Happy City - Charles Montgomery

A book filled with fascinating observations and research about the crazy way we have come to see and live in our cities.  Too many to list here.  One:  inhabitants of Toronto and Vancouver express less satisfaction with life than people living in small towns and backwaters such as Sherbrooke and Brantford (!!!!!)

He looks at many of the unhealthy, unhappy trends in modern urban design and living.  He explores the negative outcomes of our obsessions with suburban sprawl.  He looks at the politics of power and inequality in modern urban environments, from the domination of the car to gentrification.

Throughout the book I met explanations for many of the things I disliked about my suburban living experience and also that I dislike in the changes in Toronto. Why walking is so unpleasant in the suburbs.  Why parks are often so uninviting.  Why the ROM addition is such an abomination.  Why areas like Harboufront, with their endless condos and planned recreational areas, remain lifeless and uninviting.  Why I was compelled to give up riding the subway this winter (the growing stress caused by repeated unreliability combined with a lack of power to circumvent the problem).

It also filled with inspirational stories of change for the better, like Bogata, Copenhagen, neighbourhoods and local movements around the world.

Definitely worth a reread.

The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot - Robert MacFarlane

An absolutely brilliant book.  Wakes up the desire to explore the world from up close and inside the landscape.
An interesting contrast to Barry Lopez's writing on nature as wilderness.  Inevitably with MacFarlane, when he writes about Spain or England, it is both about nature and the layer upon layer of traces of human habitation that lie buried in these landscapes.  North America is just too new and too raw (and places far too high a value on the privacy of private property...)

Many references:

-  Icknied Way by Edward Thomas
-  Edward Thomas' poetry
- MacFarlane's other books
- George Borrow, Lavengro/Wild Wales 19th c
- Robert Louis Stevenson,  Songs of Travel
- John Muir
- Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter
- Sarn Helen (an old path in Wales)
- Tim Robinson - Stones of Aran
- Adam Nicolson - Sea Room:  An Island Life
- Nan Shepherd - The Grampian Quartet; The Living Mountain
- Raja Shehadeh - Palestinian Walks; A Rift in Time
- Christopher Tilley - The Phenomenology of Landscape
- Eric Ravilious - artist early 20th C
- Philip Gosse - Go to the Country
- Richard Holmes - Footsteps
- William Cobbet - Rural Rides

Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook - Stephen Lord

- latest edition from 2010
Includes some discussion of bikes, gear, how-to, etc.
Most of the book looks at touring in specific regions and includes some helpful information without going into too much detail.
Might be worth buying depending on what else is out there.

Bike Touring: The Sierra Club Guide

Detailed but understandable discussion of many technical aspects of choosing bikes, components and gear.  Also includes well-explained sections on packing, shipping bikes, planning trips, etc.  Does not discuss specific areas or tours.
Probably worth buying?