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bgg616's review
4.0
I finally picked up this book to finish it for Non Fiction November. Mc Call Smith is a prolific author who seems talented at putting his hand at a variety of kinds of writing. He has more than four popular fiction series. My favorite is the Sunday Philosophers Club series. In this book, when he talks about one of the most famous of Edinburgh philosophers, Hume, he confesses that Edinburgh's historical connection to well known philosophers led him to create the character of Isabel Dalhousie and the Sunday Philosophers Club series. This anecdote is an example of the occasional tangents McCall Smith takes in this volume.
It is full of historical drawings, maps, and photographs which Mc Call Smith uses to lay out the history of this amazing city. It is a huge undertaking and he manages to avoid getting bogged down too much or lost in the weeds of this city's culture, history, and famous figures.
Edinburgh is my favorite city. There are other cities I have visited, lived in and/or spent time in -Rio de Janiero, Dublin, Barcelona, Boston - but Edinburgh (excepting for the summer months when huge groups of cruise ships tourists jam the streets making what is a busy travel season unbearable- has so much of what I love - history, great restaurants, wonderful people, and a gorgeous city.
It is full of historical drawings, maps, and photographs which Mc Call Smith uses to lay out the history of this amazing city. It is a huge undertaking and he manages to avoid getting bogged down too much or lost in the weeds of this city's culture, history, and famous figures.
Edinburgh is my favorite city. There are other cities I have visited, lived in and/or spent time in -Rio de Janiero, Dublin, Barcelona, Boston - but Edinburgh (excepting for the summer months when huge groups of cruise ships tourists jam the streets making what is a busy travel season unbearable- has so much of what I love - history, great restaurants, wonderful people, and a gorgeous city.
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