Comments on: Researching is a Massive Public Work http://promiscuousintelligence.com/2010/06/23/researching-is-a-massive-public-work/ Andrew Fitzgerald's blog Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:05:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Andrew Fitzgerald http://promiscuousintelligence.com/2010/06/23/researching-is-a-massive-public-work/#comment-122 Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:55:29 +0000 http://promiscuousintelligence.com/?p=144#comment-122 Great suggestions! Yeah, Power Broker is in my queue for sure and The Control of Nature is one of my all-time favorites – but the rest of these are all new. Thanks so much!

]]> By: Saheli http://promiscuousintelligence.com/2010/06/23/researching-is-a-massive-public-work/#comment-120 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:33:34 +0000 http://promiscuousintelligence.com/?p=144#comment-120 Andrew, I think you already got the Powerbroker recommendation that Timand I made on twitter. I’m guessing you already know about Cadillac Desert (Mark Reisner) & The Control of Nature (John McPhee)? Salvadori’s Why Buildings Stand Up & Why Buildings Fall Down form an interesting duet, but more engineering focused than you probably wanted. Three books I can’t recommend but have heard things about:
The Gate by John Van Der Zee, about our famous bridge, The Great Wall by John Man, and A Teardrop on the Cheek of Time about the Taj (which was not quite a public work . . .). I can’t recall the names, but I’ve heard of good histories of New York’s Catskill aquaduct system and the London Thames Sewage system. I’m guessing either city’s subways must have compelling histories as well. There are several dueling histories of the Transcontinental Railroad too.

Far and away one of my favorite novels of the last ten years of my reading life is about public works and the people working on them: In The Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje, which is truly lovely.

Looking forward to reading the fruits of your search and synthesis.

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