David Banis

Fascinating info. This is a fun book to read and view.

I know San Francisco very well, know Seattle fairly well, barely know Portland, but I’m interested in all three cities and in their similarities & differences and how they relate with one another in various ways. This is a book that aims to show & tell these sorts of statistics.

I actually enjoyed the historical information the best. The current information will of course frequently change. If not for some of the information becoming obsolete this is a book I’d like to own. There are sections that are already obsolete or at least dated such as the covid sub-section.

There weren’t that many but the typos/incorrect information drove me crazy, such as specifying (just in one particular place, not in other places in the book) that the Richmond and Sunset Districts are in the eastern vs. western part of San Francisco. Stern Grove is not in Golden Gate Park, etc. though that latter one might be my eyes. On several pages I had to pull out a magnifying glass and a couple times even it was not sufficiently helpful.

I love maps in books and this book has tons of them, and all kinds of them. There are also lots of other graphics, though the book is text heavy.

It’s divided up into sections. The Contents are: Introduction: Upper Left, Urban Landscapes, Nature and the City, Social Relations, Commerce, Popular Culture. Each of these sections has many sub-sections.

4-1/2 stars, a half star off because in the not too distant future this will function only as a history book. There is already a lot of history in it and much of the “current” content is already history or at least not new.… (más)

Portlandness tells the story of the city and surrounding areas through cartography. More than just a series of maps, Banis & Shobe examine the history of the city, what makes Portland "Portland" (and quantify traits typically associated with the area such as liberalness or environmentalism), and what could have been. They range from the silly (how many strip clubs are there really, what are wait times at brunch spots, stop sign vandalism) to the strikingly important (number of indigents, food mirages, and gentrification).

This book would no doubt be more interesting to someone living in the Portland area, but still a good recommendation for anyone who likes data visualization, especially as a narrative tool.… (más)

A quirky city needs a quirky atlas. This one suits Portland, Oregon. If you’re hoping to get from Point A to Point B, this book will not be much help. (For that matter, we’re not sure Portland has a Point B.)

The maps in this book — designed by the students and faculty of Portland State University’s Department of Geography — don’t offer traditional gas station cartography. These maps interpret Portland. How much of the world is represented by Portland’s food truck collective? What is the best way to cross town with minimal security camera surveillance? Which streets have the best sidewalks? How do third graders visualize Portland? Where are the pubs supporting your favorite NFL team? These are the maps you never thought to look for, but answer questions you may have asked.

There are maps for the sounds of the city, the smells of the city, the economics of musicians, the proliferation of nutria (large rodents), the locations of graffiti-altered stop signs, and the invisible traces of downtown streams now covered by the modern urban landscape. Some maps are fascinating. Some are — this is Portland, after all — weird.

In addition to the book’s creative content, the presentation is worth its own shout out. Each map delivers its data in unique two-page spreads. Some are visual duds, but most are incredibly clever. You’ll find a map of geeky Portland presented as a graphic novel, a craft store map sewn onto fabric canvas within a sewing circle, a PDX Tube diagram (in the style of London’s), and a map of ethnic diversity “islands” in the style of a topographic map with actual islands.

It’s an engaging book to visit, even if you don’t want to live there.

Shelf Appeal: This book will appeal to Portlandians who are proud of their city and to Washingtonians who venture into Oregon now and then. Fans of creative visual design will also enjoy the interesting ways the book graphically represents a city.

-- I wrote this review for the Books section of the Washington state website: http://www.WA-List.com… (más)