TRIUMPH OF THE CITY How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier

This is a book that everyone is talking about because it ably brings together important ideas that have circulated for years: Cities are great places. We should stop running away from them. Glaeser owes debts he recognizes to Jane Jacobs, David Owen, Richard Florida, and many others. At the same time, his observations are based on his own economic studies over 20 years. Here, he has eschewed his graphs to make his work more accessible for casual readers and listeners. Lloyd James’s clear, warm voice makes this rich mix of economics, history, urban planning, sociology, and Manhattan love wonderfully accessible. His pauses between sentences, clauses, and, sometimes, random words can seem long. But with subtle material like this, they provide time to reflect. F.C. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2011]