There is a group of reference books which is particularly useful for answering specialised questions liable to be left out of the more general works. This is a good example. It gives short descriptions of 600 of the most significant engineering (or strictly, civil engineering) achievements in the history of the world from the Sadd el‐Kafara dam in Egypt dating from about 2900 bc, to the Millennium Tower in Tokyo, which will be the tallest building in the world when completed some time after 2000. Some articles cover structures no longer in existence (for example the Seven Wonders of the World). More than half of the structures described are in the USA, and more than half the remainder in Europe. The list does include all the obvious choices which I could think of: for example (starting nearer home) the Forth and Tay Bridges. Even the proposed Millennium Ferris Wheel in London is there (but not the Dome).
The main categories are bridges, tunnels, roads, canals, dams and aqueducts: but some are buildings which the editor has included because of their general fame rather than their engineering significance. I doubt if many of us would have thought of the Sistine Chapel or Buckingham Palace as major engineering achievements. They might better have been left out, to avoid overlapping with an encyclopaedia of architecture. Some entries merit inclusion on grounds of their sheer peculiarity, for instance the Winchester Mystery House, which was several times rebuilt to plans so contradictory that even the owner would not have been able to find her way around it.
The numerous appendices include an explanation of the various types of bridges; short biographies of famous engineers (which would be available in other reference books); a chronological list of engineering achievements; a glossary of technical terms; a general subject index, and a geographical index. (Should there be a second edition, the Editor might consider an index by types of structure.) A notable feature of the general bibliography, and of the notes to individual articles, is the extensive use of Internet sites as sources of information. This book would be of use both in large reference libraries and in those with a particular interest in civil engineering.
