[lbo-talk] A second read of Jane Jacobs

123hop at comcast.net 123hop at comcast.net
Fri Sep 2 18:53:34 PDT 2011


I read it five years ago and like it a lot. I liked the quality of the writing and the character of her voice. I liked her arguments and was persuaded by them.

Repetitive? Yes. A good editor would have made that book half the length and twice as good.

I don't know that the insights have become commonplace. Downtown Oakland was "rebuilt" according to some of her principles; but just some. And, as it turns out, for the kind of symbiosis she prescribes, a half a loaf is equal to none.

Joanna

----- Original Message ----- From: "// ravi" <ravi at platosbeard.org>

I am trying to read Jane Jacobs (Death and Life…) again, because I don’t remember a word of it from the time I read it 10+ years ago. And this time around, I am finding it tough going. It’s repetitive (like the pages and pages on “eyes on the street”), cloying at times, and the intimations of insights haven’t delivered (at least thus far). What has happened? Have I turned too cynical in old age?

Is it the usual case that some insights have now become so commonplace that they seem cliched even in the original?

—ravi

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