Download e-book for kindle: Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the by Robert Courland,Dennis Smith

Concrete: We use it for our constructions, bridges, dams, and roads. We stroll on it, force on it, and plenty of people dwell and paintings inside of its partitions. yet only a few people be aware of what it's. We take with no consideration this ubiquitous substance, which either actually and figuratively contains a lot of recent civilization’s built surroundings; but the tale of its production and improvement encompasses a solid of interesting characters and memorable ancient episodes. This ebook delves into this background, commencing readers’ eyes at each turn.

In a full of life narrative peppered with fascinating information, writer Robert Corland describes how essentially the most well-known personalities of historical past grew to become fascinated about the advance and use of concrete—including King Herod the nice of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who as soon as owned the most important concrete cement plant within the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland issues to contemporary archaeological facts suggesting that the invention of concrete without delay resulted in the Neolithic Revolution and the increase of the earliest civilizations. a lot later, the Romans reached terribly excessive criteria for concrete creation, showcasing their success in iconic structures just like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the autumn of the Roman Empire, the secrets and techniques of concrete production have been misplaced for over a millennium.

The writer explains that once concrete was once rediscovered within the past due eighteenth century it used to be first and foremost seen as an attractive novelty or, at top, a really good construction fabric appropriate just for a slender diversity of purposes. It used to be simply towards the tip of the 19th century that using concrete exploded. in this fast growth, lobbyists attempted to conceal the truth that smooth concrete had definite defects and significant shortcomings. it's now famous that smooth concrete, not like its Roman predecessor, progressively disintegrates with age. Compounding this challenge is one other distressing truth: the manufacture of concrete cement is a huge contributor to international warming.

Concrete Planet is full of remarkable tales, attention-grabbing characters, dazzling proof, and an array of fascinating insights into the construction fabric that varieties the root of the infrastructure on which we depend.

From the Hardcover edition.