Rating: 
Summary: author has a superior attitude
Review: The author gives the impression that he is superior to the rest of us - indeed, that he is the only one who notices the skeleton behind everyday things in our environment. Does he really find such desolation of spirit as he bikes around America? I'm glad I read the librarycopyof this book instead of buying it as I had intended to do, based on a review in the New Yorker magazine.
Rating:
Summary: author has a superior attitude
Review: The author gives the impression that he is superior to the rest of us - indeed, that he is the only one who notices the skeleton behind everyday things in our environment. Does he really find such desolation of spirit as he bikes around America? I'm glad I read the librarycopyof this book instead of buying it as I had intended to do, based on a review in the New Yorker magazine.
Rating: 
Summary: Its a Start...
Review: This book should please anyone who enjoys spending time walking, in-line skating, or bicycling around the margins of the landscape that Americans have crafted (and often later abandoned or forgotten) during the last few centuries. Stilgoe seems to believe that such casual observation is a far rarer pastime than I suspect it is (and perhaps that it should be less a mere pastime than a virtuous calling).That doubtless accounts for the excess of zeal that I think has crept into his text. Stilgoe is unquestionably right, however, that further inquiry into the little puzzles encountered in these marginal landscapes will reward anyone with a mildly inquisitive bent. Stilgoe himself rewards the reader with insights into the interplay of diverse forces that can be read in the patina of an inhabited landscape (e.g., the less-than-obvious relationship between a townscape of tree-lined streets and an economic base sufficient to support municipal fire-suppression services). I doubt that Stilgoe was trying to prescribe a program of action to "rescue" or "restore" the landscape, or in fact to do anything but to "regain awareness," as the subtitle puts it. Should this book be the start for a reader interested in such things? The story that Stilgoe tells about the experience of close observation should make it an accessible beginning. But some readers might wish to begin with one of the other writers and scholars closely associated with observation of the American landscape, e.g.: Grady Clay's "Close-Up, How to Read the American City" (1980), "Right Before Your Eyes: Penetrating the Urban Environment " (1987), and "Real Places: An Unconventional Guide to America's Generic Landscape" (1994) John Brinckerhoff Jackson's "Discovering the Vernacular Landscape" (1986), "A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time" (1994), and "Landscape in Sight: Looking at America" (1997) James Howard Kunstler's "The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape" (1994) and "Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the Twenty-First Century" (1996)
Rating:
Summary: Better insights than prescription for action
Review: This book should please anyone who enjoys spending time walking, in-line skating, or bicycling around the margins of the landscape that Americans have crafted (and often later abandoned or forgotten) during the last few centuries. Stilgoe seems to believe that such casual observation is a far rarer pastime than I suspect it is (and perhaps that it should be less a mere pastime than a virtuous calling). That doubtless accounts for the excess of zeal that I think has crept into his text. Stilgoe is unquestionably right, however, that further inquiry into the little puzzles encountered in these marginal landscapes will reward anyone with a mildly inquisitive bent. Stilgoe himself rewards the reader with insights into the interplay of diverse forces that can be read in the patina of an inhabited landscape (e.g., the less-than-obvious relationship between a townscape of tree-lined streets and an economic base sufficient to support municipal fire-suppression services). I doubt that Stilgoe was trying to prescribe a program of action to "rescue" or "restore" the landscape, or in fact to do anything but to "regain awareness," as the subtitle puts it. Should this book be the start for a reader interested in such things? The story that Stilgoe tells about the experience of close observation should make it an accessible beginning. But some readers might wish to begin with one of the other writers and scholars closely associated with observation of the American landscape, e.g.: Grady Clay's "Close-Up, How to Read the American City" (1980), "Right Before Your Eyes: Penetrating the Urban Environment " (1987), and "Real Places: An Unconventional Guide to America's Generic Landscape" (1994) John Brinckerhoff Jackson's "Discovering the Vernacular Landscape" (1986), "A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time" (1994), and "Landscape in Sight: Looking at America" (1997) James Howard Kunstler's "The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape" (1994) and "Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the Twenty-First Century" (1996)
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking and intriguing
Review: This books speaks of the how's and why's of the everyday infrastructure around us -- wires, roads, buildings, services. Even if the style of writing sometimes wore on me, I enjoyed the nuggets of history that were brought to the surface and examined. Reading the book is like taking a walk with a friend who has spent countless hours studying commonplace structures and patterns and has researched the connections between their present forms and their past functions. That friend will intrigue you, annoy you, educate you and won't always be right--but you'll have fun. (Do I hear Cliff Claven?) Keep your grain of salt handy. In the book Stilgoe refers twice to the plant "Fragmenties". Is there such a plant? I can't find it. Is he referring to "Phragmites"? If so, it's not an "alien invader" but a common plant that's become a nuisance as it finds more and more habitat to overrun. Is this loose fact-checking (i.e. there is no such thing as Fragmenties), or esoterica of the highest level (i.e. there is a Fragmenties and it's known only to the cognoscente)? Still, when you're done with this book you will probably find yourself actively observing more or perhaps even walking on your own local historical adventures--if that's not what lead you to this book in the first place. What more could you ask? Along with some of the books suggested above, I'd also recommend all the books by Eric Sloane (Our Vanishing Landscape, for example) which are more accessible and less pedantic.
Rating: 
Summary: Guide to interacting with the visual environment
Review: Though you may get more detailed info on some of the specific subjects covered in this book, the point really is that if you get out on foot or bicycle you can begin to relearn visual acuity. It is not the end all be all guide to the visual landscape but rather a call to arms. Most people wonder at the keen perception demonstrated by observers in previous centuries, Stilgoe spells out why we have lost this and how we may regain it. His chapters are inticements and not academic. For proof of Stilgoe's total mastery of landscape history read any of his previous works. I can't think of a similar book on the market today that addresses the urban landcsape, the everyday and does not romanticize the wilderness "preserves" of the park service. Excellent. Don't read it unless you plan to get off your butt.
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