Author(s): Jessica Leigh Hester; Christopher Schaberg (Series edited by); Ian Bogost (Series edited by)

Essay | Design | Technology | Architecture

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

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? 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. 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.

Review: Get ready to dive into the wondrous underworld of waste. . . . It's perfect for the fatberg fan in your life. * Mental Floss *
Hester goes deep on a topic that few relish: the inner workings of wastewater infrastructure. The book . . . dives into the past and present worlds of pipes and pumping stations, sifts through archives for blueprints, and tags along crews on late-night excursions to tackle gnarly clogs and whale-sized fatbergs - all to answer questions of how human habits are reshaping the environment, and what needs to change. * Bloomberg CityLab *
Takes readers on a journey underground to the meandering pipes and waterways underneath us where waste ferments and disease percolates. The oft-forgotten and hidden-but-so-necessary infrastructure below us has deep implications for urbanization, public health, infrastructure, ecology, and sustainability, not to mention our future. * Architect's Newspaper *
Hester peels off the layers of discomfort of the sewer, and brings readers to a full understanding of the function, history, and future of sewers, and how climate change needs to be factored in to how sewers operate. . . . This is an easy to read, approachable book, written in a captivating style. * Viewpoint Vancouver *
Overall a fascinating and short read, pretty well exactly what it was designed to be. Very much recommended. * BookAnon *
Sewer gives you that magical feeling of peeking behind the curtain-or should I say, under the manhole-into a hidden world. Let Jessica Leigh Hester be your guide to fatbergs, sea snot, and all the things we might think we don't want to ponder, but which nevertheless become enchanting in her winsome prose. * Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic *
Jessica Leigh Hester drops feet-first into a Hadean underworld of tunnels and drains, bacteria and geology. Sewer proves that some of our most consequential urban achievements are seldom seen-and rarely so well illuminated. Come for the fatbergs, stay for Hester's lucid history of architecture and engineering, public health and political ambition. * Geoff Manaugh, New York Times-bestselling author of A Burglar's Guide to the City *
This book is really remarkable ... it's personal and it's deeply researched and it's fascinating. * Randomly Yours, Alex *

Contents: Introduction: Our Sewers, Ourselves 1. Cathedrals of Sewage 2. Wipes & Pipes 3. Fatbergs 4. Waterways 5. Super Sewers 6. The Innovators 7. Conclusion: The Afterlife Acknowledgments Index

Author Biography: Jessica Leigh Hester is a science journalist. She has worked as a senior editor and staff writer at Atlas Obscura and an editor at CityLab, where she covered the environment and urban infrastructure. Her work has also appeared in the The Atlantic, New Yorker, New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City and Baltimore, where she is also a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University and always trawling for stories about ecology and trash.