Down to Earth: Foundations Past and Present: The Invisible Art of the Builder

Written in straightforward non-technical language, with numerous diagrams and photographs, this book takes a look at ‘the invisible art’ of the great builders: how they founded their constructions in the earth and strove to understand and combat the natural forces, such as earth pressures, water, landslides, earthquakes, and almost imperceptible geological changes, with which they had to contend. A great many examples, including the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the pyramids of Egypt, the Roman...