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High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky by Joshua David, Robert Hammond
duparker's review against another edition
4.0
While in NYC I purchased this book to learn about the development and history of the High Line project. The book is great and a worthy document of the quirky aspects of the park. I say quirky because the park has a lot of variety to it and is just that side of the traditional rail to trail park development model.
The book is the same way. It could just follow the traditional linear path of concept, inception, construction, grand opening, and future plans. It could just document the obstacles, the NIMBY pressure, the costs, the opportunities etc. It includes this information, but it also goes to the quirky side. You have a first person narrative for maybe 100+ pages, alternating between the two co-founders of the Friends of the High Line.
This section is awkward because of the competing voices. I think it could work in a documentary format where voices have sound and you can visually separate the two speakers, but in the written form it is hard to follow. So much so that I decided early on that I didn't care who was "speaking," I just read it as if there was one voice, one narrator. It worked, but I am not sure that I got the affect the authors were hoping for. The information is good and interesting. The political process is explained; the meetings the advocacy etc is similar and different at the same time.
What didn't work, other than the voice, was that this section was hardly broken up at all. It consisted of basically 100 pages of text. A picture thrown in here and there, but overall it was a struggle to pay attention with all the text. Another aspect that detracted was that the authors presume you are from New York City when you read the narrative. I have no idea where Gansevoort Street is. A map would have been nice. What amazed me is that the web site has an incredibly well done interactive map of the park.
Two things pushed the book back up and then over the top. The topic is great and you are interested and want to read about it. It is compelling and human. The second thing are the pictures that finish the book. They are beautiful and dynamic. They tell the story in a much more interesting and absorbing manner
The book is the same way. It could just follow the traditional linear path of concept, inception, construction, grand opening, and future plans. It could just document the obstacles, the NIMBY pressure, the costs, the opportunities etc. It includes this information, but it also goes to the quirky side. You have a first person narrative for maybe 100+ pages, alternating between the two co-founders of the Friends of the High Line.
This section is awkward because of the competing voices. I think it could work in a documentary format where voices have sound and you can visually separate the two speakers, but in the written form it is hard to follow. So much so that I decided early on that I didn't care who was "speaking," I just read it as if there was one voice, one narrator. It worked, but I am not sure that I got the affect the authors were hoping for. The information is good and interesting. The political process is explained; the meetings the advocacy etc is similar and different at the same time.
What didn't work, other than the voice, was that this section was hardly broken up at all. It consisted of basically 100 pages of text. A picture thrown in here and there, but overall it was a struggle to pay attention with all the text. Another aspect that detracted was that the authors presume you are from New York City when you read the narrative. I have no idea where Gansevoort Street is. A map would have been nice. What amazed me is that the web site has an incredibly well done interactive map of the park.
Two things pushed the book back up and then over the top. The topic is great and you are interested and want to read about it. It is compelling and human. The second thing are the pictures that finish the book. They are beautiful and dynamic. They tell the story in a much more interesting and absorbing manner
mikewa14's review against another edition
5.0
interesting story of how the High Line park went from idead to reality
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/high-line-inside-story-of-new-yorks.html
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/high-line-inside-story-of-new-yorks.html
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