Neat little book on the various types of bridge construction and how to recognize them. Most of the book is comprised of famous examples from around the world (I bought it mainly to be able to study these pictures). On the educational side, I found it less useful for the non-architect. Even in the beginning of the book, the explanations of the different types of bridges contained many specialized architecture/physics terms that I had trouble following. Still, neat little reference. ( )

I'm terrified of bridges. This is an irrational phobia, I freely admit that, but that knowledge doesn't make it go away. Sheer habituation has made me more comfortable with the large bridge I cross on the most regular basis (the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland), but I'm still not happy with it and would still not be able to drive across it myself.

My wife thought that this little book - a discussion of bridge styles and construction, followed by lots of individual examples (a photo and a one-page description of each bridge) would help me deal with this phobia. It didn't, but it was still an interesting book, and I did learn a lot. However, a word of warning - there's at least one glaring error (the photo for the "Chesapeake Bay Bridge" and the description do not match; the photo's the one in MD, the description is the Bay Bridge-Tunnel in VA. This does not exactly fill me with confidence for the accuracy of the material I'm less familiar with).