I finished McCullough's The Great Bridge last night. Solid book, good, but not great. I'm happy that I read it, though, since we are heading to NY in a little over a week and this will be one of the sites I am looking forward to seeing and how I have a little more history to guide me.

Toward the end MuCullough sought to show the significance of the bridge at the time, in comparison to other architectural wonders of the world. He quotes the Chief Engineer, John Roebling:

To build his pyramid Cheops packed some pounds of rice into the stomachs of innumerable Egyptians and Israelites. We today would pack some pounds of coal inside steam boilers to do the same thing, and this mightbe cited as an instance of superiority of modern civilization over ancient brute force. But when referred to the sun, our true standard of reference, the comparison is naught, because to produce these few pounds of coal required a thousand times more solar energy than to produce a few pounds of rice. We are simply taking advantage of an accidental circumstance.

It took Cheops twenty years to build his pyramid, but if he had a lot of Trustees, contractors, and newspaper reporters to worry him, he might not have finished it by that time. The advantages of modern engineering are in many ways over balanced by the disadvantages of modern civilization. (523)

Also:

Babylon had her hanging garden, Egypt her pyramid, Athens her Acropolis, Rome her Athenaeum; so Brooklyn has her Bridge.

Finally:

The beautiful and stately structure fulfills the fondest hope...the impression upon the visitor is one of astonishment that grows with every visit. No one who has been upon it can ever forget it...Not one shall see it and not feel prouder to be a man.

Again, I am REALLY looking forward to seeing this bridge and walking over it into NYC.