Mannahatta

Next book up is Mannahatta, A Natural History of New York City by Eric W. Sanderson. This book celebrates the 400th anniversary of New York last year, 2009.

So.

The author, Sanderson, writes this book primarily as an ecological and historical tribute to New York, researching the beginnings of the city and even anticipating changes that may come in the next 400 years. He himself is an ecologist, and uses some fancy mapping program thingy to show what different parts of New York City looked like 400 years ago, and shows side-by-side comparisons of then and now. The pictures are, in a word, awesome.

Aside from the many, many pictures, Sanderson offers the history of the city, from the tribe, the Lenape, that originally occupied the land, to how industry has affected the landscape and the city. He tells myths from the Lenape and discusses the log books of those that made the earliest voyages to Mannahatta ("Island of Many Hills") and scoped it out, then settled. He is thorough, thorough, thorough, down to the flora and fauna and birds and other animals that are indigenous to New York City. He also predicts, based on science and a little bit of assuming, what NYC will look like in 2409 and what city life will include. He highlights that especially in New York, the resources simply aren't there to sustain the pace of consumption, so something will have to change. Were I an ecologist, this would be an extremely impressive collection of information.

But here's the thing: I'm not an ecologist. I'm not even a New Yorker, nor have I ever desired to be (sorry). So while I found the history absolutely fascinating, the science was... meh. I hate reducing what is OBVIOUSLY a ton of work down to a meh, but there you have it.

Here's the second drawback- this isn't a coffee table book that you can peruse, so it's only for the serious readers. You could, I suppose, just look at the pictures, but in my opinion, their significance would be lost without the text. And this book is heavy- both literally and in information. It's 243 pages of the actual book, then 60+ of appendixes and notes, and 40+ for the bibliography and citations. In the end, it's a hardcover, 350 pages monster of a book, and it costs $40. Yikes.

The good news is really, really good. If you're a New Yorker, love New York, or love science and whatnot- this is a GREAT source of information, neatly compiled into one pot of gold. It would be a great gift or investment if you're at all interested. But this book has a specific target audience, obviously.

So, what do you think? Would you look into this? Any ideas who you might get it for any other questions or comments? Happy reading!