Customer Reviews

Building Big

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once again, David Macaulay provides artistry and specialized knowledge in a medium that readers of all ages can appreciate. He explains complicated architectural structures with striking clarity, and his illustrations perfectly complement his engaging narrative tone. Macaulay joins fact and story beautifully -- rather than "lobotomized Sendak," I see conversational Da Vinci.

David Macaulay takes the reader on a tour of some of the really big civil engineering structures of our time. Building Big has sections on Bridges, Tunnels, Dams, Domes, and Skyscrapers. Each part of the book describes the design and construction of from four to ten outstanding examples of the structure highlighted. The examples in each category are described in chronological order with some going back to the time of ancient Rome. The drawings that accompany the text are excellent at focusing on the details and techniques described. The integration of text and graphics is wonderful. In each case, Macaulay describes the design objectives, the interplay between the structure and the environment, and the engineering solutions used to bring the structures into being. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in structural engineering and design. I have not seen the related PBS video series, but I can say that the book stands on its own very well. Highly recommended.

I bought this book for my 6 year old son who is an avid builder. I knew that the text would be above his head, so I read the book before giving it to him so I could summarize the paragraphs for him. He asks to look at this book every night and loves it. This is not a picture book as it has a lot of text, but the pictures are well done, and he has gained some basic building concepts that he uses with his Legos and blocks. He likes to look at the book about how they build a structure (he is really fascinated by the Hoover dam and Petronas Towers) and they we look online at the completed pictures. It's a great book for older children (or if you want to take the time with a younger child to explain it) and I recommend it.

Macaulay fans are going to be amazed and impressed by this, his best book yet. It's a companion to the PBS series that's better than the films! A must see and better yet, must buy.

This book is outstanding! It's informative, yet easy to read. I have used it as the textbook for my high school engineering class for two years, and the students love it!

I gave this book as a gift to someone who loves and understands architecture. He found it most interesting. It contains many facts that are not generally know about large, historical structures.

David is a great writer and artist. The PBS series that followed along with this book was fantastic. If you want to know the how and why, here it is. Enjoy!

This book, along with the companion website on PBS make a great unit study for learning about the engineering that goes into building. Our kids have really enjoyed this book!

Building Big reminds me of a book I owned as a boy called "How do they build it?" Slick pictures of giraffes and elephants building dams and skyscrapers. This book isn't much different. Skinny on the details, full of colorful pictures you might get from Maurice Sendak with a lobotomy. In other words, I'm dissapointed that a subject of such scope has been slighted here.