A Scientist in the City

by James S. Trefil

In his previous books, A Scientist At  The Seashore and Meditations At  Sunset , James Trefil used commonplace  settings in the natural world as a point of departure  for probing the mysteries of nature. In A  Scientist In The City , Trefil takes the  opposite tack, looking at the quintessential  man-made environment of the city as a way of examining  the forces that define our world. What does the  heating system of a building or the construction of  a bridge tell us about the development of a city?  What does the amplified environmental stress of  city life on plants and animals suggest about the  wild? How have scientific advances in building  materials and an understanding of the structure of the  atom helped to shape the cities of today? From an  explanation of the evolution and influence of  plate glass to reinforced steel to an analysis of the  future of the skyscraper, A Scientist In  The City offers a fascinating study of  the promise and the consequences of technology in  our everyday urban lives. In addition, Trefil goes  on to explore how the new technologies being  developed today will help to determine the changing  forms that cities will take in the future. A  Scientist In The City is the kind of  book that will open our eyes to the man-made world  around us, and show us some of the scientific  reasons for why we live the way we do.

Genres: Science, Cities, Nonfiction, Geography

289 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

James S. Trefil (born 9/10/1938) is an American physicist (Ph.D. in Physics at Stanford University in 1966) and author of more than thirty books. Much of his published work focuses on science for the general audience. Dr. Trefil has previously served as Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia and he now teaches as Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University. Among Trefil's books is Are We Unique?, an argument for human uniqueness in which he questions the comparisons between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. Trefil also regularly gives presentations to judges and public officials about the intersections between science and the law.

Reviews

[Laura-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still very current, I wonder if the author is still in the
Washington DC area?

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In recent weeks I’ve finished two books that haven’t gotten comments previously; A Scientist in the City, which was interesting enough, and The Victorian Internet. A Scientist in the City, published in 1994, peeks into the science that makes city function. That science is more material than social, though the behavior of people within the urban environment appears occasionally as data in traffic projections. [author] examines the physics that define strengths and weaknesses of different building materials, and explains subjects like the generation of electricity. He doesn't cover systems by themselves, and water treatment is ignored completely. I liked it well enough, but it's definitely dated and on the thin side. The book ends with several different projections for the City of the Future: our options are Trantor, the Matrix, and suburban sprawl with bullet trains.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent introduction to surface-level descriptions of the science involved in the infrastructure of a city. The tangents are few and the information is Wikipedia-deep. Good, basic dad information (i.e. quick concepts to teach a child), but I was hoping for something a little more personal or rambling (like The Geography of Nowhere or The Conscience of the Eye).

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is strongest when it explains the science and engineering behind the development of cities and weakest when it comes to predicting human behavior. Nevertheless, I found parts of it to be fascinating.

I wish there was an updated version.

Some of the stories were debunked. For instance, the glass in medieval church windows did not flow downwards.
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc98/5...

His references to the vulnerability of New Orleans and the World Trade Center are heartbreaking in light of events since 1994, when this book was published.

[Rona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great popular science. It looks at various aspects of a city and how it came to be that way. Topics include why steel construction Alla for higher buildings than wood to why birds of prey thrive on urban bridges.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened. A discussion of cities and how transportation and other factors cause them to grow. Discussion of building methods was interesting, especially history of glass. Written in 1994, parts are outdated, but still worth reading.

[Nathan Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but not terribly engaging and there must be a better and more up-to-date book on the subject out by now.

[Zack Gebhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while a little dated, is a good outline on the physical science behind many features of the city that we take for granted everyday. Plumbing systems and subway trains, lightbulbs and hard drives, lintels and windows, Trefil covers a wide range of the built environment as he explains with the patience and detail of a tenured professor giving a entry level class to non-major's. Most chapters include a mixture of history, explanation, anecdote, and speculation about the future. There was no common thread or consistency of particular value, instead I found that some histories were richer than others, some speculations a little less grounded. The second section of the book - The Future of Cities - is my favorite part as it represents a great snapshot of urban futurism at the point right before the internet really took hold of culture: 1993. He presents 5 theories on what the future may hold for urbanity, 3 of which based on transportation science, 1 on architectural, and 1 on informational. None of them feature the sharing economy or screen addiction or even big data. It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Trefil has to say about these. Few people were imagining these outcomes when this book was written, and I always appreciate reading the theories that emerged after the internet was born but before it took such a firm grasp of our culture.