ON THE BOOK SHELF 
The Heights: Anatomy
of a Skyscraper by
Kate Ascher
The skyscraper is the most recognizable icon of the modern urban landscape. Providing offices, homes, restaurants, and shopping to thousands of inhabitants, modern skyscrapers function as small cities. Exploring the interconnected systems that make life livable in the sky is the task of Kate Ascher's stunningly illustrated book. Ascher examines skyscrapers across the world to learn how these structures operate. Just how do skyscrapers sway in the wind, and why exactly is that a good idea? How can a modern elevator be as fast as an airplane? Why are skyscrapers in Asia safer than those in the United States?
The Heights introduces every type of person involved in designing, building, and maintaining a skyscraper: the designers, who calculate how weight and weather will affect their structures, the workers who dig the foundations, the crews who clean the windows and maintain the air ducts, and the firefighters-whose special equipment allows blazes to be fought at unprecedented heights.