Geoff Manaugh Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

Geoff Manaugh

Some diagrams taken from Keith Critchlow’s “Order in Space.” Geometry is a way of getting from one point to another; structures result when you emphasize certain routes. https://t.co/BFb7Mm2JbB (originally spotted a while ago via @MrPrudence) https://t.co/4OqqgNpNg1

Geoff Manaugh

@wikkit @mouthofmorrison It’s about a pre-modern era, but “Map Of A Nation” by Rachel Hewitt is excellent—on early British mapping-survey teams and the weird instruments they used to achieve large-scale triangulation.

Geoff Manaugh

I like this use of Umberto Eco’s novel, “The Island of the Day Before,” as a design inspiration for a thesis project set on Wrangel Island, which is cut in two by the international date line. By Taylor Ray, a student at Victoria University of Wellington. https://t.co/eDi65DYMlG https://t.co/FkvGaGLmZF

Geoff Manaugh

Only tangentially related here, but I really enjoyed Anya Bernstein’s recent book “The Future of Immortality,” described as “a gripping account of the Russian visionaries who are pursuing human immortality.” Worth a read. https://t.co/etPQNcW8CO

Geoff Manaugh

@localecologist Don’t know if this is what you’re looking for—it’s not an ID handbook or an urban tree guide, but a kind of arboreal travelogue, including a visit to apple forests in Kazakhstan—but “Wildwood” by Roger Deakin is fantastic. https://t.co/oemMPWfVkf | https://t.co/4BO7lILJwC

Geoff Manaugh

@jsrailton A bit more on the “true crime” side of things, but “The Adversary” by Emmanuel Carrère is superb and worth reading. https://t.co/MRK8MlUgqk

Geoff Manaugh

@Eaterofsun I’d put in a strong word for “Cadillac Desert” by Marc Reisner (1986). “The Control of Nature” by John McPhee (1987) is also incredible, although, in terms of policy, perhaps not particularly influential.

Geoff Manaugh

Big bookstore run today, picked up “Land of Big Numbers“ by @tepingchen (https://t.co/yQ07IFZK9c), “Northernmost” by @petergeye (https://t.co/Lz7jHDlkYp), and Jennifer Hofmann’s “Standardization of Demoralization Procedures” (https://t.co/8dnX1gDiAQ). Stoked to read all three. https://t.co/UVWItPRAix

Geoff Manaugh

@ctbeiser Not what you’re looking for, but check out chapter 8 of W.G. Sebald’s “The Rings of Saturn”—on the decline of Irish ancestral homes, mansions snowflaking inside with dried plaster, whole wings sealed off, leaks everywhere, once-great families living in architectural decrepitude.

Geoff Manaugh

@Eaterofsun I’d put in a strong word for “Cadillac Desert” by Marc Reisner (1986). “The Control of Nature” by John McPhee (1987) is also incredible, although, in terms of policy, perhaps not particularly influential.