Reliability Engineering Books
Abstract
Chris and Fred discuss talk about how to ‘rank’ reliability engineering books that are actually based on helpfulness (and perhaps not an algorithm).
Key Points
Join Chris and Fred as they discuss the different reliability engineering books and how they ‘rank’ regarding their usefulness for reliability engineering.
Topics include:
- What’s ‘wrong’ with Google and Amazon rankings? A couple of things. First is that reliability engineering books don’t sell hundreds of units a week (surprise!) So, a couple of sales here and there can change rankings markedly. The second is that some of the books teach oversimplified and incorrect topics very well. So, readers rank the book highly because it explains the wrong concepts very well.
- Many ‘staples’ are very theoretical. For example, a very well-known ‘Fault Tree Analysis’ textbook goes into great detail about how to implement algorithms to solve the equations that Fault Trees help create to describe system reliability models. But there is nothing in there about using Fault Trees for Root Cause Analysis. The book is highly rated, regardless, no doubt because those readers were interested in the algorithm. But it misses a big piece that means it is not complete.
- Algorithms can be manipulated …Â It is not unusual for academics to break down one paper into three, where each paper now conveys less information. Why? To increase the algorithm ranking for the author who has now published lots more papers. The same can apply to books … particularly for those written by professors for their own courses …
- It is up to you. The book is as good as you rank it. So see what the book is about, relate it to your problem or scenario, and then make a decision.
Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.
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