Engineers' Dreams

by Willy Ley

the valley of the Jordan

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Willy Ley (sometimes credited as Willie Ley) was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was a kid. It has all kinds of utopian civil engineering schemes, like a hydroelectric canal from the Mediterranean to the Qattara depression in Egypt.

Who knows, maybe one day they'll dig a tunnel from Calais to Dover.

Naah.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This's a 1950's compendium of prospective megaprojects. Some of them have been built, such as the Chunnel and massive solar power plants; others haven't, like Atlantropa (damming up the Mediterranean for water power and maybe new land) and the Jordan River power project (with water piped from the Mediterranean).

All of them are told with a mood of limitless possibility, where geoengineering has few drawbacks all of which can be dealt with, and where peak oil is inevitable but something we can easily deal with. I love that optimistic mood about technology. I can quickly see unaddressed problems with some of the ideas (like the Congo River dam), but all in all I think this mood was a good thing for the world.

This book was fun. Even if you don't like engineering project briefs for the popular press, I'd recommend it just for the mood.

[Gary Weise]

I really liked this book. I read it at about age 13 and believe it was one of many significant factors in ultimately helping me decide to become a Civil Engineer. I earned a B.S.C.E. from the U of Delaware, and an MBA from the College of William and Mary. I became a licensed Professional Engineer in FL and had a wonderful worthwhile satisfying career in private industry and County government.

[Rav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite it is quite old, it's still very interesting book. I wish I have read it when I was young;)