Hidden Systems

Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day

Hardcover, 272 pages

English language

Published March 18, 2023 by Penguin Random House LLC, Random House Graphic.

ISBN:
978-0-593-12536-6
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5 stars (2 reviews)

We use water, electricity, and the internet every day–but how do they actually work? And what’s the plan to keep them running for years to come? This nonfiction science graphic novel takes readers on a journey from how the most essential systems were developed to how they are implemented in our world today and how they will be used in the future.

What was the first message sent over the internet? How much water does a single person use every day? How was the electric light invented?

For every utility we use each day, there’s a hidden history–a story of intrigue, drama, humor, and inequity. This graphic novel provides a guided tour through the science of the past–and reveals how the decisions people made while inventing and constructing early technology still affect the way people use it today.

Full of art, maps, and diagrams, Hidden Systems is a thoughtful, humorous …

2 editions

Hope for sequels, but these 3 are important

5 stars

Takes three pervasive infrastructures and in a simple graphic treatment breaks them down in systematic detail, in historical and social context, and prompts questioning inequities and future reconsiderations of these built systems and their relationships to our global ecological society.