is one of those things that one struggles to define, even though its one of the most prominent things around us, I did an internship at a design museum a few years ago, and while I have a better grip on it than I did before, I came out of it still hardly knowing how to describe it to others.
Everyday design is fascinating to me, Designs are good when you don't even recognise they are there, when they are doing the job they are meant to do without drawing any attention, One of the first things this book talks about are streetlights, and how they have a specially designed base to minimize damage on both ends should a car accidentally drive into it.
Something we all see everyday, something we can all recognise, and probably at one point thought to ourselves "huh, I wonder why it looks like that," but not thinking any more of it.
That's design for you.
While I do find nearly all aspects of design fascinating, even I found a lot of this book to be quite dense, I think you would be hardpressed to find someone who didn't consider at least some of it dry and/or boring, There is evidently so much research as per the author's note at the end, over ten years' worth put into the book that it almost feels like the authors are shoving in as much as possible.
The bibliography at the end is insane and very impressive, I liked the way the book was split into sections and how they seamlessly led from one topic to the next, One thing I wish the book did however was be a bit more specific in its headings, I found that instead of simply stating the object/system, it would be listed under the problem that the design needed to solve which is fine in theory, but because of the aforementioned density and technical speak, it sometimes took a few paragraphs to understand what I was even reading about however, when they mentioned raccoonproof garbage cans and instead named the section "Trash Pandas', I had a giggle.
As always with nonfiction books, always, always include more pictures, I get it. There's a certain aesthetic to having an artist artfully render sketches in a designed fashion to match the content of the book, but I just want to know what the thing looks like in real life, not an artist's version of it.
Overall though, I found this book fascinating, Design is so, so cool, and largely goes unnoticed by the general population, In Japan they often put blue lighting in some public restrooms so that intravenous drug users would have a harder time finding their veins, There is an excellent chapter on hostile design too, which is fascinating and probably my favourite part of the book, I'll admit right now that I haven't listened to the podcast this book is associated with, but I'll definitely be checking it out, If there is even half the amount of effort put into it than this book has, it's gotta be pretty good,
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, As a longtime listener to who is still not yet caught up with the podcastInvisible I was excited for this book, perhaps because I didn't realize how much of it was just.
. . the podcast. I've listened to maybe half of the episodes, and every few pages I encountered some story that I'd already heard, The things that were new to me, I'm not sure if they're also episodes that I just haven't listened to yet, So that was a letdown, The other big disappointment was that they didn't take advantage of the visual medium in a way I would have liked, They were clearly very proud of the aesthetic they'd created with the linedrawn illustrations, but too often I would read a section and wish that they'd put in a photograph of whatever was being discussed.
The illustrations are nice but they're often too stylized and rough to portray the subject in enough detail, or entirely absent when a visual would have been useful.
Seems a missed opportunity. It's all stillInvisible, so it's interesting and informative, but I can't but think it will leave readers in a trap anyone who's familiar enough with the podcast to want to read the book is likely to have heard enough of the podcast that the book is a repetition of what they've already heard.
I absolutely loved everything about this book the illustrations, the subject, the style, It was so clearly written, yet well researched, My favorite chapter was the one on the raccoons and ths squirrels! I discoveredInvisible's podcast inand they have been telling interesting design stories in new exciting ways.
I immediately digested their whole backcatalog TheInvisible City is a wonderful revisiting and update of many topics, not a cutandpaste of transcripts, and it shows, Handsomely crafted with distinctive illustrations and typography, it is meticulously organized into six distinct sections with a very indepth Table of Contents and Index, There are many things that this book will help you see clearly no matter which city you live in, A cornucopia for the curious! BUY THIS BOOK for your whole family and go exploring! A very pleasant read that is not so easy to consume in the form of an ebook.
TBH I didn't check the authors' podcast before, I got lured by the description: everything related to the design problems of modern cities sounds very interesting to me.
And "Theinvisible city" indeed does quite a good job here,
What to expect It's a collection of stories from the past carefully selected ones, Each one of the is about a particular challenge: what was the issue, how was it approached, was it solved, and if so, what was the learning on the way I'll be very honest here not all the stories were super interesting they also come from very different periods which means that some have just a historical value, while some are still quite relevant today.
That's why my rating is only, But still, I can easily recommend this book to anyone interested in modern city design there are very few really good books on the topic, and this one is one of those.
Recommended. I enjoyed reading this book, so much food for thought, But three weeks later, I have largely forgotten the text,
Like others here, I found the lack of memorable or helpful images to be a source of frustration,
This book provides a general overview of topics that are sometimes worthy of booklength discussion, Mars tells of green spaces created in unexpected places in various cities, A booklength discussion on unexpected green spaces to be found in New York City can be found in sitelinkGreen Metropolis: The Extraordinary Landscapes of New York City as Nature, History, and Design.
The information is thoughtprovoking about the nature of one's own town or city, but it is information better formatted for podcasts, Podcasts allow for reflection topic by topic, Reading for group discussion on Goodreads often means reading quickly, too quickly to fully appreciate the thoughtfulness of the podcaststurnedbook, I found this book to be fascinating! So
many little tidbits to be discovered, From subjects as different as the meanings of those little colored paint markings you find on your road, to big things like decisions in historic preservation, It just amazed me as to how my eyes have been opened to so many things in the city that I never knew, or even thought about.
And it's the type of book that you can read a page or two at your leisure, set the book down, and come back a week later and read a couple more pages.
Told in easy to understand language, laced with cute line drawings, and highly educational,
A great book to increase all of our situational awareness of our surroundings, This is an interesting book about city design that is mostly unknown, but the lack of photos is really frustrating, There are graphic illustrations at times, but as another reviewer mentioned, you really want to see pictures of the elements that are described, Also, I thought it would be more about secret elements of every city but many of them are specific to certain cities or to large urban areas in general I live in a town of.
It's still a fascinating read, especially for urban dwellers and travelers,
I read a digital ARC of this book for review, As a Beautiful Nerd, I'm beyond excited to hold this wonderful book in my hands,Percent Invisible is a treasure trove of designbased trivia, of which is both eye opening and endlessly amusing, This was a really fun book that apparently is a spinoff from the Podcast of the same name, I now have something else to binge listen to, woot!
I don't really know how much of what is discussed in the book is really "invisible", other than the backstory behind many of the items discussed.
For example, there is a Buddha that is in an otherwise vacant lot in California that was put there by the neighbor, because the vacant lot was being used as an unofficial dump and he was tired of it.
He figured Buddha was neutral and might engender some respect to not dump garbage there, Not only was he right, but others started to perform upkeep and added to it, making it an unofficial shrine and tourist attraction!
There were also pretty cool facts, like how Japan breaks down their buildings floor by floor, from the top down or bottom up, reusing as much of the building materials as they can, to reduce waste and pollution.
It takes more time than just knocking it down, but I would argue that it is safer and less wasteful than in other locations, I think that is the way demolitions should go, unless the building in question is a hazard and needs to come down quickly, In which case, why wasn't it taken down before it got to that point
Also something that I didn't realize was that squirrels had to be reintroduced to cities in the parks.
Once humans got their hands on the land and turned them into urban areas, some animals had to be reintroduced, Squirrels, pigeons, etc that we take for granted were not always present,
There was quite a bit in the book about how humans have done things that are less than savory re: destroying nature, so if you are sensitive to that, it will upset you in a few places, but it's kind of hard to have a nonfiction book about cities that doesn't discuss human stupidity.
Also some cool stuff, but not all is positive, Like roundabouts. The book touts them as great, I personally HATE them, They make a sort of sense, but most people driving in one have NO clue what they are doing and I always feel like I am taking my life in my hands when I drive in one.
This book is informative in a fun way and has short segments, so it can be picked up and put down as needed, Reading time comes in bits here and there for me, so that was a positive for me, I would recommend if you enjoy the Podcast, like to read about what humanity can do when they put their mind to it and like to learn in shorter snippets, kind of like form a bathroom reader, but more structured. this would make a good holiday gift,,
My thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an eARC copy of this book to read and review, As shared in the sitelinkQuick Lit series on Modern Mrs Darcy:
My fascination with urban planning is well documented, I love learning the stories behind sidewalk placement, street signs, or parkbuilding, This wellresearched guide to city design reads like an extranerdy encyclopedia and includes illustrations, stories, and explanations of the things we usually overlook, like crosswalk signals, building exits, and left turns.
Highly recommended for your nightstand, or even your coffee table, Reading about architecture can be fun, as well as learning about style elements, landscaping, even the urban animal populations and their effect on urban life, I received a free digital copy of this book via NetGalley for an honest review,
Invisible is consistently one of my favorite podcasts, Even when episodes are focused on topics that I know something about, I always learn something newand more frequently, the episodes highlight things I've never considered in any depth or even never noticed at all.
TheInvisible City is partially a book version of the podcastthat is not to say that the book can be read in lieu of listening to the podcast, because it's far more an accompaniment than a replacement.
It's a collection of short histories and stories about various aspects of the built environment and more, and it's a lot of fun, It lacks something of the charm of the podcast, I think partly because the brevity of the histories no more than a page or two for most don't seem to have the depth of the stories usually covered on the podcast.
But it's still very enjoyable, and it's a great format for reading bits of hereandthere even if you are not inclined to sit down and read it covertocover.
The stories are arranged thematically, and are short and very readable, There's a lot of geographic breadth, tooand it's easy to learn something new even about your own metaphorical back yard, For example, even though I grew up fairly near Edward N, Hines Drive and Hines Park and was familiar with the name, it was not until reading this book that I learned that Edward N, Hines, as a member of the Wayne County Roads Commission, originated the now pretty much universal practice of painting lane markings on roads!
The book is intended to be read both by fans of the podcast and people who have never listened to it, though there are enough nods to the podcast that it may be marginally better to have listened to at least one episode.
Still, it should be interesting and entertaining even to people who are not familiar with the podcastand I suspect that many nonlisteners who pick up the book may be inclined to give the show a listen, too.
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Catch The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide To The Hidden World Of Everyday Design Penned By Roman Mars Expressed As E-Text
Roman Mars