Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld book, "Going Postal", on p. 233 of
the hardback edition. A brief excerpt for your review (hello,
copyright guardians):

" . . . a group of . . . engineers, all serious men with slide
rules . . ."

off-topic remark: Mr. Pratchett's discworld series is reasonably
adult and hilarious. Definitely skewers the self-importance of "The
Lord of the Rings" and other works that take magic and supernatural
powers so seriously. Start with "The Color of Magic" (or "The Colour
of Magic" outside of the USA) and "The Light Fantastic" and go from
there.

Bill Stanley