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The Works: Anatomy of a City
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Binding: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Amazon Remainders Account
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: November 03, 2005
Publisher: Amazon Remainders Account
Studio: Amazon Remainders Account
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Editorial Review:
Kate Ascher could not have chosen a much drier topic for a book than water mains, parking meters, railroad classification yards, and the other doodads of city infrastructure. But in Ascher's captivating book, The Works, the innards of New York City come alive. Wonderfully illustrated, the book combines text, maps, and other graphics to tell the story of the systems that keep America's greatest city running smoothly. How are traffic lights coordinated? How do potholes form and which areas have streets with the best "smoothness score"? How is mail processed? What happens when you flush the toilet? Ascher, who has a PhD in government from the London School of Economics and is now executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, dissects the colorful workings of all these systems and much more.
The Works contains a section on pretty much every aspect of the Big Apple's infrastructure. You'll learn the mystery of the shiny silver tanks that have become a familiar sight on New York streets. (They prevent moisture from damaging underground phone lines.) Ascher explains how the city's 23 million daily pieces of mail are processed. We also learn about the 27-mile underground pneumatic mail tube that used to carry canisters with 500 letters up to 30 miles per hour around Manhattan. Also interesting: the story of the nine-foot-long, 800-pound robot submarine that city engineers send to probe leaks in the Delaware Aqueduct--which, it might interest you to know, is the world's longest continuous underground tunnel. And you'll find out all about Colonel Waring and his "White Wings." A great coffee table book for New York lovers or anyone with a curiosity bone. --Alex Roslin
A fascinating guided tour of the ways things work in a modern city Have you ever wondered how the water in your faucet gets there? Where your garbage goes? What the pipes under city streets do? How bananas from Ecuador get to your local market? Why radiators in apartment buildings clang? Using New York City as its point of reference, The Works takes readers down manholes and behind the scenes to explain exactly how an urban infrastructure operates. Deftly weaving text and graphics, author Kate Ascher explores the systems that manage water, traffic, sewage and garbage, subways, electricity, mail, and much more. Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes, The Works gives readers a unique glimpse at what lies behind and beneath urban life in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - excellent
excellent book, has lots of really nice graphics showing entire networks of systems in simplified form. goes into a decent amount of detail revealing many interesting things, I would have liked more detailed info in some instanced but seems like I can get this from other books such as: A Field Guide to Roadside Technology (http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Roadside-Technology/dp/1556526091/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b).
Rating:  - And You Thought Disney Was The Greatest Place On Earth??
The work that goes into designing, developing, and maintaining an infrastructure for a city like New York is perhaps one of the greatest feats on mankind. The amazing part of it all is that the detail, the science, the engineering genius, and the reliability of all things that keep a city running go relatively unnoticed to the uncurious. But if you are the type that has often wondered how a city really works, how power is supplied, how water is brought in and sewage brought out, how communication ... Read More
Rating: - Best NYC nerd book EVER!!
This book is filled with how everything in the New York City infrastructure works. EVERYTHING!!
Rating: - Ultimate coffee table/nightstand/waiting room book
Induldge your inner nerd and buy this book. The sections are well laid out with excellent and clear graphics and the sections are small enough that you (or your visitors) can either take one bite at a time or just browse through the thing till you find something that interests you (and you will). Describes detail in a way that's accessable to everyone and without getting tedious. My wait at the dentist's office would fly by with something like this to while away the time.
Rating: - How does New York City work?
This is an awesome book for anyone who ever questions "How?"
In the similar vein of "How does it work?" This is simply the book of "How does New York City work?".
I'll never forget a live video/music piece on Sesame Street while I was growing up entitled "Where does the trash go?".
This book answers that question and so many more! From the sewer system to the stop lights and traffic flow. Anything most of us have ever wondered about, regarding the day to day minutia ... Read More
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