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The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by [Roman Mars, Kurt Kohlstedt, 99% Invisible]

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Roman Mars

Kurt Kohlstedt

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design Kindle Edition

by Roman Mars (Author), Kurt Kohlstedt (Author), 99% Invisible (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

1,451 ratings

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__________

Out now: The most entertaining and fascinating book to give this Christmas, from the wildly popular podcast 99% Invisible.
__________

A New York Times Bestseller

'Full of surprises and quirky information . . . a fascinating journey through the over-familiar.' - Financial Times, Best Books of 2020

'[A] diverse and enlightening book . . . The 99% Invisible City is altogether fresh and imaginative when it comes to thinking about urban spaces.' -The New York Times Book Review

'A delightful book about the under-appreciated wonders of good design' - Tim Harford, bestselling author of The Undercover Economist and Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy

'99% Invisible goes deep on the design and architecture we tend to overlook - this is it in glorious guidebook form . . . fascinating.' Wired
__________

This is 99% Invisible.
__________

A beautifully designed guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities, from the creators of the wildly popular 99% Invisible podcast

Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk mean?

Or stopped to ponder who gets to name the streets we walk along?

Or what the story is 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 and beautiful line drawings throughout, 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.
__________

You are about to see stories everywhere, you beautiful nerd. Now get out there.

'If you've ever wondered why our world is the way it is, this show has your answers' The Hustle

'99% Invisible...is completely wonderful and entertaining and beautifully produced...' Ira Glass, This American Life

'The hugely inventive 99% Invisible treats the design of everyday things like a forensic science.' WIRED

Length: 490 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Audible Narration: Audible Narration Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible narration. Add narration for a reduced price of $10.49 after you buy the Kindle book. Ready	Language: English

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Product description

Review

The ideal companion for city buffs, who'll come away seeing the streets in an entirely different light. - Kirkus

Here is a field guide, a boon, a bible, for the urban curious. Your city's secret anatomy laid bare -- a hundred things you look at but don't see, see but don't know. Each entry is a compact, surprising story, a thought piece, an invitation to marvel. Together, they are almost transformative. To know why things are as they are adds a satisfying richness to daily existence. This book is terrific, just terrific. - Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Grunt

I can hear Roman's dulcet tones as I read through this book. It's absolutely fascinating to get an in depth look at the city through their eyes, my walks will never be the same again. 100% brilliant. - Roma Agrawal, author of Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures

We usually define cities in terms of their bigness, so it's easy to forget that our daily experience of any city is made up of countless tiny, intimate encounters. Just as Jane Jacobs did fifty years ago, Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt provide a new way of seeing urban life, finding secrets and surprises behind every sewer grate, storefront, and street sign. - Michael Bierut, design critic and author of How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World

Conversational, bite-size entries [and] beautiful tricolor illustrations . . . A field guide for anywhere. - Booklist

The 99% Invisible City brings into view the fascinating but often unnoticed worlds we walk and drive through every day, and to read it is to feel newly alive and aware of your place in the world. This book made me laugh, and it made me cry, and it reminded me to always read the plaque.' - John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All The Way Down

[A] diverse and enlightening book . . . The 99% Invisible City is altogether fresh and imaginative when it comes to thinking about urban spaces. - The New York Times Book Review

'The Invisible City is not a book, but a pair of magic glasses that transform the mundane city around you into a vibrant museum of human ingenuity.' - Justin McElroy, podcaster and New York Times bestselling author of The Adventure Zone --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Roman Mars (Author)

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.

Kurt Kohlstedt (Author)

Kurt Kohlstedt has written about design and built environments for over a decade, since founding the online magazine WebUrbanist in 2007. He is digital director and producer of 99% Invisible.

99% Invisible (Author)

99% Invisible is a podcast about all the thought that goes into the things we don't think about - the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. With nearly 300 million downloads, 99% Invisible is one of the most popular podcasts in the world. It has won a Third Coast Festival award for Best Documentary, two Podcast Academy awards, and two Webby Awards for Best Podcast and Best Host.

--This text refers to the hardcover edition.

ASIN : B084D9ZCP6
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton; 1st edition (6 October 2020)
Language: : English
File size : 40068 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 490 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 75,399 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 5 in Maps
- 5 in Specialty Travel Guidebooks
- 6 in Urban & Land Use Planning (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
1,451 ratings

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Customer reviews

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3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Australia

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le Grande Banane

If you enjoy the podcasts, then you will love the book!

Reviewed in Australia on 16 January 2021

Verified Purchase

My late father taught me to have a small pocket size notebook on hand at all times and make note of words, phrases and objects that I may observe during my daily travels. When I arrived home in the evening, settle down with a small glass of scotch and access to my reference books (dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopaedia etc) and try and make sense of my notes... the internet and smart phones now make this task very easy, but the principles remain the same... to learn something new every single day. The original podcast of "99% Invisible" dropped into my lap one day a few years back and look forward to each new episode. I laughed at the irony of having a book based on the original podcasts and I could not wait to get my hands on a copy asap. An absolute delight, complete with illustrations and diagrammes.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Awesome Book

Reviewed in Australia on 5 December 2020

Verified Purchase

Love your work.

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Top reviews from other countries

Robby Green

There are NO pictures, just some vague illustrations.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2020

Verified Purchase

Good book, the content is interesting and informative. The illustrations are just ok. I feel as if I really want to see the things being described, the way I do when I listen to the podcast and the illustrations are just vague sketches with no real detail. I believe the book has missed the opportunity to give listeners what they would ultimately like, a photograph of what is being described. I would have loved to have a book with less words and more pictures, diagrams and arrows with captions.

19 people found this helpful

Rhys

Terrible Ebook, OK Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2020

Verified Purchase

As a 99pi listener, many of the topics have been covered before, so this was a little bit repetative, however unlike the podcast where the tiniest of details are laboured over, the book rushed over things quickly, leaving you wanting more. Most "items" are a page long, leaving you with more questions than anything. There are more informative sections which are longer, and are by far the best parts of the book, but there aren't enough of them.
In addition, the "images" in the book are more like hand drawn illistrations that don't really help with information or added effect. They could have been left out.

Over all, its an OK book, and worth a read, but if you're really interested in this stuff, listen to the podcast instead.

Finally, I first purchased the ebook, which was formatted in a TERRIBLE way. It was simply unreadable thanks to forced fonts, a light grey background on everything and then slightly darker, but still pretty light grey font color. I then went out to buy the actual book. If you intend to get this; don't get the ebook.

9 people found this helpful

Retro Scendence

Kindle version difficult to read, or maybe user error?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2020

Verified Purchase

The text in the Kindle version is light grey making it hard to read. I have checked the settings on my device and compared to other books and it only seems to be an issue with this book. You can see the 'book progress' text in the picture is the normal blackness in contrast to the lighter body text.

I will be happy to amend or remove this review if it's a case of user error.

I'm a big fan of the podcast and I'm sure the book will be fantastic once I am able to read it.

10 people found this helpful

Yet Another Alias

A beautiful book, from the king of the beautiful nerds. Buy it. NOW.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2020

Verified Purchase

If you're listened to the 99% Invisible podcast, then you already know what you're getting. If you haven't, then you really, really ought to.

Physically, the book is absolutely gorgeous to look at and to hold. Roman has, of course, a keen eye for design - and it shows in every aspect. The paper, the layout, the illustrations... everything. It's truly exquisite work.

The content is fascinating. So many things that are "that way for a reason" that you probably never thought - or even noticed. (Unless, of course, you're a 99pi listener - we DO think about these things)

Buy it. Buy it now. And buy copies for everyone you love.

And remember.... #AlwaysReadThePlaque

(Footnote: my photos show the book along with the challenge coin that was available to those that pre-ordered)

One person found this helpful

G. Crook

Prepare to have your eyes opened to the wonder that surrounds us all.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 October 2020

Verified Purchase

I’d normally sing a books praises, once I’d reached the end. There’s no need with The 99% Invisible City, it’s clear right from the start that it’s a bit special.

I’m barely 20 pages in before falling in love. The gorgeous illustrations, the perfectly crafted stories of hidden details all around us. Even the size and weight of it had a reassuring presence.

If you know and love the 99% Invisible Podcast this is a must and if you don’t, this is a wonderful introduction.

One person found this helpful

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