Building Big
by: David Macaulay
Dewey Decimal Number: 720
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: October 24, 2000
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
Sales Rank: 669653
Studio: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Why this shape and not that? Why steel instead of concrete or stone? Why put it here and not over there? These are the kinds of questions that David Macaulay asks himself when he observes an architectural wonder. These questions take him back to the basic process of design from which all structures begin, from the realization of a need for the structure to the struggles of the engineers and designers to map out and create the final construction. As only he can, David Macaulay engages readers' imaginations and gets them thinking about structures they see and use every day — bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams. In Building Big he focuses on the connections between the planning and design problems and the solutions that are finally reached. Whether a structure is imposing or inspiring, he shows us that common sense and logic play just as important a part in architecture as imagination and technology do. As always, Macaulay inspires readers of all ages to look at their world in a new way.
Amazon.com Review:
David Macaulay's hit PBS series by the same name cannot take you as far as this book does into the wonders of the constructed world: dams, domes, skyscrapers, tunnels, and bridges. It's also a trip through time, transporting you, for instance, from Rome's Ponte Fabricio (built in 62 B.C.) to the 1930s Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to France's Ponte de Normandie across the Seine, which was the longest bridge on earth when completed in 1994. Some of the wires that so ingeniously hold up the Golden Gate are depicted in their intricate engineering context--and at their actual size. As you pore over Macaulay's crystal-clear text and profuse illustrations, the mental fog lifts and you get a sense of what a marvelous act of imagination the bridge is.
In books about building, the whole art lies in the details. Macaulay gives you a glimpse into the minds of the designers, too: in making a tunnel under the Thames River in London, Marc Brunel was inspired by shipworms, 'the scourge of the Royal Navy,' mollusks who used shieldlike shells to bore holes through timber 'and then had the audacity to create a rigid lining in the wood with material they excreted.' Though the poor workers who created Brunel's tunnel shields had to brave fiery explosions of methane gas and vile fumes from centuries of sewage--and as Macaulay rather rudely puts it, 'Brunel's shield now seems a bit like a platoon of creaking Star Wars robots leaning against each other for support as they inch their way nervously through the muck'--the construction did the trick. That tunnel begun in 1825 is still part of the London Underground subway system.
Macaulay can construct a sound sentence: a child can grasp his celebration of the art of engineering, and a grownup can read him with childlike glee. --Tim Appelo
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- Building Big does a great job explaining civil engineering concept!This book is outstanding! It's informative, yet easy to read. I have used it as the textbook for ... Read More
Rating:
- Great BookI bought this book for my 6 year old son who is an avid builder. I knew that the text would be above ... Read More
Rating:
- A Great Gift for Someone Who Loves ArchitectureI gave this book as a gift to someone who loves and understands architecture. He found it most interesting. ... Read More
Rating:
- A BIG successDavid Macaulay takes the reader on a tour of some of the really big civil engineering structures of our time. ... Read More
Rating:
- AwesomeMacaulay fans are going to be amazed and impressed by this, his best book yet. It's a companion to the PBS series ... Read More
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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.