Category: Book Notes
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Book Notes: The Nerves and Their Endings
I have been putting off writing these book notes for quite a few weeks. It’s not that I didn’t like the book, quite the opposite. This collection of essays is mostly about the collapse of our climate, but also about the immigrant experience, especially during Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Personally, I thought I had…
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Book Notes: Soft City
The architect David Sim has managed to compile a manifesto on how livable cities ought to be designed. One of his main arguments is to soften the harsh form of built-up density by explicitly designing for as many exposures as possible. Exposing people to their fellow neighbours, be that the immediate neighbours living under the…
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Book Notes: The Intimate City
At the beginning of the pandemic Kimmelman, a New York Times architecture critic went on walks with architects, historians, writers, and others. While the conversations with architects were for the most part approachable, very few of them stuck in my memory. On the other hand, I enjoyed the walks with historians and local activists. Especially…
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Book Notes: Sojourn
Captivatingly random, like getting to know a new place In some sense, this short novel manages to capture the essence of coming to a new place. The randomness, fleeting encounters, few of them last, getting lost, etc.In many ways it reminded me of my own first few months after moving to Berlin. I’ve only gotten…