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I have been reading the encyclopedia "From Dawn to Decline: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life from 65438 to 0500" for some days. The author is Jacques Balzun, a cultural historian and a professor at Columbia University. This book was purchased in early 2003.
For me, this is a serious, profound and interesting book. This 800-page-thick historical masterpiece is fascinating and can be read many times or at any time. I remember reading some books when I was writing this place in Guangzhou, including this one by Bazin. I made a simple comparison between some contents about western urban life in the book and the urban development in Guangzhou. Most importantly, I learned a lot from books. This is my cherished book.
Jacques Balzun is a wise man with a long life. As Anne Fadiman, editor of The American Scholar, said, "Jacques Balzun was born to write this book, but he couldn't have written it at the age of 50. This is a masterpiece, only a master can write it. It takes a lifetime to gain insight from wisdom rather than just knowledge. Thank God, he has a long and healthy life and can finish this book, which others can't even start. "
Barzan 1907 was born in France, and 1920 went to the United States. After graduating from Columbia College, he stayed on as a teacher and served as provost and dean for ten years in a row. He was awarded the critic's gold medal twice by the American Academy of Arts and Literature, and served as the chairman of the Academy twice. He also appeared on the cover of Time in 1956 and won the National Humanities Medal in 20 10. Barzan published more than 30 books in his life. One of the most important encyclopedic works, From Dawn to Decline: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, from 1500 to the present, was published at the age of 92. This book describes the process of western culture from the Renaissance to the end of the 20th century, from 500 years of prosperity to the beginning of decline. It was he who foresaw the decline of western culture. However, he believes that decline does not mean that disappointment is more than hope, but it is likely to become the source of western rejuvenation. This idea runs through the book. After the book was published, it received much attention and praise, and won the National Book Award.
Here, let's review a passage that the longevity wise man said at the beginning of the book: "As long as you look at the year figures, you will know that the 20th century is coming to an end. Further study, we will see that the western culture of the past 500 years will also end at the same time. In view of this, I think it is time to review our great achievements and tragic failures in the past five thousand years in turn. "
Admittedly, this is not a book about cities, but I think people who love cities should read it carefully.
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Just because there are several articles in the book, such as "City Life as a Way of Life" by Voss, an urbanist and representative of Chicago School, and "Metropolis and Spiritual Life" by Simmel, a sociologist and neo-Kantian philosopher, this book is worth your careful search and reading. Of course, more than 20 articles in the book discuss urban life from different angles, which are also wonderful and may be of great help to your urban thinking.
Voss defined a city from a sociological point of view. He said: "In the sociological sense, a city can be defined as the permanent settlement of large-scale and densely populated heterogeneous individuals." Then he described the theory of urban life and its relationship with sociological research. This paper discusses in detail that the huge and dense population leads to the variability and heterogeneity of individuals and breaks the rigid social structure of cities. This is a famous article about urban sociology by Chicago School.
Zimmel's article answered "How can individuals maintain their freedom and individuality in the face of enormous social pressure, historical inheritance, foreign culture and life skills?" Another article in this book commented that Simmel can always successfully and accurately capture the feelings of life in modern urban centers, which should be attributed to Simmel himself as a city resident. His contribution to sociology and the history of European cities is far-reaching.
The rest of the articles in this book mainly focus on urban history, city and society, and urban culture in art. This series is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural comprehensive study based on urban culture research. It is not only a professional reading for the city, but also suitable for readers who love the city.
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This is the fifth series of urban studies, which is equally wonderful. Of course, if you love this city, you shouldn't let it go. In fact, if possible, you should watch every series in this series.
The first book is david harvey's Between Time and Space: Reflections on Geographical Imagination. This important article reflects on the concept of time and space in historical geography, clarifies the author's view of time and space in historical geography, and reflects on the mystery of time and space in social life and social reproduction. This paper includes the author's famous viewpoint of time and space compression-calling the irresistible change of time and space dimension "time and space compression" to help us understand "some chaos in the field of cultural and political production in the capitalist era" ? On the topic of urban space in this book, there is also an article "Urban Community" by Voss, which discusses urban reconstruction and urban planning.
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In the late 20th century, the amazing "unsustainable use and consumption of resources" in cities in developed countries and the excessive expansion and spread of cities caused by the rapid population growth in developing countries have reached a very serious level. As a result, urban scholars in Europe, America and even the whole world began to reflect on the development model of modern cities, and the concept of compact cities came into being. This book is a masterpiece of this important idea, which is a collection of many insightful information books.
What is rare is that this book comprehensively combs and summarizes the emergence of the concept of compact city and the understandings and disputes reached in various aspects, and presents them in detail. For example, in the introduction, the viewpoints of centralization, decentralization and eclecticism on future urban development are introduced and summarized in detail; For another example, in the same part, many articles are discussing "How sustainable can austerity be-how tight can sustainability be?" "Tightening Cities by Densification: An Acceptable Option?" Show full discussion; Another example is the last part of this book, which investigates various attempts to tighten cities in Britain and other regions, and comments on its implementation effect, further pushing the discussion on tightening cities.
This is an extremely wonderful book to explore another urban development model. However, we can learn more from reading.
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For those who care about and love this city, Paris will always be a focus of different degrees. Or can we say that knowing Paris will give you the most basic and necessary understanding of the city (including London, new york, Rome, Jerusalem, Xi 'an, etc.)? Therefore, I recommend this thoughtful history book of Paris.
In the history of modern Paris urban construction, there was a controversial transformation. 1853, Osman was appointed as the chief executive of Paris. This energetic baron reshaped the urban space of Paris according to Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte's "highest ideal" principle, and carried out a large-scale transformation of the urban area, including the traditional central area with Dai Xi Island as the main body and the urban fringe area including the whole of Paris. His "creative destruction" pushed Paris to complete the drastic change of modernity. Osman wants to build a brand-new Paris in the ruins to bid farewell to the old Paris, but the great transformation can not completely break with the past, it only means a new life in the ruins. The story of Paris is a famous case in the history of this modern city.
David harvey is a famous geographer, an important critical intellectual in the world today and one of the important representatives of western Marxism. He now lives in the United States and is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering of Johns Hopkins University. His major works include Interpretation of Geography, The Boundary of Capital, Social Justice and City. The Story of Paris is also his important masterpiece, and I think it is a must-read for readers interested in urban history.
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I seem to have read more books about Paris. Colin Jones, the author, agrees with this view: "If one sees countless works about the history of Paris, he will think that there is nothing to write about. That's all wet. " It is true that it is difficult to write a colorful history of Paris even in a small scope or topic, but the author is determined to finish it in this book. He wants to write "an indescribable history of Paris".
As the translator said, this book has many advantages and characteristics: it is not only a review and description of Paris history, but also a revelation and clarification of French history; It not only explains the historical elite, but also describes the ordinary people. This book covers many aspects in the history of Paris, such as politics, economy, social culture and so on. This book is not only a historical review, but also a realistic description ... In my feeling, as important as the above points, this book has a strong literary flavor, and important character events are often very detailed and meticulous. The author has clear writing standards, and he sought and did write "an unspeakable history of Paris".
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This book introduces nearly 20 historical and cultural ancient cities and hundreds of ancient buildings in Italy and their protection. More importantly, following the pace of the author's on-the-spot investigation, readers can learn more about the Italian cultural attitude and scientific spirit of respecting culture and caring for ancient buildings, and understand the mainstream theories about the protection of cultural relics and historic cities in the world today.
The author is an architect and has written a lot. In this book, we can always read the author's targeted reference opinions during the inspection, so as to improve our understanding and judgment in this respect. For example, in reality, in order to highlight a historic building and eradicate all the surrounding buildings, only the historic building is left alone in a square or green space. The book quotes academic criticism as the "Fascist Protection Law". This so-called protection completely destroys the original relationship between historical buildings and the surrounding environment and distorts historical information. Unfortunately, this barbaric "protection" is not uncommon in our city. So this kind of reading is more valuable and necessary.
This book has hundreds of selected illustrations, which won the pleasure of architectural art when opened for reading.
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People who love the city certainly love urban architecture, and it seems that they should also be interested in understanding the history and art of urban architecture. This high-quality, illustrated and beautifully printed History of Western Architecture: From Ancient to Postmodern can meet your needs to a great extent.
An important advantage of this book is that classical architectural examples should be collected, rich and detailed. Indeed, as "The Translator's Preface" said, the author "carefully selected almost all the classic architectural examples in different periods of western architectural history that readers should know" and made an accurate analysis. I remember one time I actually found in this book/kloc-the Cafe Pedauque built in Padua by the Italian Pedauque coffee family at the beginning of the 9th century, which confirmed how classic the neo-classical café designed and built by architects Giuseppe Yapoli and Antonio Gladney Gege was, and even entered the architectural history. This delightful combination of coffee and architecture has become a part of local people's daily life and a symbol of Padua.
Whenever you open the pages like a picture book and appreciate those historical narratives and those exciting architectural art pictures, you will always feel happy. At the same time, I will thank the author, translator and publisher of this book.
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This book tells the history of the development and evolution of urban streets. From the ancient Roman street, which was considered as the historical prototype of modern city streets in BC 100 years, to the linear grid street and the elevated street in le corbusier, which prevailed in the 20th century, this paper makes a detailed introduction. There are narrow and curved streets in the Middle Ages, straight streets with pure geometric shapes in Italian cities during the Renaissance, low and flat "modern streets" in the United States, Britain, France and other countries, huge cloverleaf interchanges flying in the air, * * * street patterns and compact streets that have appeared one after another in the past half century. ...
There are relatively few works devoted to the study of streets in urban theory, and it is rare to encounter famous works in this field. A book review said that the book "traces the history of street design and planning, criticizes the present situation where we are today, and puts forward some suggestions that are less strictly controlled, more flexible and accommodating, and more suitable for local actual conditions." Another comment pointed out that "this is a book that shows excellent observation."
We walk on the streets of the city, just like wandering in the long river of history that has passed quietly. The author says that it is time to review what has happened with a brand-new eye, and it is also a good time to reflect on the streets, which is the main mission of urban design planners and engineers in the next few years.
(Written by Denghu Lake)
■ This is a small series about urban reading, which will be launched from time to time. Please pay attention. In a sense, this is also the author's personal urban reading history.
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