Architecture
![Grady Hillhouse - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_grady_hillhouse.jpg)
Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment
Engineering in Plain Sight is a beautifully illustrated field guide with accessible explanations to nearly every part of the constructed world around us.
Author Grady Hillhouse is the creator behind the popular YouTube channel Practical Engineering (over 2 million subscribers!) and this book is essentially 50 new episodes crammed between two covers.
Engineering in Plain Sight extends the field guide genre from natural phenomena to human-made structures, making them approachable and understandable to non-engineers. It transforms readers' perspectives of the built environment, converting the act of looking at infrastructure from a mundane inevitability into an everyday diversion and joy.
Each section of this accessible, informative book features colorful illustrations revealing the fascinating details of how the human-made world works. An ideal road trip companion, this book offers a fresh perspective on the parts of the environment that often blend into the background. Readers will learn to identify characteristics of the electrical grid, roadways, railways, bridges, tunnels, waterways, and more. Engineering in Plain Sight inspires curiosity, interest, and engagement in how the infrastructure around us is designed and constructed.
Author Grady Hillhouse is the creator behind the popular YouTube channel Practical Engineering (over 2 million subscribers!) and this book is essentially 50 new episodes crammed between two covers.
Engineering in Plain Sight extends the field guide genre from natural phenomena to human-made structures, making them approachable and understandable to non-engineers. It transforms readers' perspectives of the built environment, converting the act of looking at infrastructure from a mundane inevitability into an everyday diversion and joy.
Each section of this accessible, informative book features colorful illustrations revealing the fascinating details of how the human-made world works. An ideal road trip companion, this book offers a fresh perspective on the parts of the environment that often blend into the background. Readers will learn to identify characteristics of the electrical grid, roadways, railways, bridges, tunnels, waterways, and more. Engineering in Plain Sight inspires curiosity, interest, and engagement in how the infrastructure around us is designed and constructed.
Editorial Reviews
"An outstanding resource on a wide range of civil engineering subjects for all readers. Wonderful for browsing, reading, or researching."
-Rob Tench, Library Journal
"[Engineering In Plain Sight] is a fun, informative book that helps educate on the world around us."
-Geek_Dude, GeekTechStuff
"A plain explanation of every day engineering . . . [with] enough detail to satisfy even a lot of detailed questions about infrastructure."
-Lee Teschler, Design World Online
"Grady is the perfect person to explain engineering to us: he's smart enough to understand exactly how everything in the human-made world works, and he's a brilliant storyteller who can translate that knowledge into engaging tales that even the technically-challenged among us can dig into. His book [Engineering in Plain Sight] is the perfect extension of this unique skill set. By taking a concept usually applied to the natural world - a field guide! - and applying it to the, um, non-natural one, he's helped me understand for the first time basic but important things ... like how a cell tower actually works."
-David Goldenberg, MinuteEarth
"Highly readable and illustrated with plenty of diagrams, making the material accessible to non-engineers . . . it would serve very well as a reference book for classrooms and the school library."
-Terry Freedman, ICT & Computing in Education
-Rob Tench, Library Journal
"[Engineering In Plain Sight] is a fun, informative book that helps educate on the world around us."
-Geek_Dude, GeekTechStuff
"A plain explanation of every day engineering . . . [with] enough detail to satisfy even a lot of detailed questions about infrastructure."
-Lee Teschler, Design World Online
"Grady is the perfect person to explain engineering to us: he's smart enough to understand exactly how everything in the human-made world works, and he's a brilliant storyteller who can translate that knowledge into engaging tales that even the technically-challenged among us can dig into. His book [Engineering in Plain Sight] is the perfect extension of this unique skill set. By taking a concept usually applied to the natural world - a field guide! - and applying it to the, um, non-natural one, he's helped me understand for the first time basic but important things ... like how a cell tower actually works."
-David Goldenberg, MinuteEarth
"Highly readable and illustrated with plenty of diagrams, making the material accessible to non-engineers . . . it would serve very well as a reference book for classrooms and the school library."
-Terry Freedman, ICT & Computing in Education
Readers Top Reviews
Mike Saccocciaspe
My seven-year-old and I were both mesmerized for at least an hour after I opened this book for the first time. Every other page has beautiful color diagrams that show how all the infrastructure around us works, like electric power lines, dams, and wastewater treatment. I would highly recommend this to any adult or child who wants to learn more about all the engineering that goes into all these things we take for granted.
Paul BartschMike
You can tell Grady and staff put a whole lot of time into this book. The information is great and the illustrations match well. Fun to read and learn along side my kids. Prior knowledge of the author and his popular YouTube channel not required to enjoy the book. For those who care about the look of the book it is really well made and vibrant. Would do well on a coffee table.
WillPaul BartschM
I LOVE THIS BOOK! So much interesting and fun information about the infrastructure around us! I HAVE A HARD TIME putting it down. Please consider making a children's edition, for kids 3+ Even kids that cant read will look at the pictures and ask questions about what different things are! If you made a younger children's edition I would love to have in in my preschool classroom!! The technician in the orange vest is GREAT FUN for kids! Maybe you could also include some googly eyes on some of the images as well! :D
WillPaul Barts
Thoroughly lovely, thoughtful book presented with excellent graphics. Only just received but I found the first few chapters really engaging. My 4 year old son found it this morning and we then went through each of the pictures and diagrams, cover to cover! A welcome break from SpongeBob SquarePants. It's written clearly and very approachable without sounding like the ideas have been dumbed down. Although many of the topics may be familiar to someone who has a general interest in civil engineering or watches Grady's channel, it's great to have them encapsulated in this way with many new concepts mixed in.
Calipete WillPa
Grady, you knocked it out of the park with this book! The language is easy for anyone to understand. Your illustrations are superb (even though you give MUTI all the credit for that.) The book is nicely laid out, and well bound. And, of course, you begin with dedicating the book to Crystal, and finish it with acknowledging her support. Very well done, indeed. I'm curious about "red hardhat guy." As the book progresses, he seems to go from fumbling human hazard, to Mr. Leisure, to eventually being safe and productive. Was this apparent progression deliberate? Either way, he is a great addition to the illustrations (as is the fossil,) and makes the book even more approachable for children and non-technical individuals. Great book!
