Ove Arup
Masterbuilder of the Twentieth Century
From the Publisher: In 1946 Ove Arup, a leading engineer of the twentieth century, founded a firm of consulting engineers that brought to fruition such iconic structures as the Sydney Opera House, the Olympic Village in Beijing, London's Millennium Bridge, the Beaubourg Centre in Paris, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and Kansai Airport in Japan among many others. Devoted to a "commonsense" reform of engineering and architectural practice, Arup (1895-1988) pioneered the way for modern architects and engineers to collaborate successfully and responsibly on large projects. This is the first biography of the great and versatile engineer, complete with some 80 historic photographs that have never been published before. Peter Jones, the first researcher to have full access to the vast private Arup archives, tells the complete story of Ove Arup's extraordinary life, his social, aesthetic, and environmental concerns, and his practical contributions during a period of political and technological upheaval. Jones also offers a revelatory new account of the Sydney Opera House and the character of those involved in its complex construction.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
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Balanced tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
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Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3001-1296-2
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL9434946M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
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