Disasters by Design

How Engineering Failures Shaped the Modern World

De: Grady Hillhouse

How history’s most infamous disasters shaped the field of engineering, from the creator of the popular YouTube channel Practical Engineering

When a giant bridge collapses, a gas explosion blows up a building, or a major dam bursts, it’s hard not to wonder how things could have gone so catastrophically wrong. According to Grady Hillhouse, those failures are the defining force of engineering, where the most important lessons have been learned the hard way.

With the same engaging and accessible approach that makes his YouTube videos so popular, Hillhouse breaks down complex failures into their component parts, showing how poor judgment and willful ignorance can play just as big a role as an errant measurement or faulty component. The fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of history’s greatest structural breakdowns, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Johnstown Flood and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, reveal how engineers learned from their mistakes and developed the core principles that keep buildings standing today.

Not all of us will design a building or lay out an electrical grid, but thinking like an engineer can help us spot weak links, respect margins, and value hard truths over wishful thinking. Disasters by Design highlights human resilience and our extraordinary capacity for progress.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Grady opens a door through the seemingly mundane to reveal a universe of hidden structures and human ingenuity all around us. Disasters by Design is infrastructure appreciation, a history lesson, and engineering magic all in one.”
—Adam Savage, co-host of Mythbusters and bestselling author of Every Tool’s a Hammer

“A sober reminder, written with warmth and heart, that engineering is vital to the safe functioning of our communities, and that engineers hold responsibility. If you live, work, or use structures and infrastructure, this book is for you.”
—Roma Agrawal, author of Built and Nuts and Bolts

“A gripping exploration of how catastrophe shapes the world we build. Grady Hillhouse turns engineering failures into compelling human stories and shows how understanding what went wrong helps us build better.”
—Fred Mills, author of Mega Builds and creator of The B1M