CITIES
Book ID/图书代码： 11320004B07542
English Summary/英文概要： A magisterial study of the city from its beginnings to the mega-conurbations of today.
Cities is a fascinating exploration of the nature of the city and city life, of its structures, development and inhabitants.
From the ruins of the earliest cities to the present, John Reader explores how cities coalesce, develop and thrive, how they can decline and die, how they remake themselves. He investigates their parasitic relationship with the countryside around them, the webs of trade and immigration they rely upon to survive, how they feed and water themselves and dispose of their wastes. The book is a sweeping exploration of what the city is and has been, fit to stand alongside Lewis Mumford’s 1962 classic The City in History.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 这是一段对人类城市发展历史的权威考究，从其诞生之初直至今日的国际化大都市云集涌现，《城市》为我们深入探索了城市以及城市生活的本质，对其结构构成，发展状况以及居民情况进行了深度剖析，可谓精彩纷呈。 从早年的城市废墟到当下五彩斑斓的都市，约翰•雷德为我们详细探索了一些城市的融合、发展以及繁荣史，同时他也为我们探究了另一些城市的没落以及消亡史，以及他们如何再次走向兴旺与发达。雷德仔细调查了城市与其周边乡村间相互依赖共存的关系，其赖以生存的商业网分布以及人口迁移，甚至其自我供给水与食物的方式和他们处理自身垃圾废物的方法。本书从更为宽泛的角度，详细探索了城市从古至今的种种面貌，堪称可与刘易斯•马姆福德在1962年所著的不朽典籍《历史上的城市》相提并论。(DC)
Awards/获奖情况：在雷德诸多有关于城市的精彩论著中，他总是能够轻而易举地否定掉人们所谓的那些乡村生活比城市生活更值得推荐的论断，在他的作品中，他总能详细地为我们解释从苏美尔文化发源以来城市变一直保持高度文明的种种原因。18世纪时，世界上仅有不到10%的人口居住在城市中，而时至今日，城市常驻人口已超过世界人口总数的一半。相对于那些不具备城市生活环境的地区而言，城市能够为我们提供更多的经济机会，更多的智力与社会发展空间。尽管如此，生活在城市中的人们的生活需求却需要靠城市以外的环境为他们提供（城市用地仅占世界土地总量的不到2%，但对于资源的消耗却占据了整个自然界资源消耗的将近三分之一）。因此，雷德大胆假设，在未来，城市需要极大提高其自身居民的生活质量以提高并维持其自身生活需求，这样，他们在生态上的巨大消耗才不会破坏地球上的其他资源。雷德在本书中从历史角度及人类学角度对城市进行了深度探索与剖析，其关注重点为欧洲与非洲（本书的不足之一便是没有对亚洲进行相应的关注，因为亚洲的人口过度拥挤其实是一个极需关注的普遍现象）。尽管本书中充满了大量的数据，然而其全面而丰富的内容相信还是极为值得一阅的，尤其是对历史学家，人类学家，社会学家以及城市居住者而言，本书应该可谓妙趣横生。---《出版家周刊》 “本书是对于我们现下居住着的，或是将要居住的地方的一场极为宏大的历史性记载。”---康德•纳斯特 旅行者
“一部叫人读来十分愉悦的作品。”---《时代》
In his often captivating treatise on the city, Reader (Pyramids of Life) squelches the notion that country living is preferable to urban living, explaining in detail how cities actually maintain civilization and have done so since Sumerian times. More than half the world’s population now lives in cities, compared with less than 10% in the 1700s. Cities provide more economic opportunities, and more intellectual and social stimulation than nonurban life. But the demands of their populations must be met from outside the city itself. (Cities cover only about 2% of the world’s land mass, but require nearly three-quarters of its resources.) Thus, posits Reader, cities will need to improve for the quality of life of their inhabitants to improve—and to sustain themselves without damaging the rest of the planet with their heavy ecological footprints. He explores cities’ historical and anthropological elements, focusing particularly on Europe and Africa (one of the book’s flaws is the short shrift given to Asia, where overcrowding is phenomenal). Although heavy on statistics, this thorough and readable look at urban growth will interest historians, anthropologists, sociologists and urban dwellers. Illus. ---From Publishers Weekly
“A superb historical account of the places in which most of us either live or will live.”---Condé Nast Traveller
“Vastly entertaining.”---Time
About the Author/作者介绍： 约翰•雷德，作家，摄影记者，作者拥有伦敦大学人类学学院名誉研究员称号，并且是黄家人类学院以及皇家地理协会的一员。 John Reader is an author and photojournalist. He holds an Honorary Research Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology at UCL and is a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Royal Geographic Society.
Format:照片
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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