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sarabz's review
2.0
I think this book would do much better if it was just the first and last chapters and skipped the chapters in between. i appreciated the call to explore and observe - there is certainly much to see within our surroundings that often is ignored. As someone who is interested in infrastructure, i initially found the discussion interesting. But i found the narrative he provided through the eyes of a hypothetical "explorer," superficial and full of unexplored assumptions. I found the discussion of social patterns and values without any references or evidence very irritating. And ultimately i was most frustrated by the generalizations that he used, especially in later chapters. Stilgoe talked about what the "explorer" would see biking or hiking through an area, but described an idealized location. This lost what makes infrastructure and exploration interesting for me and important to investigate: the differences. Regions, race, class, and gender, all inform development and infrastructure. Stilgoe doesn't explore any of this. I would say this would be ok as an introduction to thinking about how landscapes are shaped by human action and intervention, but there are much better and more thoughtful books out there.
thomcat's review
4.0
Quick to read, full of interesting observations, somewhat rambling, and slightly dated, this book made a big impression on me when I first read it 20 years ago. A history and handbook for noticing places and things that you might otherwise miss. Magic!
posobin's review
4.0
A beautiful meandering book, it really makes you appreciate the secondary roads, the back alleys, the mundane and unnoticeable parts of our built environment that your eyes glide over but that reveal a lot if you pause and pay attention. Now I want to get on a bike and ride across the US from one coast to the other, following the right-of-ways under electric lines, along abandoned railroads, finding similarities among the Main streets and Second streets of small towns I pass along the way, noticing patterns in locations of the inns and motels. For now I'll just be more attentive and maybe less focused when I am outside: I've found that a small discovery can make my day. It does make the world a bit more magical indeed.
sethsam's review
5.0
I adored this book. Published in 1998, it makes the perfect companion/chaser to “How to Do Nothing” by @jennitaur. It will make you want to explore your surroundings no matter how dull they may seem, and you’ll learn things you had no idea were knowable.
mlindner's review
3.0
I wanted to like this more but his style sucks. The book is an attempt to get pedestrians and bicyclists out exploring, particularly in those places that aren't designed for us: behind the strip mall, along the highway, into the power line right-of-way, etc.
jessferg's review
3.0
Stilgoe's choice of making a hero out of the "explorer" in order to show us the places behind the highways is an interesting idea but the follow through is lacking. The language is terrible - sloppy and excessive sentence structure, strange turns of phrase, outdated word selection, unnecessary asides that distract the reader - making it very difficult to find the sentiment at the bottom of the word pile.
Just by way of example, follow this: "Behind almost all commercial strips the explorer moves along the secret rights-of-way that few motorists find, that cheat all motorists, even the motorized police officer smelling trouble. A narrow ribbon snakes from one parking lot to another, through the trees on undeveloped sites, across the junk heaped up from aborted construction and demolition projects, always connecting one loading-doc area to another." What are we talking about again?
What is more interesting about this book is it's ability to highlight how dramatically our culture has already changed since 1998. In less than 20 years, we no longer have most of the "behind the scenes" areas Stilgoe highlights. His dressing down of the Post Office for not offering rural services that are as convenient as city services has a rather black comedic humor to it given our current insights. His discussion of railroads is almost irrelevant except as a history lesson.
Despite the title, there is no moralizing here, per se, and this third party "explorer" keeps the reader from being terribly invested. I find this slightly unfortunate as we now see all he writes about were signs of the crumbling structure of our cities, suburbs, and rural areas and the loss of socialization and community.
(Also - for any book freaks, the edition I read did not look like any of those listed on Goodreads despite a matching ISBN. Only 187 pages in the cover looks as the one in this review does (a great review, too) http://objectguerilla.blogspot.com/2012/02/outside-lies-magic.html)
Just by way of example, follow this: "Behind almost all commercial strips the explorer moves along the secret rights-of-way that few motorists find, that cheat all motorists, even the motorized police officer smelling trouble. A narrow ribbon snakes from one parking lot to another, through the trees on undeveloped sites, across the junk heaped up from aborted construction and demolition projects, always connecting one loading-doc area to another." What are we talking about again?
What is more interesting about this book is it's ability to highlight how dramatically our culture has already changed since 1998. In less than 20 years, we no longer have most of the "behind the scenes" areas Stilgoe highlights. His dressing down of the Post Office for not offering rural services that are as convenient as city services has a rather black comedic humor to it given our current insights. His discussion of railroads is almost irrelevant except as a history lesson.
Despite the title, there is no moralizing here, per se, and this third party "explorer" keeps the reader from being terribly invested. I find this slightly unfortunate as we now see all he writes about were signs of the crumbling structure of our cities, suburbs, and rural areas and the loss of socialization and community.
(Also - for any book freaks, the edition I read did not look like any of those listed on Goodreads despite a matching ISBN. Only 187 pages in the cover looks as the one in this review does (a great review, too) http://objectguerilla.blogspot.com/2012/02/outside-lies-magic.html)