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duparker's review against another edition
4.0
Great overview of infrastructure and a telling personality for the authorship. I found the chapters to be well thought out and researched. I have read enough infrastructure books so I don't expect to learn much, but I did learn. The portions about traffic lights, signage and pavement markings was very interesting.
hollishillis's review against another edition
3.0
A good book highlighting the importance and history of America's infrastructure.
whatdotheyknowaboutfriends's review against another edition
1.0
Deathly dull. Petroski introduces many of his chapters not with a story drawn from the annals of man's long relationship to infrastructure, but rather with an aimless anecdote about a road he once drove on, the culvert in front of his summer home, etc. His chapters frequently denote no clear separation in his prose, and don't reveal their essential content until halfway through.
Indeed, what is missing is a sense of historical context, a sense of the author at least TRYING to situate his technical and political points within a narrative. Petroski's best work here will trace the evolution of a common infrastructural feature (guardrails, for example), but rather than placing this evolution within the fascinating history of how roads shaped 20th century America, he bogs himself squarely down in the minutiae of highway department memos.
Perhaps if this was meant to be a technical or academic work, this would be more understandable. On this side, though, Petroski makes numerous off-the-cuff claims that seem to derive purely from his personal opinion. The chapters on the declining quality of infrastructure are chock full of this hand-waving, Petroski often absentmindedly claiming that he has no evidence for a particular assertion but that it can be supported by a single example of a particular bridge or 18th century home. He rarely cites or mentions the works of academics or other learned members of his professions. He does seem to have access to Google, but not LexisNexis. When citing an article by Paul Krugman written in response to his own article, he describes each of Krugman's points in his own limp style before ultimately providing no real rebuttal.
Petroski occasionally stumbles on some interesting material but the overall impression is of someone almost aggressively unfamiliar with the device of narrative.
Indeed, what is missing is a sense of historical context, a sense of the author at least TRYING to situate his technical and political points within a narrative. Petroski's best work here will trace the evolution of a common infrastructural feature (guardrails, for example), but rather than placing this evolution within the fascinating history of how roads shaped 20th century America, he bogs himself squarely down in the minutiae of highway department memos.
Perhaps if this was meant to be a technical or academic work, this would be more understandable. On this side, though, Petroski makes numerous off-the-cuff claims that seem to derive purely from his personal opinion. The chapters on the declining quality of infrastructure are chock full of this hand-waving, Petroski often absentmindedly claiming that he has no evidence for a particular assertion but that it can be supported by a single example of a particular bridge or 18th century home. He rarely cites or mentions the works of academics or other learned members of his professions. He does seem to have access to Google, but not LexisNexis. When citing an article by Paul Krugman written in response to his own article, he describes each of Krugman's points in his own limp style before ultimately providing no real rebuttal.
Petroski occasionally stumbles on some interesting material but the overall impression is of someone almost aggressively unfamiliar with the device of narrative.
inurlibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting history of the road systems of the United States, doesn't touch too much on infrastructure in general (e.g. water systems, electrical grid, etc.)
qwerty88's review against another edition
3.0
individual chapters were interesting, but overall felt choppy and didn't create a cohesive thesis or narrative.
hilaritas's review
3.0
This is basically a book written by your rambling grandpa who used to be a civil engineer. It's got some really interesting facts about the history of infrastructure sprinkled throughout, but they're buried in a text that is otherwise disorganized, dry, and weirdly pedantic. Petroski feels the need to devote many pages to defining basic terms everyone knows or describing objects familiar to everyone. He has a whole paragraph defining a "shunpike", as though you can't figure out that it just means that people don't like to pay tolls, for god's sake!
The book is "organized" around the verses of Robert Frost's famous poem, but all this means is that a phrase from the poem titles each chapter, although the chapter itself likely has f@*k-all to do with the quote. Indeed, many of the chapters don't even have an internally consistent theme, but instead appear to be a stream-of-consciousness riff on whatever vaguely infrastructural topics occurred to Petroski that day.
It's a maddening thing, because out of this senescent miasma occasionally emerges a coherent and cogent thought, where he will say something intelligent about the ways in which the political process or public/private collaboration impacts infrastructure projects. Then, it's back into the soup! I really wish someone could have grabbed Petroski by the lapels and forced him to write a better book about this topic, rather than turning in these half-baked musings. This topic is inherently fascinating and he's clearly a well-informed guy, or at least he was before senility crept in...
The book is "organized" around the verses of Robert Frost's famous poem, but all this means is that a phrase from the poem titles each chapter, although the chapter itself likely has f@*k-all to do with the quote. Indeed, many of the chapters don't even have an internally consistent theme, but instead appear to be a stream-of-consciousness riff on whatever vaguely infrastructural topics occurred to Petroski that day.
It's a maddening thing, because out of this senescent miasma occasionally emerges a coherent and cogent thought, where he will say something intelligent about the ways in which the political process or public/private collaboration impacts infrastructure projects. Then, it's back into the soup! I really wish someone could have grabbed Petroski by the lapels and forced him to write a better book about this topic, rather than turning in these half-baked musings. This topic is inherently fascinating and he's clearly a well-informed guy, or at least he was before senility crept in...
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