The Works: Anatomy of a City

Fun and broad look into various infrastructural systems of NYC, with beautiful illustrations. Pretty inspirational in terms of "wow, there's a lot of cool, complex, and meaningful systems I could be working on!" Sometimes the explanations get a little muddled or the numbers don't quite make sense but I'm willing to overlook that as the broad strokes seem fine. It does feel slightly outdated - left me wondering what the current state of all these systems is.

Overall definitely worth the time - there's a lot in here and it is really a quick read.

A very interesting look into what makes a big city (New York) work. It was written in 2005, so some sections (e.g., about WiFi) are pretty dated, and some projects described as being planned have either happened or been cancelled by now. But still informative and enjoyable.

Interesting guidebook to the physical structures that keep a great city -- in this case, New York -- moving and talking and consuming and clean, fed, and watered. The author uses very clear diagrams to explain the city's transport, power, communications, and sanitation grids. It underlines the fact that modern urbanites are totally dependent on a whole bunch of complex systems working perfectly. Scary, but then it's been working for a hundred years.

About NY City. I am not sure why the author keeps this hidden on the cover and even well into the book. I think it would have been more of a commercial success were that promoted. (Not that I love NY, it just seemed a little duplicitous). This book was very interesting, filled with things one would never know or even know to ask. I really liked it. However, more than any other book, this could put me to sleep on an airplane, I mean after 2 paragraphs. Consider this book a sedative--but not in a bad way. It's just kind of like reading a prose encyclopedia filled with interesting facts.

This fantastic nonfiction book uses illustrations, text and maps to explain the infrastructure of the most complex city on earth—New York City. Covering everything from subway lines and pneumatic mail tubes to fiber optics and alternative fuel sources, this book makes each of these intricate layers easy to understand. And even if you are not interested in the inner workings of NYC, the explanations of how all of these various systems function can inform and improve our understanding of our own city.

What a fascinating book! Easy to understand, graphically rich and very informative. This should be required reading for high schoolers.
It's about New York in particular, but most sections apply to any city.

Fascinating!