up to its title.

Especially if you don’t come from an engineering or trades background, it’s an invaluable primer in coming up to speed in the terminology of engineering.

Unfortunately my quick web search can’t find any examples of the book – I bought mine from a charity shop for $2.50…

The other book is a more detailed read, and one where with careful study you’re likely to massively improve your knowledge of structural mechanics.

It’s called The Aeroplane Structure and is by A C Kermode.

Mr Kermode also wrote a number of other books on aircraft design, and they’re characterised by a really straightforward treatment of complex topics. (One of his other books is Flight Without Formulae [I also have this book but at the time of writing this, I am damned if I can find it!] and it is also well worth a read.)

My copy of The Aeroplane Structure was published in 1964 but I note by a web search that a lot more of the original 1942 copies are available. I doubt that the older book would be any less of a good read; even in the 1964 edition, Mr Kermode makes extensive use of biplane structures as exemplars, an approach that is quite justifiable.

So what use is such a book to people interested in cars? In short, it’s probably one of the best introductory books I’ve ever read on structural design. In fact, such is the smoothness with which topics are introduced, it’s easy to find yourself drifting along, reading but not really thinking through in detail everything that is being said. At this point it’s wise to stop and re-read, going over the concepts slowly and carefully.

To understand the ideas you need literally zero maths background (something extraordinarily rare in engineering books where those who write them are locked into a schemata of mathematical thought!) and the vehicles by which these concepts are conveyed (aircraft) are sufficiently familiar to most of us to not cause problems.

It’s a damn pity that the B&W pics are all put in as plates at the end of the book (rather than being distributed appropriately through the text) and I reckon Mr Kermode’s chapter on aircraft weight is unexpectedly poor, but overall, this is a really excellent book.

A quick web search finds copies from about $20 plus postage – a bargain.