I remember reading a book in University about catastrophic engineering failures that really drove the point home on how many safety regulations were developed as well as safety codes due to tragedy. It definitely changed my perspective when considering issues.
ETA: This was the book: To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design by Henry Petroski.
The Master Handbook of Acoustics is a solid choice.
You can apparently get the Fifth Edition for $10 used.
The best book to read as a developer is The Design of Everyday Things. If every developer read it, the software world would be a better place.
Heres a good book on general city planning: https://www.amazon.ca/Works-Anatomy-City-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1602205578&sr=8-2
It'll give you a good overview to start thinking about all the moving pieces that have to be considered. It's a great coffee table book.
Commonality of design.
Both are objects meant for throwing by hand. It would follow there is an ideal size for handheld thrown objects, and therefore handheld thrown objects would be the same size.
Same reason doors you push and doors you pull have different handles and it feels wrong when the wrong handle is used for the wrong side.
Read The Design of Everyday Things to learn more.
> Σαν ανθρωπότητα, κατασκευάζουμε διαφόρων μεγεθών πράγματα εδώ και κυριολεκτικά χιλιετίες. Όλη αυτή η γνώση μας έχει δώσει την ικανότητα να μπορούμε να κάνουμε εκτιμήσεις για το πόσος χρόνος θα χρειαστεί μέχρι την ολοκλήρωση ενός έργου, ακόμα κι αν δεν έχει γίνει κάτι παρόμοιο στο παρελθόν.
Πολύ σωστά. Αλλά όχι σε όλους τους τομείς της μηχανικής. Στις πιο, ας τις πούμε "παραδοσιακές" περιοχές της μηχανικής, ναι έχει συσσωρευτεί μία γνώση ανα τους αιώνες η οποία βέβαια έχει τυποποιηθεί και βελτιώνει κατά πολύ την κατάσταση της εκτίμησης αλλά αυτό που συμβαίνει είναι να μαθαίνεις από τα σφάλματα, όπως αναφέρει και ο Petroski στο υπέροχο βιβλίο του.
Όμως, στη μηχανική λογισμικού π.χ. (σχεδίαση και υλοποίηση) ακόμη και σήμερα οι εκτιμήσεις πέφτουν πολύ έξω στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις, σε σημείο να υπάρχει ακόμη και σήμερα αυτό που στα τέλη του 1960 ονομάστηκε software crisis.
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman is a really good general design resource.
In fact, doors that are ambiguous in the direction in which they open are named "Norman Doors" after him.
Thanks! Those all seem like great suggestions. And yea, I can see how it may be tough with the current market.. Regarding the book, I suppose you're referring to this?
Thanks again!
I redid our whole supply system as a homeowner and part of the DWV too. Yes it’s doable. I loved it, it was my favorite part of renovation.
I read our entire state plumbing code (the sections relevant to single family homes) which was enormously valuable.
Watching lots of YouTube videos is a good idea too, from different channels, and from real licensed plumbers.
Some books were helpful. This is a general one but has good info on plumbing: https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-5th-Completely-Revised-Updated/dp/1631869590
Buy extra parts and fittings. Post here for advice if you’re unsure, before doing the work. Make sure you have lots of time on your hands. Use PEX-A (expansion style) if you can get locally. Copper soldering is fun and let’s you do more visually attractive fixture connections, but definitely learn the right way to do it, and practice. Buy plumbing tools and the right parts for the job. Get a ratcheting pipe cutter. Always bevel and rough sand the ends of cut PVC/ABS before gluing into fittings, and follow all product instructions. Use appropriate primer always.
Don’t forget to design your DWV with pressure testing in mind too. Always run your own tests before testing with an inspector there. You may need to buy inflatable test plugs. Remember to follow code (or better) regarding clean-outs.
Watch out for asbestos insulation on your old plumbing, or in your wall cavities (like vermiculite) and avoid disturbing.
Wear a P-100 respirator at all time when making dust or disturbing old construction.
I’ve heard cast iron is difficult to DIY but is still the best for soil stacks and main drains. So consider getting a plumber for the heavy duty stuff, and keep all the supply and other interior DWV for yourself.
Pictures in this book do a good job of explaining what you can drill or notch amd where:
Black & Decker Codes for Homeowners https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Codes-Homeowners-4th/dp/0760362513
I'm not a structural engineer.
I had the original as a kid. It was my favorite bathroom book.
Yeah. There is something hilarious about an extremely highly up-voted post calling 85% of all people idiots. Presumably a decent chunk of them up-voted this post.
Also presumably the OP considers them self in at least the top 15% intelligence of all people - and they work in retail...sure guy.
A customer walking into a store they've never been to before will face some level of confusion/disorientation compared to a retail worker where that store is their entire world - they know every corner of it. Doesn't make either of them "dumb as rocks".
I worked with mechanics who struggled with pretty basic math but could take an engine apart with their eyes closed. Which of is more "intelligent"? People are people. We are good at different things.
There's an interesting book, The Design of Everyday Things, which really describes in detail how people interact with objects/environments. A big theme is that if someone is struggling to interact with your object/environment/system they aren't stupid - your thing sucks.
This book should be mandatory reading for all engineers. Okay fine we can leave the software guys out this is just recommended reading for them.
Chiming in to recommend this book. I went from knowing literally nothing about electricity to being able to confidently rewire an entire house in a couple months. Bonus is it has tons of useful info on all the systems in your home.
The standard advice with anything electrical is always to hire a professional. But if you're smart and careful, there really is a lot you can do yourself.
Hi there! I'm a UX/UI Designer and from what I've read you could have what it takes to be a UX Researcher or a UX Designer. One of the foundations of UX is Cognitive Science, the first guy to use the term "user experience" is Donald Norman who has studied (and currently teaches) Cognitive Science for years. You could try reading one of his books (one of the most well-known books in the Design field): The Design of Everyday Things to see if you're interested in the subject.
I'd also suggest maybe doing the Google UX Certification available through Coursera, it's a good introductory certification that'd get you in the right path to apply for a trainee or even an entry level job.
If you have any questions let me know, I'm 30 and I've worked in tech for the last 4 years :)
Not fire specific, but Im a big fan of Building Construction Illustrated
NB: This is from a US perspective.
Start with your city/township/county website. Or put “building permit” and your location in Google. This will get you the steps to get a permit, not anything about code.
If you’re contemplating electrical you should check with the permit office first as some jurisdictions allow homeowners to do plumbing and electrical work, but others require a licensed professional.
For code, your local library likely has a number of books with a DIY slant to doing home repairs and construction. I’d start there as a reference. You’re unlikely to get much useful out of a technical manual like the NEC. Black&Decker has a decent book that walks through something like the UBC and NEC that might also interest you
Fair enough, I am also slowly getting things ready. But I am also flying on a bit of faith for the moment.
I do not think we can organize and change the political and economic system at this moment.
Maybe we can when things begin to really fall apart and people are looking to change things. But at this moment, I'm simply working on things I can control. Learning skills. Learning how to grow food.
I bought this book, you may find helpful.
But realistically, what do you think can be done to get us to alter course before disaster comes ? I am not able to come up with much myself on that topic.
Seeing what other people have done, as others have suggested, is an absolutely great start. Also really getting to know the ins and outs of the Material Design system helps a lot, too.
However, if you really want to understand UI and UX, you have to understand the why as well.
For UX, The Design of Every Day Things is an absolutely indispensable resource. It explains why things in the world work the way we do, and how that relates to digital interfaces. For example
For UI, learn and understand basic design principles like emphasis and balance, and how to leverage the grid system & colors in Material Design to achieve those things.
One of the biggest things that I can recommend, that a lot of people sleep on, is motion provides meaning is a key principle of Material Design:
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>Motion focuses attention and maintains continuity through subtle feedback and coherent transitions. As elements appear on screen, they transform and reorganize the environment with interactions generating new transformations.
Tools like Lottie and basic knowledge of animation principles can not only enhance the "polish" of your application but really help reinforce how the application works.
For an example of what all of this looks like when it works together:
Imagine a fragment that slides onto the screen from the right side of the viewport. The Fragment itself has an elevation, which provides a drop shadow in Material Design. This creates a visual connection to the idea of a "material" like swiping one piece of paper onto another. The motion and visual accents also suggest the affordance of being able to also swipe the fragment off in the opposite direction as you would a piece of paper. No training is necessary, the user understands what to expect because of their real-life experience with tangible materials.
I'm engineering, I greatly enjoyed To Engineer Is Human. I also found A Brief History of Though to be very eye opening for general thinking and philosophy.
I'm actually pretty much a designer turned developer, so I may have some interesting tidbits of information for you.
Designing something is more about getting a 'feel' for something, rather than quantifying things (unless you're dealing with UX directly). Making sure that the client has a good feel on the representation and symbolism on something will be what you're doing most rather than simply churning algorithms.
Learn the Laws of UX. They come with neat little posters as well that you can print out and hang around your office. Some of these 'laws' are things that you will see daily.
Get into the habit of Wireframing/Prototyping first before moving onto a solid design. Unlike programming, most of the time if you dive head first into making a detailed design, some — if not all — of your time after will be spent ripping things out, re-arranging stuff, changing sizes, layouts, etc. which could've been avoided by just prototyping first.
I recommend this book to everyone who is looking to enter design The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, it will teach you to re-evaluate the world around and understand why things are designed the way the are. It gets the creative side of your brain moving and I highly recommend it.
Okay, I bought it yesterday while out at Target and it was 30% off. I read through about half of it.
I think the biggest error is the title/description. It should not be considered a "How To" book, but a glossary and example book, with design and style tips. It's helpful in ways, like showing my husband examples of shades without having to google a bunch of different examples.
Emily and the publisher should have never marketed it/named it "How To Decorate And Renovate, From Start To Finish." It just is not even close to the giant book on Renovations that I picked up at Home Depot. Planning and understanding electrical work and telling readers that a hot tip is to put an outlet on the floor is not telling anyone how to do things.
As an individual it’s a lot of hard work. Just veggies, you can, if you have fertile soil and a good water supply, feed yourself on roughly three acres. The biggest problem with that type of farming are grains and livestock.
If, for example, you decided to raise swine, you may be able to “trade “ pork for grains and/or silage.
This and a couple of other of Abagail Ghering’s books are an excellent introduction:
There's actually an entire book on the topic, and it's great.
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654
You're not going to fix every idiot, but you can make your intentions very clear.
We're in the same situation. I personally bought this ebook on Amazon:
So far it's been really informative on renovation work and things we'll need to fix around the house. I'm sure they have a book for general upkeep as well.
...You don't even know what UX stands for, do you? It's USER experience, just FYI. And that means it applies to everything from websites to real world products.
Always always have a cash emergency fund. Read and practice personal finance first, even if your job is paying well you have to know how to really manage money and actually prepare for retirement and old age.
The “Dad, How Do I?” YouTube channel is amazing for learning self sufficiency.Dad
I like the book “Back to Basics” about skills everyone should know. Limited-time deal: Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills (Back to Basics Guides
Nice. Yes, I own that book, too. ‘Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid.’ It’s great for details. I have not read Prince Charles’ Forward; I’ll definitely take a look at it now. :)
Marianne Cusato's book is a great starting reference and style guide for traditional architectural details: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-House-Right-Architectural/dp/1402791038
But yes, you need to hire an architect who will respect your wishes. They all studied traditional architecture in school and will know of reference books to get the style details and floor plans you want. If they can't, just move on to someone who does. Remember they build whatever clients order, so just because they haven't done a project like yours doesn't mean that they can't.
Start taking notes and saving clips of what you like so you can convey it accurately to your team.