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Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything by Salvatore Basile New York: Fordham University Press, 2014 ISBN: 978-0-8232-7178-8 (Amazon) Read by the author in June 2023, purchased for $15.54 |
The book of Judges describes how Ehud stabbed the obese king Eglon to death and then closed Eglon's private chamber to make his escape. Eglon's servants did not immediately check on him, reasoning that "he must be relieving himself in the cool chamber." (Judges 3:24)
ויאמרו אך מסיך הוא את רגליו בחדר המקרה
People, fat and skinny, have long struggled with staying cool in hot weather, as is apparent in classical Jewish sources. Some, like Eglon, had summer chambers situated on the cool side of a building, sheltered in the earth, or located on the roof. Vitruvius, for example, describes the correct location for a summer dining room. (Ten Books of Architecture, VI.4). Others tried to provide ventilation with windows: in the Tosefta, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel rules that "windows in cities, whose size are at least a handbreadth squared, are made to let in a cool breeze." (Tosefta Ohalot 14:3) Architectural styles were developed to keep houses cool, like the "courtyard houses" common in traditional architecture of the Land of Israel, with protected inner yards, that "took advantage of occasional cool breezes (Yizhar Hirschfeld, The Palestinian Dwelling in the Roman-Byzantine Period, 74-75). The wealthy had some additional options, as the Talmud describes windows in which slaves would sit and fan their masters on hot days (Jerusalem Talmud Yoma 1:1 38c).
Despite these techniques, options for cooling a house were limited. It was only in the nineteenth that people began developing mechanical cooling. The book Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything, by Salvatore Basile, charts the interesting history of how people finally gained the ability to cool a building. It considers early attempts at climate control, including added ventilation, architectural styles like the dogtrot house, fans, electric fans, electric fans with ice, the punkah, the tatty, and the Thermantidote. (19-20) The book then proceeds chronologically, beginning by highlighting the lucrative commercial possibilities of AC. In the dangerously hot and unventilated theaters, owners sought a way to attract customers during the summer months and were among the first adopters. The author charts the stunted first steps toward true air conditioning, finds a hero in Willis Carrier, and gently pokes fun at the politicians in Washington who couldn't take decisive action to install AC in their chambers. (Nor did they know what to make of the equipment. At one point, it becomes apparent that congressmen were using the floor vents as spittoons.) For a hyper-specific history, Basile keeps the story entertaining and moving. He discusses the changes in architecture that air conditioning facilitated, such as glass skyscrapers with inoperable windows. He ends by discussing the swing back to older and more energy efficient methods that has occurred more recently. A quick, entertaining read filled with fun anecdotes.
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