Document zJdkOk2oNQgjLdxZGm7pp5rB

`HANDBOOK ENGINEER' omb folks ciaim that an engineer doesn't writes a sentence, or the engineer to his hand S need to know much, if he "knows where to book every time he wants to figure the weight turn for information when he needs it." Danger*of a tankful of water, ho won't get much done. oas half-truth! Every working professional must keep a lot of Such a man is a "handbook engineer." He facts in .the back of his head for everyday use. keeps his brains on a shelf--very good brains, But even if the well-etocked head were not but attached to the owner by a defective system quicker than the page-turning thumb, there of remote control. He can generally find you an would still be a mighty good reason why a good answer in the book, but it's likely to be the library, used for reference only, could never' .wrong answer, or not the best, because it takes make a good engineer. The good engineer must 'knowledge to use a book of knowledge wisely. have perspective. He must be able to tie one These comments are no reflection on hand- fact to others, to relate the parts to the whole, .books, and hoturally not bn our own product, to compore one way of doing a job with another, the engineering magatine. Pound for pound, the to see the whole effect. engineer has no tools more valuable than the He can no more do this by looking up a-few systematically recorded ideas, experience and disjointed facta than a man without literary thinking of other men. We believe in engineer training can write a good book out of the die* ing handbooks, in multiplication tobies, In die* tionary. All the words are there, hut he won't - tinnarics and encyclopedias, in taw and medical know how to hook them together. libraries, in cook books. The good engineer must build the framework What we don't believe is that a good librarian of hla engineering skill into his head by regular with all these books automatically becomes a reading and long experience. Then he can safely good engineer, aocountant, lawyer, doctor or use reference study to round out his equipment cook. These projetsionab differ from the librar to meet some special problem. ian in that they have a lot of specialised knowU You can generally, lean on the judgment of edge in the head, as well as in the book. the engineer who comes pretty close to the To be worth his salt every professional man right answer without referring to uny book, but must have a lot of miscellaneous knowledge ol- who has also the humility to turn to the printed ways on top under his haU psge for checking, amplification and special in There are two reasons why this is po., One is formation, and has the skill to use this resource .t^ie matter of time economy. If the doctor must effectively--in short, the man who.has the right turn to his shelf every time' he prescribes for a handbooks and is not ashamed to use them cold, the author to his dictionary every time He freely, but is not a "handbook engineer." Sptmber 1949 <SI7|