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doorsclosingslowlyI'm very slow at reading right now sadly and have piles of unread cool books. Which makes reading book reviews about things I haven't read a bittersweet experience, because so many of them are also cool, and I really cannot justify starting and then getting distracted away from even more books right now. I haven't read either of these, but they sound super neat.
Nature’s Metropolis by William Cronon
A book about commodity flows sounds fantastic actually, but then I am into fantasy worldbuilding.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
(via Top 10 books about building cities)
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Side note: i) A blog is basically an open notebook right? ii) I have a bookmark folder of links to books that sound cool and many word documents of book lists but I'm trying a new way to keep track. iii) Why did I have to be both the person who finds everything interesting and the one who wants to reread the things I like over and over?And the one whose brain is full of static this past year and doesn't have the energy to focus on much?
Nature’s Metropolis by William Cronon
A book that focuses on commodity flows – grain, lumber and meat – does not sound enticing. But Cronon’s insights into the troubled relationship between a city and its hinterland are revelatory. We learn how the rise of Chicago in the late 19th century created social and environmental havoc, with effects that are still felt to this day. Chicago is the crucible for Cronon’s analysis, but his thinking is pertinent to an understanding of the hidden forces at work in any contemporary city.
A book about commodity flows sounds fantastic actually, but then I am into fantasy worldbuilding.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Marco Polo reports to an increasingly sceptical Kublai Khan on the cities he has seen while travelling the world. This is Calvino at his alchemical best. As one brief portrait follows another we are forced, in ways miraculous, to reflect on our own behaviour as members of a society. The cities’ construction may be fantastical, but each portrait flags up uncomfortable contemporary truths. A favourite of mine is Penthesilea. It has no centre and no end: “outside Penthesilea does an outside exist? Or, no matter how far you go from the city, will you only pass from one limbo to another, never managing to leave it?”
(via Top 10 books about building cities)
____
Side note: i) A blog is basically an open notebook right? ii) I have a bookmark folder of links to books that sound cool and many word documents of book lists but I'm trying a new way to keep track. iii) Why did I have to be both the person who finds everything interesting and the one who wants to reread the things I like over and over?And the one whose brain is full of static this past year and doesn't have the energy to focus on much?
