This Bridge Will Not Be Gray, by Dave Eggers, art by Tucker Nichols

In much the same way that he brought the Statue of Liberty to life in his most recent book Her Right Foot, Dave Eggers tells the story of the Golden Gate Bridge in his 2015 book This Bridge Will Not Be Gray.  There is perhaps no more famous, beloved, and picturesque bridge in the world.  But what's up with the orange?

Eggers's colorfully yet simply illustrated book goes back to the days when people crossed the Golden Gate by boat.  When it was decided that a bridge needed to be built, the people of California knew it had to look great.  The design was settled, and construction began, but no one had thought about the color.  Gray would make sense; buildings and bridges tended to be gray.  But the steel, which had been shipped through the Panama Canal from the east, was painted with an orange, rust-proof paint.  One of the designers, Irving Morrow, watched the structure going up, decided the orange looked downright wonderful, and started a campaign to keep it orange.  So they did.

Eggers's book is fun to read and will leave you wanting to get out to California to see the bridge yourself.  Even the designers and builders of the bridge were impressed.  As Eggers writes, "Sometimes the things humans make baffle even the humans who make them."  It's a remarkable bridge, indeed, and Eggers's book about it is wonderful.