Built ― The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures

The structures around us are born from breathtaking human ingenuity. Once you discover their secret stories, you'll never see your world in the same way again.

"Agrawal is a rarity: a female structural engineer in an adamantly male profession. She will inspire.” --New York Times Book Review

Imagine you woke up one morning, and everything created by engineers had disappeared. What would you see? No cars, no houses; no phones, bridges, or roads. No tunnels under tidal rivers, no soaring skyscrapers. The impact that engineering has on the human experience is undeniable, but it is also often invisible.

In Built, star structural engineer Roma Agrawal takes a unique look at how construction has evolved from the mud huts of our ancestors to skyscrapers of steel that reach into the sky. She unearths how humans have tunneled through solid mountain, bridged the widest and deepest of rivers, and tamed nature's precious and elusive water resources. She tells vivid tales of the pioneers behind landmark builds such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the Burj Khalifa. Through the lens of an engineer, she examines tragedies like the collapse of the Quebec Bridge, highlighting the precarious task of ensuring people's safety, which engineers hold at every step. With colorful stories of her life-long fascination with buildings--and her own hand-drawn illustrations--Agrawal reveals the extraordinary secret lives of structures.

Roma Agrawal is a structural engineer who builds BIG--bridges, sculptures, train stations, and skyscrapers, including The Shard, western Europe's tallest tower. A promoter of technical careers to young people, she has written articles, done TEDx talks, and presented documentaries about building our world. She was awarded the Institution of Structural Engineers' Young Structural Engineer of the Year Award and the Royal Academy of Engineering's prestigious Rooke Award. She lives in London. romatheengineer.com @RomaTheEngineer