Includes bibliographical references (pages 388-390) and index.

The structures in our lives - or how to communicate with engineers -- Part One: The difficult birth of the science of elasticity -- Why structures carry loads - or the springiness of solids -- The invention of stress and strain - or Baron Cauchy and the decipherment of Young's modulus -- Designing for safety - or can you really trust strength calculations? -- Strain energy and modern fracture mechanics - with a digression on bows, catapults and kangaroos -- Part Two: Tension structures -- Tension structures and pressure vessels - with some remarks on boilers, bats and Chinese junks -- Joints, fastenings and people - also about creep and chariot wheels -- Soft materials and living structures - or how to design a worm -- Part Three: Compression and bending structures -- Walls, arches and dams - or cloud-capp'd towers and the stability of masonry -- Something about bridges - or Saint Benezet and Saint Isambard -- The advantage of being a beam - with observations on roofs, trusses and masts -- The mysteries of shear and torsion - or Polaris and the bias-cut nightie -- The various ways of failing in compression - or sandwiches, skulls and Dr Euler -- Part Four: And the consequence was ... -- The philosophy of design - or the shape, the weight and the cost -- A chapter of accidents - a study in sin, error and metal fatigue -- Efficiency and aesthetics - or the world we have to live in.