Building the World

Reviews / Votes

This source is an excellent summary of major engineering efforts to improve utilities, recreation, and other projects that affect people's lives on a daily basis. It outlines and documents the ideas and events surrounding the need for, use of, and processes involved in these projects. Descriptions of the 41 interdisciplinary projects encompass their scientific/technological aspects, from the water supply and wastewater systems of ancient Rome to the Big Dig highway project in Boston. Projects involve hydrology, transportation, railways, space exploration, and the founding of various cities worldwide. In this reviewer's experience, very few resources provide this type of information on major municipal structures. Not only is this work educational and informative, the selected references for each project include book and journal bibliographic sources, historical and current documents of authorization, and Internet, film, television, and musical resources....Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. * Choice * Building the World is a two-volume, wide-ranging reference work dealing with macroengineering projects, that is, those engineering projects that were among the largest and most technically complex accomplished at various periods of history....the work focuses on 41 of humanity's major building projects....the entries are well-written and genuinely fun to read, especially for those not familiar with the history of civil engineering....Amost every entry has something to pique the general reader's interest. * Industrial Archeology * [W]hat is included is unique in the attention they draw to the vision, the details of construction, and the historical ramifications of these audacious, outrageous, and ultimately successful giant engineering feats. * Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences * Building the World has a unique approach to describing forty-one major projects undertaken by mankind throughout history....Building the World was meant to provide a greater understanding of the role that such structures have played not just in the transformation of the physical world, but in the growth and development of societies and cultures (xi). The editors have met this goal, and have done so for audiences ranging from high school students to professionals and from artists to diplomats. The encyclopedia reads easily and is suitable for public and academic libraries alike, including technical libraries. * Reference & User Services Quarterly * Building the World is a first purchase for colleges and universities with programs in engineering. Students in other fields, such as architecture, history, and technology, would find the information in the articles revealing, and general readers would find their interest piqued. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. * Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin * Building the World tells the stories behind 41 key projects, giving readers a look into the visionary individuals and often combative teams behind these projects, their historical contexts and surprising facts, and even the real estate contracts and other essential paperwork. * Colloquy * Davidson and Lusk Brooke draw on 35-plus years of experience in engineering and history, including periods as academics at both MIT and Harvard, in assembling the first encyclopedia to cover 41 of the world's most significant, large engineering projects, from early human civilization to modern times. Each chapter describes the project's historical background, cultural context, planning, building, and importance in history, and includes the text of the original authorizing documents, where available. The collection offers readers a greater understanding of how these structures have transformed the physical world and influenced the growth and development of societies and cultures. For students, scholars and professionals in national and regional history, engineering and technology, law, architecture, public art, and historic preservation; government leaders, diplomats, planners, and social scientists; and the general public. * SciTech Book News *