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| Poster for No Highway in the Sky from Wikipedia |
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Engineering Adventures with Nevil Shute
In this course we will read two of Nevil Shute’s lesser-known books: Slide Rule (his autobiography) and No Highway, (which presaged the failure of the early De Havilland Comet airplane).
Based on these books, we will discuss the troubles that can befall engineering projects. The books include issues of changing specifications, the difference between private enterprise and "government work," and how quirky individuals affect the outcome of projects.
The course will be participatory. We will discuss issues from the books, then we will trade "war stories": similar problems and solutions with our own projects.
The material will be of interest to engineers and non-engineers. If you have been involved in a big project, such as building a house, you have the background to enjoy this course.
Discussion group members should plan to read both books.
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MEREDITH ANGWIN has a MS in Physical Chemistry. Though most of her life was spent in nuclear energy research and problem-solving, she also worked extensively with fossil fuels. She likes to talk about technical subjects in a relatively non-technical fashion. For many years, her job title was "project manager." Consequently, she often wonders how projects get managed.
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In this class, we are also going to watch the movie, No Highway in the Sky, in an optional extra class session.
I have led courses at ILEAD before, specifically:
- All Around the Coal Boiler
- Energy Safari with Robert Hargraves.
Leading a course like this, as opposed to a leading a course in energy technology, will be a new adventure for me. Wish me luck! I will post about the course occasionally.
5 comments:
Best of luck Merredith you will enjoy yourself
Sounds fabulous -- pity I live on the other side of the world!
Sounds like fun. I'm booking your course books out of my library right now...
Hi Meredith ! I swung by your website after listing to your contribution to The Atomic Show. This course sounds facinating. Ienjoyed Slide Rule hugely and may even have a copy of it in my dwinding collestion of actual books. You are no doubt aware of the saga of the R 101 / 100 during the inter war airship program? Be brilliant if you could post the course online !! Best of luck and a Happy New Year.
Thank you Mark!
The U S Librarian of the Nevil Shute Society (I didn't even know there WAS a Nevil Shute Society) will be making a video of the course.
http://www.nevilshute.org/
Yes. The airships. Here's my course statement for the discussion of Slide Rule:
First hour: Slide Rule. We will spend most of our time discussing the first part of the book, through the analysis of the airship crashes (through chapter 7). However, later chapters about the management of Shute’s company also raise questions. Discussion topics:
• Was the R101 doomed by:
- Being built in a government facility?
- Not having pilots as designers?
- Lack of project management?
- Other issues (air-worthiness certification rules, for example)?
• Do project managers need to be independently wealthy to do a good job?
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