Former Toronto mayor John Sewell switches from anecdotal experience (as in his excellent Up Against City Hall) to raw research for this book, an exhaustive look at urban planning in Toronto. Filled with fascinating diagrams of almost-built structures like the Toronto Pyramid and diagonal streets disecting Toronto's grid-like downtown, Sewell discusses many planning projects, both implemented and rejected. In-depth looks at Don Mills ("Canada's first corporate suburb") and St. Jamestown (a superblock requiring extensive demolition) overshadow discussion of the Eaton Centre proposal and the Spadina Expressway, significant projects that got scaled back in the end, and covered in much more detail in other books. For someone who does so much writing about Toronto (Sewell writes a weekly column on Toronto politics for eye Magazine), it's surprising that this is only his third book.

Ever wonder why Toronto is designed the way it is? This book gives you a thorough explanation that's easy to follow. Through former Toronto mayor John Sewell's effective writing, you will see the evolution of Urban Planning throughout his history of Toronto, and you will get a clear picture of where we are going, and where we ought to be going.

I particularly enjoyed this book because it came as a complete surprise to me that it existed and when I stumbled across it in the Christchurch library I couldn't put it down-as I read initially about the family members I knew and then more widely.later I found it also in teh Auckland Public library
I have spotted a few factual errors in book but nothing that outweighs the enormous effort the late Helena Jacobs put in . It is actually one of 3 books on the Jacobs-Norley family and all of them are huge!

If there was one single book that has infuenced my hobby of genealogy it has been teh work of Helena Jacobs who, though I never met her, showed me how family history could be done

It was my privilege to provide some detail for this book, after hearing of the auther from the late Geoffery Meynal Norley, of Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia. A copy is with the Soc. of Gen. in London U.K., but is a must for every Norley, particularly the Kent, branch (Devon, Cheshire, must fit in someplace?) I contributed photos of my Great grandfather and family etc. Having met many Norleys, the family likeness, whether, tall, thin, nordic or short dark stretches across generations sometimes (i.e. 1780 branch off-- Geoff and my father and Uncle, a distant relative in Melbourne via Offham, Kent are all 'from the same mold'. The American pictures show the same family likeness, staring back at you. Pity they cannot speak... then again! I would be interested to know of the authers condition. George Norley.

Rumpelstiltskin is a good childrens story that I remember form along time aog. Now I am doing a class project on it...

The Jungle is a very well written book, particularly for an author who was only 28 years old when he wrote it. The story features an early twentieth century family who has just immigrated to Chicago from Lithuania, and their struggles to survive in America. This is not an inspirational story about the American Dream. Quite the contrary, it is a story about how the American Dream was a nightmare for many poor and uneducated immigrants. The Jungle chronicles the travails of Jurvis and his family, as they struggle to learn how to survive. It is depressing to read about the disasters which befell this family, and how their ignorance was taken advantage of on so many levels. One would hope that this no longer happens to immigrants, but of course, it does, just in different ways. Jurvis and his family work in the meat processing district of Chicago, and the book details the working conditions of the meatpacking plants. Those details led to investigation and greater regulation of the meatpacking industry, as well as modern child labor laws. In the last several chapters, we witness a transformation of Jurvis, as he learns his entire family has either died or is selling themselves into prostitution. Jurvis stumbles upon socialism, and quickly becomes a supporter of the movement to bring power to the working class people, and end the wage-slavery taking place in the meatpacking plants. Jurvis' transformation into a socialist is a classic pro-socialism story, and it was particularly interesting to read that part. This pre-communist account reminds us that socialism is really simply a political theory, which was never really properly introduced in supposedly socialist countries. I did find the last few chapters dealing with socialism to be hastily written, and not nearly as engaging as the first part of the book. The Jungle is a classic, and for so many reasons, it should be required reading in college, if not high school (but sadly, it is not).

Millions of immigrants from around the world came to the US between the years 1870 and 1920¡¯s with a promise of a better life, a taste of the ¡®American Dream¡¯. These immigrants had come to America, yearning to be free and comfortable but were soon forced into waged slavery and slums. Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, wanted to ¡°expose the social, political, and economic problems¡± that a typical immigrant family faces, ¡°¡¦how the other half lives,¡± Upton Sinclair exclaimed. In this novel, a family of nine, like the million others, came from their homeland to take a stab at prosperity in the states in vain.
For this reason, Sinclair wanted society to feel a little remorse for the hundreds of immigrants dying for the progress of this country. His style of writing is very powerful and is a very enduring read, evoking pity and sympathy into the readers¡¯ hearts. Sinclair¡¯s descriptive and sanguinary writing lets the reader take a peak into the factories, showing us what wasn't supposed to be seen. Upton Sinclair gave social economic change an initial push. After reading Sinclair¡¯s book, President Teddy Roosevelt issued the Pure Food Act and labors were given a sanitary work environment.
In contrary with our history books, Sinclair focused on only one, out of a million, family¡¯s struggle to exist in this merciless society. In history class I¡¯ve leaned about these immigrants¡¯ struggles, but when I read this book, I realized that textbooks only touched the surface of the strife and obstacles the limited immigrants went through. I do recommend this book because I have enjoyed it immensely myself.

I decided to finally read this classic after reading Schlosser's work this year, Fast Food Nation. He mentioned the terrible conditions of the meat-packing plants today and I wanted to get an idea of what they began with back in Sinclair's time. I found this book to move very quickly as the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his demise is extensively fascinating.

We begin with Jurgis and his family leaving Lithuania to come to the 'free' land of America for more opportunities. What they find is a situation where they pay their life savings for a home which they don't really own, a situation in which jobs are scarce and the available ones are very dangerous, and a plethora of new diseases and ailments which take away members of the family bit by bit.

I enjoy the intense irony of this story because they came for freedom and found they themselves locked in poverty because of the capitalist society. The usurping heads of the meat industry end up controlling much more than their wages and their work hours. ...

This is a truly unique book--a serious book on a critical topic written with much insight, originality, and an unbelievable amount of imagination. I've heard much talk of the author before--especially her seminal book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities"--but "Nature of Economies" is the first book by Jacobs I've ever read. I'm glad to report that all the positive things I've heard about the author is true: she is as sharp and thoughtful a thinker as they come. What's even more endearing (for me anyway) is that she eschews the jargons and pompous prose of academy and writes with simplicity and grace so that anyone and everyone can understand her points. (I can't remember the last time that I've read a book on economics or sociology and not been put off by the awful language.)

Another special thing about this book, as most of you've probably heard by now, is that Jacobs has cast her thoughts in the dialogue form: conversations between 5 intimate friends. I must say it's quite strange to come upon a serious treatise on economics and nature, written and published in the first year of the 21st century, that uses what seems (to me) an 18th- or 19th-century format (I'm thinking in particular of those philosophical dialogues on religion, morality, etc., written by the likes of David Hume and Giacomo Leopardi, not to mention all those "philosophes" of the Enlightenment), which was in turn an imatation of the Platonic dialogues. Well, why not? After all, Jacobs has the brilliance of mind and sharpness of wit to get away with it. (Though it does mean getting some used to for an average reader like me.)

As for what the book is trying to say, I'm still trying to figure it out. It's such a tiny little book but yet I'm not embarrassed to say that I've not fully grasped all her points. But I do know that this book has all the trappings of a classic (in the best sense of the word) and it'll be read and reread, debated over and written about, again and again, in the years to come.

So is Jacobs the new Hume or Leopardi? Maybe. The last "philosophe" of our modern era? Definitely.

I highly recommend this book. I read it in nearly one sitting. The structure of the book is Platonic dialogue/'My Dinner with Andre.' The conversations of five friends are the entirety of the book. It deals with complex philosophical ideas on economies and natural systems in a highly readable way. The book centers on the idea of biomimicry, in which natural phenomena are imitated (engineered) in such a way that using natural principles creates efficiency. Essentially it is the notion that there are basic principles to which all systems naturally adhere, and understanding those systems can help us frame economics more rationally and sustainably. Jacobs discusses notions of positive-feedback loops, negative-feedback stops, dynamic stability. All this within the idea that evolutionary processes, interdependencies, and natural tensions and tendencies are the basis of economic interaction.

A number of the other reviews critiscise the conversational form of this book. And one reviewer (who is clearly an investment analyst) critiscises one tiny sentence which makes a rather erroneous analogy between corporate and national behaviour.

But the central theme of the book, that economies must be defined by natural principles since they are the product of human beings, themselves merely a succesful product of nature, is crucial. Its enlightening and must be debated and fleshed out. It gets beyond the "hack" economics that suggests economies need to make exports in order to earn their keep. Instead, Jacobs says that exports are the output of economic systems, not the inputs. The real inputs are basic resources - e.g. weather, location, human skills & the depth and breadth of the existing economic system.

As an amateur economist I find the argument to be a strong one. Serious critiscisms of this book should be based on critiscisms of the central argument and its substantiveness, rather than of the formn of the book. I'd enjoy seeing such critiscism from professional economists.

I always had a revulsion when I was forced to read Dickens in high school, and I was never able to get past the first chapter of any of his books, including this one. Now that I'm in my mid-30's, I want to re-visit a lot of the works that I had no patience for as a teenager, so I read Hard Times. Although there are many flaws to this book, I felt proud to have finally cleared the Dickens hurdle. Dickens is excellent at creating sympathetic (and evil) characters, even though they may be slightly cliche or wooden. The fact is, Dickens is able to hook you in with his plots and create a profound concern on behalf of the reader that the good guy (or girl) wins and the bad guy suffers. A lot of the twists in this book were a little "too convenient" and implausible to make it a crowining work of literature, but nevertheless it has motivated me to move on to Dickens' larger, more daunting works. If you are having any trepidation about tackling Dickens, Hard Times is a good place to start.

If you read Hard Times for the sole purpose of being entertained you will probably be highly disappointed. However, if you understand what was happening during this time period, you will realize that Hard Times is in reality, a long commentary. The Industrial Revolution was starting to show its down side. There was rampant poverty and disease, from the overcrowding of the cities. Children of the poor had to work long hours in unsafe factories rather than go to school. The gulf between the haves and the have-nots was very wide. The middle class was only beginning to be a distinct group.
This then was the backdrop of Hard Times. Dickens is making a social and political statement. This is a statement against the mechanizing of society. It starts with Dickens repeated use of the word fact. It is facts that have meaning. Human conventions like feeling, compassion or passion have no meaning or looked down upon as an inconvienent waste of time. If a situation cannot be put down on paper as in an accounting ledger it should not be considered.
This is where the conflict of the book comes in. Which helps humanity more compassion or fact. Is Bounderby a better person than Blackpool? Bounderby, who by his own admission was a self-made man. Untrue as this was he said it enough to make it his own reality. Or Blackpool, a weaver with an alcoholic wife, who was in love with another woman. Facts made Bounderby rich, compassion made Blackpool human.
Louisa presents another conflict. Louisa was educated only by fact. No wonder or inquisitiveness was ever allowed. She was the perfect robot. Doing what she was told when she was told. Just another piece of the machine, however, the piece broke, emotions came out, and they broke down the wall of fact that Mr. Gradgrind had so carefully constructed. Because the feelings have finally been acknowledged things really break down. She finds that not only has she married the wrong man but also the man she did marry is a buffoon whom she cannot respect nor live with.
The reader is left wondering if there is no one who will not be ruined by all the worship to fact. The whelp has certainly been ruined to the point he feels no responsibility to anyone but himself. If a situation can not be used to his advantage then he has no use for it, as a matter of course, he will run when he believes he will have to take responsibility for his own actions.
The gypsies have not been ruined by fact. But only because they live outside of society, they do not conform to the rules of society. These are the people who value character over social status. The gypsies do not value Bounderby and Bitzer with all their pomp and egomania. Rather they value Stephen Blackpool and Cecilia whom can show compassion and kindness no matter a person's station in life.
Hard Times can be used to look at today's society. Are we, as a society more worried about our computers, cell phones, faxes, and other gadgets than our neighbor's well being? Do we only get involved to help others when there is a personal benefit? Or, are we like the gypsies who can look into the character of the person and not worry about the socio-economic status? While Dickens' wrote Hard Times about 19th century England the moral can easily fit into 21st century America

Dickens creates a novel that virtually revolutionizes literature of the 1800's. At a time where most writers wrote in a stuffy prose full of unrealities and a jaded outlook, Dickens dares to tell with honesty what he sees through his window.

Hard Times has yet a misleading title. It gives one ideas of harshness, depression, poverty, and social decline--although the actual reality of then-London, still not something you would choose to read. However, Hard Times has as much depression and poverty as any of Dickens' other works. It is just in this case that Dickens chooses to remind the world that in the deepest despair there is beauty yet to be seen.

Dickens was a strange author. In his supposedly inspiring books, you get an overdose of sadness, and in his depressing books, you find beauty. It is this case with Hard Times.

It is a poor, honest man's search for justice in a world where only the rich have merit. It is a girl's search for true love while battling the arranged marriage for money. And lastly, a woman's search for recognition against her favored, yet dishonest brother. It is these searches that at last come together and become fufilled. And, while at the same time telling a captivating story, it comments on the then--and still now--presence of greed and total dishonesty one has to go through for money.

The title of this review sums up Hard Times. Its beauty comes from the pure searches for truth, the sorrow comes from the evil the characters most overcome to get there, and the honesty is both the truth with which Dickens portrays life and the the overwhelming truth that these protaganists create.

Holly Burke, PhD.

Clinical Psychologist, Abnormal Psych. Professor

Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins Inst.

This book is not written by the famous canadian author Jane Jacobs who wrote classic _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_ but instead by an identically named individual. The book is interesting but not in the same league was the Canadian Jane Jacobs.

This is a fascinating and theoretically nuanced study of the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on cities. Jacobs looks not only at classically postcolonial cities, those in former colonies, but also at the effects of colonialism on cities at the center of the empire, such as London. The book is well written and accessible, and does an excellent job of grounding theory in the particulars of physical space.

Published by the same press as "Attics" (Creative Homeowner Press) this book has lovely color illustrations, but adds little to the simpler book.