Engineering the City: How Infrastructure Works [Paperback]

Matthys Levy (Author), Richard Panchyk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

How does a city obtain water, gas, and electricity? Where do these services come from? How are they transported? The answer is infrastructure, or the inner, and sometimes invisible, workings of the city. Roads, railroads, bridges, telephone wires, and power lines are visible elements of the infrastructure; sewers, plumbing pipes, wires, tunnels, cables, and sometimes rails are usually buried underground or hidden behind walls. Engineering the City tells the fascinating story of infrastructure as it developed through history along with the growth of cities. Experiments, games, and construction diagrams show how these structures are built, how they work, and how they affect the environment of the city and the land outside it.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 6-12. Future engineers, math enthusiasts, and students seeking ideas for science projects will all be fascinated by this book, which is filled with engineering "projects and principles for beginners." Facts about dams and bridges segue into information about water transportation and irrigation, and eventually into a chapter that answers the question, "What happens when I flush the toilet?" Other sections deal with highways, railroads, electrical circuitry, and garbage disposal. Simple line drawings unobtrusively enhance descriptions in the text, and there are specific, step-by-step ideas for engineering experiments that usually require only simple household objects. Each chapter ends with a brief list of suggested further activities that encompass geography, writing, geometry, and even history. A source of both general information and activities that can be used across the curriculum. Roger Leslie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Future engineers, math enthusiasts, and students seeking ideas for science projects will all be fascinated by this book. -- Boolist

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; Projects and Principles for Beginners edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556524196
• ISBN-13: 978-1556524196
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Engineering
  • #15 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Architecture

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engineering in the City-- a Dad's review, January 26, 2001

By 

Patrick J. Welch (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Engineering the City: How Infrastructure Works (Paperback)

I have an 8 year old son who is seriously addicted to Lego building blocks and anything else that can be built. I am also a cub scout den leader and that makes me pretty good at understanding what 8 and 9 year old boys like.

They like this book! It answers some basic questions, that very subtley provide some basic engineering principles. What is BEST about this book is that every chapter has several simple projects that your child and you can do together. Again, simple, but it is suprising how educational this kind of fun can be.

My cub scouts like building bridges the best so far. You can bet we will work our way through this book and do many more projects.

Honestly, I wish a book like this existed when I was a kid. I thought engineering was all math and boring! NO SO! This book lights a fire in my imagination as well as that of my son. I love this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have!, August 16, 2007

By 

Mike F. "Mike" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Engineering the City: How Infrastructure Works (Paperback)

I totally agree with the previous reviewer; this is a fun book to read with your kids and do the activies together. It's also perfect for those awkward moments when they ask you a question like, "how does a road work?" and you don't exactly know the answer. It spells out everything in an easy-to-understand way.