Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day (A Graphic Novel)

by Dan Nott

Overview

We use water, electricity, and the internet every day—but how do they actually work? And what’s the plan to keep them running for years to come? This nonfiction science graphic novel takes readers on a journey from how the most essential systems were developed to how they are implemented in our world today and how they will be used in the future.

What was the first message sent over the internet? How much water does a single person use every day? How was the electric light invented?

For every utility we use each day, there’s a hidden history—a story of intrigue, drama, humor, and inequity. This graphic novel provides a guided tour through the science of the past—and reveals how the decisions people made while inventing and constructing early technology still affect the way people use it today.

Full of art, maps, and diagrams, Hidden Systems is a thoughtful, humorous exploration of the history of science and what needs to be done now to change the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781984896049
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	28,596
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	GN1320L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Dan Nott is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator living in Vermont. Dan’s short comics and illustrations for investigative journalism have appeared in The Nib and Spotlight PA and in publications for WBUR and NJ Advance Media, among others. Dan graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies and was the lead writer and cartoonist for its free nationally distributed comic on US government called This Is What Democracy Looks Like. Dan teaches classes on making comics and comics history.

Editorial Reviews

01/23/2023

An unnamed narrator marvels at “how little I know about everyday things” in the initial chapter of this illuminating graphic novel debut. According to the narrator, a hidden system is “something we don’t notice until it breaks”; when commonplace amenities such as water, electricity, and the internet are working the way they should, “we take for granted the benefits they provide some of us, and disregard the harm they cause others.” In subsequent chapters, Nott breaks down the origins, basic functioning, and cultural impact of each aforementioned industry into easily digestible graphs and panels, rendered in cyan lines reminiscent of technological and architectural blueprints. While these systems act as the foundation of society, however, the text posits that they can also be harbingers of “inequality and environmental harm.” A chapter on electricity, for example, touches on how hydropower, while not requiring carbon fuel, still causes “drastic disruption to the environment, local and Indigenous communities, and wildlife.” A necessary introductory approach to everyday systems that briefly interrogates the bias and inequalities imbedded within them. Ages 12–up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Hidden Systems is the book I’ll use to teach my kids how the internet works....incredibly readable." —The Verge

★ “The true power of comics is on display here, with complex, difficult-to-comprehend structures presented both through a variety of metaphors and by placing those metaphors in context with simplified renditions of their real physical appearance.” —Booklist, starred review

“Performs a valuable service.”— Kirkus Reviews

“A necessary introductory approach to everyday systems that briefly interrogates the bias and inequalities imbedded within them.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

05/26/2023

Gr 6 Up—Separated into sections, broken into chapters, with each focusing on a smaller part that makes up a larger whole, this bold undertaking sets out to explain systems in our daily lives. From internet to electricity to water, our most complex systems and how they affect our environment come under scrutiny. Simple, monotone sketch illustrations provide extra white space for information, but some cells lack direction. The book is packed with information and technical detail that may overwhelm the casual nonfiction reader or graphic novel enthusiast. VERDICT An ambitious effort that misses the mark for the intended age. Purchase for a public or school library where students show a great interest in science and engineering.—Maryjean Riou

School Library Journal

2022-12-14
A graphic exploration of select parts of our large-scale infrastructure.

Nott presents a pictorial examination of three potentially fascinating engineered networks—the internet, the electrical grid, and fresh water distribution. His definition of a hidden system as “something we don’t notice until it breaks” is valid enough, and in clearly and repeatedly demonstrating how the three are, for all their benefits, also historical and ongoing sources of “inequality and environmental harm,” he performs a valuable service. But for all the careful research and efforts to lighten the tone with verbal and sight gags, the narrative’s chopped-up quotes and generalized observations, infrequently leavened by specific incidents or examples, slow the pacing to a crawl despite the seemingly endless parade of informal, largely monochrome, blue line drawings, which are packed into small panels and neither animate the discourse nor look often enough beyond localized details to capture a sense of the three systems’ overall size and complexity. Still, if end users who stay the course don’t come away with much clearer big pictures of what happens when they press keys, hit switches, and turn faucet handles, they’ll be more mindful that each of these acts comes with past and current legacies of colonialism, displaced populations, economic and class inequities, hidden agendas, and systemic racism. The human figures suggest racial and ethnic diversity.

Heavy going but does focus as much on social costs as structures and functions. (sketch pages, endnotes, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews