A Degree in a Book: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering

Everything You Need to Know to Master the Subject—in One Book!

By: David Baker

Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard

Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A concise introduction to all the key tenets of electrical and mechanical engineering degree course, written by former NASA engineer Dr. David Baker.

Listeners will quickly get to grips with the fundamentals of electrical and mechanical engineering and their practical applications. Covering Newtonian mechanics, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and more, this essential guide brings clarity to complex ideas.

David Baker delves into the history and development of this far-reaching subject, as well as the challenges of the future, such as environmental responsibility. This holistic introduction will equip students and laypeople alike with the knowledge of an engineering graduate.

©2021 Arcturus Holdings Limited (P)2022 Arcturus Publishing Limited

just ok

Though entitled "a degree in a book", of course it could never be. But being an engineer for 25 years, I was curious to see my profession boiled down to 11 hours.
The book is a little bit quirky, and brings with it the experience and opinions of its author. for instance, I infer that he is english, as there are so many references to English scientists. I actually don't mind this and in fact learned a little bit.
but later in the book, it seems to stray into some of the authors favorite cul-de-sacs. he seems to know lots about the space program, but then feels it necessary to lecture on fuel cells, climate change Etc.

Mechanical portion is good, electrical is weaker

The Mechanical part is much stronger than the Electrical portion. I am a Mechanical engineer with 15 years of experience and was looking for a refresher. The Mechanical has lots of history and solid basics. The a portion of the electrical part (Power Production and Generation) goes on a 20 minute tangent about how much better electric cars are than internal combustion engine cars. It doesn't really fit the flow of the discussion/history of the rest of the book. They try to tie it in with a morality discussion of engineering choices, but it still doesn't tie into the subject.

A fire hose of information

A fun ride through historic milestone inventions and engineering advances. Read by someone without the understanding of the principles and knowledge of required inflections. Worth your time to hear it all through and circle back for a detailed listen. All good stuff and never lingering long on any one topic. You will appreciate mankind and yourself more after listening.

A glimps of electrical and mechanical engineering.

Excellent narration. Very well structured from past, present, and future. Readers will hear some formulaes mentioned.

The book says "this isn't a history book." Then talks about history.

This book is random and doesn't help you learn anything the title promises. Definitely not a degree in a book, not even the start of one. Save your money and your time. Disrespectfully upsetting.

Good book

Thorough and insightful overview of modern engineering and technology and the developments therein in a pretty compact package. Would recommend

Too much trivia and very little engineering

I really wanted this to be good and spent four hours of my life listening to it. Disappointing is the word I would use.

This book is history focused and is NOT engineering focused. This is misleading that it tells you that you will know how to be an engineer. Almost no technical information and that which is presented is not at an engineering level.

The good is that it is a nice history walk. The bad news is that this is in no way a "degree in a book."

The narrator is OK but spends more time telling the birth to death dates then explaining the content. The book is weak, and the audio version is worse due to reading everything verbatim.

Great read!

I loved the over-encompassing narrative on all aspects of Engineering, not just Electrical or Mechanical. This book is a great supplement to any Engineering discipline, and helps Engineers realize their roles on a global level.

Not good

I can’t speak for the whole book, but the first chapter was not very good at all

A lot of inaccurate information

I am an electrical engineer with 30 years of experience. I noticed a lot of factual errors in the electrical sections. it makes me wonder what kind of errors there are in the other sections.