What We’re Reading

So many books. So little time.

Strong Towns Local Conversations are, it’s worth repeating, DIY. Grass roots. Bottom-up. Professionals and practitioners in the urban live/work/play spaces are always welcome and their expertise is often sought. The rest of us teach ourselves, and in that pursuit, for about 18 months or so, ST Metro MKE has had a book club. Not the classic book club, as there is no actual assigned reading and no one will ask you to lead a discussion of the wonky 600-pager you could not quite finish in time. Instead we get together and talk about whatever we just finished or are in the middle of reading (no Joan Collins please) and exchange ideas and learnings. A pretty solid inventory has been assembled - but this is just for starters.

To be sure, these probably aren’t beach reads (although it can be done!). Some of these titles are technical and targeted to the pros; others are, dare we say, downright entertaining and enlightening to those of us who had never before heard of “induced demand.”

From Evan, who read Bicycle City by Dan Piatkowski: “They noted that despite 80% of cars sold in Norway being electric and 50% of all vehicles existing in Oslo being electric, emissions hadn’t really changed over a span of 15 years until they decided to start closing streets to cars entirely.”

From John, who read Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam: “People find themselves alone in the dislocations that Putnam outlined in the suburbanization and individuation of the US. The dislocations of the virtual world and a polarized political world, and a vastly different demographic world in the US and other countries pile on top of that--an astonishing level of loneliness.”

The next Book Notes Reading Group meets upstairs at the Milwaukee Public Market on Tuesday March 31st at 6pm.