Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material

by Robert Courland, Dennis Smith (Foreword)

We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization’s constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. This book delves into this history, opening readers’ eyes at every turn.

In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Corland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete—including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium.

The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming.

Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Microhistory, Engineering, Stem, Business

401 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Aiyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this was quite a good book about the history of concrete usage from its earliest discovery to the modern day. In addition to detailed (sometimes too detailed) descriptions of the use of concrete, the author talks about concrete's chemical properties, its strengths and weaknesses, its commercial and artistic history, and the life stories of those who were major players in the story of concrete construction. The book drags a bit at times-- the excess of detail mentioned above creates occasional pages that are basically lists of names, dates, technical terms, and statistics-- but generally it was enjoyable to read.

The tone is lightened at times by the sort of dry snarky humor that is often peculiar to academics. For instance-- "A surviving bust of Cato exemplifies Roman mastery of subtle character delineation, for the sculpture shows a sour-faced, unrepentant reactionary. Today he would probably be a popular talk show host." p 78

Also, I'm glad that I read all the way to the end, because otherwise I would not have learned the term "sacrificial anode," which is absolutely begging to be the name of a punk band.

[Ann Joyner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Perspective

The author makes many great points about the deficiencies in current concrete design but he overlooks two key points. The first is that most structures, particularly buildings, become functionally obsolescent in less than fifty years so why spend additional money extending their life? The second is that improvements in design happen so slowly because design professionals are risk averse. Most see little risk in using designs that are common practice and great risk in trying something new. Frank Lloyd Wright was a brilliant architect who tried new structural designs all the time, often with poor results. Only the creative look and feel of his spaces saved him from the lawsuits that most ordinary buildings would have generated from their deficiencies.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book. The history of concrete is fascinating, going back to the early glimmerings of civilization at Gobekli Tepe and then having a great flowering under the Romans, only to be lost for hundreds of years when the Roman Empire fell. In some ways the Roman techniques turn out to be better than anything that we have today. In the nineteenth century, concrete came into its own, with new technologies, building techniques, hucksters and capitalists. Mr. Courland is very big on debunking the liars who withheld their secret formulas or touted false qualities of their product or covered up its flaws. Sometimes he was a little overzealous in this part of the book, and I wondered whether the lying was quite as bad as he made it out to be.

The punch line of the book is that steel reinforced concrete which is used today in nearly everything turns out to not be very durable. It can start to weaken after only a few decades and may lose structural integrity in as little as fifty years without major retrofitting. So we are looking at trillions of dollars of rebuilding of large builidings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure over the next few decades, and then if we rebuild them with the same materials, the cycle will repeat a few decades down the line. It will keep the construction business booming, but doesn't seem like a sound way to run the economy. Mr. Courland suggests a few ways to address this problem by using rods made from substances other than steel for the rebar, but all of the suggested solutions have their drawbacks.

Mr. Courland mentions almost in passing that the concrete industry is one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gases in the world. This is a problem that deserved more attention in the book. Mr. Courland's main proposed fix is to turn to steel mill slag as principal resource for making cement, but that's a bit like turning to natural gas to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. It may be better than coal, but it's still part of the problem.

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last night out walking, my partner and I walked past a new concrete pour and stopped to look at it. I can't say I was excited by the concrete as Courland is--I am doubtful that anyone finds concrete as exciting as Courland does--but it's certainly more interesting to me now than it was a week ago.

This extremely idiosyncratic, often clunkily written book will tell you everything you wanted to know about concrete, and then a lot of things you never particularly wanted to know on top of that. In some ways it's left me with more questions than answers--Courland is clear that his views are heterodox and I don't know how much I trust his conclusions--but they were questions I never knew needed to be asked before. That alone makes it worth the read.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fascinating describing the concrete/cement history from Pre-historic times. Despite my life as a researcher in this technology, I learned a lot on how it all came about. One small critic is that it becomes too preachy at the end against how we build today.

[Steven Minniear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting ideas suggesting how our currently used reinforced concrete structures are actually wasting away and that there is a cheaper, more environmentally healthy way to build. The pace is slow at the beginning but it actually moves along more quickly (and is slightly more interesting) towards the end.

[Richard]

NPR's Science Friday: Concrete's Role As A Building Block In History .

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can't avoid concrete. It's just bloody everywhere. You can say that it's one of the most important inventions ever made by man next to brewing coffee, or sliced bread. Either way, it's pretty useful. Well I got some bad news for you. Practically all the concrete that you see before you are eventually going to crack, perhaps in your lifetime or your kid's lifetime. There is a shift in the concrete plate literally beneath our feet and we don't even know it, and this is gonna cost us a helluva lot. OH BOY.

And this is what's Courland's trying to tell us in this book - that we've been doing construction wrong over the last hundred years (and beyond), and now is a good time to fix it. I've only finished the book last week and recommended it straight to my dad who's a civil engineer and is in construction to see what's his opinion on it, but if you take away the last fifty pages of this book, the outlook is a bleak. Concrete Planet, whether intentionally or not, reveals the flaws of our economy which opt for quick profits over durability - that the rich will get richer and everybody else is fucked.

Much of the book, however, is historical. Courland does a remarkable job in recording the story of concrete, from the cavemen era, when some smart Neanderthal accidentally created limestone from fire, to the very real speculation that the Egyptian pyramids was made out of concrete, and that the entire job could've been done by a team of men one-tenth the original amount of men speculated, that the Romans made the best cement. This is fair enough - Roman structures are still used to this day and probably would outlast civilisation.

The modern era, when the English dabs their dirty fingers in concrete, is when the industry hit the steroid mode. The history becomes hazy as various interested parties try to claim concrete as their own - Roman cement makes a comeback, but in name only and not in substance. The rise in popularity of the Portland cement is attributed to a wayward swindler. The most successful architect who used cement to open new possibilities of the material is a jerk. Here's looking at you Frank Lloyd Wright. While the growth of concrete was already on steroids, it went on Super Saiyan mode when everybody started to use reinforced concrete with rebar at the core.

It's hard to imagine construction sites now without rebars sticking out of concrete pillars. Though rebars reinforce concrete for quite a while, if we look at the timeline of a hundred years, it will be the major cause of building maintenance and building decay. Buildings as we know it are superstructure which have a limited lifespan. Architects and engineers who boast about building something that can last a hundred years should be embarrassed. We don't build buildings as we used to, and the cost of maintenance is going to be higher than the initial cost of building. How nobody is discussing this is beyond me. Then again, how many of us are having any conversation at all about climate change?

Courland is not a civil engineer by any means, but perhaps the book benefits from it as he brings a fresh perspective from an age-old industry. I do think there is too much history, as I could do without some of the anecdotes. Some of the critics also pointed out the many, many pages written about Frank Lloyd Wright. I agree. There's too much of him. I would love to know more about the current problems. The tragedy of the Champlain tower is a case in point of the consequences of concrete degradation. Many buildings pinned in the same climate, environment, next to the sea will likely suffer the same consequences. I don't see buildings the same way again. I see them now as ticking time bombs.

[Timothy Jorgensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fire, the wheel, and then concrete. That's how I would rank their importance toward the advancement of human civilization. If you can't believe concrete is on this list, you should go to Rome to see the beautiful dome of the Pantheon -- constructed entirely of concrete and still standing strong after 2,000 years!

As Courland so vividly tells in his narrative, the origins of concrete are prehistoric and a little obscure. (The origin story of limestone rocks thrown into prehistoric campfire just doesn't hold water.) Regardless of how it was discovered, it was the Romans who fully exploited this remarkable building material. Traditionally used as mortar for stone and brick walls, it was the Romans who realized that the brick and stones could be dropped entirely. Later the discovery that concrete mixed with volcanic soils from the area around Vesuvius produced a waterproof concrete (hydraulic concrete) that could be poured into water and it would actually set while submerged transformed Roman civil engineering. Hydraulic concrete allowed the construction of massive harbors with peers and pilings made of hydraulic concrete (not to mention aquaducts).

With the downfall of the Roman empire, the knowledge of how to make Roman concrete died with it, only to be rediscovered centuries later, making possible the construction of some the greatest buildings and bridges of all time, many of which still survive.

Now concrete is ubiquitous. Unfortunately, in an effort to make concrete even stronger, its longevity was compromised. The addition of imbedded steel bars (reinforced concrete) greatly improved concrete's building strength and utility. But the imbedded steel became a time bomb due to its corrosion, reducing the lifetime of concrete structures from greater than 2,000 years to less than 50 years; hence the current collapse of the United States' bridge and road infrastructure. But modern technology is helping to reinforce the concrete without the steel, so the future of concrete construction is looking brighter. (Except, of course, for the downside of its enormous carbon footprint due to required kilning of limestone, but even that problem might soon be mitigated as Courland discusses.)

This book tells the whole story of concrete without getting into the weeds on the technical matters, making it highly accessible to the general public. If I have any criticism, it's that the style of the first half of the book is a series of biographies of individuals who contributed to some extent or another toward the advancement of concrete. I have no objection to using this serial biography approach, but the biographies are often packed with details that have no bearing on the concrete story. I admit that some of these anecdotal asides are entertaining, but they are really distractions from the main story of concrete. But I advise readers to not become discouraged and stop reading, but rather push through these overdone biographies until they dissipate, because the last half of the book is great reading.

[Popup-ch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of concrete. From the first tentative attempts at making cement - right up to the next geological era, when the anthropocene era will be delineated as a reddish-brown layer of rust-mixed crumbled cement.

The author highlights the achievements of major architects and concrete inventors, from Vitruvius via the Brunels (père & fils) and Edison (mostly a failure) culminating in Utzon and Frank Lloyd Wright.

According to the author, the art of building with concrete reached an apogee in the second century CE with the Pantheon - still the largest dome made of unreinforced concrete.

When reinforced concrete was introduced, it was seen as a miracle material that would last indefinitely, but it has been shown that most reinforced concrete structures from the post-war era have a life-span of significantly less than a century. Even landmark buildings such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater have had to be restored at a cost much higher than the original cost (after adjusting for inflation).

The problem with steel reinforced concrete is that the rebar has a tendency to corrode, which increases its volume, causing the concrete to crack. At first it was thought that the alkalinity of the concrete was enough to stop the corrosion, but it has since become clear that once the concrete is fully hydrated, this no longer protects the ferrous metals, and even deep inside concrete structures the rebar starts to rust.

He mentions some possible replacements for the current steel rebar, in the hope that future constructions will be made to outlast the Romans.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, providing a history of concrete and an assessment of its future. The author, historian Robert Courland, gives a combined engineering and architectural narrative to explain the past, present, and future uses of concrete. At the center of the book is the on-again off-again understanding of concrete. Courland documents multiple instances of concrete’s discovery, application, and eventual loss by various civilizations, from the early ancient to the present. Most notable is the Roman use of concrete, characterized by the evolution of ever more complex building projects, and the eventual loss of this knowledge. Re-discovered in the 19th century, concrete quickly became a central component of our current civilization. Courland points out, however, that our ignorance of Rome’s learning process with concrete is resulting in a quickly crumbling infrastructure. His ending thesis being the difference between Roman monuments that have many thousands of years of structural integrity remaining and modern infrastructure whose lifespan is measured in decades. A great book for understanding an important component of modern infrastructure.

[Matt]

As a self confessed concrete nerd working in the industry for my entire career, I found the book a great, and relatively easy read and certainly highlights some interesting parts of the history of concrete.

As others have commented in their reviews already the book drags a little in sections and there is too much information and focus on some interesting histories and stories, but not hugely relevant to the development of concrete. I would have liked to have seen some maps when there was discussion about certain buildings or construction projects, such as the discussion about the archeological discoveries like Gobekli Tepe, or Sebastos Harbour, specific bridges etc. It would also have been helpful (for non structural people) to point out what building elements are being discussed on a picture or drawing, particularly in relation to the various building elements of the Pantheon. I would also have liked to have seen as much focus on 20th and 21st century developments in the industry as there was for the ancient history.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew concrete could be so interesting? I sure did not see this coming, at all.

I was quite surprised how enjoyable and readable this book was when the topic of the book could have been quite boring. I enjoyed how concrete was accidently discovered and the book only grew in fascination from there. Concrete is easy to make and reproduce and is used in building most structures. However, the efficacy has an expiration of 50 years or so before cracking. The remaining concrete and its remnants can last a thousand years! Needless to say, I learned more about concrete than I knew before and its other uses.

This was just an enjoyable and fascinating book from start to finish about concrete. A very recommended book about a material that is probably taken for granted.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Courland and Rowan & Littlefield Prometheus for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 6/21/22

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, informative (2022 edition)

I loved this book. It’s a fun, informative look at concrete. This could have very easily been a boring topic, but Robert Courland brings the subject to life through clearly-explained basics, some humor, and overall captivating writing. Courland’s discussions of history and personalities are excellent, as are the illustrations. Overall, this is a great read. Thank you to Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield, Prometheus for the digital review copy.

[David Berger · Rating 4 out of 5]

well-donr

A good and well presented introduction to how we have come to rely on mediocre as a way to stay wealthy. It is a good place to begin a more in-depth study into concrete and nefarious practices and underhanded dishonest approaches to information offers to the public regarding the truth of concrete reliability

[Angga Maulana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book is like taking a drink from a fire hose. Too many facts that being compacted into a small space, even though the fact in the discussion does not have direct relevance to the main story. Nevertheless, it is still a good book, a rare one I would say, to discuss the most taken-for-granted material in human life nowadays.

[Vasil Kolev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part rant, part thriller, part history. The first is passable, the second is really annoying, and what I really woud've liked would've been more of the third.

There's also no information on how modern cement factories work, all the interesting details on how concrete is poured and why.

[Dale Bentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Courland is at his best as a historian and much less competent when he strays off the historical path to present his own hypotheses concerning the materials science and engineering of concrete. Still, a book worth reading for the historical perspective it provides.

[Ethan S · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite type of book, one that’s about a specific subject but lets the author digress and meander through related topics and interesting people as they relate to the main subject. Even if you don’t find concrete particularly fascinating, you might find quite a bit to enjoy here.

[Maddy Barnard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was interesting but the author desperately needed an editor. There were many tangents and overlong sections.

[Sushobhan Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for civil engineers and infrastructure aficionados. The writing style is casual, not scholarly, but it's rich in facts. My only complain is that it is extremely Euro- or even Anglo-centric, just about ignoring all the construction in the ancient East.

[Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-fiction in the style of Kurlansky (Salt, Cod), but for Concete. A history of Concrete from pre-history speculation of superheating limestone to get lime, to meso-american lime mixture floors. There is natural cement (Lime, water), roman cement (Lime, Water, pumice/pollolana (volcanic soil). Then there is portland cement - over back roman cement and then polverize and remix with water and aggregate. There is tremendous history of the Pantheon. It was built by Hadrian and not Marcus Agrippa as on the dedication on the building. The knowledge of the Pantheon would be lost for 1500 years before being redeveloped. There is the history of Portland Cement and the fast development of cement mixtures in the 1800s filled with swindlers and inventors. Thomas Edison had the largest cement works in the world for awhile. The book then shifts gears and talks about the deficiencies in the modern use of concrete that started in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Concrete is not better than masonry (assuming good morter) in earthquakes. Further, concrete is significant worse for fire than masonry (concrete fails under high heat, while bricks do fine in a fire). Finally, it covers modern concrete with a very passion plea against reinforced concrete. While it seems intuitive that the tensile strength of steel and the compression strength of concrete would be great. This was an engineering fact through the 1980s. However, concrete always cracks, which leads to water and oxygen getting to the steel rebar which corrodes. When steel corrodes, it expands - which cause the concrete to break.

So why do we re-inforce road surfaces with re-bar? It should only need compression strength. That is why many roman roads and bridges are still in use today, but most modern roads and bridges fail in 50 years.

[Benj FitzPatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected a rote chronology of the history of concrete with a focus on its production and the structures created from it. However, the story presented in these pages was far from rote, which is not to say that it was not thorough, and detailed the lives of many of the people and a fair amount of the history surrounding concrete. Additionally, it pointed out a fact I had not realized, that concrete can last thousands of years, but our buildings only tend to last 50. In other words, to say I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth and depth covered in this book would be an understatement. Below I provide a brief outline for readers like me who did not know what to expect from this book. It begins with lime products being used before baking bread or pottery came about, even though lime production required much higher temperatures. The narrative then turns to the Romans and explicates at length their perfecting of this building material. From there the story was more familiar, beginning in the 1700s with the British, who rediscovered concrete. Reinforced concrete came next, and its shortcomings pointed out, followed by the change to high-strength concrete, which made the life span even worse. Finally, Courland presents a few means for improving the life span of modern concrete buildings. My one reservation, as with most any books dealing with scientific topics, is that there is little discussion of the chemistry. A short appendix of the chemical and processing developments at the end would have completed this novel.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concrete Planet (2011) by Robert Courland is a decent effort at a book that looks at the history of concrete. This is clearly going to be a heavy, non-abstract book. The lessons of the book will also be reinforced. At some stage toward the end cracks may also appear.
The books chapters on the discovery of concrete and it’s use and development as far as the middle of C18 are really good. The way that concrete is likely to have been discovered and then was used in Ancient Rome is fascinating. The chapter on the development of Portland cement is also highly entertaining.
The book’s quality drops when it reaches the 20th Century. Far too much time is spent looking at Frank Lloyd Wright and not nearly enough at what concrete was being used for in the 20th century. The weird study of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Opera House is silly too. Reinforced concrete’s role in the construction of skyscrapers, highways, dams, bridges and other C20 icons is really important. Falling Water isn’t nearly as worthy of mention.
The book finally looks at how modern reinforced concrete structures have a fairly short lifespan of about 50 years. This is worth thinking about and the book covers this well.
Materials are a really neglected part of technology at least in general non-fiction. This is a worthy but flawed book that looks at a really important transforming technology. It’s worth reading if you’re into these things and much of the book is excellent. It’s a pity the whole book doesn’t attain the same standard.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting especially since I read it while in southern Spain this past week exploring old Roman towns and fortifications. Like the author, Robert Courland, I have been very impressed with roman structures and was fascinated by how well they were constructed when we visited Italy two years ago. It was very enlightening to read explanations for why our modern roads and bridges are crumbling but I have little hope that our political process will embrace longer term and more cost effective re-bar options.

The history of concrete innovation and the insight into the scientific or engineering process used in the last 2000 years was interesting.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read even if you don't think you are interested in concrete. Great history and very controversial theory about why our buildings and bridges only last 100 years at most (it's the metal rebar that rusts, adds a layer of rust and cracks the concrete). Love the history. Hate the idea of having to spend a trillion dollars replacing our old infrastructure. Hope that the engineering establishment are paying attention to this.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like all the prehistory about a temple in Turkey and then all the stuff about concrete in the roman world. So far it is readable and interesting. When he gotto the world of patents in England I lost interest. But the book was great because I learned so much about old, old places and transport and globalization on the Mediterranean.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history on concrete from prehistoric times to the present. Romans are presented as masters of the use of this material, making structures that have lasted 2000 years. Vignettes of various key figures in the development of modern concrete are presented. Book is non-technical.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read, the author not only provides technical aspects of concrete development over the centuries but also delves into both the genius and oddities of those involved in its history.Makes for a informative and entertaining story..

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, and found it to be fairly easy to read. I'm no writer, so I'll point to a very good review by John Walker