Sign-In
Cart
The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World
Paperback
Technology & EngineeringSports General
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9780309455992
Publisher: Joseph Henry Pr
Published: Mar 20 2007
Pages: 318
Weight: 1.19
Height: 0.80 Width: 5.90 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
The electrical grid goes everywhere--it's the largest and most complex machine ever made. Yet the system is built in such a way that the bigger it gets, the more inevitable its collapse.
Named the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century by the National Academy of Engineering, the electrical grid is the largest industrial investment in the history of humankind. It reaches into your home, snakes its way to your bedroom, and climbs right up into the lamp next to your pillow. At times, it almost seems alive, like some enormous circulatory system that pumps life to big cities and the most remote rural areas.
Constructed of intricately interdependent components, the grid operates on a rapidly shrinking margin for error. Things can--and do--go wrong in this system, no matter how many preventive steps we take. Just look at the colossal 2003 blackout, when 50 million Americans lost power due to a simple error at a power plant in Ohio; or the one a month later, which blacked out 57 million Italians. And these two combined don't even compare to the 2001 outage in India, which affected 226 million people.
The Grid is the first history of the electrical grid intended for general readers, and it comes at a time when we badly need such a guide. As we get more and more dependent on electricity to perform even the most mundane daily tasks, the grid's inevitable shortcomings will take a toll on populations around the globe. At a moment when energy issues loom large on the nation's agenda and our hunger for electricity grows, The Grid is as timely as it is compelling.
Also in
Technology & Engineering
All Data Are Local: Thinking Critically in a Data-Driven Society
Loukissas, Yanni Alexander
Paperback
The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution
Hockfield, Susan
Paperback
Ingenious Patents: Bubble Wrap, Barbed Wire, Bionic Eyes, and Other Pioneering Inventions
Ikenson, Ben
Bennett, Jay
Hardcover
The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think about Artificial Intelligence--Before It's Too Late
Doctorow, Cory
Paperback
Improvised Munitions Black Book: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume
U S Government
Paperback
The Agi Chronicles: The Inside Story of the Race to Create an Artificial Superintelligence
Roose, Kevin
Hardcover
You Don't Need a Smartphone: A Practical Guide to Downgrading Your Phone and Upgrading Your Life
Lamm, August
Paperback
AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter
Tyrangiel, Josh
Hardcover
The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, Deepmind, and the Quest for Superintelligence
Mallaby, Sebastian
Hardcover
The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything
Jezer-Morton, Kathryn
Hardcover
Ultimate Guide: Wiring, Updated 10th Edition: Meets Current National Electrical Code Standards
The Editors of Creative Homeowner
Paperback
Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game: Beef, Veal, Pork, Lamb, Poultry, Rabbit, Venison
Mettler, John J.
Paperback
Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age
Tabor, James M.
Hardcover
Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online
Latifi, Fortesa
Hardcover
Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering
Davies, Alex
Hardcover
Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper
Wright, Alex
Hardcover
No One's Coming: The Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns to When There's Nowhere Else to Turn
Hazzard, Kevin
Hardcover
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
Higginbotham, Adam
Paperback
The Home Blacksmith: Tools, Techniques, and 40 Practical Projects for the Home Blacksmith
Ridgway, Ryan
Paperback
City on the Edge: Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco
Weber, Jonathan
Hardcover
The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization: A Technical Manual for the Post-Collapse Era
Evans, James
Paperback
Curved Air: A Biography of Sickle Cell Anemia and the Quest to Cure the First Molecular Disease
Davies, Kevin
Hardcover
The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It's Too Late
Beyond Plastics
Enck, Judith
Mahoney, Adam
Hardcover
Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence
Crawford, Kate
Paperback
The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth
Niarchos, Nicolas
Hardcover
AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference
Narayanan, Arvind
Kapoor, Sayash
Paperback
Crisis Engineering: Time-Tested Tools for Turning Chaos Into Clarity
Dickerson, Mikey
Nitze, Marina
Weaver, Matthew
Paperback
Generation Regeneration: Codesigning the Future of Cities Through Regenerative Placemaking
Cho, Tony
Hardcover
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
Kamkwamba, William
Mealer, Bryan
Paperback
CompTIA Tech+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Third Edition (Exam FC0-U71)
Wempen, Faithe
Paperback
Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans (with a New Preface)
Mitchell, Melanie
Paperback
A Brief History of Cities in 32 Inventions: The Ideas and Technologies That Made Modernity Possible
Elledge, Jonn
Hardcover
Human + Machine, Updated and Expanded: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI
Wilson, H. James
Daugherty, Paul R.
Hardcover
Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity's Favorite Food--And Our Future
Friedrich, Bruce
Hardcover
The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny
Bates, Laura
Hardcover
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition
Reisner, Marc
Paperback
Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have
Schlossberg, Tatiana
Paperback
Make: Electronics: Learning by Discovery: A Hands-On Primer for the New Electronics Enthusiast
Platt, Charles
Paperback
Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew
Leinbach, Michael D.
Ward, Jonathan H.
Paperback
Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: Faa-H-8083-25c
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Hardcover
CNC Woodworking for the Absolute Beginner: Winning Tips, Techniques & 5 Skill-Building Projects
Bagnall, Ralph
Paperback
The Bullwhip's Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence and America's Racial Caste System
Bobb, Kamau
Hardcover
The Baofeng Radio Revolution: The Beginner Guerrilla's Guide to Break Through the Complexity, Secure Communications, and Prepare for Disaster With Pre
Code Publishing, Morse
Hardcover
High-Wing Aircraft Visualized Flight Maneuvers Manual: For Pilots in Training
ASA Test Prep Board
Paperback
Bioinspired: How Nature Made Us Modern, Drives Today's Technological Innovation, and Inspires a Future Worth Inventing
Stier, Samuel Cord
Hardcover
AI Projects with Raspberry Pi: High-Performance Artificial Intelligence for Robotics, Security, Home Automation, and Vision
Hattersley, Lucy
Jepson, Brian
Paperback
Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work, and Life
Wirtz, Jochen
Davenport, Thomas H.
Bornet
Paperback
The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America Into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home
Hartung, William D.
Freeman, Ben
Hardcover
The Bitter Struggle: Superintelligence, Superpowers, and the Fate of the World
Buchanan, Ben
Collins, Tantum
Hardcover
Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet with a New Introduction by the Author
Blum, Andrew
Paperback
Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better
Alden, Lyn
Paperback
Disneyland and the Rise of Automation: How Technology Created the Happiest Place on Earth
Betancourt, Roland
Hardcover
Drawing Lessons with Da Vinci: An Artist's Guide to Geometry, Anatomy and Proportion
Roig, Gabriel Martín
Paperback
ASE Technician Test Preparation Automotive Maintenance and Light Repair (G1)
Delmar Cengage Learning
Paperback
The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma
Suleyman, Mustafa
Hardcover
AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference
Kapoor, Sayash
Narayanan, Arvind
Hardcover
Air Force Handbook 10-644 Survival Evasion Resistance Escape SERE Operations: 27 March 2017
The Air Force, Department of
Paperback
How to Use an Oscilloscope 2026: Master Measurement Skills for Electronics Beginners and Pros
Grant, Nathaniel Cole
Paperback
Texas DMV Driver's Handbook: Practice for the Texas Permit Test with 350+ Driving Questions and Answers
Prep, Discover
Paperback
Reinventing Wool: How a Natural Fiber Survived the Synthetic Revolution
Littlefield, Melissa M.
Hardcover
Essential Off-Grid Survival Projects: 50 Life-Saving Solutions for Shelter, Water, Food, and Safety
Furneaux, Ky
Hardcover
Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice
McRaven, William H.
Paperback
The Powerful Primate: How Controlling Energy Enabled Us to Build Civilization
Ennos, Roland
Hardcover
The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions--And How the World Lost Its Mind
Davies, Dan
Paperback
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Sobel, Dava
Paperback
The Shortest History of Innovation: From the Wheel to Gene Editing, Ai, and Beyond - How New Ideas Shape Our World
Leigh, Andrew
Paperback