Ebook Free Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland
Why should soft data? As this Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland, many people also will have to get the book earlier. But, occasionally it's so far means to get guide Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland, also in other country or city. So, to ease you in locating guides Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland that will sustain you, we assist you by providing the lists. It's not just the list. We will give the recommended book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland web link that can be downloaded and install straight. So, it will not need even more times and even days to pose it and also various other publications.
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland
Ebook Free Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland
Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland. In what situation do you like reading so considerably? Just what concerning the sort of guide Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland The demands to check out? Well, everyone has their own reason why needs to review some books Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland Primarily, it will certainly associate with their requirement to obtain expertise from the book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland and also want to review simply to obtain amusement. Stories, tale e-book, and other enjoyable publications become so popular now. Besides, the clinical e-books will also be the best need to choose, especially for the pupils, instructors, medical professionals, business person, and also various other occupations who love reading.
Reviewing publication Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland, nowadays, will certainly not compel you to consistently acquire in the establishment off-line. There is a wonderful location to get guide Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland by online. This website is the very best website with great deals numbers of book collections. As this Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland will be in this book, all publications that you need will certainly correct below, also. Just look for the name or title of the book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland You can discover just what you are looking for.
So, even you need responsibility from the firm, you could not be confused anymore considering that publications Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland will certainly consistently aid you. If this Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland is your best companion today to cover your work or work, you could as soon as possible get this publication. Exactly how? As we have informed previously, merely check out the link that we offer below. The verdict is not only the book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland that you look for; it is exactly how you will certainly obtain numerous books to sustain your ability and also ability to have great performance.
We will certainly show you the best and simplest method to get book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland in this globe. Bunches of compilations that will support your obligation will certainly be right here. It will certainly make you feel so ideal to be part of this web site. Becoming the participant to consistently see what up-to-date from this book Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland site will certainly make you feel ideal to search for the books. So, just now, and also right here, get this Concrete Planet: The Strange And Fascinating Story Of The World's Most Common Man-Made Material, By Robert Courland to download and wait for your priceless worthwhile.
Concrete: We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization’s constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. This book delves into this history, opening readers’ eyes at every turn.
In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Corland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete—including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium.
The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing fact: the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming.
Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.
From the Hardcover edition.
- Sales Rank: #128906 in eBooks
- Published on: 2011-12-06
- Released on: 2011-12-06
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
"The history of concrete construction is an unlikely subject for a popular book, but Robert Courland’s Concrete Planet engages the reader like a who done it novel. Courland easily and seamlessly covers the science, technology, craft, and architectural expression in the invention and use of concrete with precision and lively prose, describing both the best and the worst examples of its use over the ages and in the present. He successfully manages to bring more than two thousand years of human history alive using concrete as the thread, while delving deep enough to reveal the intimate details of the business and family lives of its famous, and sometimes infamous, inventors, designers, and builders across the Western world."
Randolph Langenbach, former senior analyst in response and recovery at FEMA, author of Don’t Tear It Down!
"A delightful excursion through time and across continents!"
Dr. Robert Nason, author and former USGS seismologist
"Concrete Planet is an unimaginably poetic and nuanced look at the most common substance on earth, a lumpen and lifeless mass that has been molded into a thing of sculpted beauty, turned our horizontal society into a vertical one, and will serve as our visual legacy long after we are gone. This is a fascinating work by a great historian. I could not put it down."
James Dalessandro, author of 1906: A Novel
About the Author
Robert Courland is the author of The Old North Waterfront, which won a special-achievement award from the California Heritage Council, and, with Walt Crowley, The Fairmont Hotel: The First Century of a San Francisco Landmark. He has also written magazine articles, television commercials, and screenplays.
Most helpful customer reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Many more twists and turns than I expected.
By Paul Tognetti
You would think that a book about the history of concrete would make for some mighty lame reading. I must admit that this was my initial reaction when I happened upon Robert Courland's new book "Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material" at my local library recently. But after perusing the notes on the inside cover of the dust jacket I suddenly became quite intrigued by this subject. It turns out than human beings have been dabbling in concrete for far longer than we ever imagined and that a number of major historical figures have played a role in its evolution. Indeed, "Concrete Plant" managed to grab my attention in the opening chapter and simply would not let go. This is a real education on so many levels.
You may be as surprised as I was to discover that our ancient ancestors were actually experimenting with limestone and kilns more than 2000 years before the dawn of agriculture. As Robert Courland points out "Kilning limestone represented humankind's first use of complex chemistry. It was also the earliest known industrial process." Archeologists have discovered floors of dwellings in Turkey and Iran that are extraodinarily hard and date back to 7000 B.C. Who knew? In the pages of "Concrete Planet" you will learn how the use of concrete as a building material evolved over the centuries. As you might expect this was an ongoing process of trial and error and the availability of raw materials more often than not determined which civilizations were able to advance the technology. For example, it turns out that volcanic ash is a key ingredient in the Roman cement that was so popular during the days of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile, a growing number of scholars now believe that many of the pyramids in Egypt were constructed with some kind of concrete. I was particularly captivated by two projects undertaken by leaders of the ancient world. Herod the Great built a massive harbor in the port city of Caesarea around 25 B.C. By all accounts this was the single largest application of concrete in all of antiquity and one of the most amazing feats of engineering in history. Even more impressive is the construction of the Pantheon in Rome in 126 A.D. This is a structure that still stands and is in use today. How did they all do it? Robert Courland explores the various theories throughout his book.
Fast forward now to the dawn of the 20th century. Once again, I was flabbergasted to learn that for a time Thomas Edison was a major player in the U.S. concrete industry. Edison formed the Edison Portland Cement Company in 1902 and had extremely ambitious plans to build concrete houses even concrete furniture. Unfortunately for Edison his plans never really materialized. "Concrete Planet" also devotes a substantial amount of time to the noted architect and interior designer Frank Lloyd Wright. The use of concrete would enable Wright to literally re-write the rules of structural design. Wright's designs expanded the horizontal axis of the structure resulting in a much more expanded living space. His innovative "prairie house" design stood in stark contrast to the largely vertical Victorian style that was so prevalent in the early days of the 20th century.
Finally, Robert Courland spends the closing chapters of his book focusing on how dependent mankind has become on concrete structures and points out many of the mistakes that have been made all along the way. These costly mistakes will exact a great toll on all of us in the decades to come. But there is also good news on the horizon and Courland offers some recommendations on how we can improve the life-span of concrete construction in the future. At the end of the day I thought that "Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material" was not only an extremely informative read but a highly entertaining one to boot. This would be a great choice for history buffs, those in the construction trades and general readers alike. I learned an awful lot in this book and I like that. Very highly recommended!
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Concrete Planet
By Mike
This is a good book and interesting to read especially if you like history and archaeology. If the author had someone with a technical background proof read the manuscript it would have added to my belief in his knowledge of the subject. One mistake that comes to mind is his use of " mortise and tendon" twice where the proper term is "mortise and tenon". He also talks much about the failures of steel reinforced concrete in earthquake zones but offers no ideas on modern techniques of how steel reinforced concrete structures can be safely built in areas prone to earthquakes even though they are building them in Japan and other places. He rails on about the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco and a report stemming from the tragedy. He spends much time on Frank Lloyd Wright that seems to be a big turn in the direction of the book. With a few more pages he could have written on modern building techniques and concrete products invented in the last 50 years or so that are being used today in modern building techniques such as autoclaved aerated concrete. There also seems to be easy solutions to the problems he writes about at the end of the book such as a combination of aluminum bronze and fiberglass rebar or an on site fiberglass rebar molding machine.
All in all it is a good book but I think the last third is not near as good as the first two thirds.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
What a great wrap-up
By Joseph G. Wick
I'm neither a civil engineer nor a construction man, but I've always liked the looks and durability of concrete items. This book is simply wonderful.
The author does an excellent job of describing technical aspects of concrete's manufacture and use for the non-technician and reveals some absorbing facts. By and large this is a history of mankind's use of concrete and cement illustrated with mini-biographies of the major players ranging from hypothetical neolithic shamans through Herod, Frank Lloyd Wright, and LeCorbusier. Along the way are stories of a number of fascinating characters you have probably never heard of. It is also a summary of the technical changes in concrete over that time.
Also, there are surprises. The author makes a good case that concrete is less fireproof, earthquake resistant, and long-lasting than we might imagine. Although such Roman constructions as the Pantheon have lasted without much repair for almost two millenia, most of the modern reinforced concrete constructions will be lucky to last a hundred years. The author gives a very persuasive explanation for this state of affairs.
If I have any criticisms at all, they are two-fold. First, the amount of space devoted to certain personalities does not seem that correlated to their importance. As mentioned by another reviewer, the Frank Lloyd Wright section is pretty long. Second, while the author disclaims any technical expertise, he is downright polemic regarding the ways in which the concrete industry has gone wrong, and sometimes right. I think the jury is still out on some of these issues, and there are reasonable disagreements among the experts.
Nevertheless, if you have any interest in concrete as a material for anything from birdbaths to skyscrapers, you should find this book a smooth and fascinating read.
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland PDF
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland EPub
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland Doc
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland iBooks
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland rtf
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland Mobipocket
Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material, by Robert Courland Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar