In this book, David Stevenson offers us a look at the evolution of planets as they move from balls of mixed molten rock to vibrant worlds capable of hosting life. Embedded in our everyday architecture and in the literal ground beneath our feet, granite and its kin lie at the heart of many features of the Earth that we take for granted. From volcanism and mountain building to shifting water levels and local weather patterns, these rocks are closely intertwined with the complex processes that continue to shape and reshape our world. This book serves as a wonderful primer for anybody interested in our planet’s geological past and that of other planets in our Solar System and beyond. It illustrates not only how our planet’s surface evolved, but also how granite played a pivotal role in the creation of complex, intelligent life on Earth. There has long been a missing element in popular astronomy, which Stevenson now aims to fill: how geological and biological evolution work in a complex partnership, and what our planet’s own diversity can teach us about other rocky worlds.

The city of New York is the city of skyscrapers. Every first-time visitor to Manhattan experiences the awe of gazing up at the soaring stone, steel, and glass towers of Wall Street or Midtown, and wonders how those structures came to be built. Manhattan Skyscrapers answers the question by presenting the 75 most significant tall buildings that make up the city's famous skyline. From Louis Sullivan's Bayard-Condict Building of 1898 on Bleeker Street to the Conde Nast tower currently rising above Times Square, Manhattan Skyscrapers lavishly presents over a hundred years of New York's most interesting and important tall buildings. Author Eric P. Nash profiles familiar skyscrapers such as the Woolworth Building, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the World Trade Towers, the AT&T (now Sony) Building, and the Seagram Building, while also championing several often-overlooked yet significant structures, such as the McGraw- Hill, the Metropolitan Life Insurance, and the Fred F. French Buildings. Nash's writing strikes an elegant balance between history, archi-tectural evaluation, and intelligent guidebook. For each building, Nash identifies the building style, gives the overall profile and image of the building, and discusses its construction; also included are quotes from the buildings' architects and the architectural critics of the time. Each skyscraper is illustrated with full-page color photo-graphs by noted photographer Norman McGrath as well as architectural drawings and plans, archival images of the original interiors, postcards, and other ephemera. Manhattan Skyscrapers is essential reading-or an ideal gift-for anyone interested in the buildings that make New York the ultimate skyscraper city.

This history of skyscrapers examines how these tall buildings affected the cityscape and the people who worked in, lived in, and visited them. Much of the focus is rightly on the architects who had the vision to design and build America's skyscrapers, but attention is also given to the steelworkers who built them, the financiers who put up the money, and the daredevils who attempt to "conquer" them in some inexplicable pursuit of fame. The impact of the skyscraper on popular culture, particularly film and literature, is also explored.

"Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat."

From the moment the first skyscraper was erected in the late nineteenth century, it was on its way to becoming the preeminent urban structure. The skyscraper is an architectural phenomenon, which never ceases to fascinate and awe. Skyscrapers is a photographic and anecdotal tour of the world's most admired skyscrapers. -- Features a selection of skyscrapers, from the Woolworth Building in the United States to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur; from the Pirelli Tower in Italy to the Rialto Towers in Australia -- Contains more than 100 breathtaking photographs that display the magnificence of the world's skyscrapers

Presents a spectacular selection of the tallest and most fascinating skyscrapers that have been constructed around the globe.