BOOK REVIEWS
Books are important. CharacterTowns.org selects and discusses current publications and works from previous generations that still hold wisdom for contemporary city-building. The review also includes published reviews and Youtube links to discussions by or about the author. Books are selected from the attached Suggested Readings.
“Inventor of the Future” by Alec Nevala-Lee
The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller During his lifetime, Buckminster Fuller was hailed as one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century. As the architectural designer and futurist best known for the geodesic dome, he enthralled a vast popular audience, inspired devotion from both the counterculture and the establishment, and was praised as a […]
“The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny” by Bradley Schurman 
From CT.org…Demographics are everything. The age, race, sex, education and ethnicity of the resident, regional and national population influences the town’s, region’s and state’s current and future programs, finances, infrastructure and housing needs. Read The Super Age and Shaping Our Nation, summarized below. You will come to believe – Demographics are everything. The challenge of […]
Index of Book Summaries [2021-present].
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Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller
perating Manual for Spaceship Earth is one of those wonderful books that were written decades ago but still provoke thought, present universal truths, forecast events decades in advance of their occurrence, read like a page-turner and ask why you don’t read it every year… A MUST READ. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
“13 books and reports on science, impacts, solutions, and actors” from Yale Climate Connections
Memorial Day Weekend typically triggers a change in expectations. Afterwards, Americans expect to be baked by summer’s rising temperatures. With that seasonal metaphor in mind, this month’s bookshelf offers a baker’s dozen of titles on the science, history, geography, politics, social ethics, technology, and psychology of climate change. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
“A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future” by Daniel C. Esty
FROM AMAZON: Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and […]
“A Brief History of Earth” by Andrew H. Knoll
How well do you know the ground beneath your feet? Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet of ice, rocked by a nearby meteor strike, or perhaps choked by poison gases, drowned beneath ocean, perched atop a mountain range, or roamed by fearsome […]
“A Clearing in the Distance, Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century” by Witold Rybczynski
From Amazon “In a brilliant collaboration between writer and subject, Witold Rybczynski, the bestselling author of Now I Sit Me Down, illuminates Frederick Law Olmsted’s role as a major cultural figure at the epicenter of nineteenth-century American history. “We know Olmsted through the physical legacy of his stunning landscapes—among them, New York’s Central Park, California’s […]
“A Natural History of the Future” by Rob Dunn
To Understand Our Future on Earth, Look to the Laws That Govern Nature. A Review By Peter Brannen, Dec. 9, 2021 From Mr. Brannen: “Levees surround us. Yes, some hold back rivers that strain against their embankments. But others hold back diseases, which are ready to saturate and overwhelm the fragile walls of antibiotics we’ve erected. […]
“Adrift: America in 100 Charts” by Scott Galloway
From CT.org Professor Galloway describes economic and social conditions in the U.S. using a wide array of statistics; useful in discerning what’s happening in cities. From Amazon: “In Adrift, Galloway looks to the past – from 1945 to present day – to explain just how America arrived at this precipice. Telling the story of our […]
“American Urbanist: How William H. Whyte’s Unconventional Wisdom Reshaped Public Life” by Richard K. Rein
From Amazon… “On an otherwise normal weekday in the 1980s, commuters on busy Route 1 in central New Jersey noticed an alarming sight: a man in a suit and tie dashing across four lanes of traffic, then scurrying through a narrow underpass as cars whizzed by within inches. The man was William “Holly” Whyte, a […]
“Arbitrary Lines” by M. Nolan Gray
From Island Press…“What if scrapping one flawed policy could bring US cities closer to addressing debilitating housing shortages, stunted growth and innovation, persistent racial and economic segregation, and car-dependent development? “It’s time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How […]
“Arrival City, How the Largest Migration in History Reshaped Our World” by Doug Saunders
Arrival City has many instructive ideas for the immigration-driven discussion today; and for those who plan cities. The U.S. used to get this right; and others in the world do so today. Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum in their 2011 book That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How […]
“Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis
From CT.org… The New York Times recently reviewed Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis under the subtitle: “The Novelist Who Saw Middle America as It Really Was.” The review also mentions Main Street by Lewis published two years earlier, 1920. Both novels, both works of fiction, both based on Lewis’ observations about small town America. Good reads […]
“Backdoor Revolution: The Definitive Guide to ADU Development” by Kol Peterson
From CT.org Missing Middle Housing, a term invented by Dan Parolek [ https://islandpress.org/books/missing-middle-housing], has expanded the conversation about how people can live in settings that are not single family homes or apartment complexes. ADUs are a big part of the new mix of housing types as are cottages, duplexes, quadraplexes and small apartment buildings. Add […]
“Better Together, Restoring the American Community” by Robert D. Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein.
“In his national best-seller Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam decried the collapse of America’s social institutions. But while traveling to promote the book, one question came up at every appearance: what can we do to end the atrophy of America’s civic vitality. What can bring us together again? “Seeking an answer to this question, Putnam, a […]
“Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning” by Timothy Beatley
FROM AMAZON… “Tim Beatley has long been a leader in advocating for the ‘greening’ of cities. But too often, he notes, urban greening efforts focus on everything except nature, emphasizing such elements as public transit, renewable energy production and energy efficient building systems. While these are important aspects of reimagining urban living, they are not […]
“Building A Vibrant Community: How Citizen-Powered Change Is Reshaping America” by Quint Studer
From Amazon… Vibrant Communities don’t just happen; they’re built. This book is your blueprint. “Every community wants to become a great place to live and work. The why is no mystery: We want to create a place our children and grandchildren will want to be. We also know the what: We need to attract investments, provide good jobs, and create […]
“Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System” by Douglas S. Massey
From Amazon…“The United States holds the dubious distinction of having the most unequal income distribution of any advanced industrialized nation. While other developed countries face similar challenges from globalization and technological change, none rivals America’s singularly poor record for equitably distributing the benefits and burdens of recent economic shifts. “In Categorically Unequal, Douglas Massey weaves […]
“City Hall: Masterpieces of American Civic Architecture” by Arthur Drooker
FROM AMAZON…City Hall is the first book to feature striking contemporary images of the most architecturally significant city halls in the United States. This diverse collection includes New York, the oldest; Philadelphia, once the tallest building in the world; and Boston, the first major brutalist building in the United States. Organized chronologically, the book traces […]
“City Hall: Masterpieces of American Civic Architecture” by Arthur Drooker
FROM AMAZON…City Hall is the first book to feature striking contemporary images of the most architecturally significant city halls in the United States. This diverse collection includes New York, the oldest; Philadelphia, once the tallest building in the world; and Boston, the first major brutalist building in the United States. Organized chronologically, the book traces […]
“Creating a Vibrant City Center” by Cy Paumier
Creating a Vibrant City Center is a tour de force, a comprehensive discussion of the processes and products that lead to the creation of a great center of the city. His chapters Historical Perspective, Market Components and the many individual components of the city center are insightful and actionable as are his sections on visioning […]
“Design of Cities” by Edmund N. Bacon
Summary Design of Cities is the book one should read when starting a career in design, any kind of design, but building and city design in particular. And, even though “design” is the topic, Mr. Bacon’s Philadelphia experiences permeate the book and strengthen his story. Mr. Bacon was the distinguished executive director of the Philadelphia Planning Commission […]
“Design with Nature 25th Edition” by Ian L. McHarg
FROM AMAZON… “In presenting us with a vision of organic exuberance and human delight, which ecology and ecological design promise to open up for us, McHarg revives the hope for a better world.” –Lewis Mumford “. . . important to America and all the rest of the world in our struggle to design rational, wholesome, […]
“Increments of Neighborhood: A Compendium of Built Types for Walkable and Vibrant Communities” by Brian O’Looney
From Amazon… Intended as a comprehensive resource, Increments of Neighborhood is a compendium of recent built work for urban neighborhoods, encompassing the spectrum of building types financed/built by today’s American real estate industry – from single family and townhouses, through “missing middle” stacked housing, stick-built housing, large multi-family, and high-rise buildings. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
“Isaac Asimov, It’s Been a Good Life” by Janet Jeppson Asimov
“New one-volume autobiography spans Asimov’s life for the first time! As one of the most gifted and prolific writers of the twentieth century, Isaac Asimov became legendary for his inexhaustible creativity, wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, and talent for explaining complex subjects in clear, concise prose. While regaling his readers with an incredible opus of almost five […]
“Land Use Law in Florida” by W. Thomas Hawkins.
“Land Use Law in Florida presents an in-depth analysis of land use law common to many states across the United States, using Florida cases and statutes as examples. “Florida case law is an important course of study for planners, as the state has its own legal framework that governs how people may use land, with […]
“Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath” by Ted Koppel
Implications for Small Cities and Towns. Electricity is the essential infrastructure in America’s economy and society. Small cities and towns have it within their power to establish plans, processes and systems to create a degree of energy self- sufficiency and sustainability for their residents and businesses. While conservation is a big part of the city’s ultimate system, alternative means for […]
“Mirror for Man: The Relation of Anthropology to Modern Life” by Clyde Kluckhohn
From Amazon. “While the world has undoubtedly been shrinking, at the same time it has grown more complex. The likelihood of culture clashes leading to outright conflict is high, perhaps higher than ever. As Andrea L. Smith convincingly argues in her new introduction to this classic work, certain questions are as valid today as in […]
“Mirror for Man: The Relation of Anthropology to Modern Life” by Clyde Kluckhohn
From Amazon. “While the world has undoubtedly been shrinking, at the same time it has grown more complex. The likelihood of culture clashes leading to outright conflict is high, perhaps higher than ever. As Andrea L. Smith convincingly argues in her new introduction to this classic work, certain questions are as valid today as in […]