Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail
Product ID: 5248131
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The authors examine buildings of all kinds, from ancient domes like Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to the state-of-the-art Hartford Civic Arena. Their subjects range from the man-caused destruction of the Parthenon to the earthquake damage of 1989 in Armenia and San Francisco. The stories that make up Why Buildings Fall Down are in the end very human ones, tales of the interaction of people and nature, of architects, engineers, builders, materials, and natural forces all coming together in sometimes dramatic (and always instructive) ways. B/W line drawings Review: Great read, let's have more. - Meticulously and simply written, beautifully illustrated. Fascinating cases from antiquity to the present. You get a real feel for the field of large structures, their conception, design, building, maintenance, and the associated personalities. I would encourage the authors to do a similar book on the World Trade Center collapses, including WTC7. Since they are associated with a company that was involved in WTC litigation, they might be in a good position to do such a review book. And they might evaluate some of the associated factors, such as extreme high temperatures in the wreckage, possible iron microspheres in the dust, ..... I found this book in the bibligraphy of a report entitled "What Did and Did not Cause Collapse of WTC Twin Towers in New York" by Zdenek P. Bazant. Bazant is a very heavy academic hitter in the field of structure analysis and behavior. His article is very technical, laying out the establishment collapse scenario, which has been contradicted by the people that want a new investigation, e.g. [...], [...]. The US Government National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study did not pursue the actual collapse, it just studied fire, and possible structural distortion up to the moment of collapse. Bazant follows the collapse but not in a lay intelligible manner. Maybe the authors could do better. Review: Very informative - Great case studies of why buildings collapse
| Best Sellers Rank | #281,520 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #22 in Structural Engineering #25 in Architecture Study & Teaching (Books) #331 in Home Design & Construction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 260 Reviews |
M**S
Great read, let's have more.
Meticulously and simply written, beautifully illustrated. Fascinating cases from antiquity to the present. You get a real feel for the field of large structures, their conception, design, building, maintenance, and the associated personalities. I would encourage the authors to do a similar book on the World Trade Center collapses, including WTC7. Since they are associated with a company that was involved in WTC litigation, they might be in a good position to do such a review book. And they might evaluate some of the associated factors, such as extreme high temperatures in the wreckage, possible iron microspheres in the dust, ..... I found this book in the bibligraphy of a report entitled "What Did and Did not Cause Collapse of WTC Twin Towers in New York" by Zdenek P. Bazant. Bazant is a very heavy academic hitter in the field of structure analysis and behavior. His article is very technical, laying out the establishment collapse scenario, which has been contradicted by the people that want a new investigation, e.g. [...], [...]. The US Government National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study did not pursue the actual collapse, it just studied fire, and possible structural distortion up to the moment of collapse. Bazant follows the collapse but not in a lay intelligible manner. Maybe the authors could do better.
G**H
Very informative
Great case studies of why buildings collapse
F**1
Great book
Great book
B**Y
Classic work on structural engineering
Classic book on structural engineering. It’s not too scientific and it’s easy to read for someone without a strong engineering background.
V**R
Interesting book
The companion to this book (Why Buildings Stand Up) was a textbook for one of my classes when I was in architecture school in the 80s. I still have my old, dog-eared copy on my bookshelf in my office. I purchased this book, along with a new edition of Why Buildings Stand Up, to give to an 11-year-old (super intelligent) friend who would like to be an architect. I was worried that it might be too complex for him, but his mom assured me that it would not be.
C**A
Excelente libro
Muy bien empacado, buena amplitud de las paginas, ideal para estudiar.
A**6
condition
This book arrived in perfect condition.
L**D
Excellent intro to structural failures.
This is a really good intro level (I.e. no math required) discussion of how structural failures can occur. It includes review material on the basics of how structures work.
B**Y
Good Read
Bought this for a school book review. It was an enjoyable read with diagrams and clear explanation of different case studies outlining each failure. Would recommend for anyone interested in structures.
M**O
Interesante para aprender sin ecuaciones
Si te gustó "estructuras o porque las cosas no se caen" este libro también te parecerá entretenido. Reconozco que me gustó más el primero, pero el nivel de detalle de este es bastante superior y te permite aprender muchos conceptos a partir de sucesos reales. Además, incluye bocetos y esquemas para hacerlo más ameno. El inglés no es complicado, así que lo recomiendo.
C**.
Interesting for technical and entertaining for nontechnical.
Describes various structural failures from antiquity to present day and their causes. Each chapter treats of a different type/cause of failure and is is well cross referenced and indexed so you can browse and skip around to find what interests you. Of particular interest to me as an engineer were tables like steel Strength vs Temperature in the chapter entitled Terror From The Skies. The diagrams, drawings, and charts are clear and easy to understand. This is a serious albeit entertaining work.
B**E
every Engineer, aspiring, student or professional must read this book
every Engineer, aspiring, student or professional must read this book I have read it front to back 5 times - it is an amazing resource
K**K
deception
I was expecting more. I picked up a translation in a library and wanted to read the full text. This is not the best book on the subject.
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