The Civilized Engineer

Civil engineer Florman ( The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, Blaming Technology here indulges in sufficient autobiography to reveal how, instinctively, he reached out for a well-rounded education in the arts and humanities, which he now sees as crucial to human survival. This lends a charming informality to his book's undisguised mission: to drive home to the young the necessity of avoiding too-narrow specialization, noting that technology seems to have become the obsession of the success-minded. He presents his case for the cultural development of today's youth, using examples as current as the Challenger tragedy to suggest that technological minds tend to downgrade human risks and responsibilities. ""If I were king,'' writes Florman, he would require major courses in history and literature at all engineering schools. (March 23)