![Uncertainty, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the Struggle for the Soul of Science by David Lindley](https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/9781400079964_p0_v1_s260x420.jpg)
Uncertainty, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the Struggle for the Soul of Science by David Lindley
A seemingly unrelated book relative to planning and designingsmall cities and towns; however, not so fast. The “uncertainty principle” presents a concept of universal usefulness; the bookhelps understand how “thinkers” think; a useful skill. As noted in the review by Scientific American, for those believers in“quantum” theories, “one can extract one bit of information only at the […]
Thinking for a Living: Preparing to Solve Known Problems, Being Ready for Unanticipated Events and Taking Advantage of Opportunities.
Thinking. Every professional regards her/himself as a thinker, a thoughtful person ready to tackle the problems of the day. In general, little time is devoted to thinking about thinking, thinking about the tools available to think about problems and thinking about the various types of problems to be tackled. The purpose of this paper is […]
![Startup Communities, Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City by Brad Feld](https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Brad-Feld-book-image.jpg)
Startup Communities, Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City by Brad Feld
Brad Feld’s book offers a succinct, insightful and readableview into the world of entrepreneurs, the people that start, or co-found, businesses. He also uses the term“community” to reflect a community of interest. He definitely and extensively differentiates the startup community from governments, especially state and local governments. Despite this distinction, he tells us from the […]
The Public Library: The City’s Economic Incubator
HISTORICAL ROLE OF LIBRARIES. Libraries have always served as repositories for a wide range of knowledge. From the Greeks of Socrates and Egyptians with their Royal [Ancient] Library of Alexandria come two central ideas: knowledge is worth collecting and retaining; and knowledge is unbound as to subject or discipline. The concept of libraries has a […]
![Angel City by Patrick Smith](https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/9781561645671_FChigh.jpg)
Angel City by Patrick Smith
After leaving their failed farm in West Virginia, Jared Teeter and his family make their way to Florida, with dreams of fishing, going to the beach, and running their own roadside produce stand. What they find instead is a nightmare in a migrant labor camp, where they become the indentured servants of a soulless crew chief and his […]
![I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan by Stetson Kennedy](https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/stetsonkennedy_220.jpg)
I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan by Stetson Kennedy
Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan six decades ago and exposed its secrets but was criticized for possibly exaggerating his exploits, died on Saturday. He was 94. His death, in hospice care near St. Augustine, Fla., was announced on his Web site. In the 1940s, Mr. Kennedy used the “Superman” radio show to […]
Planning as a Useful Activity: Planning is Preparing to Solve Known Problems, Being Ready for Unanticipated Events and Taking Advantage of Opportunities.
A “PLUG” FOR PLANNING. Amazingly, not everyone believes planning is a useful activity. There are the old “communism” cries that have pretty much disappeared and there are the budget hawks who don’t give priority to anticipating and influencing future events for the betterment of the community. [embeddoc url=”https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/A-Plug-for-Planning.pdf” width=”100%” download=”all” viewer=”google”] FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
Fire by Judy Brown
FIRE ~ Judy Brown What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as […]
Urban Open Space: Leverage the Open Space System to Unify the City
THE IDEA OF “URBAN OPEN SPACE” SYSTEMS. Character towns have extensive areas and lands devoted to parks and open spaces. When systematically organized, the collection of parks, plazas, school grounds, stormwater ponds, protected wetlands, lakes, streams, private lawns and gardens becomes a holistic, integrated system of lands and waters devoted to the city’s health and […]
![City Building in a Hot, Flat and Crowded Post-American World, by Fukuyama, Zakaria and Friedman](https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/9780393334807-us-300.jpg)
City Building in a Hot, Flat and Crowded Post-American World, by Fukuyama, Zakaria and Friedman
Three Views of Governance in the 21st Century: The three books, written before the Great Recession, resonate today. Messrs. Fukuyama, Zakaria and Friedman, collectively, offer important insights and advise to those concerned with building a just, sustainable and prosperous world. Institutions are being attacked and diminished at a time when they should be improved and […]