Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Jessica Leigh Hester leads readers through the past, present, and future of the system humans have created to deal with our own waste, and argues that sewers can be seen as a mirror to the world above at a time when our behaviors are drastically reshaping the environment for the worse.
What can underground pipes tell us about human eating habits and the spread or containment of disease, such as COVID-19? Why are sewers spitting out plastic and trash into waterways around the world? How are clogs getting gnarlier and more numerous? Sifting through the muck offers a fresh way to approach questions about urbanization, public health, infrastructure, ecology, sustainability, and consumerism-and what we value.
Without understanding sewers, any attempt to steward the future is incomplete.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Fascinating Look At Mostly Current Status Of Sewer Systems. After having read Chelsea Wald's Pipe Dreams in 2021 about the history and future of toilets, this book seemed a natural progression in my learning on the topic - and at just 200 pages, it was a quick yet seemingly comprehensive look at the current status of the topic. That noted, this book *does* use London as its primary narrative example, though there are also discussions of other locations including Chicago, Cleveland, NYC, and the struggles of the developing world. There are also extensive discussions of fatbergs, wet wipes, and microplastics. (Basically... don't flush a wet wipe. It doesn't end well.) Overall a fascinating and short read, pretty well exactly what it was designed to be. Very much recommended.
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29 September, 2022:
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