THE BOOK: Johnson, Steven. The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.
Steven Johnson presents the London cholera epidemic of 1854, and the work of Dr. John Snow and Rev. Henry Whitehead to link cholera to a water source, as multiple conflicts. It is a conflict between two species, Vibrio cholerae and Homo sapiens. It is a conflict of ideas between tradition and evidence. It is also a conflict between the problems arising from the high density living of cities and the human capacity to solve those problems.
In the first case, a colony of V. cholerae arguably won the bout in 1854. The outbreak was one of the most intense in London’s history, especially considering how rapidly it spread and killed. That it ended when it did may be due as much to happenstance and desperation to act as to a winning argument from evidence. In the immediate wake of the outbreak, the view that cholera was a waterborne illness was not widely accepted.
In the second case, the reasoned case from evidence eventually won over tradition. This led to a victory over cholera in London also. Though cholera is still a problem in parts of the world, the answers implemented in London (better sanitation and clean drinking water) will work anywhere.
Johnson is not too hard on the opponents of Snow. It was widely accepted that disease was caused by miasma, or bad air. It was hard for even intelligent people of the time to accept that disease could be caused by something that could not be detected by the senses (though an Italian scientist had viewed V. cholera under the microscope, it was not widely known). In fact, Snow hadn’t found the cause of cholera, only how it was transmitted.
In the last case, Johnson happily reports that human innovation has triumphed over the problems of cities so far. In many ways, cities are very advantages ways for people to live.
The last chapter launches from Snow’s study of the cholera epidemic, and the map he used to illustrate his findings, to how smarter maps and other innovations are creating a bright future for cities. Snow, Whitehead and science eventually are victorious in the aftermath of the 1854 epidemic, but it is cities that are the big winners.
Johnson brings up a number of vulnerabilities of cities in the next several decades. He is confident that the ingenuity show by the likes of Snow and Whitehead, and modern technology they couldn’t imagine, will overcome most of these problems. Even the problems that can’t be overcome don’t seem to be enough to end the urbanizing trend around the globe.
This review originally appeared at the Infra Consulting LC blog.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query London. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query London. Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, October 1, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Book Review: The Great Stink by Clare Clark
(Normally we post reveiws of nonfiction. Because this book is set during a great engineering undertaking, we thought in might be of interest. Besides, we like to pepper our reading with a good novel now and then.)
The Book: Clark, Clare. The Great Stink. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2005.
William May, the fictional protagonist, is a surveyor for the real Metropolitan Board of Works. From 1856 to 1870, the board led by its chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette who plays a minor part in the novel, built 80 miles of sewers under London. This massive infrastructure transformed the city and the Thames that runs through it.
May spends a lot of time in the crumbling old sewer that are soon to be joined and transformed by the board. The filth of London is the least of the horrors of Victorian England that he must overcome. He faces the Crimean War, a military hospital ship, corruption in politics and business, an insane asylum, prison, an indifferent justice system and his own misunderstood mental illness.
Though the novel is set in the midst of an enormous engineering project and the main character has such a breadth of experience, the story focuses on a few people coping with a changing (modernizing) world. Their stories are brought together by petty murder committed by a greedy man.
May, who except for his misfortune might be considered middle-class by 19th century standards, is contrasted to Long Arm Tom. Tom is a tosher; he makes his living recovering copper and other valuable material from the sewage and waste of the city. Many of London’s poorest lived by extracting meager value from waste. The great sewer project was brining and end to Tom’s profession.
May and Tom are witnesses to a murder. May almost hangs for it; it is luck, including the good fortune of having a conscientious lawyer assigned to his case, that rescues him. Tom becomes an accessory to the murder, and later uncovers it to get revenge.
Class was a huge part of English life, and it clearly comes through, but Clark resists taking a romantic view of it. Tom is not virtuous because or in spite of his poverty. He is a wily and unscrupulous denizen of a corrupt world. May is a professional who ostensibly has the most to gain from the social changes occurring, but deeply damaged and almost destroyed by the highs and lows of a society in flux. His lawyer, Sydney Rose, is the scion of an impoverished peerage. He is motivated by his hopes to move up in society as much as by any sense of noblesse oblige. His victory is due as much to luck and determination.
The pace of the book is slow compared to other thrillers of mysteries. The book is as much about May and Tom coping with a changing world as it is about murder mystery. It tempo picks up in the final chapters as Rose begins to put together a defense for May.
Overall, it is an enjoyable book. It works in its combination of history, mainstream fiction, mystery and picturing of a world that is rapidly changing through new technology.
(This review originally appeared on the Infra Consulting LC blog. If you are interested in Bazalgette or the history of the great London sewer project, see this review of Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah Cadbury.)
The Book: Clark, Clare. The Great Stink. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2005.
William May, the fictional protagonist, is a surveyor for the real Metropolitan Board of Works. From 1856 to 1870, the board led by its chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette who plays a minor part in the novel, built 80 miles of sewers under London. This massive infrastructure transformed the city and the Thames that runs through it.
May spends a lot of time in the crumbling old sewer that are soon to be joined and transformed by the board. The filth of London is the least of the horrors of Victorian England that he must overcome. He faces the Crimean War, a military hospital ship, corruption in politics and business, an insane asylum, prison, an indifferent justice system and his own misunderstood mental illness.
Though the novel is set in the midst of an enormous engineering project and the main character has such a breadth of experience, the story focuses on a few people coping with a changing (modernizing) world. Their stories are brought together by petty murder committed by a greedy man.
May, who except for his misfortune might be considered middle-class by 19th century standards, is contrasted to Long Arm Tom. Tom is a tosher; he makes his living recovering copper and other valuable material from the sewage and waste of the city. Many of London’s poorest lived by extracting meager value from waste. The great sewer project was brining and end to Tom’s profession.
May and Tom are witnesses to a murder. May almost hangs for it; it is luck, including the good fortune of having a conscientious lawyer assigned to his case, that rescues him. Tom becomes an accessory to the murder, and later uncovers it to get revenge.
Class was a huge part of English life, and it clearly comes through, but Clark resists taking a romantic view of it. Tom is not virtuous because or in spite of his poverty. He is a wily and unscrupulous denizen of a corrupt world. May is a professional who ostensibly has the most to gain from the social changes occurring, but deeply damaged and almost destroyed by the highs and lows of a society in flux. His lawyer, Sydney Rose, is the scion of an impoverished peerage. He is motivated by his hopes to move up in society as much as by any sense of noblesse oblige. His victory is due as much to luck and determination.
The pace of the book is slow compared to other thrillers of mysteries. The book is as much about May and Tom coping with a changing world as it is about murder mystery. It tempo picks up in the final chapters as Rose begins to put together a defense for May.
Overall, it is an enjoyable book. It works in its combination of history, mainstream fiction, mystery and picturing of a world that is rapidly changing through new technology.
(This review originally appeared on the Infra Consulting LC blog. If you are interested in Bazalgette or the history of the great London sewer project, see this review of Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah Cadbury.)
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Energy & Water Roundup
Consumer Group Opposes Missouri
Energy Rate Reform Bill
The Midwest Energy Consumer Group (MECG) has come out in opposition of HB2689
(and its parallel in the Missouri
Senate, SB1028),
which would make significant changes to the way electric rates are regulated in
the Missouri.
The group claims that the bill
would remove the voice of customers from the electric rate setting process and
pave the way for regular, uncontested rate increases. The Office
of Public Counsel, which officially represents customers in Missouri
utility rate cases, expressed concern that the bill might limit the ability of
the agency, as well as the state’s Public
Service Commission, to review rate increases.
Related Posts
Senate Passes Energy Bill
The U.S. Senate
passed its first major energy bill in a decade. The bill emphasizes development
of alternative
energy, natural gas,
and lesser used sources such as geothermal
and hydropower.
It also focuses on energy efficiency and safety.
The bill will need to be reconciled with the energy bill passed in the House
of Representatives, which differs significantly, particularly in its
approach to fossil
fuels (coal,
oil and
natural gas). Senate leaders are confident they can work out differences with
the House and develop a compromise bill that can pass both chambers latter this
year.
What Is a Microgrid?
I’m seeing a lot about microgrids
in utility publications and on the Internet. I thought it might be worthwhile
to write something that could serve as an introduction to the subject for those
who are unfamiliar with it, as well as educate myself in the process. I intend
this to be the first in a series of short posts on the subject.
Let’s start with the basics. What is a microgrid?
A microgrid is a local energy grid that can disconnect from the larger
grid and operate independently. It connects to the main grid at a location
where the voltage of the two systems can be maintained at the same level. A
switching system can manually or automatically switch the connection on or off.
Though the name “microgrid” implies something small, size is not a
defining point. Microgrids are defined by
-local control, and
-functioning both connected to and disconnected from the main grid.
If you’re interested in finding out more about microgrids, here are
some resources to get you started.
A Little Sewer History
The Guardian posted an
article on the Great Stink
of 1858 and
how it prompted officials in London to
improve the city’s overwhelmed system of handling storm water and wastewater.
The Thames
of that time was a stinking mess of sewage
and a hazard to health. The sewer system devised by Joseph
Bazalgette was a marvel of the age (and much of it is still in use) that
moved wastewater discharges away from the populated areas around London.
You can read this very good article here.
If it whets your appetite to find out more about this project, you may also
want to read Dreams
of Iron and Steel by Debora Cadbury. The
Great Stink by Clare Clark is a
fictional thriller set during this time that partly takes place in the changing
sewers of London.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Cool Stuff, Old and New
London Underground Turns 150
The first train
traveled the London Underground 150 years ago last month. It has grown to 249
miles of track that carry 3 million passengers daily. The Institute of Civil Engineers is
observing the anniversary with events throughout the year.
Moon Water
When I was in high school, I enjoyed The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. The title inspired
my friends to tease me by saying it with dramatic flair. We all read science
fiction, but I tended to read more hard sci-fi and older books (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was 20
years old back then).
Anyway, in this book Heinlein anticipated that there would be water on
the moon in the form of underground ice, which would be mined by
settlers. Recent
studies suggest that there is water ice on the moon, though we are
obviously a long way from using it to quench the thirst of moon settlers. By
the way, Heinlein also anticipated the Internet in this book, which I read when
home dial-up Internet service was a relatively new thing and few people had
computers in their homes.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Cool Video about Engineering of Olympic Venues in London
The Institute of Civil Engineers posted a video about the engineering of venues at the Olympics and the massive infrastructure needed to support them. To build anything in a city as populous, large, crowded and ancient as London is a challenge. To redevelop a large area near the center of such a city with a lot of large, sometimes innovative structures and rebuild most of the infrastructure around them is enormously impressive. Take a look.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Book Review: The Water Room by Christopher Fowler
We deal with a lot of nonfiction material on Infrastructure Watch. It is nice to find books that deal with infrastructure in imaginative ways through fiction, even if they are a little far-fetched. We hope that by bringing attention to approachable fiction we might also increase awareness of the amazing infrastructure all around us.
Fowler, Christopher. The Water Room. 2004. New York: Bantam, 2008.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit handles cases that, because of political sensitivity, unlikelihood of success or just weirdness, have little appeal to the Metropolitan Police. The Water Room is part of a series of books about the PCU, so there is a lot of water under the bridge by the time it starts.
It is the water under London that plays a key role in the detective story, which is what attracted me to the book. A series of murders on a seemingly ordinary street attracts the attention of the PCU, which discovers a connection to the flooding Fleet, one of London’s several long buried rivers, the myths connected to it and the art it has inspired.
Toward the end of the book, the detectives that lead the PCU discuss how they became interested in crime. One of them mentions reading Agatha Christie and how complicated her stories were, with solutions depending on particulars, and occurring in a world of old-fashioned high society. The character thought real crimes were mostly by more common people for more common reasons and would be more solvable.
This reference to Christie did not make me think of the contrast between her books and Fowler’s, but the many points of comparison. The Water Room is very much in the mode of a cozy English mystery, except the setting is mostly lower middle-class and Hercule Poirot would never resort to entering a sewer.
I enjoy these kinds of stories, though, and Fowler does a good job of telling an interesting and original tale, even if it does fit a type. There are enough clues throughout the book, one very telling, for a reader guess the culprit and a multitude of red herring. There are secrets held to the last chapters, particularly related to motivation, but this is also typical of this kind of story and handled well by Fowler.
Though part of a series, one needn’t read the previous books to enjoy this one. There are enough allusions to the earlier books to explain the relationships between the recurring characters, but they don’t get in the way of the present adventure.
If your interested in this book, you might also be interested in The Great Stink by Clare Clark.
Fowler, Christopher. The Water Room. 2004. New York: Bantam, 2008.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit handles cases that, because of political sensitivity, unlikelihood of success or just weirdness, have little appeal to the Metropolitan Police. The Water Room is part of a series of books about the PCU, so there is a lot of water under the bridge by the time it starts.
It is the water under London that plays a key role in the detective story, which is what attracted me to the book. A series of murders on a seemingly ordinary street attracts the attention of the PCU, which discovers a connection to the flooding Fleet, one of London’s several long buried rivers, the myths connected to it and the art it has inspired.
Toward the end of the book, the detectives that lead the PCU discuss how they became interested in crime. One of them mentions reading Agatha Christie and how complicated her stories were, with solutions depending on particulars, and occurring in a world of old-fashioned high society. The character thought real crimes were mostly by more common people for more common reasons and would be more solvable.
This reference to Christie did not make me think of the contrast between her books and Fowler’s, but the many points of comparison. The Water Room is very much in the mode of a cozy English mystery, except the setting is mostly lower middle-class and Hercule Poirot would never resort to entering a sewer.
I enjoy these kinds of stories, though, and Fowler does a good job of telling an interesting and original tale, even if it does fit a type. There are enough clues throughout the book, one very telling, for a reader guess the culprit and a multitude of red herring. There are secrets held to the last chapters, particularly related to motivation, but this is also typical of this kind of story and handled well by Fowler.
Though part of a series, one needn’t read the previous books to enjoy this one. There are enough allusions to the earlier books to explain the relationships between the recurring characters, but they don’t get in the way of the present adventure.
If your interested in this book, you might also be interested in The Great Stink by Clare Clark.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 Administrator Announced
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced President Barack Obama’s selection of Karl Brooks to be the Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 7. This region encompasses Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and 9 Tribal Nations.
Brooks has taught history and environmental studies at the University of Kansas for the past decade. Previously, Brooks was the Executive Director of the Idaho Conservation League and served six years in the Idaho State Senate. Brooks holds a B.A. from Yale University, a Masters in International Relations from the London School of Economics, a law degree from Harvard University and a Ph. D. from the University of Kansas.
You can read the original EPA news release here.
You can read the original EPA news release here.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Recycled Water: Is it the Wave of the Future?
Many young idealists ask me
why we don’t just don’t just take the wastewater we’re cleaning, clean it up
some more, and drink it? The short
answer is most people think it is disgusting.
Water professionals might say that is kind of what happens anyway. If you’re interested in finding out more
about these issues, here are links to some informative articles.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Book Reviews: Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah Cadbury & The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst
In Dreams of Iron and Steel (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), Deborah Cadbury tells the stories of seven great works that cover over a century of engineering history. Originally published in Great Britain as Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, the book was a companion to a BBC television series. The projects covered vary widely from a sewer built under a metropolis to a bridge that towered above the skyline of its day.
The oldest of these (still standing like all but one of the other projects) is the Bell Rock lighthouse. The Bell Rock sank many ships that sought shelter from North Sea storms in Scotland’s Firth of Forth. Robert Stevenson, grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson, designed and oversaw the construction of a tower on it. The rock was a formidable construction site. It sat eleven miles from land. High tide covered it with as much as 16 feet of water. Low tide exposed an area only 250 by 130 feet. Yet Stevenson and his men built a 100-foot, stone tower on it. They did it 200 years ago.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, several wonders were built almost at once. The Great Eastern, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was twice the size of any other ship. Though a commercial failure, it set the standard for the next generation of ships.
Brunel launched his ship into a dirty and diseased Thames. Joseph Bazalgette sought to make the river safer for London residents. He built sewers under an ancient city that had grown to 2.5 million people and sprawled over 80 square miles.
In the American West, rival firms raced across the continent to build a railroad that would unite a nation recovering from civil war. In New York, John and Washington Roebling tackled the broad East River with their Brooklyn Bridge. They risked their lives and reputations on the longest span of the day and a material untested in bridges—steel.
The twentieth century inaugurated bigger feats. First proposed in 1879 by Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps of France, builder of the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal defeated most of those tried to build it. Even the United States poked at the mountains in futility until John Stevens, a railroad engineer, upgraded the infrastructure and equipment. When Stevens left the canal, a frustrated Theodore Roosevelt put military officers in charge. Lieutenant Colonel George Goethels, an engineer with extensive lock and dam experience, saw the canal through to its completion shortly before World War I.
The final project, America’s “damn big dam”, was build during the Depression. Hoover Dam was huge and constructed under difficult conditions. But construction engineer Frank “Hurry up” Crowe pushed and planned to get it done early and under budget.
Cadbury treats each project separately. However, they are linked by common elements.
Tragedy and setbacks touched each one. Thousands of men, usually poor laborers and sometimes children, were killed or injured to make these huge structures. They were beset by lack of financing, reluctance to try new methods and materials, bankrupt contractors, political opposition, corruption, greed, prejudice, and other human imperfections.
At their best, these engineers and their wonders are linked by the same qualities that appear in the best of engineering today. They had a vision to make people safer, healthier, richer, and freer. They created solutions to immense problems.
Robert Stevenson’s triumph at Bell Rock won the confidence of the Northern Lighthouse Board. It also launched an association between the Stevenson family and Scottish lighthouses that lasted four generations. During their tenures in the office of engineer for the board, Stevenson and his sons dominated the design, construction, and operation of the lights. Bella Bathurst tells their story in The Lighthouse Stevensons (New York: HarperCollins, 1999).
This book has its own kind of variety: technical, professional, and personal. It covers the construction and technology of several lighthouses, the masterpieces of Robert and his three sons. They not only built towers, but also improved their design and the design of the lamps, reflectors, optics, and mechanical systems that operated in them. One even studied the waves that assaulted their works.
It shows that engineering is more than simply design and construction. The Stevensons were also managers, fundraisers, businessmen, public servants, purchasing agents, manufacturers, contractors, and more. Their work included a broad section of what engineers do.
The book is also a biography of these four men that reveals the dynamics of the family. Robert insisted his sons join the family profession and business. Only one, David, seemed to take to it naturally. Only David’s sons filled the next generation of lighthouse Stevensons. Alan and Tom were more inclined to work in literature and the arts. Alan proved himself to be a capable engineer by building a 138-foot light at Skerryvore that could withstand the elements and exhibit a simple beauty. He became so disabled by disease, Bathurst suggests it was muscular sclerosis, that he gave up his work with the lighthouses. He managed to work irregularly as a writer. His works include and encyclopedia article on lighthouses and a translation of Greek poems. Tom shared Alan’s artistic leaning, but not his intensity and focus. He and David eventually divided the engineering work for the Northern Lights.
Not everyone is cut out to be an engineer, of course. As Robert Louis Stevenson said about his internship in the profession, “He is a wise youth, to be sure, who can balance one part of genuine life against two parts of drudgery between four walls and for the sake of one, manfully accept the other.” But some managed to catch what Marion Allen, a laborer on the Hoover Dam, called constructitis. “Sometimes one thinks he is cured,” said Allen, “only to have a relapse when he goes by fresh concrete or catches the smell of fresh sawdust from new lumber. Anyone with this affliction has to start construction of some kind, even of only to dig a hole and fill it up again.”
This review previously appeared at Infra Consulting LC.
The oldest of these (still standing like all but one of the other projects) is the Bell Rock lighthouse. The Bell Rock sank many ships that sought shelter from North Sea storms in Scotland’s Firth of Forth. Robert Stevenson, grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson, designed and oversaw the construction of a tower on it. The rock was a formidable construction site. It sat eleven miles from land. High tide covered it with as much as 16 feet of water. Low tide exposed an area only 250 by 130 feet. Yet Stevenson and his men built a 100-foot, stone tower on it. They did it 200 years ago.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, several wonders were built almost at once. The Great Eastern, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was twice the size of any other ship. Though a commercial failure, it set the standard for the next generation of ships.
Brunel launched his ship into a dirty and diseased Thames. Joseph Bazalgette sought to make the river safer for London residents. He built sewers under an ancient city that had grown to 2.5 million people and sprawled over 80 square miles.
In the American West, rival firms raced across the continent to build a railroad that would unite a nation recovering from civil war. In New York, John and Washington Roebling tackled the broad East River with their Brooklyn Bridge. They risked their lives and reputations on the longest span of the day and a material untested in bridges—steel.
The twentieth century inaugurated bigger feats. First proposed in 1879 by Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps of France, builder of the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal defeated most of those tried to build it. Even the United States poked at the mountains in futility until John Stevens, a railroad engineer, upgraded the infrastructure and equipment. When Stevens left the canal, a frustrated Theodore Roosevelt put military officers in charge. Lieutenant Colonel George Goethels, an engineer with extensive lock and dam experience, saw the canal through to its completion shortly before World War I.
The final project, America’s “damn big dam”, was build during the Depression. Hoover Dam was huge and constructed under difficult conditions. But construction engineer Frank “Hurry up” Crowe pushed and planned to get it done early and under budget.
Cadbury treats each project separately. However, they are linked by common elements.
Tragedy and setbacks touched each one. Thousands of men, usually poor laborers and sometimes children, were killed or injured to make these huge structures. They were beset by lack of financing, reluctance to try new methods and materials, bankrupt contractors, political opposition, corruption, greed, prejudice, and other human imperfections.
At their best, these engineers and their wonders are linked by the same qualities that appear in the best of engineering today. They had a vision to make people safer, healthier, richer, and freer. They created solutions to immense problems.
Robert Stevenson’s triumph at Bell Rock won the confidence of the Northern Lighthouse Board. It also launched an association between the Stevenson family and Scottish lighthouses that lasted four generations. During their tenures in the office of engineer for the board, Stevenson and his sons dominated the design, construction, and operation of the lights. Bella Bathurst tells their story in The Lighthouse Stevensons (New York: HarperCollins, 1999).
This book has its own kind of variety: technical, professional, and personal. It covers the construction and technology of several lighthouses, the masterpieces of Robert and his three sons. They not only built towers, but also improved their design and the design of the lamps, reflectors, optics, and mechanical systems that operated in them. One even studied the waves that assaulted their works.
It shows that engineering is more than simply design and construction. The Stevensons were also managers, fundraisers, businessmen, public servants, purchasing agents, manufacturers, contractors, and more. Their work included a broad section of what engineers do.
The book is also a biography of these four men that reveals the dynamics of the family. Robert insisted his sons join the family profession and business. Only one, David, seemed to take to it naturally. Only David’s sons filled the next generation of lighthouse Stevensons. Alan and Tom were more inclined to work in literature and the arts. Alan proved himself to be a capable engineer by building a 138-foot light at Skerryvore that could withstand the elements and exhibit a simple beauty. He became so disabled by disease, Bathurst suggests it was muscular sclerosis, that he gave up his work with the lighthouses. He managed to work irregularly as a writer. His works include and encyclopedia article on lighthouses and a translation of Greek poems. Tom shared Alan’s artistic leaning, but not his intensity and focus. He and David eventually divided the engineering work for the Northern Lights.
Not everyone is cut out to be an engineer, of course. As Robert Louis Stevenson said about his internship in the profession, “He is a wise youth, to be sure, who can balance one part of genuine life against two parts of drudgery between four walls and for the sake of one, manfully accept the other.” But some managed to catch what Marion Allen, a laborer on the Hoover Dam, called constructitis. “Sometimes one thinks he is cured,” said Allen, “only to have a relapse when he goes by fresh concrete or catches the smell of fresh sawdust from new lumber. Anyone with this affliction has to start construction of some kind, even of only to dig a hole and fill it up again.”
This review previously appeared at Infra Consulting LC.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Book Review: #STEM Books for #DeSTEMber
I’ve reviewed 39 STEM-related
books (and counting). STEM is an acronym
for science,
technology,
engineering, and mathematics. As you may have seen in the news, there is a
push to improve STEM education,
interest students in STEM fields, and grow the number of workers
in these fields. The idea is that these
will be the skills needed by workers of the future. If you’re a STEM educator or a student
considering a career in STEM fields, you might like to take a look at some of
these books.
How to Build an Android: The True Story of
Philip K. Dick’s Robotic Resurrection by David F. Dufty
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the
Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
by Earl Swift
Earl
Swift wrote an accessible history of the Interstates in The Big Roads. If you interested in automobiles or transportation, it’s a good
read.
Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah
Cadbury
Though the
book is history, many of the structures still stand. Railways, the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Suez and Panama
Canals, and Hoover
Dam stand testament to an age of big engineering.
The Physics of Superheroes by James
Kakalios
Physicist John
Kakalios uses examples from comic books to explore real physics in The Physics of Supeheroes. Sometimes comics get there science
right. Even when they get it wrong, it
can be instructive. If you know what
people are talking about when they refer to the “New 52,” you may find this
book to be a great introduction to physics.
1089 and All That: A Journey into
Mathematics by David Acheson
I recommend
this book because so many people have a fear of math. 1089
can be followed by many high school students and older folks with math
phobias. Just take a deep breath, relax,
and follow along as well as you can.
You’ll see that math can be interesting, useful, and even beautiful in a
way.
The Brooklyn Bridge: They Said it Couldn’t
be Built by Judith St. George
Why should a
cutting-edge STEM student read about a bridge that is almost 130 years
old? It’s because we still use and rely
on very successful, centuries old technologies.
Improving and rebuilding our infrastructure will be an
important part of our economy. As recently as 2010, New
York City and the federal government committed $500 million
to repair and repaint the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone
Will Not Solve Our Global Problems by Henry Petroski
Henry
Petroski, a professor of civil
engineering and history and author of The Essential Engineer, believes
there is an important difference. At
heart, science is about increasing knowledge. Engineering is about invention. Of course, new knowledge makes new invention
possible. Just as often, though, engineering
runs ahead of science. Sometimes science
didn’t advance until someone invented the instruments to conduct new
observations and experiments. The
invention of the microscope made possible
the science of microbiology. Steam
engines were built and greatly improved before we had a modern scientific
understanding of thermodynamics. In fact, thermodynamics was to a large extent
born out of desire to understand steam engines. In this sense, it is an
engineering science (study of manmade things) as much as a natural science
(study of natural things) or branch of physics.
Petroski’s
focus in the book is the importance of engineering to policymaking, where it is
often overshadowed by science. Policy,
science, and engineering play off of each other a lot. Most of my career as an engineer has been
related to government, policy, and regulatory compliance.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most
Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas
Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
Of course,
what attracts most people to the Lewis and Clark expedition is that it was a
great adventure. There is a place in STEM fields for thoughtful
adventurers and explorers.
Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our
Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson
Jan
Bondeson’s Buried Alive is not a morbid
book. It is sometimes humorous, especially in
consideration of topic. From a STEM
point of view, Bondeson shows how knowledge accumulates over time. The fears and activities of our forefathers
may seem strange to us, but they sometimes made sense in light of what they
knew. Buried Alive doesn’t simply play off our fascination with the grotesque and death, though the
book might not have been written if we lacked that fascination, I think it
reminds us to approach our ancestors with a touch of grace and humility. Maybe our progeny will show us the same courtesy.
If you’re looking
for something for a younger student, check out this post→ from Joanne
Loves Science or these
recommendations→ from STEM
Friday. By the way, I also write about
engineering, infrastructure and the environment at Infrastructure Watch.
I’ll confess that I’m not an educator, but I think most of these books
will be accessible to high school and college students, and a few to middle
school students. The list is also a
reflection of my career and interests in engineering, public
health, policy,
and history. Even with these biases, I think it is a good
list for someone looking for STEM-related books.
How to Build an Android: The True Story of
Philip K. Dick’s Robotic Resurrection by David F. Dufty
I was fascinated by robots as a
kid. I enjoyed reading Isaac Asimov’s
robot stories. I longed for the Omnibot
2000 in the Sears Wishbook.
Robots have come a long way. In How to Build an Android, David F. Dufty
describes the short strange life of a very complex robot made to look and talk
like science
fiction author Philip K.
Dick. The robot had a very
sophisticated and lifelike head and complex artificial
intelligence. As with most complex
things, it was the work of many people who had to solve a lot of problems.
If you’re interested in robotics, this is an interesting nontechnical
book. In addition, you’ll get introduced
to some freaky sci-fi. You may even get
as (somewhat) legitimate reason to use the word “Dickhead” (capitalized, it
refers to a fan of PKD, so don’t go using it on anyone).
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the
Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
by Earl Swift
The Interstate highway system in the United States is one of the most enormous structures built. Some of the prospective STEM students who read this may actually be younger than the Intestate system, though in some sense it is never complete because it needs constant repair and maintenance. The Interstates were completed in the 1990s, but the Federal-Aid Highways go back to 1916.
Earl
Swift wrote an accessible history of the Interstates in The Big Roads. If you interested in automobiles or transportation, it’s a good
read.
Dreams of Iron and Steel by Deborah
Cadbury
Deborah Cadbury describes seven wonders of engineering in Dreams of Iron and Steel. It covers almost a century of history, but many of the events are concentrated in the Victorian Era. That was a time of great technological innovation.
Though the
book is history, many of the structures still stand. Railways, the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Suez and Panama
Canals, and Hoover
Dam stand testament to an age of big engineering.
The Physics of Superheroes by James
Kakalios
Though the memory of Professor Wragg’s sneer prompts me to not make this confession, part of my interest in science and technology came from comic books. Iron Man was cool. Spider-Man’s web shooters were very cool. Superhero comics are full of fantasy, admittedly, but the strange, unrealistic science and technology they depict have inspired many to study STEM in reality.
Physicist John
Kakalios uses examples from comic books to explore real physics in The Physics of Supeheroes. Sometimes comics get there science
right. Even when they get it wrong, it
can be instructive. If you know what
people are talking about when they refer to the “New 52,” you may find this
book to be a great introduction to physics.
1089 and All That: A Journey into
Mathematics by David Acheson
Here is another confession: I’m not especially interested in math. I endured a lot of math classes to study engineering. Reading David Acheson’s 1089 and All That did not require such endurance. For one reason, it is a short book. For another, Acheson doesn’t expect his readers to be mathematicians; it is enough to follow the outline of the math he discusses.
I recommend
this book because so many people have a fear of math. 1089
can be followed by many high school students and older folks with math
phobias. Just take a deep breath, relax,
and follow along as well as you can.
You’ll see that math can be interesting, useful, and even beautiful in a
way.
The Brooklyn Bridge: They Said it Couldn’t
be Built by Judith St. George
Judith St. George’s The Brooklyn Bridge is a short history of and iconic bridge. Written for the bridge’s 100th anniversary, it is also the story of the engineers who sacrificed life and health to see it completed: John Roebling and his son Washington. John Roebling was a German immigrant who built many suspension bridges and owed a wire-making business. He gave his son and extraordinary education in bridge engineering for the time, and before beginning work on the Brooklyn Bridge he served as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Why should a
cutting-edge STEM student read about a bridge that is almost 130 years
old? It’s because we still use and rely
on very successful, centuries old technologies.
Improving and rebuilding our infrastructure will be an
important part of our economy. As recently as 2010, New
York City and the federal government committed $500 million
to repair and repaint the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone
Will Not Solve Our Global Problems by Henry Petroski
STEM lumps together science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Is there a difference between science and engineering? Is it important?
Henry
Petroski, a professor of civil
engineering and history and author of The Essential Engineer, believes
there is an important difference. At
heart, science is about increasing knowledge. Engineering is about invention. Of course, new knowledge makes new invention
possible. Just as often, though, engineering
runs ahead of science. Sometimes science
didn’t advance until someone invented the instruments to conduct new
observations and experiments. The
invention of the microscope made possible
the science of microbiology. Steam
engines were built and greatly improved before we had a modern scientific
understanding of thermodynamics. In fact, thermodynamics was to a large extent
born out of desire to understand steam engines. In this sense, it is an
engineering science (study of manmade things) as much as a natural science
(study of natural things) or branch of physics.
Petroski’s
focus in the book is the importance of engineering to policymaking, where it is
often overshadowed by science. Policy,
science, and engineering play off of each other a lot. Most of my career as an engineer has been
related to government, policy, and regulatory compliance.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most
Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Steven Johnson
The Ghost Map by science writer Steven Johnson is the story of the birth of epidemiology. Epidemiology is a medical science that uses statistics to help us understand how diseases operate in a population. Using various statistical and geographic tools, long before we had computers and GIS, physician John Snow demonstrated that cholera, once a recurring plague that wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in some outbreaks, was a waterborne disease. This understanding, initially met with much skepticism, allowed officials to intervene to prevent the spread of the disease. For those who say of their math classes, “I’ll never us this,” here is a case where math (and science and policy) were used to make a great difference.
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas
Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
It is not much publicized today that the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 to 1806 had a partly scientific mission. Captains Lewis and Clark were charges with bringing back samples of the flora, fauna, and culture of the western territories. It was also hoped that they would find a water passage to the Pacific Ocean. In Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose writes about the scientific mission as well as the policy, diplomacy, and commercial hopes the expedition carried.
Of course,
what attracts most people to the Lewis and Clark expedition is that it was a
great adventure. There is a place in STEM fields for thoughtful
adventurers and explorers.
Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our
Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson
A list like this deserves something strange, creepy, and more fun than you care to admit. Right now, thousands of very young future STEM workers are catching bugs and snakes, breaking their toys to see what is inside, or staring into space with a weird expression of vacancy and concentration.
Jan
Bondeson’s Buried Alive is not a morbid
book. It is sometimes humorous, especially in
consideration of topic. From a STEM
point of view, Bondeson shows how knowledge accumulates over time. The fears and activities of our forefathers
may seem strange to us, but they sometimes made sense in light of what they
knew. Buried Alive doesn’t simply play off our fascination with the grotesque and death, though the
book might not have been written if we lacked that fascination, I think it
reminds us to approach our ancestors with a touch of grace and humility. Maybe our progeny will show us the same courtesy.
If you’re looking
for something for a younger student, check out this post→ from Joanne
Loves Science or these
recommendations→ from STEM
Friday. By the way, I also write about
engineering, infrastructure and the environment at Infrastructure Watch.
This review of STEM books appears courtesy of Keenan’s Book Reviews.
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