Reference Guide to Famous Engineering Landmarks of the World: Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, Roads, and Other Structures - Hardcover

Berlow, Lawrence H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0897749669 ISBN 13: 9780897749664

Publisher: Greenwood, 1997

Synopsis

This unique ready-reference source is the first to cover hundreds of achievements in civil engineering that literally altered the course of history. The book describes a wide variety of engineering feats such as the Alaska Highway, the English Chunnel, and the Grosbois Dam in France. Each entry describes the landmark's physical dimensions, who built what and why, as well as when it was built.

About this title

About the Author

LAWRENCE H. BERLOW has been a professional writer and researcher for almost 20 years. He is the author of Medical Ethics: A Reference Handbook

??? (sports)??? orts Ethics: A Reference Handbook and has contributed articles to the Gale Research series, How Products Are Made.

Reviews

This is a fascinating book with no comparable work encompassing engineering achievements through recorded history. Originally intended to specify structures that were the biggest, highest, longest, etc., the definition of landmark was expanded to include special, new, or different accomplishments. Examples are the Brooklyn Bridge, which was a major feat of engineering, and the Statue of Liberty, which has political and social significance even though its construction offered little in the way of technical challenge. Other structures are included because great obstacles were overcome in their construction.

The main section is an alphabetically arranged, double-column compendium of facts and histories of 600 structures. The format of each entry begins with the structure's location and date of construction. Size is often given, including metric, and the basic facts of the construction are provided in summaries that vary in length from a single sentence to almost two pages for the Brooklyn Bridge. Boldface type is used to indicate terms that are described in the glossary, and terms in small caps lead the user to other entries. From Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, for example, the reader is referred to two other suspension bridges. Following each entry are a few book or article references and often Internet sites.

Approximately 100 entries are illustrated with black-and-white photos, often from an earlier period in construction. New York City's first skyscraper, the Flatiron Building, is shown in its uniqueness in 1902, rather than today. Appendixes include bridge and truss designs, photos of Ohio covered bridges, and lists of the world's tallest buildings, longest suspension bridges, and highest dams. A biography section provides background on 52 significant engineers or designers. A chronology section begins with the oldest surviving dam in the world (in Egypt) and continues to 2010, when a monster skyscraper, Millennium Tower, will be completed in Tokyo. Additional sections are an extensive bibliography, including Internet sites, a geographical index, and a subject index.

The book will be useful for research and for browsing. Decisions always need to be made on what to include in a reference work. Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the largest mosque in India, and the world's largest floating pedestrian bridge (700 feet, in Curacao) are included, but not Mayan and Incan monuments or the Temple Mount or Western Wall in Jerusalem.

This is a wonderful reference work that will be of interest in public and academic libraries to general readers as well as students researching the structures. Libraries should consider it for circulation as well as reference.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0897749669
• ISBN 13: 9780897749664
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264