My grandfather had a copy of one of the many editions
of this work, the earlier of which were written by Sir Guilford Lindsey Molesworth (1828-1925) a civil engineer who had a
wide ranging career at home and abroad. He received medals from the British
Government for his services during the Afghan War and the Burma War,
and was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
in 1904.
All I knew was that Molesworth (whoever he was, and I
liked the sound of his name) had compiled the chunky little volume on my grandfather’s
bookshelf, packed with calculations and tables and mathematical formula. It
fascinated me as a teenager, not because I was good at, or interested in maths,
nor because I understood the problems Molesworth was addressing, nor because I
realised the extent to which engineering was maths dependent. It was simply I
think because I hoped that some of the mystique I perceived in the arcana of
Molesworth’s pages would rub off, that through my interest in civil engineering
which was real if superficial I might impress my grandfather. It was a trick I
am conscious of having used in other contexts too.
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