WPI Bookshelf

American Confusion Continues: Malignant Disarray in the War on Terrorism, and in the Pacifist Alternatives

by William R. Taylor '55
http://AmericanConfusion.com/

Bill Taylor wants his readers to understand how governments deal with confusion. In his previous book, American Confusion: From Vietnam to Kosovo--Coping with Confusion in High Places (iUniverse, 2001), he applied his original theory of the dynamics of confusion to the actions of Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson during the expansion of the Vietnam War in 1965, then used "fuzzy cognitive maps" to forecast events in real time during the 1999 NATO air war against Serbia. His current book (excerpted at http://AmericanConfusion.com/) examines possible outcomes of a U.S. invasion of Iraq. This short, self-published edition may be ordered through the Web site while Taylor and his agent pursue commercial publication.

The CAD Guidebook

by Stephen J. Schoonmaker '84
Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Vol. 150 in Dekker's Mechanical Engineering series, this essential reference guides students and professionals through the fundamental principles and theories in the function, application and management of 2- and 3-D computer-aided design. Troubleshooting procedures, a glossary and end-of-chapter review questions are also included. More information is available at www.dekker.com. Schoonmaker is manager of engineering systems at Grove Worldwide, a unit of the Manitowoc Crane Group. His previous work, ISO 9001 for Engineers and Designers, was published by McGraw-Hill in 1997.

Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Industrial Fire Protection: An Alternative to Prescriptive Codes

by Thomas F. Barry, P.E. '90 (MS FPE)
Fire Risk Forum

The steps, methods and tools of risk-based fire safety assessment are spelled out in this comprehensive handbook, to help FPE professionals, architects, risk managers, regulatory agencies and insurance companies work together on risk-informed, performance-based fire safety solutions. Barry's assessment process is designed to add another dimension to fire safety analysis and to provide an alternative path when the application of prescriptive codes may not be feasible or cost effective. Barry is director of the Risk & Reliability Consulting business at HSB Professional Loss Control. The book is available at his Web site, www.fireriskforum.com.

transformations@wpi.edu
Maintained by: webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Sep 02, 2004, 10:03 EDT