Monday, February 9, 2026

REVIEW: The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design (nonfiction book) by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt

The 99% Invisible City is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book looks at the design of aspects of cities that most people likely never think much about: manhole covers, traffic lights, signage, public drinking fountains, and more. The various essays often focus on specific intriguing examples from cities around the world (although heavily featuring San Francisco and Los Angeles, likely due to Roman Mars' location).

I came across this book while looking for accessible works on cities, architecture, infrastructure, and design. It was steeply discounted, so I figured "why not?" I didn't learn until later that it was based on a podcast, although I've now marked that down as something I need to listen to sometime.

The essay format of this made it easy to read a bit at a time, making it perfect for my evening reading routine. Overall, this was fascinating and enjoyable. If there was one thing I could change, it would be the illustrations. There were times when actual photographs would have been more helpful. At the very least some of the illustrations could have more clearly featured whatever it was the essays were focusing on - sometimes I couldn't tell what part I was supposed to be looking at.

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