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Mechanical Engineering Principles offers a student-friendly introduction to core engineering topics

This book introduces mechanical principles and technology through examples and applications rather than theory. John Bird and Carl Ross do not assume any previous background in engineering studies, and as such this book can act as a core textbook for several engineering courses. This approach enables students to develop a sound understanding of engineering principles and their use in practice. These theoretical concepts are supported by 320 fully worked problems, nearly 600 further problems with answers, and 276 multiple-choice questions giving the reader a firm grounding on each topic.

The new edition is up to date with the latest BTEC National specifications and can also be used on undergraduate courses in mechanical, civil, structural, aeronautical and marine engineering, together with naval architecture. A chapter has been added at the beginning on revisionary mathematics since progress in engineering studies is not possible without some basic mathematics knowledge. Minor modifications and some further worked problems have also been added throughout the text.

• Colour layout helps navigation and highlights key points
• Student-friendly approach with numerous worked problems, multiple-choice and short-answer questions, exercises, revision tests and nearly 400 diagrams
• Supported with free online material for students and lecturers

Readers will also be able to access the free companion website at: www.routledge/cw/bird where they will find videos of practical demonstrations by Carl Ross. Full worked solutions of all 600 of the further problems will be available for lecturers/instructors use, as will the full solutions and marking scheme for the 8 revision tests.

Among books on the arms race, Donald MacKenzie's stands out for its welcome demystification of the "black box" of nuclear weapons technology. MacKenzie follows one line of technology - strategic ballistic missile guidance - through a succession of weapons systems to reveal the ordinary workings of a world that is neither awesome nor unstoppable. He uncovers the parameters, the pressures, and the politics that make up the complex social construction of an equally complex technology.MacKenzie argues that it is wrong to assume that missile accuracy (or any other technological artifact) is a natural or inevitable consequence of technological change. By fostering an understanding of how the idea of accuracy was constructed and by uncovering the comprehensible and often mundane processes that have given rise to a frightening nuclear arsenal, he shows that there can be useful and informed intervention in the social processes of weapons construction. He also shows in what sense it is possible, contrary to the common wisdom, to "uninvent" technologies.Examining the technological politics of the transition from bomber to ballistic missile, MacKenzie describes the processes that transformed both air force and navy ballistic missiles from moderately accurate countercity weapons to highly accurate counterforce ones. He concludes that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has ever accepted the idea of deterrence as the public understands it.Inventing Accuracy is based on 140 interviews with guidance and navigation technologists, navy and air force military officers, and defense officials Robert McNamara, James Schlesinger, McGeorge Bundy, and John Foster. It brings to light the confluence of forces, both physical and social, that gave rise to a selfcontained system of missile navigation, and it discusses the major U.S. groups involved in the early development of inertial guidance and navigation.Donald MacKenzie has published a number of influential articles on statistics, eugenics, and missile technologies. He is Reader in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.