I was going through the books that my mom hasn’t disposed of yet from my dad’s library. Here were some of his favorite reads:
Hydrodynamics in Ship Design
Principles of Naval Architecture
Non-Destructive Inspection of Hull Welds
Theory of Ship Motions, Vols 1 and 2
A Guide to Sound Ship Structures
Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures
Stress: A Reference Manual
Theoretical Soil Mechanics
Numerical Methods of Mathematical Optimization
Theory of Plates and Shells
Stresses in Aircraft and Shell Structures
Theory of Elastic Stability
Structural Welding Codes
Analytical and Applied Mechanics
Marine Salvage Operations
Finite Element Analysis for Thin Shells and Curved Members
Introduction to Structural Stability Theory
Buckling Strength of Metal Structures
The Theory of Splines and their Applications
Theory and Applications of Spline functions
Differential Equations
Mechanical Vibrations
Beams on Elastic Foundations
System 360 Programming: A Self Instruction Manual
Univac 1108 Multiprocessor System
IBM SOAP II Reference Manual for the IBM 650 Data Processing System
Using the IBM 1130
And my all time favorite - PLAP Jacket Launch User’s Manual: A computer program for platform launch and upending analysis
Imagine being a 13 year old and needing help with your homework. I used to dread it and love it all at the same time. I knew that it would be fun spending time with my dad and letting him explain things to me, but he usually lost me within the first 5 minutes of instruction. I acted like I understood, then I went back to my room and tried to put it all together. It usually took me hours, but I always got it in the end.
4 comments:
Holy mackerel! That is unreal! I just had a thought: when I pass on, what would my library say about me?
I need to work on my library...
Crazy stuff. I can't believe he still had all those old computer books...
Oh man, I don't really have a library. Do magazines constitute a library? What about old Judy Blume books?
I guess I need to work on my library too!
This is but a remnant of what existed of Dad's library. But what really blew a wind through the cobwebs was my brother's explanation of Dad helping with homework. Dad would give the textbook approach to algebra I, II, or precalc. Then...he would explain the "cheaty" way (yeah, that was the word he used) to solve the problem. The Cheaty way meant skipping 20 or so steps and arriving at the solution. It also meant sending his daughter upstairs to try and figure out just what the heck he did. I eventually learned all this, but it took a long time. To my Dad, it came naturally. He was brilliant in his mathematical thinking.
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