Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes
Adult Non-Fiction, Upper Level: 711.6 H
Ever wonder how water is available from your kitchen faucet, or where it goes after it runs down the drain? Ever consider how it is possible to pull a phone out of your pocket in Plymouth and call your cousin in Tampa, or how those tennis shoes arrived here from China?
Buried under the ground, hanging from poles, hidden behind fences and sitting high on towers are the ubiquitous components of Infrastructure. This large format, photograph-packed book is your introduction to the many aspects of the often hidden and rarely noticed nerve and skeletal system that makes modern society work. Author Brian Hayes turns what could be a very dry and technically off-putting collection of facts into an engaging and entertaining exploration of the incredible technologies that do everything from clean sewage, to transport natural gas across half a continent to your stovetop. From railroads to airports to oil wells to power plants, this book is a wonderful introduction to the unheralded tools that bring technology to our homes.