The 99 Invisible City, Roman Mars
The 99 Invisible City, Roman Mars
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The 99% Invisible City
A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design

Bestseller

Author: Roman Mars, Kurt Kohlstedt

Narrator: Roman Mars

Unabridged: 10 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 10/06/2020

Synopsis

From the creators of the wildly popular 99% Invisible podcast, comes a guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities. Narrated by Roman Mars, with a bonus Q&A and a Full Episode of 99% Invisible. Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk mean?Or stopped to consider why you don't see metal fire escapes on new buildings?Or pondered the story behind those dancing inflatable figures in car dealerships?

99% Invisible is a big-ideas podcast about small-seeming things, revealing stories baked into the buildings we inhabit, the streets we drive, and the sidewalks we traverse. The show celebrates design and architecture in all of its functional glory and accidental absurdity, with intriguing tales of both designers and the people impacted by their designs.Now, in The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to Hidden World of Everyday Design, host Roman Mars and coauthor Kurt Kohlstedt zoom in on the various elements that make our cities work, exploring the origins and other fascinating stories behind everything from power grids and fire escapes to drinking fountains and street signs. With deeply researched entries, The 99% Invisible City will captivate devoted fans of the show and anyone curious about design, urban environments, and the unsung marvels of the world around them.

About Roman Mars

ROMAN MARS is creator and host of 99% Invisible, the wildly popular podcast exploring architecture and design, for which he produced the most successful crowdfunding campaigns for a podcast in Kickstarter history. Fast Company named Mars one of the 100 Most Creative People in 2013 and he was a TED main stage speaker in 2015.

About Kurt Kohlstedt

KURT KOHLSTEDT is the digital director and producer of 99% Invisible. Before joining the show, he founded a series of successful online magazines on cities and design, starting with WebUrbanist in 2007. He holds a graduate degree in architecture from the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pop on June 17, 2020

Fascinating Text; Frustrating Lack of Illustrations This book is loaded with odds and ends that run the gamut from well organized long form essays to factoids and bits of trivia. The structure is a touch idiosyncratic but makes reasonable sense overall. I guess that figures for a book drawn primarily......more

Goodreads review by Anne on March 29, 2022

As shared in the Quick Lit series on Modern Mrs Darcy: My fascination with urban planning is well documented. I love learning the stories behind sidewalk placement, street signs, or park-building. This well-researched guide to city design reads like an extra-nerdy encyclopedia and includes illustrati......more

Goodreads review by Randal on July 24, 2020

I found this book to be fascinating! So many little tidbits to be discovered. From subjects as different as the meanings of those little colored paint markings you find on your road, to big things like decisions in historic preservation. It just amazed me as to how my eyes have been opened to so man......more

Goodreads review by Carolyn on October 11, 2020

I am already a plaque reader, but this book opened my eyes to the unseen wonders of the city.......more

Goodreads review by Alicia on June 20, 2020

This is an interesting book about city design that is mostly unknown, but the lack of photos is really frustrating. There are graphic illustrations at times, but as another reviewer mentioned, you really want to see pictures of the elements that are described. Also, I thought it would be more about......more

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