Hi All
I've been reading a very cool and fun library book recently. "Infrastructure, a Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape" by Brian Hayes. I actually picked it up because it has a lot of great photos, but the text is very well written and full of interesting stuff.
Hayes is an excellent science / engineering writer in the John McPhee mode. He's always been interested in all those big odd structures you see when you are driving around or flying over and wanted to get inside them and see what they really did. So he wrote this book, mostly as an excuse to do so.
It has a lot of great pictures and very well written text. He starts with mining and water, works his way through power plants to transportation and ends with recycling. He writes with both eloquence and enthusiasm.
He really approaches the project like a field guide to birds or geology, telling you what to look for from the outside, and what that means on the inside. He's particularly good at showing how the historical context sometimes plays out with huge consequences in modern industry. Definitely a fun read, though not light, it's >500 pages of glossy paper and 10"x10.5" with a hard cover so it's a pretty hefty lap full.
Check it out (pun intended, though at $50 a copy it's also good advice)
Jim