Dan Nott

This book is packed with fascinating, useful information presented in an empathetic and engaging way (lots of thought obviously went into the way cartooning is being utilized here, and the drawings are beautiful). It changed the way I think about the world around me, and opened up a lot of new exciting avenues of learning. I think it'd be great for curious minds of any age (my 75-year-old relative loved it, and I plan to give it to some kids I know as well). I'm so happy this book exists!

This was a fascinating read, although it became more focused on the historical context of the systems and less on how they function as the book progressed. If you're most interested in how things function, the internet section was the best.

There were times I would have liked to know more about how the systems functioned, but I did appreciate the way Nott highlighted the effects of the systems we've set up and the ways they prioritize some people over others.

There are brief mentions of show more examples of infrastructure failures - Nott calls out PG&E, and I believe the Texas power grid comes up (I may be misremembering that - goodness knows I thought about the February 2021 big freeze and the Texas power grid failure a lot during the power grid section) - but it would have been nice to see more of that. I suppose that could have made the book too dated too quickly, though.

There were excellent notes at the end, with bibliographical info. Unfortunately, the notes didn't include page numbers - they only pointed to the chapter and first words of the text they were referring to. Page numbers would have been really useful.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

nonfiction graphic - cool look at how infrastructure systems work (the internet, electric power grids, water systems) and their impact on the environment and people around the world. I can't say I completely understand everything now, but I certainly understand more of them, and am more aware.

Winner 2024 Vermont Book Award