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Engineering in Plain Sight extends the field guide genre from natural phenomena to human-made structures, making them approachable and understandable to non-engineers. It transforms readers' perspectives of the built environment, converting the act of looking at infrastructure from a mundane inevitability into an everyday diversion and joy. Each section of this accessible, informative book features colorful illustrations revealing the fascinating details of how the human-made world works. An ideal road trip companion, this book offers a fresh perspective on the parts of the environment that often blend into the background. Readers will learn to identify characteristics of the electrical grid, roadways, railways, bridges, tunnels, waterways, and more. Engineering in Plain Sight inspires curiosity, interest, and engagement in how the infrastructure around us is designed and constructed.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Electrical Grid
Chapter 2: Communications
Chapter 3: Roadways
Chapter 4: Bridges and Tunnels
Chapter 5: Railways
Chapter 6: Dams, Levees, and Coastal Structures
Chapter 7: Municipal Water and Wastewater
Chapter 8: Construction Glossary
View the Copyright page
View the detailed Table of Contents
View the Index
"[Engineering In Plain Sight] is a fun, informative book that helps educate on the world around us."
—Geek_Dude, GeekTechStuff
"A plain explanation of every day engineering . . . [with] enough detail to satisfy even a lot of detailed questions about infrastructure."
—Lee Teschler, Design World Online
"Grady is the perfect person to explain engineering to us: he's smart enough to understand exactly how everything in the human-made world works, and he's a brilliant storyteller who can translate that knowledge into engaging tales that even the technically-challenged among us can dig into. His book [Engineering in Plain Sight] is the perfect extension of this unique skill set. By taking a concept usually applied to the natural world - a field guide! - and applying it to the, um, non-natural one, he's helped me understand for the first time basic but important things ... like how a cell tower actually works."
—David Goldenberg, MinuteEarth
"Highly readable and illustrated with plenty of diagrams, making the material accessible to non-engineers . . . it would serve very well as a reference book for classrooms and the school library."
—Terry Freedman, ICT & Computing in Education
