Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places

by John R. Stilgoe, John Stilgoe

book data

97 ratings, 3.63 average rating, 24 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		32%
4		24%
3		22%
2		11%
1		8%

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published

April 1st 1999 (first published 1998) by Walker & Company

binding

Paperback, 187 pages

isbn

0802775632 (isbn13: 9780802775634)

description

What lies along the highway, just out of sight? How about behind that building? Or under the street? Most of us muse idly about such things as we t...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 154)

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10/12/07

Foster rated it:

bookshelves: policy

Read in August, 2006

The jacket describes this book as being about “the acute observation of ordinary things.” Being a person more than a few have described as “observant”, I was curious to see what Professor Stilgoe had to say about being an everyday explorer.

Stilgoe is the Professor of Landscape History at Harvard, and was featured on 60 minutes a couple of years ago describing the art of exploration, which is the title of the course he teaches. While I didn’t watch the 60 minutes piece, I re...more The jacket describes this book as being about “the acute observation of ordinary things.” Being a person more than a few have described as “observant”, I was curious to see what Professor Stilgoe had to say about being an everyday explorer.

Stilgoe is the Professor of Landscape History at Harvard, and was featured on 60 minutes a couple of years ago describing the art of exploration, which is the title of the course he teaches. While I didn’t watch the 60 minutes piece, I remembered his name as I saw his book on the shelf of Vroman’s, and figured I would give it a try.

Stilgoe has certainly made an art out of exploration, writing extremely eloquently about it. After only a few pages, you soon realize that his writing style has a purpose, he writes how he means to live. He takes you on a meandering journey filled with interesting, yet unlinked, observations. There is exploration aplenty, but to readers more accustomed to writing that approaches a goal of some sort, it may be frustrating.

But Stilgoe does a nice job of taking you by the hand and walking you through our urban environment, all the while pointing out to you features that were previously in the realm of the mundane, but now with a dash of history and a drop of context seem incredibly interesting. On my walk home from a commute spent reading his chapter on “Lines”, I found myself seeing transformers, coaxial cables, and manhole covers for the first time. Like Stilgoe, I was also prompted to wonder why our country persists with creosote daubed telephone poles – when steel or concrete would be a much more solid choice.

However eloquent this book is, after a couple of chapters it becomes less of a pleasant stroll, and more … political. Not in the overt way of proselytizing for a particular party, but selling you on a certain ideal. Stilgoe teaches you not only how to look at various aspects of our urban environment, but he also begins to tell you how you should feel – which aspects are more important than others, and which urban patterns need to make a comeback. While one may not agree with all of his views, he makes a particularly strong case for why the glory days of the railroad will soon return.

Overall this was a pleasant (and quick) read, which made me think a bit more about why things are the way they are, and what that may mean for what they become tomorrow. Unfortunately it didn’t open the treasure chest of secrets I thought it might, but maybe that’s why I’ve already been pegged as “observant.”(less)

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01/24/09

Josh rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I liked the book, but it wasn't quite what I hoped for. I am not sure why, but maybe I wanted more details of the amazing discoveries you might find by being more aware, and less romanticizing of being more aware and traveling slowly. Also, I found the writing style a bit annoying. The phrase The Explorer discovers... must have been used 1000 times

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12/04/08

stephanie rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Not exactly a thrilling read, but a really good book for writing students. As we continue to live our lives at a faster and faster pace, whether that mean actual physical movement or simply the speed at which information travels, Stilgoe theorizes that what we have lost with all this speed is the ability to truly observe the world around us. Through very detailed description and exploration of the simple, every day world, Stilgoe takes the reader on a tour of observation. I say it would be a goo...more

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03/16/08

Steve rated it:

Read in December, 2005

My rating mainly applies to the first parts of the book since I found them to be the strongest. Basically, this book asks you to look at the hidden world or structure around you. He covers things like all the wiring around us, the postal network, roads and other infrastructure we take for granted. It caused me to pay a lot more attention to things, and see if I could deduce what was going on. (For instance, figuring out which lines were cable and which were phone in my neighborhood.) The on...more

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01/26/09

Julia rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Critically, the concepts are good. Some ideas are intriguing. The creative writing aspect is an admirable attempt but has some rough edges.

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04/21/08

Amanda rated it:

Read in January, 2001

I had high hopes for this book. I think I heard a good review or an interesting interview with the author on NPR.

The better parts of the book made me aware of some of the underlying structure of cities, answering some "why" questions about things like utility lines and manhole covers — nice little things to notice while walking my dog.

But the interesting bits were buried in so many words! I finished it, but was disappointed that the piece that drew me to t...more

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05/11/08

Jennifer rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Jennifer by: Rick Darke's Reading List

"Get out now. Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people...Go outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, look around...Abandon even, momentarily, the sleek modern technology that consumes so much time and money now, and seek out the resting place of a technology almost forgotten. "

This book is about changing your perspective into that of an explorer. An explorer of the forgotten, neglected and somet...more

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12/08/08

Lacy rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2005

Wonderful and interesting - what more can you ask from a non-fiction book?

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06/26/08

Trenton rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Stilgoe writes a sort of combination field guide and manifesto for exploring the built environment. It urges you to get outside, on foot or bike, by showing you just how interesting the connections, histories and hidden meanings behind the parts of the built landscape. Stilgoe's work is in the same vein as Paul Groth, whose class at Berkeley on the built environment was one of my favorites. It's a quick read and basically packed with insights that will keep coming back to you every time you g...more

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03/24/09

Shana rated it:

Read in April, 2009

received as a birthday present!

just finished it. it made me smile... i especially enjoyed reading this book while on the bus or the train, and taking a moment to look outside the windows.

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12/02/07

Michael rated it:

title is goofy, but this is actually a perfect book for lying inside on your couch on a sunny day. it practically reads itself. the idea is that the author will bring your immediate surroundings to life by explaining the history and systems behind the landscape of your everyday life... trees and powerlines, the railroad, the back faces of strip malls, the postal service.

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07/15/07

Matt rated it:

Did you ever wonder about train tracks? Or manholes? Or diagonal storefront parking? Well, I sure did. And then I read this, and for the next couple of weeks I almost wrecked my bike like twenty times because I couldn't stop looking at every single fire hydrant that I passed. Luckily, I have made a concerted effort to become less observant since then.

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07/05/07

John P rated it:

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone who once spent, and now doesn't, a lot of time outside as a kid.

A book length encouragement to spend more time outside. Great factoids about the size of an acre, Jefferson versus Adams, gardening practices of motels, and southern versus northern livestock rearing. If this was only 25-50 pages it would be an amazing essay. As is, I enjoyed it because of the subject but it suffered slightly from redundancy.

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01/15/09

Whitney rated it:

I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested in learning about the history of freeways or sidewalk cracks or anything else in this book. It's a slow read, and it's very boring, and it's basically just a compilation of obscure facts about the metropolitan landscape.

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05/30/08

Amanda rated it:

bookshelves: other-nonfiction

recommends it for: anyone interested in urban and suburban exploration

One of my favorite books ever. Describes the urban and suburban landscape as it shows how human habits have evolved over the past couple of centuries.

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