Most everyone can remember the first time they rode a roller coaster, and how it felt. People either love to ride roller coasters or do not, but very few are indifferent to the bone-rattling structures that have become a popular pastime worldwide, ever since the first one—"Flying Mountains," developed in Russia in the fifteenth century—introduced the combination of fear and amusement. The engineering technology of roller coasters defies nature by allowing human beings to be catapulted at varying speeds every which way. There were approximately 475 operating roller coasters in North America as of 1998, all competing in speed, architecture, and inventiveness. The progress of engineering has enabled coasters to travel backward or around inverted loops at alarming speeds (most average in the mid-60-miles-per-hour range), while riders can sometimes stand, be in the dark, or sit in chairlift-style trains with tracks that run along the...