Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization by W. Hodding Carter



An entertaining read

W. Hodding Carter covers plumbing from the Ancient Indians, Greeks and Romans to modern day Japanese badet 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.

W. Hodding Carter
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. 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.

Comments

Popular posts over the last 30 days

IN the PRESENCE of MINE ENEMIES: SEVEN YEARS as a POW in NORTH VIETNAM by Howard and Phyllis Rutledge

NIGHTSHADE (a Catalina novel book one)(audiobook) by Michael Connelly

SUPERMAN '78 (graphic novel) by Robert Venditi

BATMAN: ONE BAD DAY - MR. FREEZE (graphic novel) by Gerry Duggan

OUR SUBWAY BABY (audiobook) by Peter Mercurio

SONGS of AMERICA: PATRIOTISM, PROTEST, and the MUSIC THAT MADE a NATION (audiobook) by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw

DOWN ALONG with THAT DEVIL'S BONES: A RECKONING with MONUMENTS, MEMORY, and the LEGACY of WHITE SUPREMACY (audiobook) by Connor Towne O'Neill

SLAPSTICK or LONESOME NO MORE! by Kurt Vonnegut

COMRADES in ARMS (kindle)(short story) by Kevin J. Anderson

THE RED DRAGON (Action Adventures Short Stories Collection #10) by L. Ron Hubbard