This book is expansive. It is a the encompassing history of earth and the patterns of our urbanization of subjects. The fascinating this of this is that it is an intersectional pattern of movement, where we not only see the movement of people, the the upbringing of cultures, economies, art and ideologies.

There is a lot of information to be had form page one, which can seem daunting with a lot of areas covered, mostly broadened for the multifaceted reader to comprehend but it is great by means of shining a spotlight on changing patterns and the divisions in urbanization patterns.

It is a great read for those in health, public and population as well as those looking to understand their paved environment that much better.

I think this is one of those books to come back to to gain newer perspectives or bring back a greater understanding in consequent readings. Daunting, yes, but rewarding.

A rich, informative history of living on this planet…

This was a well written, comprehensive crash course on human civilization and its impact on the planet. And vice versa. Covering the globe and centuries, the author dived into the general and the detailed as he laid out where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. So many connections I’d never seen or thought about before were threaded together here… Urbanization, and what it meant through the ages, was a history of people. Where and how we lived and who and what shaped our world today.

For good or bad, humans have left an indelible mark on this planet and every aspect of society has played its part. This book ended up being a lot of things for me. History, social commentary, a call for me to do more as the world has reached crisis in so many areas. Our cities, our planet and all that inhabit it. The issues are laid out plainly and there are lots of things to be done…

This epic “Biography of Earthopolis” was written by Carl Nightingale, a world history professor. The book covers the history of cities, and how they have affected life over the past 6000 years. The book is divided into three main parts, with 25 main chapters, and a total of about 678 pages, not including the Notes and Acknowledgments.

Part One: “Cities of the Rivers” covers early human history, and the beginnings of city-based civilization. Nightingale discusses some early creation myths and stories; and he explores some of the developments that transformed hunter-gatherer societies into vast empires of cities.

Part Two: “Cities of the World Ocean” covers the history of cities from the time of Columbus in 1492, all the way to around the Industrial Age and the beginning of the use of coal.

Part Three: “Cities of Hydrocarbon” is the longest section of the book, and starts with coal all the way up to modern times, and even discusses the future of cities.

The book also has many pictures, maps, and figures that help to illustrate the author's points.

Overall I found this to be a fascinating book. It is part world history book, and part social commentary; as the author explores some of the pros and cons of our modern city life. There are certainly many depressing issues that are identified, but also a bit of hope that changes can be made that steer the course of humanity in a more positive direction. I'm not sure that I agree with all of the author's points, but I certainly appreciated the amount of information here; complete with little details and analysis that is at least worth discussing.