--- product_id: 120804390 title: "Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down Kindle Edition" brand: "j. e. gordon" price: "€ 22.56" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/120804390-structures-or-why-things-dont-fall-down-kindle-edition store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down Kindle Edition **Brand:** j. e. gordon **Price:** € 22.56 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down Kindle Edition by j. e. gordon - **How much does it cost?** € 22.56 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/120804390-structures-or-why-things-dont-fall-down-kindle-edition) ## Best For - j. e. gordon enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted j. e. gordon brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down Kindle Edition - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81+FQ6jsi4L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars great book *by B***B on Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023* This is an excellent book, lots of down to earth explanations. Delivery from vendor was fast. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review Number One: year 2017 *by M***. on Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016* Structures: Or why things don’t fall down A very interesting book, covering a wide field of topics, from the ground up you might say.Basic concepts of forces are addressed. Compression, tension, shear and torsion forces, and their occurrence in everything from bridges, ancient coliseums, trees, boats and human biology. This, the author does very well; constantly interweaving the effects of various types of strains and stresses and fractures as they occur in wood construction and metal beams, as well as human skeletons and arteries.Reasons for, and types of failure are described for wood, concrete, boat sails, steel, femurs and aortas. Advantageous shapes of design for handling wind and accepting impacts are given, and reasons for spoke wheels. Critical and safe limits of fatigue and fracture are described…historical cases are offered, describing why early aero planes crashed and bridges fell down, and why boats capsize.Cautions are pointed out. Over design of repair: The repair must work in harmony with the repaired material, and not be so unyielding that it works against it. So many invisible forces of tension and compression are at play, and violation of acceptable limits must be watched for when they manifest in fractures.Different approaches to bridge trusses are explained, not so much mathematically, but in concepts of load bearing and the transference of force throughout the truss. By way of example, Bowstring bridges seem quite clever in design, where the internal force of the arch pulls the roadway below it taught so that the whole thing is held in equilibrium like a bow and arrow on a giant scale.The all important “thrust line” is a constant theme from chapter to chapter. Now I know why those old cathedrals have so many spires and spooky statues way up there, and it’s not for warding off evil spirits, it’s because they’re heavy.There are photographs, all clumped together in the middle of the book. Black and white, kind of blurry, but still a helpful aid. Very nice drawings, not blurry, and graphs are abundant in all chapters to help visualize the topics being discussed.These and many more topics and application fill this book, none of it came across as boring or dry.Beyond the final chapter, a few concepts are given a light mathematical treatment. Moments in I-beams, deflections in cantilevers and so forth.The pages are made of sturdy heavy paper, the printing is nice size and clear for those who require reading glasses, with ample space around the print for making marginal notes. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable mostly for how it shows real-world relations to described behaviors. *by S***E on Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2016* This text was clearly generated using OCR from an older book.The italicized test at the start of each chapter is oddly formatted and some OCR errors crept in.For example in the "spherical pressure vessels" section at loc 1664 it says that the "thickness of the wall or shell is l [ell]" but the formula used is "s = rp / 2t" and there is no l in that formula. The l [ell] should clearly be a t [tee].Less important but more maddening is at location 1810 where when speaking of hawks, we find that "[these] exacting and maddening birds lpse condition very easily." A simply OCR substitution of p for o like this would have been caught by a simply spell check.This book should have been proofread after scanning and before typesetting.As to the content of the book it does a good job of covering the behavior of real-world things you may be familiar with. But while sometimes it does a great job of explaining what is happening it doesn't do as good a job explaining why at times. The formulas for some forces as just thrown out as obvious, and indeed they would be derivable easily if you have the right background. But they deserve two more sentences of explanation in many cases.And some things are simply hand waived at and ignored. For example when discussing the billowing of bat wings we are told "It is clear there can be in practice be little or no aerodynamic loss as a consequence of this change of shape". Well, I don't know why that is so clear and I won't know by reading this book.I enjoyed it, it's an amusing book to help those who say "I don't need math in the real world" see how much math actually helps you in the real world. But in many cases it isn't going to do more than whet your appetite for explanations of why. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/120804390-structures-or-why-things-dont-fall-down-kindle-edition](https://www.desertcart.at/products/120804390-structures-or-why-things-dont-fall-down-kindle-edition) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-04-29*