Hidden Systems

Hidden Systems, Dan Nott, 2023 graphic nonfiction. A comic about infrastructure, specifically internet, electrical grid, and water systems. Really good! A fast easy read with some stuff I knew and some stuff I didn't - I did not know about the influence of WWII on utility interconnection, or just how many dams there are. (I definitely would have guessed wrong about whether more new dams were built in the US between 1920 and 1950 or 1950 and 1980. 10K vs 40K apparently!) I was hoping Q would read it since he's been interested in electricity and solar power, but it couldn't compete with videogames and YouTube, I guess. Definitely recommended to other kids or adults. People who have read Scott McCloud might enjoy how much it sounded like "Scott McCloud voice", to me - like there's a certain cadence of how the text is spread over the panels. I dunno, maybe all graphic nonfiction sounds like that, I don't read that much of it. I guess what would be interesting would be to find some nonfiction comics from *before* Understanding Comics, and see how they read in comparison.