Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday PlacesOutside Lies Magic is a book about the acute observation of ordinary things, about becoming aware in everyday places, about seeing in utterly new ways, about enriching your life unexpectedly. For more than 20 years, John R. Stilgoe has developed and practiced the art of exploring the everyday world around us, where so much lies hidden just beneath the surface, offering uncommon knowledge if we but know what to look for. In this remarkable book, Stilgoe inspires us to become explorers on our own-on foot or on bicycle-and by so doing to reap the benefits of escaping, even temporarily, the traps of our programmed lives. "Exploration encourages creativity, serendipity, invention," he writes. And while sharing his insights on how to explore, Stilgoe provides a fascinating pocket history of the American landscape, as striking in its originality as it is revealing. Stilgoe dissects our visual surroundings; his observations will transform the way you see everything. Through his eyes, an abandoned railroad line is redolent of history and future promise; front lawns recall our agrarian past; vacant lots hold cathedrals of potential. From the electrical grid overhead to fences, malls, and main streets, Stilgoe offers a fresh understanding of the links and fractures in our society. After reading Outside Lies Magic, your world will never look the same again. |
Other editions - View all
Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places John R. Stilgoe Limited preview - 1999 |
Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places John R. Stilgoe No preview available - 1998 |
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abandoned abutting acres Americans angle parking atop automobile backyards bicy bicycle bike building built environment cables cars chain-link fencing cities cluster commercial strip companies corridor dirt ecosystem electric enclaves especially everywhere explorer finds explorer knows explorer learns explorer realizes explorer walking Express Mail farm front frontage roads gasoline station highway system homeowner houses interstate highway interstate highway system land lawns letter carrier light limited-access roads lines look Main Street metal fences miles motel motorists notice ordinary landscape owners parallel parking parking lots past pavement Pennsylvania Turnpike plants plorer poles post office Postal Service railroad rails railway post office rarely residential retail ride rights-of-way roadkill route rural shopping mall sidewalk signs small-town sometimes sort space stand stopped street trees suburban telephone tion town track traffic trains trespass trucks urban vacant lot walker or bicyclist walking or pedaling wires wood zip code