A month ago I ordered a copy of Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes. Somehow I managed to accidentally order two copies. I’m happy I did. I’m in absolute love with this book. In fact, some of my few loyal readers have received a copy from me already.
Hayes’ premise is to describe all the bits of infrastructure we see in our daily life but don’t really understand. This ranges from chapters on farms to shipping to oil to electricity to air travel and more. It’s “trade” format book, with plenty of good photos. The writing is good, hard, journalistically clear.
I have been carrying it around with me.
Early last week I was in Indonesia. I had been reading all about electricity generation. I was surprised how much fun it was to look at the high-tension power lines and being able to identify all their parts. I spotted some things that Hayes mentioned, but didn’t illustrate. One example was the terminal tower on a high tension line that is especially overbuilt for a right-angle turn.
I had a similar experience when I flew back from Hanoi on Saturday morning. I had been reading the section on airports, and suddenly looking out the window as we were hustling down the runway, I was recognizing everything from the book. “Oh, look, there is the fog visibility meter system, there is the shoulder warning that heavy aircrafts shouldn’t taxi on, there are the stemmed blue lights that are being phased out, oh, Hanoi doesn’t have an underground fuel system, they use bowsers, etc. etc. etc.”
I really am addicted to this book and want to start snapping my own photos of the things he’s described. Perhaps I should start a new group on Flickr where people can upload their own pictures of other things mentioned, but not illustrated, in the book.
Sadly, I doubt there will be a sequel. It looks like this was a labour of love that took a long time to produce.
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