25 books like Mechanical Survival

By J.H. Bompas-Smith,

Here are 25 books that Mechanical Survival fans have personally recommended if you like Mechanical Survival. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of The Big Show

Edgar Bradley Author Of Reliability Engineering: A Life Cycle Approach

From my list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t think I could have been anything else but an engineer. Following my father’s example, I have a love for moving metal things – both the physical/mathematical aspects and the practical aspects, that apprentices pick up. Engineering systems have personalities all their own – the noisy excitement of a racing motorcycle, the brooding, contented hum of a nuclear powerplant or the clanging and crashing of a steam locomotive in its overrun, literally with fire in its belly.

Edgar's book list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering

Edgar Bradley Why did Edgar love this book?

This is not an engineering book per se, but one written by an engineer/fighter pilot in WW2. His aircraft was a Hawker Tempest, one of the last and fastest piston-engined fighters. The following quote describes his final flight before demobilization and shows his deep love for the engineering marvel that he flew:

And in that narrow cockpit I wept, as I shall never weep again, when I felt the concrete brush against his wheels and, with I great sweep of the wrist, dropped him on the ground like a cut flower. 

As always, I carefully cleared the engine, turned off all the switches one by one, removed the straps, the wires and the tubes which tied me to him, like a child to his mother. And when my waiting pilots and my mechanics saw my downcast eyes and my shaking shoulders, they understood and returned to the Dispersal in…

By Pierre Clostermann,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Big Show as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'THE BIG SHOW is as close as you'll ever get to fighting for your life from the cockpit of a Spitfire or Typhoon. Perhaps the most viscerally exciting book ever written by a fighter pilot.' Rowland White


Pierre Clostermann DFC was one of the oustanding Allied aces of the Second World War. A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over 420 operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe.


THE BIG SHOW, his extraordinary account of the war, has been described as the greatest pilot's…


Book cover of Slide Rule

Edgar Bradley Author Of Reliability Engineering: A Life Cycle Approach

From my list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t think I could have been anything else but an engineer. Following my father’s example, I have a love for moving metal things – both the physical/mathematical aspects and the practical aspects, that apprentices pick up. Engineering systems have personalities all their own – the noisy excitement of a racing motorcycle, the brooding, contented hum of a nuclear powerplant or the clanging and crashing of a steam locomotive in its overrun, literally with fire in its belly.

Edgar's book list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering

Edgar Bradley Why did Edgar love this book?

As the title suggests, an engineer’s biography. But Nevil Shute was more than an engineer. He was an entrepreneur, starting his own aircraft manufacturing company, and a famous novelist, still in print today. But Slide Rule remains for me his masterwork, describing as it does the design and building of airships in the 1930s. 

It is a fascinating book about a technology that no longer exists. The design challenge was in creating a vehicle that, although made of metal, had to float in the air. This was achieved by making it very big, displacing the air inside it with a lighter-than-air gas, so that it could lift those pieces which had to be made of metal as well as a payload of persons or freight.

The design challenges were awesome. The metal parts, particularly the huge metal rings that formed the outline of the ship, had to be optimised for…

By Nevil Shute,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Slide Rule as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Nevil Shute was a power and a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute's path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and 30s. The inspiration for many of the themes and concerns of Shute's novels can be identified in this enjoyable and enlightening memoir.


Book cover of The Lonely Sky: The Personal Story of a Record-Breaking Experimental Test Pilot

Edgar Bradley Author Of Reliability Engineering: A Life Cycle Approach

From my list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t think I could have been anything else but an engineer. Following my father’s example, I have a love for moving metal things – both the physical/mathematical aspects and the practical aspects, that apprentices pick up. Engineering systems have personalities all their own – the noisy excitement of a racing motorcycle, the brooding, contented hum of a nuclear powerplant or the clanging and crashing of a steam locomotive in its overrun, literally with fire in its belly.

Edgar's book list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering

Edgar Bradley Why did Edgar love this book?

This is another motivational book, once again about aircraft, this time about research into supersonic flight when this was still a dangerous undertaking in the 1950s. The following quotation shows once again, as in the case of Clostermann’s book, that engineering has an emotional side. Here the pilot Bridgeman talks about the engineers who analyse the flight data that he brings back after every flight: 

“The engineers and men in the Skyrocket programme viewed the plane with some kind of undefinable emotion: they not only took their work seriously – they lived it. Every murmur from the ship was cause for their undivided attention and interest. It was a form of dedication I have rarely seen – a devotion to work that was almost akin to love; and to feel this devotion unconsciously tapped an intuitive understanding within me. It intensified the ever-growing feeling of responsibility not only toward myself…

By William Bridgeman, Jacqueline Hazard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lonely Sky as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Basic Engineering Thermodynamics

Edgar Bradley Author Of Reliability Engineering: A Life Cycle Approach

From my list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t think I could have been anything else but an engineer. Following my father’s example, I have a love for moving metal things – both the physical/mathematical aspects and the practical aspects, that apprentices pick up. Engineering systems have personalities all their own – the noisy excitement of a racing motorcycle, the brooding, contented hum of a nuclear powerplant or the clanging and crashing of a steam locomotive in its overrun, literally with fire in its belly.

Edgar's book list on inspiring a love for mechanical engineering

Edgar Bradley Why did Edgar love this book?

Here is a genuine Engineering Textbook. Thermodynamics was my favourite subject as an undergraduate and the only subject in which I excelled, coming first in class in my final year in Thermo, as we students called it. Thermodynamics deals with Heat as a form of energy and its uses in the creation of engines, turbines, rockets, and the like. Without it and its twin technology, electricity, the modern world could not exist. Before the Industrial Revolution, the only power sources were wind, water, animals, and men (as slaves). Then came the quantum leap of Steam and the world has never been the same.

By P. B. Whalley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Basic Engineering Thermodynamics as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is an introduction to thermodynamics for engineering students. No previous knowledge is assumed. The book covers the first and second laws of thermodynamics and their consequences for engineers. Each topic is illustrated with worked examples and subjects are introduced in a logical order allowing the student to tackle increasingly complex problems as he reads. Problems and selected answers are included. The heart of engineering thermodynamics is the conversion of heat into work. Increasing demands for more efficient conversion, for example to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, are leading to the adoption of new thermodynamic cycles. However the principles of these…


Book cover of The Flex Sheridan Chronicle

David A. Simpson Author Of Convoy of Carnage

From my list on zombies from someone who loves old monster movies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been an avid horror fan since staying up late and watching old monster movies on the television when I was a kid. Zombies were always my favorite and after reading hundreds of zombie books I thought I could write with a unique perspective. Drawing from years of military, trucking, and prepping experience, I wrote the Zombie Road series as a tale that offered more hope than doom and gloom. Most of the characters are based on real people so they have real personalities, real hopes and dreams, and real flaws. If you decide to read the series and want to be surprised by the story arc, don’t read too many reviews, just dive right in. 

David's book list on zombies from someone who loves old monster movies

David A. Simpson Why did David love this book?

Shelman is one of the Godfathers of indie zompoc. He was an early adaptor to the Amazon self-publishing model and his series, Dead Hunger, was one of the first I read. It starts at the beginning of the outbreak and covers the ups and downs over decades in the 10-book series. Great characters, compelling science, and heartfelt situations kept me reading. The villains were unique, the heroes were likable and funny and the story moves along quickly. There is lots of action and some over-the-top situations as the band of survivors try to stay alive and rebuild a life for themselves. Shelman narrates his own books (and many others) and is one of the absolute best voice actors I’ve listened to.

By Eric A. Shelman, Jeffrey Kosh (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Flex Sheridan Chronicle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Something happened to the earth. Inexplicable. Not a product of man, but of nature.

Now Flex Sheridan and Gem Cardoza must do all they can to protect Flex's six-year-old neice Trina and find ways to survive a massive outbreak that has caused most of humankind to metamorphose into the walking dead.

Enter Hemphill "Hemp" Chatsworth. He is a scientist who has expertise in epidemics, as well as a mechanical engineering degree. He's doing all the important work, setting up a mobile lab in which to experiment on the zombies and learn what drives them. But he must also learn what…


Book cover of Machine Man

Martin Lastrapes Author Of Inside the Outside

From my list on dark fiction on the hidden shadows of humanity.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love most all genre fiction, but I’m a sucker for dark fiction—and I have a particular fondness for dark fiction that explores the hidden shadows of men and women as they make dubious choices that lead to consequences rife with fear, despair, and unflinching terror. Whether it’s young men meeting in a basement to engage in a secret barbaric club or a world gone mad following the literal death of God, my favorite dark fiction is woven with sly satire and subversive social commentary.

Martin's book list on dark fiction on the hidden shadows of humanity

Martin Lastrapes Why did Martin love this book?

Max Barry’s satirical science-fiction novel, Machine Man, is a dark and funny mediation on contemporary society’s compulsive over-reliance on technology. The narrator, Charles Neumann, is a mechanical engineer who, while obsessively searching for his phone, loses his leg in an industrial accident. After building himself a new machine leg, Charles purposely loses his other leg, so he can replace it with another machine leg. After seeing how great his new legs work, Charles wonders if maybe he should replace more of his body parts with machine parts, begging the question: Where does humanity end and technology begin?

By Max Barry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Machine Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.

Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.

A story for the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man's quest for ultimate self-improvement.


Book cover of Probability: The Science of Uncertainty: With Applications to Investments, Insurance, and Engineering

Chris Conlan Author Of Algorithmic Trading with Python: Quantitative Methods and Strategy Development

From my list on mathematics for quant finance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a financial data scientist. I think it is important that data scientists are highly specialized if they want to be effective in their careers. I run a business called Conlan Scientific out of Charlotte, NC where me and my team of financial data scientists tackle complicated machine learning problems for our clients. Quant trading is a gladiator’s arena of financial data science. Anyone can try it, but few succeed at it. I am sharing my top five list of math books that are essential to success in this field. I hope you enjoy.

Chris' book list on mathematics for quant finance

Chris Conlan Why did Chris love this book?

Everyone knows what probability is, and we all understand how a coin flip works, but not everyone can explain the optimal betting strategies for a roulette table. We don’t study probability to understand the likelihood of events. We study probability to understand the expected outcomes of business processes that depend on those events.

In other words, this book won’t just teach you about probabilities, it will teach you about business strategies associated with those probabilities. It will help you answer a question like: How do I maximize the profit on this life insurance policy, given this set of survival probabilities? It isn’t just a likelihood question, it is a business question. I highly recommend that anyone studying probability does so through an actuarial lens.

By Michael A. Bean,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Probability as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book covers the basic probability of distributions with an emphasis on applications from the areas of investments, insurance, and engineering. Written by a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries with many years of experience as a university professor and industry practitioner, the book is suitable as a text for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, statistics, actuarial science, finance, or engineering as well as a reference for practitioners in these fields. The book is particularly well suited for students preparing for professional exams, and for several years it has been recommended as…


Book cover of An Introduction to Information Theory

James V. Stone Author Of Information Theory: A Tutorial Introduction

From my list on information theory.

Why am I passionate about this?

My primary interest is in brain function. Because the principal job of the brain is to process information, it is necessary to define exactly what information is. For that, there is no substitute for Claude Shannon’s theory of information. This theory is not only quite remarkable in its own right, but it is essential for telecoms, computers, machine learning (and understanding brain function). I have written ten "tutorial introduction" books, on topics which vary from quantum mechanics to AI. In a parallel universe, I am still an Associate Professor at the University of Sheffield, England.

James' book list on information theory

James V. Stone Why did James love this book?

This is a more comprehensive and mathematically rigorous book than Pierce’s book. For the novice, it should be read-only after first reading Pierce’s more informal text. Due to its vintage, the layout is fairly cramped, but the content is impeccable. At almost 500 pages, it covers a huge amount of material. This was my main reference book on information theory for many years, but it now sits alongside more recent texts, like MacKay’s book (see below). It is also published by Dover, so it is reasonably priced.

By Fazlollah M. Reza,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Introduction to Information Theory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Written for an engineering audience, this book has a threefold purpose: (1) to present elements of modern probability theory — discrete, continuous, and stochastic; (2) to present elements of information theory with emphasis on its basic roots in probability theory; and (3) to present elements of coding theory.
The emphasis throughout the book is on such basic concepts as sets, the probability measure associated with sets, sample space, random variables, information measure, and capacity. These concepts proceed from set theory to probability theory and then to information and coding theories. No formal prerequisites are required other than the usual undergraduate…


Book cover of Classical Probability in the Enlightenment

David Flusfeder Author Of Luck: A Personal Account of Fortune, Chance and Risk in Thirteen Investigations

From my list on luck: winning, losing, and seeing opportunity.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father, when he consented to talk about all the moments in his life when the odds against his survival were so small as to make them statistically non-existent, would say, ‘I was lucky.’ Trying to understand what he meant got me started on this book. As well as being a novelist, I’m a poker player. Luck is a subject that every poker player has a relationship to; more importantly it’s a subject that every person has a relationship to. The combination of family history and intellectual curiosity and the gambler’s desire to win drove me on this quest.

David's book list on luck: winning, losing, and seeing opportunity

David Flusfeder Why did David love this book?

Sadly, Games, Gods, and Gambling by FN David is out of print. This is the next best thing. Lorraine Daston has the supreme gift of making the complicated idea seem straightforward. This is an account of the frenzy for measuring that happened in the 18th century, and how it made the world we live in today, when the gambler’s eye for odds has become the algorithm of taming chance that guides all our decisions.

By Lorraine Daston,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Classical Probability in the Enlightenment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What did it mean to be reasonable in the Age of Reason? Classical probabilists from Jakob Bernouli through Pierre Simon Laplace intended their theory as an answer to this question--as "nothing more at bottom than good sense reduced to a calculus," in Laplace's words. In terms that can be easily grasped by nonmathematicians, Lorraine Daston demonstrates how this view profoundly shaped the internal development of probability theory and defined its applications.


Book cover of Games, Gods and Gambling

Bastiaan C. van Fraassen Author Of Philosophy and Science of Risk: An Introduction

From my list on exploring the meaning of probability and risk.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve wanted to be a philosopher since I read Plato’s Phaedo when I was 17, a new immigrant in Canada. Since then, I’ve been fascinated with time, space, and quantum mechanics and involved in the great debates about their mysteries. I saw probability coming into play more and more in curious roles both in the sciences and in practical life. These five books led me on an exciting journey into the history of probability, the meaning of risk, and the use of probability to assess the possibility of harm. I was gripped, entertained, illuminated, and often amazed at what I was discovering. 

Bastiaan's book list on exploring the meaning of probability and risk

Bastiaan C. van Fraassen Why did Bastiaan love this book?

I found a copy of this book in the sixties. That copy, much loved, was lost in moves and mayhem. Now, I only have a Dover reprint (water-logged during yet another move), but I have never been without and would search high and low if I were.

This is also a history of probability but with a very different focus. Ms. David was a statistician able to explain the calculations intuitively (good to assign to my students). But she was also thoroughly interested in the personalities involved. What was Galileo like? What happened to Pascal at Port-Royal?

I felt personally drawn into the historical narrative that often reads like a novel. 

By F. N. David,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Games, Gods and Gambling as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The development of gambling techniques led to the beginning of modern statistics, and this absorbing history illustrates the science's rise with vignettes from the lives of Galileo, Fermat, Pascal, and others. Fascinating allusions to the classics, archaeology, biography, poetry, and fiction endow this volume with universal appeal. 1962 edition.


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in probability, math, and artificial intelligence?

Probability 21 books
Math 276 books