Turn on a switch and from the nearest bulb out pours light from . . . somewhere; turn on a faucet and
water appears. Wires, pipes, and roads support the lives we lead, but the average person doesn't know where they go or even how they work. In On the Grid, Scott Huler takes the time to understand the systems that sustain our way of life, starting from his own quarter of an acre in North Carolina and traveling as far as ancient Rome.

Each chapter follows one element of infrastructure back to its source. Huler visits power plants,
watches new asphalt pavement being...