Named by Newsweek magazine to its list of "Fifty Books for Our Time."For sixteen years William Whyte walked the streets of New York and other major cities. With a group of young observers; camera and notebook in hand; he conducted pioneering studies of street life; pedestrian behavior; and city dynamics. City: Rediscovering the Center is the result of that research; a humane; often amusing view of what is staggeringly obvious about the urban environment but seemingly invisible to those responsible for planning it.Whyte uses time-lapse photography to chart the anatomy of metropolitan congestion. Why is traffic so badly distributed on city streets? Why do New Yorkers walk so fastmdash;and jaywalk so incorrigibly? Why arent there more collisions on the busiest walkways? Why do people who stop to talk gravitate to the center of the pedestrian traffic stream? Why do places designed primarily for security actually worsen it? Why are public restrooms disappearing? "The city is full of vexations;" Whyte avers: "Steps too steep; doors too tough to open; ledges you cannot sit on. . . . It is difficult to design an urban space so maladroitly that people will not use it; but there are many such spaces." Yet Whyte finds encouragement in the widespread rediscovery of the city center. The future is not in the suburbs; he believes; but in that center. Like a Greek agora; the city must reassert its most ancient function as a place where people come together face-to-face.
#1156109 in eBooks 2013-03-23 2013-03-23File Name: B00C3K65I6
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Difficult to ReadBy Grace LynnTo be fair; this is a great idea. Create a book of Real Book standards and put the fingerings in and helpful comments. I already found benefit by reviewing the fingering choices for Night in Tunisia. What I do not understand; though; is that if the focus of the book is about developing good choices in fingering; why make the print so small that you can barely read it? I have less than perfect vision; like many people; but even with glasses it is still difficult to read the small numbers. The print should be on the level of the chord symbols in bold. I will have to pencil in everything to make it easily readable. And; I see nothing in this book that addresses walking bass lines; as mentioned in the synopsis of the book; if that is important to prospective buyers.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Guided Left Hand StudyBy Luca RosenfeldThis book has helped me get another perspective on organizing my left hand.Seeing the mapped out fingerings on these bebop heads can really get a bass insidewhat it takes to play in the bebop style. These fingerings do a great job of simplifyingpassages by keeping shifting to a bare minimal.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Incredibly helpfulBy Ben RSThis is a wonderfully efficient and simple tool to help students of the low end gain some more technical facility on the bass while also learning valuable melodies of the 20th century. Thesr fingerlings are extremely well thought out and make playing these beautiful melodies in tune and in time much easier. Mr McKee is a knowledgeable; articulate individual who even provides a few key "notes" about each piece that serve as excellent tips and reminders. I would recommend this book to all bassists.