Exploring the Anatomy of a City: A Comprehensive Guide to Urban Living

ankita sahuankita sahu: Good quality pages. Came in very good condition. I was really waiting for this book to arrive and it didnt disappoint me. Its mostly filled with details about new york city. A good read.

India on Jun 20, 2021

haem: J’adore ce livre et les autres livres de kate archer.
Cela explique visuellement et simplement la complexité des sujets traités.
Attention, c’est en anglais (même si les images aident a la compréhension.

France on Sep 08, 2019

Kevin: This book serves as a great introduction to the mechanics of city planning, focusing mainly on infrastructure of cities such as roads, electricity, water. It does not focus too much on the service and social aspects of the cities like parks, museums, police, hospitals, schools, migration/commuting, etc. The illustrations are very colorful and vibrant. However, it is not as detailed as I would like it to be. There are many modes of transportation of passengers not covered in this book, including buses, ferries, commuter rail, and taxi. It's too bias towards subways. I still enjoyed looking at the pictures and diagrams. Although the text is slightly outdated and could use some updates, such as the construction of the Second Avenue Subway.

Overall it's a good book to get a good introduction on the functioning levels of cities.

United States on Feb 17, 2017

Frank D: One is singularly impressed with how Miss Ascher has covered virtually every aspect of the functioning of one of the world's greatest cities. A great feat.

If you love figures, facts and understanding of how a modern city functions (often in ways one couldn't imagine), this tremendously interesting book is a must.

PS. Naturally, some of the numbers have to be adjusted since their original compilation.

United Kingdom on Jan 07, 2017

PenB: Kate Ascher has made super entertaining and informative book about NYC. She answers the questions you walk around the city and briefly wonder but forget to google later. This book should be a requirement for anyone who lives in a big city, whether it's NYC or not, since a lot of it is applicable to all cities. We should all know what's happening below, around and even above us as we move through the city on a daily basis. It's also fun just to gather facts from the book and use them as convo starters or just to look smart at parties. (Giving Ascher credit of course)

United States on Nov 17, 2016

Yame2be: Very nice book. NYC has been choosen to describe all the public aspects of a main city because it is large, evolutive and provides many exemples to envision all aspects of public services. It is not going too deep in technical aspects but sufficiently enough to get a broad understanding. Very useful for me anf it will certainly be for my grand children too.

United Kingdom on Nov 12, 2016

Ben M: Awesome book for infrastructure nerds or anyone who wants to know more about how things work around them. Large-format book that reads like equal parts coffee table book, textbook, and illustrated reference book. Great to read in small chunks, or in a longer session. So much interesting information about New York City all in one place. My only recommendation is that Ms. Ascher and Penguin create a 2nd Edition that incorporates recent events, since the book was published in 2005. (For example the section on electricity would be improved by a discussion of the events during Hurricane Sandy). That being said, essentially everything that is in the book is still timely and relevant. Great read.

United States on Dec 20, 2015

Dr. Tim Parker: I love books like this, that explode both graphically and in words what goes on in, around, and under something. As with all of Ascher's volumes so far, this is along a similar line with lots of graphics (really well done!) and good readable descriptions to accompany the graphics. The subject of this volume, of course, is the city, and what goes on underground, in the buildings, the roads, and the infrastructure of a metropolis.

Younger kids will like the pictures, which are descriptive and explanatory enough that they won't have to read all the text to understand. Adults will like the descriptions in words, which cover all you could need from such a book. I like the two together! While this isn't the first of such a narrative book (and the subject of cities has been tackled in similar books in the best), this one puts it all together, well, just right! Other books I've seen are much heavier on the graphics and lighter on the text, which means some of the detail is lost. The graphics here are a support to the text, and there are quite a few, but I found myself wanting even more!

There's lots of basic information here, all fascinating, but it's the little nuggets of...

Canada on Jun 30, 2014

Harry Matthews: The author of this illuminating guide to the urban infrastructure is obviously a mother, since she has carefully gathered answers to the questions every pre-schooler and grade-schooler might ask. The information and illustrations are skillfully presented and elegantly planned. The writing is lucid and direct. Still and all, a grown-up reader will yearn for more detail. For instance, the book offers details about the newest subway cars, but ignores the scores of older stock still on the rails. It's worth noting, too, the information is based almost entirely on New York. True, it's a large and fascinating place (my home), but a more cosmopolitan approach would have made the book more valuable.

United States on Feb 19, 2009

Gotham Hawkeye: Imagine:

*an illustration of the special machinery used just to clean the ceiling of the Holland Tunnel.

*a sidebar on the "Poo-Poo Choo-Choo" that for years transported waste 2,000 miles (!) from NYC to a dump in Texas.

*a graphic showing payphone distribution density in all 5 boroughs.

*a drawing of the simple but effective interlocking bolts and cross-tie latching that keep the corrugated metal containers on barges connected to each other so upper containers don't slide off lower ones and fall into the water.

*a key to reading construction markings that crews spray paint on the streets.

Such drawings, historical tidbits, and facts are more abundant in this book than leaves in Central Park.

This book is exceptional. As the former Vice-chair of Manhattan Community Board 5 (greater midtown Manhattan), chair of its parks committee, and member of its land use and zoning committee, I can attest to the great value of Kate Ascher's remarkable accomplishment, "The Works." New York City's infrastructure--from garbage collection to traffic control; subway signaling to cable TV distribution among franchise-controlled territories--is one of...

United States on Jan 11, 2006