on the reading list

1. Scientific American, September 2011, special issue on cities. (Look out for the William Gibson essay!)

2. Ultima Thule, by Davis McCombs who is a tremendous poet. Tremendous. Also knows his Kentucky caves inside out. I have nothing but respect for that.

3. Jane Jacobs, The Death & Life of Great American Cities.

4. Jonathan Watts, the Guardian’s environment/ China correspondent, When A Billion Chinese Jump. A sort of travelogue with rant, but perhaps less rant and more surprise than you might expect. This was not one of those books I wanted to have read; it was one of those books I wanted to have written.