If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered what invisible forces keep the world’s tallest skyscrapers from toppling over during a storm?
- What’s the secret to how ancient civilizations managed to build massive structures that still stand today without any modern technology?
- Did you know that the most critical components of our massive bridges and tunnels are often the ones completely hidden from the naked eye?
Listen to Built — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Built
- Understand the two primary forces of structural engineering, compression and tension, and how ancient builders intuitively channeled them to erect the very first structures.
- Discover how modern architecture relies on four fundamental components—columns, beams, braces, and trusses—to form stable frameworks much like giant LEGO sets.
- Learn how engineers protect massive skyscrapers from toppling over by designing incredibly strong central spines called cores or external braced frames known as diagrids.
- Find out how towering structures like the Taipei 101 survive extreme winds using tuned mass dampers, which are gigantic internal pendulums designed to counteract dangerous sway.
- Explore the ingenious methods used to earthquake-proof buildings, such as avoiding a structure's natural resonance frequency and mounting columns on large rubber bearings.
Built — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: An engineer’s job is to build structures that can withstand nature’s forces.
Chapter 3: Modern buildings use many of the same components as in construction’s earliest days.
Chapter 4: Structural engineers must account for wind and earthquakes as well as other natural forces.
Chapter 5: Disasters have many lessons to teach us about improved building practices.
Chapter 6: The materials of today’s structural engineering have an ancient lineage.
Chapter 7: Concrete is far from as dull as it might seem.
Chapter 8: Modern structures stretch ever higher toward the sky.
Chapter 9: A structure’s destiny can be shaped by the ground on which it stands.
Chapter 10: Creative construction can help deliver water to parched lands.
Chapter 11: The story of human waste mirrors the story of civilization itself.
Chapter 12: A few pioneering women have challenged gender bias in engineering.
Chapter 13: Structural engineering’s future looks promising.
Built Summary & Overview
Built (2018) tells the story of some of society’s unsung heroes: structural engineers. Sadly, structural engineering tends only to enter the news when something goes wrong, like when a building falls or a bridge collapses. In Built, Agrawal gives a fuller picture of what it means to be an engineer, offering a range of stories and engaging tidbits about the structures of our world and the people who built them.
Who Should Listen to Built?
- People curious about how buildings are made
- Aspiring structural engineers
- Students interested in the history of engineering
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