rbhampton's reviews
29 reviews

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss

hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

challenging dark hopeful informative tense fast-paced

5.0

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, though I hope to never need its contents. There are times when it can feel like the clouds of inevitability are rolling in, and that, in the face of what is to come, there is nothing we can do.

Snyder outlines, in an incredibly succinct and digestible book, what exactly you the individual can do to defend the freedoms and Democracy that we all hold dear. From small things like reading books, to medium things like engaging in civil society, to asking the reader to make the ultimate sacrifice in the face of Tyranny, Snyder presents a compelling case for what he sees happening in the western liberal world and its eerie similarities to some of the darkest times of our shared history.

Read this book. Then read it again. Then share it with a friend or family member. Then read it again.

Then act.

Blue Urbanism: Exploring Connections Between Cities and Oceans by Timothy Beatley

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hopeful informative slow-paced

2.0

While this book has amazing intentions and a solid purpose, it fails to deeply inform the reader on the central thesis of “How can we design cities to minimize impact on ocean environments. This book spends its ~170 pages jumping from anecdote to anecdote, city to city, mentioning some tried and true mitigation tactics such as bio swales and rain gardens, with a heavy focus on education and engagement.

Personally I was hoping for something with more depth and more analysis.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

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informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced