The Book Of Cities

This is more like it. True, it’s easier to convey in a tight space a sense of a city than of a country, but the whole approach here is fresher. Over 512 pages, the authors take us on a tour of 250 cities, presented in longitudinal order. Each is given a spread, but here the pictures (drawn from a wide range of libraries) and text usually combine to give a strong sense of place and mood. Arresting display quotes, drawn from sources as disparate as the Bible and the rapper Eminem, make you want to start reading rather than flick over. Here’s Paul Theroux on the first city featured: “The man who is tired of London is tired of looking for a parking space.”

Michael Kerr, Daily Telegraph, 25 September 2004

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