IMPORTANT BOOK
Useable/Actionable
Restructuring how America does infrastructure broadly defined, often considered boring, is critical if America is going to improve its competitiveness to lead in the mid 21st century. Without a strategic revamp and commitment, America`s relative standard of living of the average man and woman will continue to decline behind China, Japan, and Western Europe. The gap between where Americans think America is and where it actually ranks in global standards will become greater, reducing American productivity and continuing to increase cost. But most importantly, Anderson describes failure to address this as America failing to meet the challenge of China.

Norman Anderson, a veteran and tireless infrastructure warrior, has written an actionable and usable optimistic American vision and guide to get American infrastructure thinking on track and built in the foreseeable future. The issues Anderson describes through specific examples are daunting. Nevertheless, the book presents specific recommendations to move out to address the future. It includes interviews with America's infrastructure leaders and visionaries --people actually trying to get things done -- in areas from 5G to pipelines, to Blockchain, to Superconducting Maglev.

What I like about his book is that it is readable and ACTIONABLE. It should be in every congressional committee's office and read by staff and used to brief their bosses. It must be read in the West Wing and EEOB by the staff of the National Economic Council. The NSC staff must take note. The ideas it proposes to get the U.S. moving should be studied and implemented.

The U.S. needs to have a sense of crisis about infrastructure. It is not about pouring money at it; Anderson shows us there is plenty of money waiting to be utilized. It is about organizing for success, thinking big and prioritizing for the future. The approach of the latter 20th century has been a failure and the first two decades of the 21st century aren't any better. We must do better.

When history books are written about the 21st century it will be about climate change success or failure and infrastructure accomplishment. Hopefully the United States will be viewed as a leader that did all it could to solve these issues, not only for itself, but for all mankind.

— Reviewed by: Torkel Patterson, Vice Chairman, International High-Speed Rail Association; Former Asia Director, National Security Council.