Reddit mentions of The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor (Princeton Science Library)

The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Materials-through-Princeton-Library/dp/0691125481

Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down

http://www.amazon.com/Structures-Things-Dont-Fall-Down/dp/0306812835/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

Great real world overview of lots of mechanical engineering concepts like stress/strain, how I beams work, how cracks form etc.
Not too theory/equation heavy, very well written. 1960s Era but still pretty relevant.

The new science of strong materials, or why we don't fall through the floor. Amazon link. I felt like it was a good read and it helped me explain some ideas to my coworkers who had different backgrounds.

A distressingly-high ratio of pop psych nonsense suggestions in here. Sticking to engineering, one of my faves is Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down by JE Gordon (and The New Science of Strong Materials by the same author). Does a great job of qualitatively AND quantitatively explaining structures and materials.

Civil engineering to shipbuilding: Structures and The new science of strong materials, by J.E. Gordon. These are incredibly enlightening.

Physics (also some chemistry and biology): It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science is a collection of essays by great scientists - among others, it contains a very insightful discussion on the birth of the Schroedinger equation, which is rather different from the usual stories of cats in boxes, chicken crossing the road, gods playing dice, and the like.

Chemistry: The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, by Philip Ball.

Biochemistry: Chance and necessity, by Jacques Monod. Seems it's out of print, I guess my knowledge of the field is a bit out-of-date. There must be some other book out there that explains elegantly protein folding and enzymatic regulation, which are the base mechanisms of living matter.

During the lead-up to the invasion several hundred gliders were produced and stored on airfields, waiting for their one-way trip. In English weather this caused a lot of them to develop mould and collect water inside, which could have caused the gliders to break up in flight.

In The New Science of Strong Materials by JE Gordon, we are told about the problems this caused and how they were overcome. This is in the chapter Glue and Plywood which also discusses the problems of constructing planes such as the Horsa and the Mosquito out of plywood.

A fascinating book and an interesting look at some of the technicalities involved in constructing them.