The New Science of Strong Materials

What Hacker News says

1. ggmDec 2021
   This plus one thousand. Great book. "The new science of strong materials" is also good. (By the same author)
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2. jacobolusJul 2015
   To put the history in context, it’s nice to have some basic understanding of the physics/engineering involved in holding things together.

   As no kind of expert myself, I really enjoyed JE Gordon’s book The New Science of Strong Materials. It’s a nice easy-to-read introduction, I’d guess about 250 pages long, and talks about not only iron and steel, but also wood, glass, etc. I also liked his later book Structures, which is somewhat overlapping in subject but a bit longer, focused more on the engineering and less on materials per se or historical development.

   The two books are from 1968 and 1978, respectively, but age pretty well. Used copies can likely be found for a few dollars.

   http://amzn.com/0691125481 http://amzn.com/0306812835

   Someone who knows these fields better can probably recommend more recent sources.

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3. ggmApr 2025
   I think this is discussed in "the new science of strong materials" by J.E. Gordon, (1968) alongside why some aluminium alloys get stronger if you "age" them before use.
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4. dangDec 2023
   Related - others?

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