Rating: 
Summary: Lazy and banal
Review: Anyone who's ever given half a thought to the influences which shaped American cities could have written this book. Rybczynski only brings a pedantic specificity and inane pseudo-historical perspective. It all really falls apart when he trots out de Toqueville. Don't bother reading it. And for God's sake don't waste your money on buying a copy.
Rating:
Summary: Lazy and banal
Review: Anyone who's ever given half a thought to the influences which shaped American cities could have written this book. Rybczynski only brings a pedantic specificity and inane pseudo-historical perspective. It all really falls apart when he trots out de Toqueville. Don't bother reading it. And for God's sake don't waste your money on buying a copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but undeveloped ideas
Review: Author touched upon interesting ideas on why American cities are different than those of the European/Asian cities, but more often than not it reads like a histroy book of urban development, rather than the in depth analysis that one would assume from the title/description. Many key points are revealed, but all need further development before one can be convinced of their validity
Rating: 
Summary: Just one glaring omission.
Review: How does one write a book on city planning and not include a single illustation?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent expose of the often idealized city concept
Review: I read this book as I was considering where to buy a house in the DC Metro area. It was without a doubt the most helpful thing in making a wise choice since there were conflicting ideals regarding the accessiblity to activities if you live in the middle of a city versus the convenience and quality of life of living in a new suburb. In the end, I decided that Mr. Rybczynski had made all the arguments and fleshed them out beautifully allowing me to also discover the value of living in a very old, very close-in suburb. The architecture is interesting, the communities are set up to be cooperative, the drive is quite short to downtown and the only thing I am missing is mega-stores and malls in my neighborhood. This book makes it clear that there are many ways to look at the issue of "whatever happened to city life that I once knew." I could not put it down. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book
Review: I read this book in a high school history class and it was fascinating, a topic that I don't think about but was totally interested by. However, at times it got kind of dull and redundant. I had problems staying awake, though I never actually fell asleep. One of my friends also read this book and tells me that she fell asleep while reading, though it is interesting. It's a good topic, not one that is usually considered, but it was not written in a very exciting manner, but still interesting. There are pictures on the inside covers of the hardcover version. This book asks and answers some very good questions. Really, why are our cities like that? There are answers in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Informative
Review: The back cover contains a quote from Wall Street Journal reviewer Roger Starr, stating that CITY LIFE by Witold Rybczynski is a "fascinating investigation of what cities - especially modern cities - should be like." This isn't strictly true. It's an investigation all right, but one more focused on what modern cities actually are and how they came to be that way, than a manifesto about the way things ought to be. A lot of history is covered, from brief mentions of the earlier dwellings of the Native Americans to the complexities inherent in our modern metropolises.The book focuses mostly upon the development of cities in the United States and Canada. European cities are occasionally mentioned and discussed, but only in how they compare to their North American cousins. It's a history of cities, which combines modern-day thoughts on their development as well as some historical comments from what the people of the time thought of how their cities were emerging. Rybczynski also manages to touch on the roles of commercialism, art, and the unique qualities of North America that have helped to define our cities. Cities did not spring fully-formed, nor were they all laid out at the same time, and the author takes time to explore how different approaches to city planning created vastly differing results. He compares the many different approaches, from the organized and structured to the evolving and improvised. The absolute biggest flaw with this text is that it is indeed just a text. Outside of the cover (featuring a sketching of a 19th Century street-scene and a poignant pre-9/11 photograph of the New York City skyline), there are no illustrations. No pictures, no diagrams, no maps, no charts, no blueprints, no photos -- nothing. Like Alice, I couldn't understand why someone would write a book such as this without including pictures. Rybczynski, therefore, spends far too much time describing city layouts, maps, street diagrams and other visual artifacts, leaving the reader without a pictorial aid. Photographs and maps are described rather than included. It's very frustrating. A picture is worth a thousand words, and in a book that is this heavily involved concerned with what things look like, some pictures would have been invaluable. Rybczynski's writing style is relatively engaging, though he does have an unfortunate tendency to lapse into dry lists of various items (usually one word mentions of various architects and city planners). This can be infrequently distracting, leading one to wonder if perhaps some of the information could have been conveyed in a more interesting way. Still, the history of cities as well as the philosophy behind their growth makes for fascinating subjects, so whatever faults may lie in the book, it is still well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating.
Review: THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I READ LAST YEAR. YOU WILL NEVER LOOK UPON A CITY THE SAME WAY AGAIN. IT IS FILLED WITH INTERESTING FACTS. THE AUTHOR'S WRITING STYLE IS FRESH AND CONVERSATIONIAL. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
Rating:
Summary: Just one glaring omission.
Review: To a city dweller since their early teens, City Life proved to be interesting reading for me. With respect to content, Witold's work is brimming with detail. Despite making his home in a land full of impressive cities with teaming skylines, Witold nonetheless gives European cities the credit they deserve. No sentence seems to be spared as trivia, analogies, historical fact and fiction pour out of the pages like traffic down a busy street. But this is a one way street, since what City Life has in the way of content, it lacks in direction. Witold does not really lead us anywhere in City Life. Each chapter expertly discusses concepts and components of an urban existence, but there does not seem to be a larger argument. Every book should encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions. The problem is, Witold's is not as strong as it could be.
Rating:
Summary: This Book about Cities is an Interesting, but One Way Street
Review: To a city dweller since their early teens, City Life proved to be interesting reading for me. With respect to content, Witold's work is brimming with detail. Despite making his home in a land full of impressive cities with teaming skylines, Witold nonetheless gives European cities the credit they deserve. No sentence seems to be spared as trivia, analogies, historical fact and fiction pour out of the pages like traffic down a busy street. But this is a one way street, since what City Life has in the way of content, it lacks in direction. Witold does not really lead us anywhere in City Life. Each chapter expertly discusses concepts and components of an urban existence, but there does not seem to be a larger argument. Every book should encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions. The problem is, Witold's is not as strong as it could be.
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