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.
