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_rx_'s review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
falcone9's review against another edition
5.0
A collection of fun facts for me to memorize and regurgitate at parties and family gatherings in lieu of having an actual personality.
ponch22's review against another edition
3.0
Oooh boy... I've been a fan of the 99% Invisible podcast for years (possibly over a decade!) so [a:Roman Mars|19916841|Roman Mars|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] & [a:Kurt Kohlstedt|19916842|Kurt Kohlstedt|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s book [b: The 99% Invisible City|50416393|The 99% Invisible City A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design|Roman Mars|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593147964l/50416393._SX50_.jpg|75383988] seemed like a no brainer for me to pick up and enjoy!
I'm pretty sure I preordered it (Goodreads tells me I started reading it four days after its release—10/10/20, which was 10 days before my son was born, which is ridiculous to think about! I've been reading this book longer than Nate's been ALIVE), and I slowly but surely read it over the past two years. It looks like I read ~15% in the first three days, then took a 9-month break before tackling another ~40% over seven random days between July 2021 & January 2022, before finally completing the last ~45% over the past five weeks...
While the book is written in short, easy-to-digest sections (each divided into even shorter 1- to 4-page articles spanning everything from city flags to the common pigeon), the book very easily got placed out of sight/out of mind. It's probably a perfect coffee table or bathroom book to read in short spurts, but in everyday reading goals, it was never top of mind for me.
About half of the information here I've heard before on the 99% Invisible podcast (or elsewhere) but everything was still presented in a new way that was interesting. My biggest complaint about the book is the complete lack of photographs. Patrick Vale has a very unique illustration style (see the cover), and while I do like it, I often found myself googling things I was reading about to see what they actually looked like. I don't know if getting licensed pictures of all the buildings, signs, maps, and other items being written about would have been too costly for an independent book such as this, but I often found the illustrated insets to fail to show me what I really wanted to see.
Still, it's a great companion to the podcast, and probably works better as a standalone way of showing how everything around us is designed for those who have never heard the dulcet tones of one, Roman Mars. From the design of Walk/Don't Walk signs to the naming conventions for routes (how Roads, Streets, Avenues, Ways, Courts, et al all usually differ from one another), the book is filled with interesting facts told in an interesting way.
I can't wait for Nate to finally be older than it took me to read this book in 10 days!
I'm pretty sure I preordered it (Goodreads tells me I started reading it four days after its release—10/10/20, which was 10 days before my son was born, which is ridiculous to think about! I've been reading this book longer than Nate's been ALIVE), and I slowly but surely read it over the past two years. It looks like I read ~15% in the first three days, then took a 9-month break before tackling another ~40% over seven random days between July 2021 & January 2022, before finally completing the last ~45% over the past five weeks...
While the book is written in short, easy-to-digest sections (each divided into even shorter 1- to 4-page articles spanning everything from city flags to the common pigeon), the book very easily got placed out of sight/out of mind. It's probably a perfect coffee table or bathroom book to read in short spurts, but in everyday reading goals, it was never top of mind for me.
About half of the information here I've heard before on the 99% Invisible podcast (or elsewhere) but everything was still presented in a new way that was interesting. My biggest complaint about the book is the complete lack of photographs. Patrick Vale has a very unique illustration style (see the cover), and while I do like it, I often found myself googling things I was reading about to see what they actually looked like. I don't know if getting licensed pictures of all the buildings, signs, maps, and other items being written about would have been too costly for an independent book such as this, but I often found the illustrated insets to fail to show me what I really wanted to see.
Still, it's a great companion to the podcast, and probably works better as a standalone way of showing how everything around us is designed for those who have never heard the dulcet tones of one, Roman Mars. From the design of Walk/Don't Walk signs to the naming conventions for routes (how Roads, Streets, Avenues, Ways, Courts, et al all usually differ from one another), the book is filled with interesting facts told in an interesting way.
I can't wait for Nate to finally be older than it took me to read this book in 10 days!
udflyer's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
It was ok. There were parts I enjoyed and parts that made me wonder why I cared. I think reading the book instead of listening to the audio might have made it more enjoyable.
nicklemus's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
oao's review
improving or gentrifying the area depending on one's perspective.
• Breakaway post
• Wall anchor plates
• Sky dancer -Caribbean & art at 1996 Olympic
• Hollywood yellow signs
• the Pantheon is still the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world.
• Tuned mass damper- a counterweight against the winds. Ex. a weight on rollers; a block of concrete suspended in a pool of liquid (usually hidden behind closed doors on locked upper floors).
In Taipei 101, it is a gigantic pendulum that slows the sway of the structure and the star attraction of the building.
• Sets of skyscrapers can effectively increase wind speeds. (street canyons)
kleonard's review against another edition
3.0
A nicely illustrated overview of basic architectural and civil engineering objects and design in use in modern cities, this book offers short histories and vignettes about relay stations, urban reuse, warning symbols, manhole covers, and other things we encounter in daily city life. The histories are interesting enough, but rarely include the systemic issues that have contributed to the reasons for why many things as they are; a notable omission is the fact that overpasses across the Southern State Parkway were designed to keep buses (implicitly only used by BIPOC) from accessing the beaches the Parkway went to. A section on water fountains focuses on those in the UK, sidestepping discussion of the segregated fountains of Jim Crow America. Coverage of claiming stakes in the 1800s in the US briefly mentions that the "government began to force indigenous peoples into an area called Indian Territory [....] later, tribes were again forced to relocate." This wasn't relocation: it was genocide. There *is* a section of curb cuts, a major accessibility issue, but it treats disability activists as inspiration porn. Overall, this is a pleasant and interesting but a bit superficial book; those who enjoy it will want to search out more detailed and nuanced materials for further reading.