Paperback The story of architectural structures that changed the world

by Roma Agrawal, Haruki Makio

Gravity, fire, earthquakes, environmental issues... The buildings we spend our days in must be able to withstand many physical challenges. Our predecessors have invented technologies to do just that over a long period of history. How were these discoveries made?

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Architecture, Engineering, History, Technology, Stem

360 pages

First published February 7, 2018

About the author

Roma Agrawal, an award-winning structural engineer, has designed bridges, skyscrapers, and sculptures, and worked on London’s The Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe. She has lectured widely and has presented TV shows for the BBC and Discovery. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A book about real engineering, by a real engineer who can really write" -- blurb by Henry Petroski

Her website: http://www.RomaTheEngineer.com
Her emphasis on inspiring young people to consider engineering is impressive. And that engineers can be stylish & sexy....

BUT. Her book turns out to have some serious flaws & caveats. It starts out at YA level, and may bore you if you know a bit about mechanical & structural engineering.

More seriously, in the first 75 pages I found two serious factual errors. First, she implies that all Roman bricks were sun-dried (ie, carefully-made adobe). This made no sense, and is false: the Romans started making fired bricks around the time of Christ and all the surviving brickwork in the Roman ruins is fired brick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_b...

Second, she makes a statement that the Bronze Age ended because the ancients ran low on copper and tin. That's just silly. Copper is (and was) plentiful. Tin is (and was) scarcer and more expensive. The Bronze Age ended when the ancients figured how to smelt iron ore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ag...

So. She writes well, and has a good heart, and good intentions. But she needed a good editor. And should have brushed up on basic materials science.

So this one is likely headed for DNF, as I won't know when she's slipping past a whopper that I don't recognize. Too bad. Tentative 2.5 stars, rounded down because, c'mon. Adobe bricks melt in the rain!

OK, I've read on, because she is a good writer, and I can skim the stuff I already know. The personal-accomplishment stuff is cool. Her first design job was for a footbridge over a motorway, between two parts of an English university. She liked the work, and the results. It made her happy.

And another complaint. The hand-written legends on her photos are almost unreadable! Don't engineers still have to learn mechanical drawing? If not, the machines can do it. Don't do something "cutesy" that makes your photos/illustrations hard to read! Good grief.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more; it’s by a young woman engineer, which is why I chose to read it, but it was a big disappointment. Granted, it’s a breezy, digestible read; it highlights several unique and notable structures from around the world without being dry. Agrawal writes of the histories of the structures, within chapters organized into principles and concepts such as ‘force’, ‘hollow’, ‘pure’, ‘sky’ and ‘earth’. Her diagrams are nice additions that illustrate key concepts. The stories are approachable, like Wikipedia articles, but lack depth and in some cases don’t appear accurate or thorough (a previous Goodreads reviewer also mentions this).

The most significant shortcoming of the book, given the book is about buildings and structures, is Ms. Agrawal not mentioning the role of the architects (or other stakeholders) in the building process. When she writes of modern day structures, such as the Shard in London or the John Hancock Center in Chicago, she writes as if the civil engineers, were the sole ‘designers’ of the buildings. The book is civil-engineer centric: she fails to acknowledge that building a structure such as a skyscraper, building, or bridge is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort. This is significant omission. (There is a good podcast about this very topic on the BBC Radio3, “Building Bridges and Other Mega structures”).

The other shortcoming is the voice of Ms. Agrawal; it’s all about her—‘my buildings’, ‘I designed’, and ‘me’. She does not acknowledge that working or ‘building’ is a team effort. This is perhaps intertwined with the previous shortcoming. She writes as if she is works in a vacuum, by herself responsible for designing a structure, even part of a structure. In one instance of the book, I was hopeful when she started writing, “I was working on the design of a small apartment building”, (pg 205), she acknowledged "Karl…my drainage-engineer friend". She begins to write of a more collaborative effort, "we created an attenuation tank", but sadly ends with “it was an exciting moment for me: I was creating a real physical link to the pioneering engineering work done” (bold emphasis added) (pg. 206). Note the drop of ‘we’, back to ‘I’. :(

This book had real potential to be a model for young female (and male) engineers, but sadly it’s a big miss. Young people, today need to know that working in today’s economy is about collaborating, working in teams, being adaptable; Ms. Agrawal’s book is about ‘me’ not ‘we’; not a good role model for building relationships or bridges.

[John Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a civil engineer with almost 30 years in the field and I loved this book!
Built: The Hidden Stories Behind our Structures is a quick read and quite effective at describing all the facets and a lot of the history of civil engineering without sinking too deeply into technical details. The author, a structural engineer, has a lot of heart and is clearly passionate about her field.
But more importantly, I think this book will be a fabulous tool to inform and hopefully inspire my teenage daughter in her career choice – especially since it is written from the point of view of a woman in a field dominated by men.
It's refreshing to find a book that spotlights the beauty, elegance, and functionality of the built environment that, at best, most of us only appreciate as a backdrop for our selfies.

[Steve Gross · Rating 2 out of 5]

The engineering stuff was good, but the constant "I", "I", "I" was way too much.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always excited when I read a book that doesn't really fit on any of my existing shelves. Built surveys a variety of building and civil engineering fundamentals, and throws in a generous helping of anecdotes, both historical and from the author's own career. It is engaging and fun to read, and I learned a lot about historical and modern building techniques, from bridges, tunnels, and skyscrapers to the rest of the built environment. Though I should say, the author really likes bridges.

This would also be a very accessible YA book, and would be great for high schoolers thinking of going into engineering. Highly recommended!

[Elentarri · Rating 2 out of 5]

In "Built", Roma Agrawal conveys her passion for structural engineering - for building bridges and skyscrapers. The book is a mix of personal anecdotes regarding her experience as an engineer, stories of historical engineering feats, and a smattering of engineering concepts. The writing style is fairly personable and chatty. I found the information regarding the historical engineering feats the most interesting, but was ultimately disappointed in the superficial (and minimal) treatment of engineering concepts. This would probably make a good, basic (if somewhat superficial) introductory book about sturctural engineering for someone who knows nothing about engineering or architecture, and would like to know a little more without the physics and maths.

OTHER RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

-Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture by Mario Salvadori

-Structures or Why Things Don't Fall Down by James Edward Gordon

-Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis by Laurie Winkless

-Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Surprising Science Hidden in Your Home by Chris Woodford

[Andy Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about engineering and one woman’s passion for construction that I could not put down. Roma Agrawal has written a book that is as readable as it is fascinating. Even for someone who regularly writes about infrastructure, engineering and construction, this book will make me look anew at the world and the built environment that underpins it.

“BUILT - the hidden stories behind our structures” will make you see the world through different eyes. In what is her first ever book (hard to believe given its lively and accessible style), Agrawal takes us on an exciting tour of how engineering works and the forces at play that underpin - and in some cases undermine - structures and buildings.

She charts her inspirations and what drove her to pursuing a career in engineering as well as telling us the stories behind some of the world’s landmark buildings. Agrawal’s enthusiasm for engineering shines through every page of this book, as does her respect for the natural environment and the geniuses throughout the years that have shaped the world we now take for granted.

The book is a real eye-opener and made me think anew about subjects like physics and maths that as a writer I thought I’d left at the secondary school gates. On a practical level, Agrawal also informs us why you should never take on an engineer at Jenga, which is something I will also remember after reading this fantastically interesting book. I can’t recommend BUILT too highly, hence the five-star review.

[Charles Haywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always found structural engineering fascinating, though I’m a consumer of the results, not a producer like Roma Agrawal. No doubt the life of a structural engineer is number crunching, not glamour. But the result is something useful to mankind, and even sometimes beautiful, so it must be satisfying for an engineer to see what he creates. Both facets of the engineering life come through in Agrawal’s book, "Built," an upbeat look at engineering through the lens of her career, though the book is marred by some ideologically driven fictions.

Agrawal is based in London, but grew up in India, and spent a few years in her childhood in New York. This has given her a breadth of vision that informs her book. Her claim to fame, if she makes one, is that she worked as part of the team that did the engineering for the Shard, a London landmark completed in 2012, which is still the tallest building in the United Kingdom. "Built" weaves together engineering principles well explained to the layman, Agrawal’s personal experiences, and examples of implementation of engineering, all to create an interesting, readable package. You may like it more if your interests run to "How It’s Made" rather than Jane Austen, but you’d have to be pretty dull yourself to find it totally uninteresting.

We cover ancient times and modern times. We cover construction and collapse. We cover solutions for earthquake zones and for tall buildings in wind. We cover bricks and concrete, steel and glass. We cover force and torsion, underground and aboveground, bridges and tunnels. The book offers a judicious combination of history and science, and comparing and contrasting along both axes. Scattered throughout are many very well done drawings (apparently done by the author), along with some black-and-white photographs, which are unfortunately mostly terrible, since you can’t see the details that are being highlighted.

The piece I found most interesting was on the stabilization of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Mexico City, built by the conquistadors on the site of a leveled Aztec human sacrifice pyramid, using stones from the destroyed temple of the Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli (that’s awesome). Mexico City’s soil is a soup, since much of it was formed by dumping dirt into the lake on which the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was built. The Spanish were perfectly well aware of the engineering challenges, and cleverly built a raft foundation, with an overlaying raised foundation floor designed to sink. But it sank unevenly, so four hundred years later, one corner was eight feet higher than the other. Basically, this was like fixing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, on a far grander scale. The solution was digging large cylindrical access shafts down through the foundation, thirty-two of them, and then digging at right angles 1,500 holes, removing the dirt in a pattern calculated to gradually lower the high points. The work was finished in 1998, but the system remains in place, covered up, so it can be reactivated if future problems (carefully monitored by lasers) show up.

To her credit, Agrawal does not spend any relevant time in the text trying to make political points about women in engineering. That’s not how the book is sold, however—the blurb in the book is full of cant about “underrepresented groups such as women” and Agrawal’s supposed “tireless efforts” on their behalf. There are very good, indisputable, and insurmountable reasons both why there are few women in science and engineering, and why the top accomplishments in those fields are almost always those of men. But aside from that, two sections of this book shows how falsehoods become embedded in the public consciousness, because they are useful lies to advance an ideological agenda, in this case a tale of supposed oppression of women (and implicit denial of the real reasons why there are few women in science and engineering). This type of ideologically-driven falsehood spreads like an oil slick because nobody dares to contradict such untruths, knowing if they speak truth they will be attacked without mercy as sexist, racist, and so forth. As a result, more and more lies become embedded in the public mind as truth. The most egregious example in recent years is the fantasy that Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer, which you hear everywhere, even though it’s equivalent in truth to saying she was the first Egyptian pharaoh. But there are many, many, others, being piled up to the sky.

In Built, we can observe the creation of such a new myth from whole cloth, and the extension of another. Marc Brunel and his son, the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel, built the Thames Tunnel in the early nineteenth century, a fantastic engineering marvel using many techniques created by the father-son team. Agrawal describes their accomplishments in great detail. But then we are treated to this parenthetical: “Sophia, [Marc] Brunel’s elder daughter, was nicknamed ‘Brunel in petticoats’ by the industrialist Lord Armstrong because Marc Brunel, unconventionally, taught his daughter about engineering. When they were children, Sophia showed more aptitude than her brother [Isambard] in all things mathematical and technical—and in engineering—but it was her misfortune to be born at a time when women had no such career possibilities. She is the great engineer we never had.”

Now, this sounded interesting, but also forced and reaching. No source was offered, so I went looking. Sophia appears to be totally obscure; she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia squib about her, much less a biography. (Her mother, also Sophia, gets considerably more mention.) No mention other than one noting her existence is made in the Wikipedia article about Marc Brunel, or the one of Isambard Brunel, and you can be certain that if it were commonly held that Sophia was a proto-feminist genius/martyr she would have a large section devoted to her in both articles, as well as her own article. However, I did manage to find the phrase attributed to Lord Armstrong, “Brunel in petticoats.” It comes from a 1937 biography of the father and son, by Celia Noble, and is quoted in Angus Buchanan’s 2003 biography of Isambard, where the context is clear. Namely, that Sophia “understood her father’s and brother’s plans.” No mention is made of her aptitude, much less her superior aptitude, or her supposed education, in either book, and Buchanan is somewhat mystified about the claim, since Armstrong only knew Sophia when she was in middle age. Buchanan makes no other mention of Sophia in his lengthy book.

The logical next question is whether some other source fills in the gap. The only relevant mention online of the phrase “Brunel in petticoats,” out of a total of ten results in Google (including two to this book), is a pamphlet from the Brunel Museum, which looks like an intern wrote it, and which attributes the quote, without sourcing, to Lord North. Nothing is said about aptitude or training. I could find no other mention of any such thing, or any mention of the younger Sophia Brunel at all, anywhere, other than of her existence in the context of her father and brother. I ordered two books on the Brunel family, along with what could be found on Google Books, and found nothing inside any them.

What appears to have happened is that Agrawal heard an urban legend circulated among female engineers, told to each other to further the myth of persecuted talent, probably based on the Armstrong quote taken out of context, and on her own initiative embellished it with falsehoods that sounded good. But I can assure you, that in ten years we will frequently, in the engineering context, hear as fact that Marc Brunel and Isambard Brunel were decent engineers, if toxically masculine, but the real hero was their oppressed daughter and sister, who would have been certain to spin straw into gold, if the patriarchy had not put its boot on her. Probably new falsehoods will be added: I predict one will be that much of Isambard’s work was actually done by Sophia. Any academic or engineer who points out none of this is true will find his career immediately over. Thus, as in Communist societies, are lies woven into the fabric of reality.

Once might be an accident, but twice is a pattern. We can prove definitively that Agrawal modifies the truth by examining her discussion of the Brooklyn Bridge. She discusses the Bridge, built by Washington Roebling, at length. The giant supporting towers were built using caissons, excavated reinforced holes, held under high air pressure. As a result, the men doing the work, including Roebling, got “caisson disease”—i.e., the bends. Since her husband was debilitated, Emily took over as the frontman, dealing with the press, politicians, and the investors, shielding her husband from having to have direct contact, and acting as his intermediary and and, to a degree, project manager. Such a central role is not uncommon for strong women married to strong men, even when they are not debilitated; it is true that behind every great man is usually a great woman. But Agrawal strongly implies, and clearly believes, that Emily replaced Washington entirely. “With unwavering focus, she started to study complex mathematics and material engineering, learning about steel strength, cable analysis and construction; calculating catenary curves, and gaining a thorough grasp of the technical aspects of the project.” She concludes that everyone knew that Emily was really doing the engineering, from such evidence as occasional addressing of letters to her instead of her husband. We are meant to conclude this is another example of a woman whose true contributions have been ignored; the bridge did not demonstrate the power of man, as contemporaneous speeches said, but “the power of woman.” She “excelled and triumphed” “even [though] she was not a qualified engineer.” In some, accurate sources (not specified) “she is highlighted as the true force behind the project. In other sources, there is absolutely no mention of her at all.”

Most of what Agrawal says about Emily Roebling is obviously cribbed from David McCullough, in his comprehensive 2012 edition of "The Great Bridge" (the only book on the topic listed in the bibliography, and all the other facts Agrawal adduces are taken directly from there). But McCullough directly contradicts Agrawal. It is evident, reading the source, that Agrawal deliberately distorted the truth. What McCullough actually says is that while Emily Roebling necessarily acquired “a thorough grasp of the engineering involved,” as she needed in order to speak competently to her various audiences she expertly juggled, “She did not, however, secretly take over as engineer of the bridge, as some accounts suggest and as was the gossip at the time.” “Some accounts,” of course, mean modern ideological distortions like Agrawal, which embellishes the truth nearly beyond recognition. Still, again, I am sure that any mention you hear of this topic in the future, or any future history of the bridge itself, will embed a fictional treatment of Emily Roebling, even more embellished, and thus will another folktale turn into historical fact.

Why should we care? Aren’t these tales just nice, feel-good stories that make everyone happy? Don’t I need to prove I’m not a misogynist? (No, I don’t.) We should care because it is a corruption of reality, and there is far too much corruption of reality in the modern world. Sex differences, their immutability and their very existence, are regularly denied as equivalent to believing in the Little People, only with supposedly worse consequences. A toxic blend of demands for emancipation from fictitious oppression, past and present, with the modern Left vision of all human relations as power relations, means that we are force fed lies, day and night. The goal is not just the destruction of reality, but the inversion of the masculine and feminine, with women adopting masculine traits, and men becoming unnecessary, often buffoons, such that the feminine traits are lost entirely. (This pattern of propaganda is ubiquitous in modern movies, as Jonathan Pageau has shown, from the recent Star Wars movies to "Incredibles 2"). Destroying those who would destroy human flourishing, that is, those pushing these ideological lies (of which those about sex differences are only one manifestation) begins with declaring that Reality Is, and shattering our enemies is made possible by forging an axe from that Reality. Like Truth, Reality will always out, but let’s help it along. Live not by lies, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said.

Aside from false history, we are treated by Agrawal to occasional carping about how women are treated differently in her profession. Here more unreality crops up. “I’ve heard stories from other women in the industry about how they’ve been (illegally) asked in job interviews when they plan to get married and have children.” Illegally, perhaps, but totally rationally. The reality is that women, far more than men, choose to leave their careers, or not achieve maximum competence in them, in order to have children. They always have, and they always will. That’s a good thing, as it happens, and wholly natural given the biological differences between men and women. A society that deludes itself into thinking that men and women should both share equally in providing and caregiving is a society going nowhere but down. (Along these same lines, I increasingly think that some men, such as those with families, should be formally privileged over women by employers and society in certain jobs. That doesn’t mean women shouldn’t work in some circumstances, but the baseline assumption should be that men should be, whenever possible, the main providers for a family, both because it is economically rational for companies, and, far more importantly, probably critical to a decent society. But that is a longer discussion.)

For example, in my former profession, law, you often hear whining that while a majority of new associate hires are women, relatively few big firm partners are, and this is necessarily attributed to some kind of discrimination, though what that is nobody can seem to determine, or bothers to guess. In fact, it is men who are massively discriminated against at law firms. Law firms are slaveringly desperate to keep female lawyers, both because of their own ideology and because of (illegal) demands placed on them by woke corporate clients. No law firm would ever criticize, much less discipline, or (horrors!) fire, a woman for failings that would instantly get a male associate instantly bounced. For the same reason, law firms offer many months of paid leave to pregnant associates, hoping they will return when they have a child, sweetening the pot by promising reduced work loads and no movement off the partner track (that is, illegally discriminating against those who produce more, mostly men, by shifting the competition in favor of women). In the majority, perhaps the great majority, of cases, the woman takes the money, has the child, and says sayonara. The exceptions are women who need the money, and a handful of women who really like the job (which is rare—almost nobody, male or female, really likes the job, so certainly the woman’s choice to leave is wholly rational). But that professional firms should ignore these truths is asking them to stick their head in the sand—again, with the denials of reality. We should not permit it.

Oh, none of this means you shouldn’t read this book. But forewarned is forearmed; don’t let the lies sink into your brain.

[Heino Colyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Built starts off being extremely accessible and fun, and draws you in with brief explanations of some of the fundamental concepts of structural engineering. Later on it became very rewarding to follow along with all the theory and understand how and why certain structures just work.

While it is great to learn more about certain concepts that most people will be familiar with (arches, suspension bridges, etc) I learned so many other cool things! How bridge foundations were built using caissons, how to transport water from an aquifer to the surface using a kariz and even the night soil trade in nineteenth-century Japan.

Although I get that the author has a very strong sense of pride in her work, from time to time it did come across as if she was dismissing the roles of people, like architects. Minor gripe though, as that is not the purpose of the book.

My only wish is that I'm able to retain at least 25% of what I've learned. Regardless, it has changed the way I look at the built environment.

Read it. Know more.

[Gunnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bauingenieurin Roma Agrawal gibt dem Leser einen durchaus interessanten Einblick in die Kunst des Bauingenieurwesens mit Abhandlungen zu Statik, Materialien, Elementen usw.
Das ist gut lesbar, hätte aber auch manchmal etwas ausführlicher sein können. Was mich die ganze Lektüre über ein wenig gestört hat, war das offensichtliche Selbstbewusstsein der Autorin, denn sie spricht gern von sich, sodass man den Eindruck gewinnen könnte, sie habe die Bauwerke ganz alleine gebaut.

[Lisa the Tech · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grasp on construction was limited before I started watching the likes of Brick Immortar and Fascinating Horror. I was inspired to take up this book after watching horror stories about Ronan Point, Sampoong, Versailles Wedding Hall, and Tay Bridge on Youtube. This is semi-autobiographical - Agrawal shares moments in her life - but she also introduces the reader to the materials and the physics of keeping buildings upright.
Her writing style was clear and made what might have been a dry book interesting and even fun to read.

4.5 stars.

[Rohit · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book, small chapters on various interesting structural topics with easy to understand analogies, got answer to some of my question (example how do they make bridges over sea bed). Absolutely enjoyed this book.

[Therese Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to be fascinated?

Read a book by an engineer about engineering.

“Oh no, you say, that sounds way too hard and a little dull.” But you’d miss the richness of stories about human ingenuity and perseverance. You would let slip an opportunity to hear of monumental successes and distasterous failures. All elegantly and simply described with photos and illustrations by the author and structural engineer Roma Agrawal. The science is explained and often with tidy real life examples which made me, as a reader, feel pretty smart after all.

We live surrounded by engineering. This book gives you a marvelous opportunity to understand its importance and be glad of engineers.

Thank you to friend Zachary for recommending another gem of a book!

[Maheswara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the elegant telling on current infrastructure around us which is both same and different compared to past structures, highlighting the journey along the way. Hand sketches are a huge advantage for this genre. Felt author could have delved a little more into construction and structural analysis, but that's a personal opinion anyway.

[Angela Zhang · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of 2023. Came across this book from https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc.... Reading it gave me a whole new level of appreciation for civil engineering and structural engineering. It's been fun to Google all the structures they describe to visualize things. I dream of one day reading this book with my future hypothetical child to inspire them to care about engineering.

[Aishath Nadha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had this book around when I was studying because it would have been a great motivator for me to continue on when engineering seemed impossible - Roma Agrawal makes it sound so simple. After two years of working as a civil engineer, I was delighted to be able to relate to and learn from this book. I’ve found that 1. I still have a long way to go and 2. I am not alone in wanting to stroke concrete. I wish she had talked more about being a woman in a field dominated by men and how she overcame the obstacles in more detail, rather than a quick summary in a few pages. Loved it. Would recommend it to any aspiring engineers, working engineers ( or architects ) and really anyone interested in learning about our structures

[Cropredy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a book suitable for the general public about what structural engineers do, then this is for you.

Basically a series of chapters about different structural engineering themes illustrated by projects the author was involved in or took an interest in. For example, how do skyscrapers stand up?

The most interesting chapters for me were the one on the cathedral in Mexico City (built on a lakebed and subsiding for 300+ years—-how did the engineers stabilize it and bring it back to horizontal) and the London sewer system history and future.

You can read this in a couple of days and take away some new insights into everyday infrastructure. An ideal and inspiring book for a young person inclined to construction of structures.

[José Líos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good: It is an easy read, it has some entertaining parts and nice examples, and it highlights some of the least known facts about engineering history, also BRIDGES!! Props for writing about Emily Warren Roebling!

The bad: It somehow goes in all directions between personal anecdotes, historical facts & science communication so sometimes it feels without focus.

The ugly: The drawings/diagrams are barely legible, the example's descriptions using everyday objects are quite confusing without a drawing or feel like pulled from an old textbook.

I'm hoping she writes another book though, Roma Agrawal knows her stuff.

[Glen Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a retired engineer I was curious about how the author might communicate the technical aspects of her work so they could be of value to readers who might be less experienced in engineering practices. I thought she did an outstanding job in making the details of her work both interesting and educational.
One of my thoughts when I finished the book was that I wished I it had been available back when our kids asked me, "So tell me again what it is you do at work?"
The book was fun to read and Roma presented the material in an informative and easy to follow manner.

[Peter Herrmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a few new things from this author, so it get at least 4-stars. But no more because I was a bit frustrated by her diagrams which didn't quite - much of the time - support her verbal technical descriptions. The verbal descriptions were fine for the easy to grasp concepts, but were too much of a gloss for the more difficult concepts, and for which the diagrams didn't quite help. Not sure why. But, at least, this book provides an entry ... or pathway ... for those topics that I'd wish to understand better, or pursue farther.

[Cherise Byler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I am not a structural engineer, I absolutely loved this book! It taught so much about the meany structures around our beautiful planet. As kid, as I would be starting out the window of my car trying so desperately to study every building and systems that my family would be flying by in our going wherever! I would often wander how the buildings, and systems that we have in place came to be. Now I know! Roma Agrawal, did a great job with breaking down every aspect of what it took for an engineer, like herself to be able to build such magnificent, and useful structures and systems! She broke them down into bight size pieces and explained everything so well that I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. She also sprinkled in some of her own stories and experiences from her own like and career as a woman in the engineering industry. I also loved that she added illustrations, charts, and experiences that I, as the reader could look at and understand better of what she was talking about and explaining in words. This was very helpful for a person like me who’s very much a visual learner! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone! Even if you’re not an engineer.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly interesting book. It has helped me have a greater appreciation for structures, for their history, and for how they are constructed. Much of our lives crosses bridges and takes place in buildings. It's easy to take for granted all the details that make these places work smoothly, safely, and comfortably for us. Structures are often beautiful or at least artistic. The author definitely has a love for them and for what makes them work. It's clear she is good at what she does. All this comes across in her writing. She explains things so well. Her pictures and diagrams are helpful. I have always had a difficult time understanding physics, but the author does a great job making scientific concepts more understandable. She makes story problems come to life.

[A Street · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a page turner! It’s like an anecdotal world tour of structures, some no longer in existence but many still standing and some in construction. It covers the obvious such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the current tallest skyscrapers, and many less obvious and obscure (at least to me) such as Turkish underground refuge cities, Roman water cisterns, and Xerxes historic pontoon bridge to Greece. Highly recommend to get very basic understanding of structural engineering and many interesting brief histories.

[Stven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engagingly written, genuinely excellent text for a not particularly engineering-savvy reader such as myself, introducing the materials and methods of building from ancient times to the modern world. I know a lot more about concrete and cranes and bridges and domes and the whole human history of structures than I did 271 pages ago.

[Liv Hawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would have been so good to read before I started uni. Roma explains structural techniques in a really simple way that I think even if you didn’t have a background in structures it could be understood. Very inspiring. Girl boss

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blinkist summary

[Rdougherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, lovingly told - I wish there were ten sequels!

[Joshua Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and researched! Quite interesting if you're fascinated by buildings like I am.

[The Great Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hab was dazugelernt

[Petr · Rating 4 out of 5]

EN/CZ

The book is well-written and a light read. However, it did not match my expectation as it seems to me that it aims at someone who would be scared away by a more technical approach (which is funny if you consider this is still a book about civil engineering). The book's chapters focus on various aspects of buildings and it conveys well the basic ideas and explains them on examples. I would recommend it as a really initial step to civil engineering (as Agrawal manages to convey her love for the field) or as a light read that also educates a bit.


CZ:
Trochu mě kniha překvapila tím nakolik je přístupná. Avšak jako úvod do stavebnictví poslouží výborně neboť z knihy jde vicítit nadšení autorky pro obor. Ač jsou kapitoly děleny dle různých aspektů staveb, kniha sama je trochu všehochuť - tu trocha historie, tam technika, zde anekdota ze života autorky. Avšak mohu doporučit jako odpočinkové nebo právě motivující čtení.