Reddit Reddit reviews The Works: Anatomy of a City

We found 12 Reddit comments about The Works: Anatomy of a City. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Works: Anatomy of a City
Penguin Books
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12 Reddit comments about The Works: Anatomy of a City:

u/Ambamja · 53 pointsr/MapPorn

>The pneumatic tube mail was a postal system operating in New York City from 1897 to 1953 using pneumatic tubes. Following the creation of the first pneumatic mail system in Philadelphia in 1893, New York City's system was begun, initially only between the old General Post Office on Park Row and the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green, a distance of 3,750 feet.
>Eventually the network stretched up both sides of Manhattan Island all the way to Manhattanvilleon the West side and "Triborough" in East Harlem, forming a loop running a few feet below street level. Travel time from the General Post Office to Harlem was 20 minutes. A crosstown line connected the two parallel lines between the new General Post office on the West Side and Grand Central Terminal on the east, and took four minutes for mail to traverse. Utilizing the Brooklyn Bridge a spur line also ran from Church Street in lower Manhattan to the general post office in Brooklyn (now Cadman Plaza) taking four minutes. Operators of the system were referred to as "Rocketeers". Wikipedia

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From The Works: Anotamy of a City by Kate Ascher

u/bigyellowtruck · 6 pointsr/nyc

> have yet to understand how everything here works.

try this book which explains how NYC's various infrastructure systems work.

u/FromOuterSuburbia · 3 pointsr/urbanplanning

It's a picture book, but I really like "The Works" by Kate Ascher. It's not something you would study from, but it's beautifully made.

u/johnnyh749 · 2 pointsr/AskNYC

The other recommendations are solid, and this may be a bit lighter than you want, but The Works by Kate Ascher is a great illustrated book on how the city's infrastructure is put together.

u/Yearsnowlost · 2 pointsr/nyc

Thank you! Gotham is the kind of book that you can read over many times; it's a stellar addition to any library.

The most succinct look at infrastructure in the city that I have read (although I am sure there are others) is Kate Ascher's excellent The Works: Anatomy of a City. Reading that, I learned about all sorts of things I had never even thought about!

I am fascinated by the history of transportation in the city, and particularly by railroads. The portrait of William J. Wilgus that I mentioned in the above comment is one of the best books that I have read in recent memory, and I learned an incredible amount about the process of building tremendous projects like Grand Central, Penn Station and the High Line. Grand Central Terminal is my favorite place in the city, and it was an absolute pleasure to read about how it was planned and constructed (while trains continued to run!). 2013 is the Hundredth Anniversary of the Terminal, and as such the Transit Museum commissioned an interesting history of its predecessors and construction. I also am drawn to the history of the subways, and I have learned much about the system reading material on nycsubway.org and Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations page. In addition to the aforementioned Uptown, Downtown, I am also a big fan of Clifton Hood's 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York.

u/CuedUp · 2 pointsr/pics

I bought this book awhile back because I was in awe of the logistics of huge cities. It's a fascinating read.

u/TheBlowersDaughter23 · 2 pointsr/nyc

That is an awesome idea! I would love to see a documentary like that!

In the meantime, you might want to pick up this book.

u/TheTalentedMrDG · 2 pointsr/urbanplanning

Check out The Works by Kate Asher. It's a ridiculously well illustrated guide to all the different systems (water, power, streets, transit, phone, etc. etc.) that keep New York City running
http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708

u/craigalanche · 1 pointr/AskNYC

Not sure if you're into this, but I loved The Works - each chapter tells you how things like water and electricity end up in your house, how traffic works, how the roads are built, et cetera. It's got lots of diagrams and is fun.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708