Eduilson Coan Coan itibaren Nong Yai, Phon Thong District, Roi Et, Tayland itibaren Nong Yai, Phon Thong District, Roi Et, Tayland

It took me a while to work out my review. The book is interesting and has some great points about how encouraging density can help the environment, foster creativity and innovation, and be fun. However, it has some flaws. First it's too long and feels very padded. Add the in fact that he uses the same cities over and over again and it feels weak. If his theories were so strong, he should have been able to provide more examples instead of using Paris, New York, etc over and over again. Second, he never addresses arguments against his case and glosses over real concerns. For example, his argument about environmentalism only focuses on cost of energy. He seems to believe that all land is equal, as though telling everyone to move to temperate areas like California wouldn't wipe out species that ONLY live in California. As though when writing land control regulation light pollution, breeding grounds, habitat size, and migration access aren't taken into account, it's just about preserving views and having trees. Also he doesn't address that cities frequently have rules that drive people out of the city. If cities have gun laws making it virtually impossible to legally own a gun, hunters and recreational shooters don't want to move within city limits. Another example is pit bull bans. So between the padding and the lack of discussion of more murky issues and counterarguments to his points, it weakens the title immensely.

Hoffman's description of her made-up New England town is simultaneously realistic and lushly magical. She sets a stage well, with assertions about Massachusetts in March that lead the reader to accept that females born into a certain family have gifts no living person can have: the ability to see how someone will die, to experience another person's dreams, to identify a liar on sight. Hoffman ties everything up very neatly, so that all the females have a love interest, bad guys lose or grow up, historical wrongs are righted, and estranged mothers and daughters are reconciled. I like happy endings, but truthfully, I care for them most after the characters have struggled or overcome or grown or learned something. These characters are transformed, but so subtly that they seem less real than they might. Nevertheless, an enjoyable and quirky take on the world.