An entertaining read
Published in 2006 by Atria.
W. Hodding Carter covers plumbing from the Ancient Indians, Greeks and Romans to modern day Japanese bidet toilet in Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization, a meandering romp through sewers, both past and present.
Carter's light-hearted writing style makes it a fun read. He meanders all over the world of bathrooms, pipes and open-pit sewers but the trip is a fun one. There are a lot of detours, but it's fun and informative.
That being said, there are a couple of stumbles. On page 30 he claims the Hellenistic Age is named for Helen of Troy, which is ridiculous. Chapter 8 "Blame It On the Christians" is an equally ridiculous attempt to blame all of the Western world's issues with defecation and urination (mostly cutesy names like poo-poo and the desire to defecate alone) on Christianity. He quotes Francis of Assisi to make his case that Christianity made using the bathroom and being physically clean a "dirty" thing (page 144) but also quotes him to say that Christians should be clean (page 145).
But, those slip-ups do not diminish the book as a whole. He more than proves his point that plumbing and plumbers have made the modern world possible. Very entertaining.
I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization.
Reviewed on July 21, 2009.
Carter's light-hearted writing style makes it a fun read. He meanders all over the world of bathrooms, pipes and open-pit sewers but the trip is a fun one. There are a lot of detours, but it's fun and informative.
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| W. Hodding Carter |
But, those slip-ups do not diminish the book as a whole. He more than proves his point that plumbing and plumbers have made the modern world possible. Very entertaining.
I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization.
Reviewed on July 21, 2009.
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