A review by sarabz
Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places by John R. Stilgoe

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.