It is always a pleasure when someone is telling you about something they love, and Ressler loves all the things man has built from the pyramids onward. This course could have been twice as long, and I would have still enjoyed it. Certainly my favorite part (and my daughter's, whose home schooling this was part of) concerned the various types of bridges. Ressler's models (where can I get a kit like that?) are wonderful in explaining the various forces that engineers must take into account. He also talks a lot about the shift from empirical engineering, such as done by the Greeks, Romans, and builders right up to the 18th Century, and the subsequent switch to engineering built on mathematics and, later, computer simulations. We see, in the collapse of the Hartford Civic Center roof, that the use of math doesn't make for a safer building if the builder doesn't perform the right calculations. Ressler touches upon other disasters as well, such as the Tacoma Narrows (Galloping Gertie) bridge, or the miscalculations that required a major refit to the Citibank Tower in New York City. He also describes how the collapse of the World Trade Centers has changed how tall buildings are now built. I could go on and on, but just watch the series. It isn't necessary to pay a lot of money to buy it from the Teaching Company. I watched it on Kanopy, which is one of the services my public library provides for FREE. ( )