Author: Robert Courland
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 163388869X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425
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Book Description
Concrete: We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization's constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. Featuring a new epilogue on the Surfside condominium collapse and the current state of infrastructure in America, this book delves into this history, opening readers' eyes at every turn. In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Courland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete-including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium. The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing fact: the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming. Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.
Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119942535
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. This book explores the costs of this dependence and the potential for substantial dematerialization of modern economies. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization and potential constrains on materials. This interdisciplinary text provides useful perspectives for readers with backgrounds including resource economics, environmental studies, energy analysis, mineral geology, industrial organization, manufacturing and material science.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Naval research
Languages : en
Pages : 968
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 866
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Book Description
Author: United States. Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Shore protection
Languages : en
Pages : 124
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Book Description
Author: Rivke Jaffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190273593
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
Concrete Jungles explores the hidden geographies of injustice in the Caribbean islands, demonstrating how mainstream environmentalism reflects and reproduces racial and economic inequalities. Based on over a decade of ethnographic research in Kingston, Jamaica and Willemstad, Curaçao, Rivke Jaffe contrasts the environmentalism of largely middle-class professionals with the environmentalism of inner-city residents.
Author: William F. Precht
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420003798
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
" this book is the first to describe, in detail, the art and science of coral reef restoration. It is to be hoped that the information that can be gleaned within the pages of this book will set a path towards continued preservation of this valuable underwater treasure to be used, appreciated, and experienced for future generations." -- Senator
Author: N.D.B. Connolly
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022613525X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 405
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Book Description
Many people characterize urban renewal projects and the power of eminent domain as two of the most widely despised and often racist tools for reshaping American cities in the postwar period. In A World More Concrete, N. D. B. Connolly uses the history of South Florida to unearth an older and far more complex story. Connolly captures nearly eighty years of political and land transactions to reveal how real estate and redevelopment created and preserved metropolitan growth and racial peace under white supremacy. Using a materialist approach, he offers a long view of capitalism and the color line, following much of the money that made land taking and Jim Crow segregation profitable and preferred approaches to governing cities throughout the twentieth century. A World More Concrete argues that black and white landlords, entrepreneurs, and even liberal community leaders used tenements and repeated land dispossession to take advantage of the poor and generate remarkable wealth. Through a political culture built on real estate, South Florida’s landlords and homeowners advanced property rights and white property rights, especially, at the expense of more inclusive visions of equality. For black people and many of their white allies, uses of eminent domain helped to harden class and color lines. Yet, for many reformers, confiscating certain kinds of real estate through eminent domain also promised to help improve housing conditions, to undermine the neighborhood influence of powerful slumlords, and to open new opportunities for suburban life for black Floridians. Concerned more with winners and losers than with heroes and villains, A World More Concrete offers a sober assessment of money and power in Jim Crow America. It shows how negotiations between powerful real estate interests on both sides of the color line gave racial segregation a remarkable capacity to evolve, revealing property owners’ power to reshape American cities in ways that can still be seen and felt today.
Author: Sandy Sheehy
Publisher: University of Florida Press
ISBN: 9781683402497
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
This book brings alive the richly diverse world of an underwater paradise, the second largest coral structure on the planet: the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Author: Albert W. Hall
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Airports
Languages : en
Pages : 112
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Book Description
Three-track runway and taxiway profiles are presented for use in studies of airplane response to ground roughness. This report presents the tabulated and plotted data for two international airports (designated airports G and H).
