Concrete Planet

November 15, 2011

A historian of San Francisco, Courland (The Fairmont: The First Century of a San Francisco Landmark) has taken on the gargantuan task of making the history of concrete interesting for a lay audience. Beginning before recorded history, the book covers the material's milestones through evolutions and devolutions in concrete chemistry and its use in the construction of buildings. Not technical, the book covers major people and places involved in the history of concrete up until the mid-20th century. While Roman uses of concrete are well known to many, the accomplishments of other civilizations and eras are brought to light here. Courland's coverage of the modern period is overly American-centric, which is unfortunate given the global history of the material. The amazing developments achieved in the past few decades in concrete design and construction are also not discussed. Courland focuses more on historical figures than structures, an approach that will appeal to some and turn off others. The book is adequately illustrated, but more images would have improved it. VERDICT While chock-full of insight, the information presented feels too much like armchair research rather than on-the-ground reporting; readers don't get a sense of the splendor of historical concrete structures that remain with us today.--James A. Buczynski, Seneca Coll. of Applied Arts & Technology Libs., Toronto

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
We build our homes and offices with it, we dam our rivers with it, and we drive endless miles over it, yet few of us appreciate the versatility or historical significance of the nearly ubiquitous building material known as concrete. In this uncommonly captivating look at the most common man-made substance on Earth, California-based historian Courland presents a wealth of detail about concrete's properties and colorful history that will prompt astonished readers to ask, Who knew? How many people are aware, for example, that the concrete first used by the Romans is more durable than the concrete used in most twentieth-century buildings, which are doomed to crumble mere decades from now without expensive renovation? Or that the concrete industry produces vast volumes of the greenhouse gases involved in global warming? Enriched by lively anecdotes about concrete's famous champions, such as Thomas Edison and Frank Lloyd Wright, Courland's book takes a seemingly mundane topic and transforms it into a very readable and entertaining history lesson.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)