The Book Of Cities

With so many books focusing on the great outdoors, it is refreshing to see one dedicated to the metrophiles amongst us. This is Philip Dodd’s and Ben Donald’s take on 250 global cities they describe as must-sees – in these days of unprecedented city-breaking, a not unachievable target.

The authors’ selection is organised by longitude, which makes a kind of sense, but can seem quite random – the book skips from London and Brighton straight to Accra, Valencia, Bordeaux, Oxford and Ouagadougou. The (sometimes whimsical) text on the history, character and lay of the land is accompanied by character-snapshot photos, quotes from well-known observers, and facts and figures such as famous natives, and twin cities. There’s certainly a great mix in here – global diversity brought into sharp focus, from a firmly urban perspective.

Wanderlust, November 2004

< Back to The Book Of Cities