In this stunningly illustrated, detailed and deliberately entertaining book, John Laverick gives an insight into the exciting world of civil engineering, via 12 individual case studies. Originally crafted as a successful series of lectures, their overwhelmingly glowing reception is testament to the global significance of the stories chosen, across three continents and three centuries. This book considers world ship canals including Panama and Suez, floating concepts such as the concrete Mulberry harbors, the world’s only rotating ship lift at Falkirk, a manmade island in the Baltic linking the crossings between two countries, the infrastructure of the rock at Gibraltar, the journey from Brunel’s GWR to the ambitious restoration of the Wilts & Berks Canal, and the early steamships of the Cunard and P&O lines.
