Favorite books/movies that you think other engineer types would like?

[george graves]

Fiction.  Non-fiction.  What ever.

Preferably include a link to the IMDB, or Amazon type page.  A movie poster, or book over is a plus.  And a sentence why it's great (WITHOUT SPOILERS!)

[tautech]

This little Ap note from Tek.
Simple exploration of "Floating Measurements".
Complete with "pro's & cons", nice explanation and a good footer on CAT ratings.

[mikeselectricstuff]

All of Tim Hunkin's "Secret Life Of" TV series - all on youtube
Film : "Man on Wire"

Book "Longditude" by Dava Sobel

[IO390]

Any Clancy book (preferably the earlier ones which were actually written by him).

As for films... The Big Lebowski is good.

[Fred27]

+1 for Tim Hunkin's "Secret life of". I remember that from when I was a kid. Must watch it again - and show my son who's almost 3.

[Balaur]

They may be a bit hard to digest, but I absolutely love the books about the Culture universe, written by Iain M. Banks. I particularly appreciated "The Player of Games", a rather nice, self standing, linear, book and Excession, which may require some additional readings for a better appreciation.

[N2IXK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_%28TV_miniseries%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish

[Dave]

As for films... The Big Lebowski is good.

Yeah, well,... that's just like... your opinion, man.
That movie would be my all time favorite.

I also liked 3 Idiots. Engineers will be able to relate to this movie.

As for literature, I enjoy reading Dan Brown's books. However, when you get to know his writing style, you can kind of predict what is going to happen sometimes.

[owiecc]

Books:
Neal Stephenson – Cryptonomicon Takes place during WW2 (ciphers) and in the 90's (digital security).
Neal Stephenson – The Baroque Cycle 18th century Europe, alchemy, Newton, Leibnitz.

Philip Ball – Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another Patterns in real life.
Edward Tufte – The Visual Display of Quantitative Information How to effectively visualize data.

Movies/series:
Wallace an Gromit few shorts and few movies. Crazy inventor and his smart dog.

[G0HZU]

Movie:

After Hours  (Dir: Martin Scorsese 1985)

If you haven't seen this one then save it for a quiet late night.

It scores 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and is one of the best late night movies I've ever seen. Griffin Dunne is excellent as the nerdy office worker who has a nightmare late night trip to Soho in NYC. I think this surreal movie will appeal to many but you really do have to watch it late at night to get the most from it

[German_EE]

Books:
The Lensemen series by EE 'Doc' Smith, he goes into such incredible detail that you can almost believe the technology
The Soul of A New Machine by Tracey Kidder

Movies:
Manhunter (1986) Think of it as Gil Grissom's first case
Apollo 13
Contact (1997) Because I really like the twist at the end
The Prestige (2006)

TV:
CSI Crime Scene Investigation Only the series with William Petersen in the star role
Mission Impossible The series that made me become an engineer

[Yago]

Forgot all about "Secret lives" series, cheers (again!) Mike.
Lensmen, remember those too, and Skylark, fastest relay brains in space!

Movies, there's all the old scifi classics, Forbidden Planet(Just classic 1950's, Quiffs, real men, women with curves, ray guns, the soundtrack!), Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Quatermass(that gritty Brit impending doom and poor effects), etc.
Tend to like darker, off the wall films of modern times, as said Lebowski (all round great and funny film) (or ThunderBolt and Litefoot II ), Brazil(T Gillingham's 1984 with star cast hamming it up), The Guard(Oirish black comedy that mocks its' own genre).
Speaking of Lebowski, I have liked so many of the Coen bros movies.

[Rory]

Sci-Fi novels: Leo Frankowski, "The Cross-Time Engineer" and its sequels in the "Conrad Stargard" series, as well as his "Copernick's Rebellion".

Non-Fiction Books by Cliff Stoll: "The Cuckoo's Egg", "Silicon Snake Oil - Second thoughts on the information highway", and "High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian".  It's fascinating how so smart a guy can be so wrong on so many points and correct on others.

[miguelvp]

MindWalk, but every person I ask to watch it find it boring and uninteresting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100151/

[Lightages]

Really? REALLY?!!!

Not one mention yet of the "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" yet? Anything from this series is a must read!!!!!!!

REALLY?

Another:

Anything written by Isaac Asimov.

[dr.diesel]

The original H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, one of if not my all time favorite movie.

[David Hess]

I have to second The Dish (200):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/

and add Primer (2004):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

For books I suggest "What Engineers Know and How They Know It: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History":

http://www.amazon.com/What-Engineers-Know-How-They/dp/0801845882

[NiHaoMike]

"Who Killed the Electric Car?" and "Revenge of the Electric Car" are two of my favorites.

[RobertoLG]

books

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged

[RobertoLG]

movies

Moon (2008) - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/moon-v475726
Europa Report (2013) - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/europa-report-v578010
The Last Days on Mars (2013) http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-last-days-on-mars-v582634
The Machine (2013) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2317225/

[hamster_nz]

For Films I liked Moon - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/ and Cypher is cute http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284978/

I also liked "Why building fall down" (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Fall-Down-Structures/dp/039331152X). Obviously enough it is from the author of "Why buildings stand up" - (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Stand-Up-Architecture/dp/0393306763/ but I've never read that one.

I also liked "Normal Accidents Living with High-Risk Technologies"  (http://www.amazon.com/Normal-Accidents-Living-High-Risk-Technologies/dp/0691004129). If you ever wanted to know why Oil Tankers crash into each other or other complex failures this is the book for you. Much better than any Discovery Channel disaster doco.

[RobertoLG]

movie

Sunshine (2007) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/

[Rerouter]

As we have "the machine" listed, i'll throw in a few more integration with technology titles

- Ghost in the shell series (There are about 7 movies here)
- A.I - Artificial Intelligence (2005)
- Her (2013)
- Enders Game (2013)

Then swinging back a bit as not everyone may have seen them:

- The Island (2005)
- Bicentennial Man (1999)
- 2001 A Space Odessey

And Some Wild Cards For Good Measure:

- Sound Of My Voice (2012)
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- eXistenZ (1999)
- The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

[N2IXK]

I read Atlas Shrugged (which is a month of my life I won't get back) just after I read Edwin Abbott's, Flatland, which is set in a two dimensional space filled with geometric plane figures as characters. All I can say is the characters in Flatland had one more dimension than the characters in Atlas Shrugged.

Atlas Shrugged failed as a novel for me because the characters did not develop or respond to each other or to events. They started out on a path and did not deviate from it. It seemed more a manifesto than a novel, that a man has a duty to seek truth in self expression and not subordinate his needs and desires to anything or anyone. I liked "The Fountainhead" better. But it was also a manifesto on the same theme.

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."--John Rogers

[GK]

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged