Search Paths and Analysis Literature

Okay I am going to kill two birds with one stone(post) here. First of all, I have a directory with hundreds of subdirectories inside of it. Is there way to just write a search path for the main folder and have it read all the folders inside of it? Second question. I am looking to do some stress and weight load analysis on some of our product models. Has anyone had success with any books they would recommend? Any advice here would be appreciated. Thanks! -Ryan