Sorry for the long delay. We moved to Maryland in mid-June, and things have been crazy. But hopefully now I'll get back to regular posting.This is a guide to industrial structures, written in the style of nature guides by a long-time science writer. It’s totally fascinating. He explains all sorts of things I’d never thought to wonder about before. Why do high-tension power lines sometimes have three lines running side-by-side in a triangle formation? (It’s to reduce coronal discharge because the electricity acts as if it is traveling in a single line with the diameter that of the triangle.) What is the difference between open-pit mining and strip-mining? (Open pit digs down in an inverted cone, while strip mining digs up huge swaths of land to get at ore that is widely dispersed but not very deep.) The pictures are awesome, and the author is excellent at explaining complicated things.
We just moved to Maryland, and the very last thing I did before leaving was take a load of trash to the dump. And with my new insight into all things industrial, I discovered the road to the dump is filled interesting things to look at. There was a gas pipeline station, a massive electrical substation, and, of course, the dump. My husband tells me that there’s a dump near our new house, and I can’t wait to go out and see what there is to see there.
I highly recommend this book – it’s going to be my Christmas present for all my geeky friends and relatives.
Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape
2008
Brian Hayes
Available from Amazon
3 comments:
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http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Roadside-Technology/dp/1556526091
You've just help me get an early jump on Christmas shopping for Scott. He will totally did BOTH of the books you posted about here. Thanks!
Uh, let my copy edit my own comment: I meant "helped" where I wrote "help" and "dig" where I wrote "did."
Never let it be said that I am overly fastidious about my typing!
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