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books:


	• Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape Brian Hayes W. W. Norton, 2005 - 512 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

American version of how does everything work

A proviso that must be made is that this is a very-USA-centric book. No disrespect intended as it is a beautifully photographed and relatively detailed (plus references for a lot more information) tome. Just something to keep in mind as the world is not (yet?) flat in infrastructure.

I like to think of myself as pretty knowledgeable, but I learned quite a bit in each chapter. I can imagine a similar book for Infrastructure 1925 (or so). Would be fun to see what has been lost (trains/streetcars/twice-daily-mail delivery) and gained (more obvious).

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Fantastic - learn about all that stuff around that you usually ignore.

For me, this book brought a new level of fun to driving around. Another take on the many things that 'make civilized life possible.'

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nature guide for the artificial landscape

If you go for a walk and start actually looking around, you'll see a lot of things that most of us don't really understand -- power lines, sewer systems, the mysterious blue telephone junction boxes. This book explains why and what these things are -- think of it as a Nature Guide for the human-made environment. Do you have Sibley's Guide? Well, you should have one of these, too. My only quibble -- the pages are below standard quality for a hardback book. But never you mind -- don't be picky, like me! Get this book!

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A great read

I've been looking for a book like this for quite a while. I've always been interested about how technology is part of the infrastructure of our everyday lives. Particularly as it relates to electricity and telecommunications. While all of the novels and technical books I read eventually make their way to either my bookshelves or a box, I can easily see this book as something that will permanently become part of my coffee table. I look forward to reading (and re-reading) the various sections. I've found the book to be sufficiently technical, yet simultaneously casual in tone. Considering the subject matter, a very easy, informative and entertaining read. Highly recommended.

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Wonderful, eye-opening book

This engrossing book leads the reader on a tour of industrial features that one would encounter on both a cross-country or cross-town trip. After reading this book, you will find yourself---as I did---pointing out industrial installations and explaining their use to friends and family.

The glossy, full-color pictures are the most striking feature of this large book. They superbly complement the already excellent, clear, and well-organized text. I was also particularly impressed by the further reading listed at the back of the book. It is organized by chapter and ranked from "Kids" to "Geeks". It filled my stack of reading for several weeks after I finished Infrastructure.

My only criticism of the book echoes the author's apology in the preface: there are many technologies and industries necessarily absent from the book. I can only hope that the author will produce further books of similar quality in the future.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

A companion to the man-made landscape that reveals how our industrial environment can be as dazzling as the natural world.

Replete with the author's striking photographs, Infrastructure is a unique and spectacular guide, exploring all the major "ecosystems" of our modern industrial world, revealing what the structures are and why they're there, and uncovering beauty in unexpected places?awakening and fulfilling a curiosity you didn't know you had. Covering agriculture, resources, energy, communication, transportation, manufacturing, and waste, this is the "Book of Everything" for the industrial landscape.

The objects that fill our everyday environment are streetlights, railroad tracks, antenna towers, highway overpasses, power lines, satellite dishes, and thousands of other manufactured items, many of them so familiar we hardly notice them. Larger and more exotic facilities have transformed vast tracts of the landscape: coal mines, nuclear power plants, grain elevators, oil refineries, and steel mills, to name a few. Infrastructure is a compelling and clear guide for those who want to explore and understand this mysterious world we've made for ourselves. 500 color illustrations.

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