Book review - Applied Minds: How Engineers Think by Guru Madhavan

PAGES: 272

PRICE: Rs 449

Penguin Books India

The most captivating part of this insightful book is the chapter on the cleaning of the Ganges in Varanasi, a subject that has been discussed in many forums by the present as well as past governments. Quoting Mark Twain's famous assertions that "In religion, all countries are paupers, India is the only millionaire" the author recounts his meeting with a 'holy engineer' the high priest of the Sankat Vimochan Hanuman temple.

Mishra graduated in civil and municipal engineering and fluid mechanics, followed by a PhD and then became a Professor and Head of Department at the Banaras Hindu University. He spent many years using his engineering background, combined with priesthood, to research causes and possible solutions for cleaning the Ganges. Dispelling the popular notion that the river has been soiled because of the number of bodies deposited into the river, Mishra and his colleagues attribute 95 per cent of the problem to 'point sources' like domestic and industrial sewage. They advocate installation of nonelectric, gravity-fed interceptor sewers to collect treat and recirculate the waste, an engineering solution based on appropriate technology.

This book is an engineer's delight as it provides multiple examples of the solution spaces that an engineering mindset can create for solving complex problems. Articulating the engineering mindset as the ability to 'see' structure where there is none and the adeptness to design under constraints, the author considers science, philosophy and religion as the pursuit of truth while engineering is at the centre of producing utility under constraints. Google Maps is one outstanding example provided. It emanates from Google's mission to'solve really large problems' which motivated their engineers to consider over fifty million miles of paved and unpaved roads in 195 countries. The solution emanated from the acquisition of visual data and the development of a large-scale systems model along with accurate road-positioning. This book provides many such insights and is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of every engineer and manager.

Another great insight attributed to none other than the late Dr Kalam comes from the story of an engineering project that had to be finished in a tight deadline in his junior year in college. Kalam famously said, "If something is at stake, human minds get ignited and the working capacity gets enhanced manifold". Quoting him, the author suggests that deadlines and constraints don't suppress innovation but serve to give it direction. With so many millions of engineers graduating every year in our country, maybe it is this book and specifically this exhortation that can provide the spur to action this country needs on so many fronts.

The author is Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation and Chairman of Knowledge Management and Business Transformation Committee of CII