Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Dey Street Books (2020), Edition: Illustrated, 400 pages
Description
"A beautifully designed guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities, from the creators of the wildly popular 99% Invisible podcast"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member grizzly.anderson
I originally started by describing The 99% Invisible City in the context of the 99% Invisible podcast. But if you already know the podcast you already know if you want this book. For everyone else Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt provide a field guide to all of the interesting bits you probably never
The book is organized into 6 chapters, and each of those into 3-6 sub-chapters that contain a handful of vignettes each. There is absolutely no need to read them in order. This is the perfect book for
* someone who enjoys not just random facts, but the human stories that go with those facts
* someone who is interested in opening their eyes to all the little things all around us in the city
* someone who likes to puzzle out how any why things are the way they are, and loves the surprise of finding out that an everyday thing is an elegant and subtle way to solve a problem
* anyone who always reads the plaque.
And as you might expect from a book by a couple of design nerds, the book itself is an exercise in meticulous design.It looks and feels like one of those Intro to Blah college textbooks, except one you'll want to read. The illustrations are generally photographs that have been re-rendered as drawings to highlight the important, relevant, or interesting bits.
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notice, or at least don't think on much, about cites, how they work and how they got that way. It's not just a rehashing of the podcast (although fans will recognize some of the stories). Nor is it stuff you're just going to find on google or wikipedia because, well, you can find that on google and wikipedia. (Although I'm sure people are busily adding all the interesting bits from the book to wikipedia already). You can find out about stop signs, but not "why are they red?" because that is kind of boring, but how did they come to be standardized and why someone once thought that we would be able to derive instant meaning from the number of sides on a sign. Or about that one traffic light that has green at the top, and the park next to it to commemorate how it got that way. The book is organized into 6 chapters, and each of those into 3-6 sub-chapters that contain a handful of vignettes each. There is absolutely no need to read them in order. This is the perfect book for
* someone who enjoys not just random facts, but the human stories that go with those facts
* someone who is interested in opening their eyes to all the little things all around us in the city
* someone who likes to puzzle out how any why things are the way they are, and loves the surprise of finding out that an everyday thing is an elegant and subtle way to solve a problem
* anyone who always reads the plaque.
And as you might expect from a book by a couple of design nerds, the book itself is an exercise in meticulous design.It looks and feels like one of those Intro to Blah college textbooks, except one you'll want to read. The illustrations are generally photographs that have been re-rendered as drawings to highlight the important, relevant, or interesting bits.
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LibraryThing member 1Randal
I found this book to be fascinating! So many little tidbits to be discovered. From subjects as different as the meanings of those little colored paint markings you find on your road, to big things like decisions in historic preservation. It just amazed me as to how my eyes have been opened to so
And it's the type of book that you can read a page or two at your leisure, set the book down, and come back a week later and read a couple more pages. Told in easy to understand language, laced with cute line drawings, and highly educational.
A great book to increase all of our situational awareness of our surroundings.
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many things in the city that I never knew, or even thought about. And it's the type of book that you can read a page or two at your leisure, set the book down, and come back a week later and read a couple more pages. Told in easy to understand language, laced with cute line drawings, and highly educational.
A great book to increase all of our situational awareness of our surroundings.
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LibraryThing member bragan
I've been a longtime listener of the 99% Invisible podcast, which explores odd and sometimes surprising stories about the human-built world around us and how it got that way. So, of course, I had to pick up this book, and I'm pleased to report that it did not disappoint! It's full of bite-sized
The whole thing is engaging and fun to read, whether you want to dip in and out or read it straight through, and whether you actually live in a city or not. And the book itself is a nice, solid, rather attractive physical object. With the holiday season coming up, it occurs to me that it might make a really nice gift for the sort of person who likes non-fiction books that make you want to go around saying, "Hey, did you know...?" to people.
Admittedly, a fair amount of it was already familiar to me from the podcast -- more than I was expecting, to be honest -- but I found I didn't particularly mind. It's still interesting the second time, and they're never just transcribing stories verbatim from the podcast. Plus, there's plenty that was new to me, too.
My only dissatisfaction with it is that I really wish it had photographs. There are lots of black-and-white line drawings, which have a certain charm, and which do help to illustrate some of the things that need illustrating, but it was occasionally frustrating not to be able to just see real examples of the things the book was describing.
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tidbits about all kinds of weird, quirky, important, and overlooked stuff to be found in and around cities and roads. False building facades concealing ventilation shafts, skyscrapers with extra-high towers at the top just so they could claim to be the world's tallest building for a brief moment, coded signs in Hollywood that point to movie shooting locations, brick thieves in St. Louis, spikes on sidewalks to keep homeless people away, parking spaces repurposed into mini-parks... And on and on and on. The whole thing is engaging and fun to read, whether you want to dip in and out or read it straight through, and whether you actually live in a city or not. And the book itself is a nice, solid, rather attractive physical object. With the holiday season coming up, it occurs to me that it might make a really nice gift for the sort of person who likes non-fiction books that make you want to go around saying, "Hey, did you know...?" to people.
Admittedly, a fair amount of it was already familiar to me from the podcast -- more than I was expecting, to be honest -- but I found I didn't particularly mind. It's still interesting the second time, and they're never just transcribing stories verbatim from the podcast. Plus, there's plenty that was new to me, too.
My only dissatisfaction with it is that I really wish it had photographs. There are lots of black-and-white line drawings, which have a certain charm, and which do help to illustrate some of the things that need illustrating, but it was occasionally frustrating not to be able to just see real examples of the things the book was describing.
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LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
More of a neat coffee table reference than a straight read through. Tipperary Hill in Syracuse gets a shout out. Going to give the podcast a try.
LibraryThing member rivkat
A bunch of nuggets about (mostly) urban design, from the boxes that let firefighters get into buildings without breaking doors to pigeon habitats; a little too sample-y for my tastes but it sounds like they go into more detail on the podcast.
LibraryThing member Tatoosh
This book is a compilation of 1-4 page essays about aspects of our environment we usually take for granted. Some such as vents for underground structures, fake facades, wireless towers, emergency boxes, and boundary stones are invisible in that their function is camouflaged. However, most are
The essays are grouped into six chapters that vary in heterogeneity and interest. The themes in each chapter are further subdivided. For example, the topics in the “Inconspicuous” chapter are titled “Ubiquitous,” “Camouflage,” and “Accretions.” The themes in the “Infrastructure” chapter are “Civic,” “Water,” “Technology,” “Roadways,” and “Public.” Most essays include nuggets of information about the subject’s history, evolution, and present status. Only a few include content that is likely to be entirely new to readers.
Some of the sections become tedious. For example, when camouflaged vents for sewer systems and tunnels are discussed, it’s not to continue with essays on similar camouflaged items. Illustrations are provided to elaborate many of the topics, but the judicious use of photographs would increase the clarity and interest in many instances.
This book is not one most readers will want to read like a novel, and I found it enjoyable to read an essay or two (i.e., 5-10 minutes) at a time. It’s a convenient time-filler for those occasions when you have a few minutes between activities. In that sense, it reminds me of The Book of Lists by Wallechinsky, Wallace and Wallace, and Guinness World Records.
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visible but seldom occupy our thoughts (e. g., squirrels, traffic circles, tall buildings, freeways, divided highways, and boulevard trees).The essays are grouped into six chapters that vary in heterogeneity and interest. The themes in each chapter are further subdivided. For example, the topics in the “Inconspicuous” chapter are titled “Ubiquitous,” “Camouflage,” and “Accretions.” The themes in the “Infrastructure” chapter are “Civic,” “Water,” “Technology,” “Roadways,” and “Public.” Most essays include nuggets of information about the subject’s history, evolution, and present status. Only a few include content that is likely to be entirely new to readers.
Some of the sections become tedious. For example, when camouflaged vents for sewer systems and tunnels are discussed, it’s not to continue with essays on similar camouflaged items. Illustrations are provided to elaborate many of the topics, but the judicious use of photographs would increase the clarity and interest in many instances.
This book is not one most readers will want to read like a novel, and I found it enjoyable to read an essay or two (i.e., 5-10 minutes) at a time. It’s a convenient time-filler for those occasions when you have a few minutes between activities. In that sense, it reminds me of The Book of Lists by Wallechinsky, Wallace and Wallace, and Guinness World Records.
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LibraryThing member librisissimo
The chapters are comprised of text & picture versions of the original on-line video podcasts, with additional material.
They give a fascinating view of the mundane details of cities and buildings.
I thought the earlier chapters were the best, in terms of interest and narrative.
The later chapters were
They give a fascinating view of the mundane details of cities and buildings.
I thought the earlier chapters were the best, in terms of interest and narrative.
The later chapters were
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more theoretical than actual, and began to stray into the author's ideological positions. Show Less
LibraryThing member mykl-s
A great book to dip into. Almost every short article full of information or surprises or usually both.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2020
Physical description
400 p.; 9 inches
ISBN
0358126606 / 9780358126607