Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization

by W. Hodding Carter IV

"The unsung hero of human history was, of course, the Brain of Drains, the Hub of Tubs, the Power of Showers, the Brewer of Sewers...the humble plumber." -- W. Hodding Carter

When we consider the amenities that really make a difference in our well-being, surely good plumbing must rank near the top. But rarely have we taken the time to appreciate the engineering marvels that bring clean water into our homes with the turn of a tap and the flip of a lever. Until now.

Witty, anecdotal, and thoroughly entertaining, Flushed chronicles the long and notable history of plumbing, while following Hodding Carter's travels and travails around the most underappreciated pillar of civilization. It's a winning combination of history, science, and firsthand experience -- a book that will both entertain and educate those who have never contemplated the hidden intricacies of this miracle of everyday technology.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Technology, Humor, Science, World History, Microhistory

241 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

A native of Greenville, Mississippi, W. Hodding Carter attended Kenyon College and spent two years in Kenya with the Peace Corps. He has written for several national magazines, including Esquire, Smithsonian, Newsweek, and Outside. He lives with his family in Rockport, Maine.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for something else from this book and was mildly disappointed so I give the book 2.5 stars. What I was hoping for was a history of early urban civilizations and how they managed to survive without the sanitation systems that make modern urban life possible. I certainly thought "How The Plumber Saved Civilization" would assist this son of a plumber in learning how civilizations like Rome, Byzantium, Alexandria, and other ancient cities and later European cities functioned and how their citizens lived their daily lives. The book does deliver some of that but not nearly enough to be regarded as a meaningful history. Instead think Bill Bryson lite and you have the proper tone for this book. As I stated there are some interesting tidbits of history but the author fills his book with too much about his personal plumbing experiences which I am sure he thought were quite humorous, me not so much. He also traces the evolution of plumbing and plumbers into the present day and then the book becomes a platform on which he advocates for new innovations in waste and water treatment to save the planet and human civilization. It's not a bad book but I was looking for a serious treatment of this serious subject and this book was just too cavalier.

[Özgür · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evlerimize suyun nasıl geldiğini ve gidenlerin nasıl gittiğini merak edenler için keyif verici bir okuma olabilir. Onun dışında ilginç bilgiler (bir kısmı fazla teknik) içeren bir kitaptan fazlası değil.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since the book is subtitled "How the Plumber Saved Civilization," I was expecting that Carter would give more than a passing mention to cholera, and speak in depth about breakthroughs in sanitation in the 19th century. However, instead, he devotes a third of the book to talking about his own toilet, and the time one of his friends came over and took a dump at his house (I'm not joking). Another third is given over to the Romans, and whilst they were undoubtedly innovators, the rest of human history is crammed into two short chapters, The rest of the book discusses modern plumbing challenges in the third world. All this is well and good, but the description on Amazon led me to believe that this was some sort of definitive history of plumbing, which it surely is not. I've learned far more about waste disposal in general history books with no special focus on plumbing. Rather, the whole book seemed like an excuse for Carter to play at being a plumber. If he wants to be a plumber that badly, he should just go do it, and not bore the rest of us with his musings. Unless you're actually a plumber, or wannabe plumber like Carter, I'd give this a miss.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really a very interesting read. I know it sounds like a bizarre topic and perhaps an even weirder premise but when you consider the effects of a lack of sanitation it's not so far-fetched. The author starts with ancient history and moves through history to present day as he examines the advances that allowed public health to improve. He also examines some rather groundbreaking ideas being implemented in the developing world that perhaps will not only solve serious problems there but should be adopted by those of us in industrialized nations as a way of reducing our own negative environmental impact and providing an obviously constant energy source. I gained new respect for my toilet, the professional plumber, and the historical innovators.

[Cristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rocked! I saw the cover and was compelled to read it and it was worth it. The author is quite funny. Sometimes, certain parts would drag just a little bit but it was so insightful to learn about the intricacies of plumbing and human waste. I think everyone should read this book to get a better understanding of what happens when we "flush" and to appreciate our modern plumbing capabilities. I felt grateful and enlightened after reading this. It isn't a typical pleasure read, that's for sure.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in one evening. What a hoot. Learned quite a bit about how plumbing works, but the best part was all our crazy hang-ups about our waste! And that public bathroom "stalls" were something that monks invented in the Middle Ages! And, can I just say, the list of euphemisms for "bathroom" at the beginning of Chapter 8 was so funny, that, well, I nearly wet myself..... which would have been pretty fitting, when you think about it.

Great little read, and even better cause Hodding Carter is from right here in Maine.

[Diane Depew · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a quick overview of sanitation in civilizations and one man's quest to know more as he deals with his own plumbing problems- this book covers that. And if you are looking for an interesting, but easy to read book on what some would consider an odd topic - this is the book.

[Bruce Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and witty. Slightly overdoes the personal instead of giving us more information. I found the last part of the book, about India, to be the most informative. The idea that gas from our guts can provide power, and other excreta can act as fertilizer, strengthens the circle of life.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best book I have ever come across.Who knew the history of plumbing could be so interesting and hilarious.

[elif kalafat · Rating 2 out of 5]

i picked this up expecting a good sociology read, but it turned out to be more of a biography, mostly focused on technical details and one person’s deep passion for a very specific topic. it’s always impressive to see that kind of dedication — i even felt a bit jealous. but i think the subtitle was quite misleading (maybe even intentionally clickbaity). not something i’d personally recommend. so sad.

but one thing, it did leave me with one important thought: some people do their jobs so well that we don’t even realize how essential they are to our lives — and plumbers are definitely one of them.

[Lucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked up on an absolute whim from a little free library.
A very easy read than has interesting overviews of plumbing infrastructure throughout history all told with much eagerness and passion

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

11/19/09 For those of you who do NOT know, today is World Toilet Day (promulgated by Dave Barry, who also brought you "Talk Like A Pirate Day," but I digress...The intent of World Toilet Day is quite serious, having to do with advances in W.C.'s, but more seriously the disposal of human waste in third world countries. An international convention is held every year, so good for them! Doesn't mean the rest of us can't have some fun...This book was given to me by a good friend just today, has to do with the history of plumbing, should be fun, later!

Well, turned out to be a lot of interesting, wryly-put information about just about every way one can convey waste from the body to the sea/processing plant that you might think of. Lots of history too. (Romans had sort of little rivulets beneath a row of these "commodious" fixtures), and there is a particularly intriguing chapter about present day India, where an inventor is putting toilet systems into place that basically turn the poop into non-toxic compost, and which may well interfere with the caste system, in that the "unmentionables" (those who clean up others' waste products) do not have to do such work anymore. I would have a complaint that I think Mr. Carter's editor should have done a better job of making the prose flow better, as it got sort of clunky at times. Actually my rating would have been 3 - 1/2 stars. Enjoyable nonetheless.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short and witty book. Plumbers, unsung and yet so necessary, star. One hopes that since this book was published we have made some progress internationally, but there isn’t much news about the way we could change plumbing, use less water and stop polluting rivers, lakes and oceans, making us all much healthier. His section on India was interesting as there is a solution there but no political will, as evidenced by a couple of trips back there recently. It’s a good read for the history of our attempts at waste disposal even if you don’t read the whole book. I liked the way Romans made necessity a social occasion.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the trivia and unusual fact collectors out there...this would be a great addition to your knowledge base. Style is very conversational and matter-of-fact about topics we usually are squeamish about.

[saranimals · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those of us in the First World surely take plumbing for granted. We've come to expect, and feel entitled to, an unlimited supply of clean, running water, available 24/7, as well as sanitation and waste disposal, without ever bothering to know how much is involved with all of it.

[Mark Nason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply put this is a book I never would have expected to enjoy and yet I recommend it to so many people. It's part history and part silly modern musings on plumbing but all fun (and you just might learn something).

[Mert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verdiği bilgilerin yanında anlatım dili açısından da oldukça eğlenceli bir kitap. Herhangi bir ön teknik bilgi gerektirmiyor. Ancak çevre, kimya ya da inşaat mühendisiyseniz ya da bu alanlarda öğrenciyseniz muhtemelen kitabın içeriğine hakimsinizdir.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this. The authors says that many in his family think he likes the history of plumbing because "the subject affords me the opportunity to talk about things scatological under the guise of a more serious topic". And, unfortunately, the book felt like that—like a middle schooler eagerly tucking body humor inside a research report. I gave up when the author laughs at himself for using "in situ" in a verbal conversation, like we're all supposed to think he's a huge nerd for that or something?

I was really excited to read a history of water engineering, from aqueducts and cisterns to, yes, sanitation and how those technologies changed civilizations. But the history portion is pretty light, heavily mixed in with personal anecdotes, and I didn't need the poop or prostitution jokes.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming little book. More often than not, with charming, little books, particular regarding a history of a thing, they are more personal reflection and insight, then any real examination of the historical record of the thing. Here, in regard to plumbing being the thing, it is not different. The writing is amusing, and at times funny, as it cursorily explores plumbing's origin in the ancient world up and through modern efforts to turn our waste into fuel. There was a desire for more a historical aspect, but this was a personal want, perhaps not the intention of the book. Whatever the case, the book offers just enough to entice but not enough to engross. Despite this, it was still a charming, little delight to read.

[Sandhya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing and informative. I've read it as research into a possible novel I might write, and for that reason it was worthwhile. Like all popular history books, it's light on details but interesting as a start.

[Mrsculpepper · Rating 2 out of 5]

a lighthearted look at some plumbing history and current innovations as well. maybe a little more lighthearted than i was really looking for. easy, enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Xovee Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

相当不错，科普，幽默

[Necdet Yücel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Üzerinde neredeyse hiç düşünmediğim bir konuda eğlenceli bir dille yazılmış güzel bir kitap

[JJ Harris]

Started out as good history...

But it ran out of gas. Lot more detail, I'm sure, in the invention of the modern flush toilet than was given.

[katie reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sure do appreciate plumbing more, and while it did drag at some parts, the anecdotal stories were my favorite and made me pause and just laugh at the absurdity. Overall, an interesting book

[Ozan Sağsöz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben daha çok bir monografi bekliyordum. Yazarın evindeki tesisatın bozulmasından sonra su tesisatı üzerine uyanan bir merak üzerine yazılmış bir metin. Bu açıdan ilginç. Sifonun ve su tesisatı üzerine bilgiler barındırıyor.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization
© 2006 W. Hodding Carter
241 pages




So, plumbing. You use it. Chances are you wouldn't be alive without it, because civilizations without plumbing tend to be miserable places rife with disease. Despite its importance, not much fuss is made about plumbing; in fact, the topic is studiously avoided by various modern cultures, who have placed a taboo on the discussion of human waste. W. Hodding Carter rejects that taboo and his breezy account of plumbing’s contribution to civilization – both historically and presently – suggests that sparing a few thoughts for toilets would do us good, helping us not only appreciate the importance of good sanitation, but make use of it to create a more sustainable future.

Carter is an author who is very much excited about plumbing, and he’d like dearly to pass on that passion to the reader. Although he reports on the storied past of plumbing with gusto (and, entertainingly, attempts to bring the past to life by forging a Roman pipe himself), this isn’t a comprehensive history of plumbing. Nor is it a detailed guide to the plumbing systems of modern homes, though Carter does explain how most systems set to work, information he obtains by giddily smashing through his own wall to follow the pipes. And it’s not a guide to considering plumbing as a career, though Carter does follow plumbers around and describes the path to the toilet that each man took. And it’s not a consideration of human waste as a possible means of creating sustainability. Instead, Flushed! is a quick romp through all these subjects, Carter leading the reader to and fro like a crazed tour guide – but as frantic as it is, his approach conveys the fact that plumbing can be genuinely interesting. It undergirds not only society, but our homes – and possibly our future. Carter’s race through the pipes of modernity takes him across the world, where he sees the future of toiletry in India, with the invention of a “biogas digester” that uses excrement to create fuel; such an invention literally creates energy by eliminating waste. (David Owen would ask, of course, how much energy it takes to manufacture the digesters.)

This is in short a commendably fun book about a element part of civilization, which manages to be entertaining and amusing without resorting to a series of toilet jokes.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, for those who have ever wondered what happens with your plumbing outflows; for those who have had to struggle with those sorts of things, this "Bill Bryson visits the toilet" text may be in order. I compare it to Clean and Decent: The Fascinating History of the Bathroom and WC which is by now rather dated, and doesn't have the easy reading feel of this profile, and The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters which has a lot more of a social advocacy aspect. Not that Carter (one shudders to think what first name his parents gave him that he prefers to go by Hodding) ignores the issues of waste-water and its part in the world's troubles. However, his information about different types of pipes, from the Roman on up, a clear description of the pre-classical bathrooms that are mentioned, his exploits in casting lead for pipes, the stories he got from his plumber friends, and his various bits of toilet tourism (the London Sewers, the Boston wastewater treatment eggs, the Sulabh organization) as well as his personal enthusiasm for his Jasmin washlet are worth reading anyway. It's short enough to join Uncle John's reader in your household convenience bookshelf, but warning: it's interesting enough your guests may not come out for a while.
Warning, though: he falls into the errors of believing the longstanding claim that the overgeneralization about "garde l'eau" and thus "gardy-loo!" and the accompanying chamber-pot contents tossing date right back to the middle ages, though there seems to be no evidence to support that claim anywhere-- it's documented to the 17th century. Also, his beliefs about the absolute lack of private latrines in cities (as opposed to chamber-pots and scattered jakes over a water source) before the Elizabethan age seem to be contradicted by documentary, archaeological and statutory evidence.
A worthy addition to the literature of the sewers!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a pretty basic and quick introduction to the history of plumbing and waste management, which is truly the technology that allows cities and civilization to exist by letting people live in close proximity. Overall, it's a fun read, and interesting for people like me who know a little about the subject. (It'll be old news to plumbers, waste management professionals, or serious civil engineer/history buffs.) Carter writes for Outdoor magazine, and he has an engaging, journalistic, and really funny style, which matches the, uh, non-sacred subject matter well. He adeptly tackles a pretty wide field in a short book, covering everything from the famed Roman Cloaca Maxima to colonial America to modern biotech compost-producing toilets in India. However there are two main problems with the book, the first and primary being that there are no illustrations, which is a serious flaw for any work of nonfiction that discusses devices, infrastructure, inventions, etc. Their absence hinders comprehension of the many ingenious (but sometimes complicated) inventions described in the book. The other flaw is that after a big historically-backed setup and lots of funny anecdotes about his plumber friends and his own harebrained experiences to flesh out the whole premise of why continuous progression in sanitation is so important, the book ends very suddenly. He brings the reader to a promising chapter about the toilets in India (mentioned above), and abruptly ends with a vague call to change the way we treat waste, without really tying up his ideas or making suggestions about what people can do in their own homes or on a larger scale in society. That was a disappointment.

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read and does what it sets out to do well. That's particularly remarkable because it sets out to be an overview of the history of plumbing from the 6000 BCE Indus Valley civilization onward and a droll personal account of being obsessed with plumbing. (f.t.6k.BCE.I.V.c.o.)

It's informative (did you know toilet rooms at Roman baths had no privacy?), sweeping (what would happen if we used our sewage to make energy instead of spending energy to clean it?), and very funny. It made me chortle at my lunch counter, in fact. And despite the assumptions I've found people draw when I say it's a hilarious book about plumbing ("poo jokes!?") it's not scatological humor -- it's mostly self-deprecation about how obsessed and occasionally foolish the author is. He also, however, has his wisdom, whether in briefly guessing at the roots of scatological humor, or envisioning a healthier, brighter future where we aren't ashamed to talk about toilets and our planet reaps the benefits.

My least favorite parts were the pro- and epilogue, so if you don't like the first few pages, do skip to Chapter 1 and give it another try.