FE/EIT Discipline Review, 2nd Edition
Introduction. This book is a study guide for college seniors preparing to sit for the first of two qualifying exams prior to becoming a registered professional engineer. The term FE/EIT is never explained. One infers (Potter, 1998b, p. 4) that FE stands for Fundamentals of Engineering. One is never told that EIT means Engineer-in-Training.
Any person facing a professional proficiency examination would want a guide on the subject to fulfill three objectives: First, the book should cover the panoply of problem types likely to be encountered on the test. Second, all problems presented should be solved, in the book, with all necessary steps revealed. Third the algebra and arithmetic--plus the rote copying from other handbooks of various constants and their units--must be correct. In this critique, the booklet, FE/EIT Discipline Review, edited by Dr. Merle Potter, will be judged primarily and most harshly against those 3 criteria.
Any book must also be judged on the degree to which: It is well-written; it stands alone; and its index is comprehensive in proportion to the book's utility as a continuing reference work. Those secondary criteria will not be ignored.
Introductory Chapters. The Preface reveals at the outset that the book is not a stand-alone, comprehensive treatment of the subject(s). Indeed it depends crucially on another book--the NCEES (not defined) handbook, which the editor's publisher would be happy to sell its dear readers (Potter, 1998b, p. 2).
One finally finds (p. 10) that the needed handbook is that by the National Council of Engineering Examiners and Surveyors, and that book, not this one, is the only book one can take into the standardized, national exam. One begins immediately to wonder, then, why do I need this book? Not a settling beginning.
The names and addresses of the three state licensing offices where this writer is registered are correct (Potte...