Saturday, May 31, 2014

Top ten books to help you understand modern cities

At io9, Annalee Newitz tagged ten books will help you untangle the mysteries of today's city life, including:
The Works: Anatomy of a City, by Kate Ascher

Cities may be dreamlands and economic powerhouses, but they are also marvels of engineering. In this beautifully-illustrated book, Ascher uses New York City to give you a lesson in how urban infrastructure works, from water and sewage to power and beyond. A lot of the technology we use today hasn't changed much since the aqueducts of ancient Rome, so it's fascinating to see how millennia-old ideas have intermingled with cutting-edge wiring techniques. Another great book in this genre is Scott Huler's On the Grid, which deals with the infrastructure of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue