Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment by Grady Hillhouse

Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment Reviews

• 
  Bugzmanov

  I like this one, but also felt that I would love it way more if I read it my teens. The book is pretty good at covering the basics of civil engineering, but it stops right there - at the basics. (at each chapter it felt that the same topics are covered way more detailed on the youtube channel) I kinda wished there were links or references to the resources if I would want a deeper dive.
  The books is full of colorful illustrations, but because of cartoonish style it again made me feel that I'm not the target audience.
  My conclusion - this is an amazing gift for a teenager that has interest in mechanisms and tech.
  
  PS The practical engineering channel is great and I cann't recommend it enough.
• 
  JP

  Well that’s a delightful read. I relatively recently came across the Practical Engineer YouTube Channel, where he goes into a whole pile of various civil engineering and other infrastructure topics.
  
  A particular favorite of mine is:
  
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OpC4...
  
  So when I saw that he had a book… of course I was going to read it! And it’s pretty awesome. Topic by topic, he goes into a high level but with some detail on all sorts of ways that infrastructure actually works and neat things you can look out for.
  
  I certainly learned a lot and I highly recommend checking it out.
  
  If you’d like to see my various thoughts throughout the book, read on!
  
  
  https://blog.jverkamp.com/2023/01/12/...
• 
  John (Hey Y'all Listen Up)

  An excellent introduction to the engineering that makes modern life. The book does not have any math, so it is accessible to everyone. This book primarily covers civil engineering with a little bit of electrical engineering throw in. Other fields of engineering (mechanical, chemical & others) are not included.
• 
  Garrett Cassidy

  Perfect book for some one with a 10 year old or better reading skill, like myself.
• 
  Miro Cosic

  It was okay 👌
• 
  Earl Grey Tea

  Grady Hillhouse is knowledgeable and passionate about engineering. It is evident in this book and in his YouTube channel,
  Practical Engineering. While Grady does keep he topics relatively simple, he lacks the strength to explain something in a clear and concise manner that the average person could easily understand. As an example of presenting a complex idea in an easy to grasp manner, I would reference the Wendover Productions' video titled
  How Cell Service Actually Works.
  
  I went into this book with the expectations of a
  The Way Things Work type of book: lots of wonderfully drawn picture that do most of the explaining of a concept with a couple of paragraphs for context. For each topic in Engineering in Plain Sight, there is one page with a scene containing lots of related items that are all labeled along with three pages of explanation. While informative, the pictures and the text didn't captivate me like the book The Way Things Work did.
  
  Mr. Hillhouse tries to keep his explanation simple, but sometimes a lot of words and concepts were used that I couldn't grasp unless I took the time to research them outside of this book. I never really understood electronics when I was in my high school physics class. When the first section of this book was about electricity, it was a bit demoralizing for me after I got through a couple of topics. I powered through this part of the book, but many times I was left thinking, "Okay, power lines use three lines because it works best with some property of electricity that I don't comprehend."
  
  Other parts such as roads, construction, and water felt more down to earth for me. The concepts were much easier to grasp, but I wasn't really excited about it. At other times, certain parts felt like a visual review of some of the videos that I have seen on Grady's YouTube channel.
  
  I appreciate Mr. Hillhouse sharing his passion and educating the public about the world about engineering. His videos well made and informative. I am glad that I bought this book so that I can support his work but I plan to give it to my nephew. I am not sure if I would buy one of his books in the future. Maybe if it was an analysis of engineering disasters. His videos about these topics are well done and do a great job of explaining the reality of the situation without all the drama.
• 
  Nick

  This book offers an overview of utilities (electricity, water, comms), transportation (rail, roads) and some of the most vital structures (bridges, dams, coastal infrastructure), supplementing the text with good illustrations. Author covers a broad range of topics, but doesn't go in-depth on them, making the book seem more geared towards younger readers. It appears rather superficial, but would probably be enough to get someone uninitiated interested in civil engineering.
  My greatest disappoinment was the discovery of Acknowledgments section, which indicated the end of the book at 70% of page count.
• 
  Douglas Larson

  A wonderful explanation of all sorts of engineering practices. Author Grady Hillhouse is quite thorough as he give clear explanations to everything that engineers must design and deal with.
  
  I didn't give this 5-stars however because the drawings and artwork, while beautiful were too small to read everything. The library book I read was in a Kindle format. When I got to an illustration I tried making the font larger but that only affected the text of the book and not the text contained in the illustration nor the illustration itself.
  
  
• 
  John Hamilton

  This is an excellent book to create the love of construction and the constructed environment. I've worked in construction most of my life and enjoyed the peek into other systems (electrical generation and distribution) and trades. Just learning the names of the components of a bridge is worth the price of admission. Now I can have an intelligent conversation with an engineer while I tell him why his idea won't work. I hope this book inspires a new generation of construction nerds because we need them.
• 
  Vincent

  Covering many infrastructures spoken in a basic manner. Not as good as the manner of delivery by the author on his YouTube channel, lacking many pictures that would aument the type of technicalities I would enjoy. However, it does make me feel a sense of belonging and awe with civil engineering that I neglected in my daily life.
• 
  Tom Hughes

  Highly enjoyable
  
  This book is great! It clearly explains and shows a lot about things you see along the highways and roads we travel, but had no idea what that thing was, or what it does. Now, not only do I know, but my grandchildren can easily spot those as well.
• 
  Nolan McDermott

  Love the YouTube channel so I bought the book. Very cool and informative.
• 
  Vikrant

  Nice little book, but a bit more topics (and sometimes in a bit lesser detail, like the one about transmission) would’ve been really nice.
• 
  Alkindi Yahya

  A good book to introduce our built environment to non engineering person or even engineering person. Many useful insights can be found inside this book.
• 
  Steve Gross

  A nice guide to How Things Work, Urban Division.
• 
  Rodera

  Engineering in Plain Sight is the best introduction you’ll get to the constructed environment around you. If you were ever curious about how a port works, what are all the cables in a transmission line, how a tunnel is constructed and what are all the construction machines in a site, this book is a must-read. It is said that reading three books in a given subject make you more knowledgeable in the topic than 95% of people - forget about that here. Just read this one and you’ll know more than 99% of people (and can even show off your civil engineering knowledge on a daily basis).