Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas

I was born and raised in the Oakland/ San Francisco Bay Area, living elsewhere in the country right now but this book brought my home right back to me. The atlas reminded me of childhood things like the canneries my mother worked in and the cast iron penny bank my father brought me from an excavating job he was on in the 1950s. I later discovered that bank was buried in the rubble of a building at the time of the great earthquake. If you know the bay you know it's sights, sounds and the blood that runs through it, if you're born there it's always with you and sometimes if you only lived there for a little while. It's history is filled with seekers, adventurers, dreamers and villians. Great calm and great calamity. Most of all it made me think of a place as an atlas. Any place is more than it's present appearance, this was an adventure in thinking differently and was written so beautifully it could only have been done by someone who knows the city's heart and soul, warts and all. I will definately read this over and over.

Rebecca Solnit offers a new view of San Francisco, past & present. She has captured the societal heart of the city by presenting the facts, people, culture and most importantly, its transitions. San Francisco's nature is to change. A recitation of facts won't portray who we are. The maps and text engage the reader, inspiring thought about the makeup of the city, our successes and issues. I was born and raised in San Francisco and this book has brought back more memories than any other I have read. I flashed on watching Lawrence of Arabia at the Roosevelt Theater with my folks. I smelled the hand-made corn tortillas we bought in the Mission and recalled our rich Hispanic culture of the 1950s with the remnants of the Irish and German working class in our neighborhood. It brought back walking down Fillmore and marveling at the continuing change and dressing up to go Downtown.Infinite City is one of a short list of books that should be owned by San Franciscans, admirers of the city and inhabitants of the greater Bay Area. It's the perfect companion for the stories in  San Francisco's Lost Landmarks

It's like reader-Mapquesting your way through San Francisco while leafing through the pages of "Infinite City." Rebecca Solnit has cleverly divided The City into wonderful stories based on people, events and history which happened in each of the many and varied districts. Whether you're an armchair traveler or lucky enough to actually be in San Francisco traipsing about you will thoroughly enjoy all the wonderfully detailed maps as well as eloquently written words which entice the reader to keep moving on to the next page and district. Hard to believe it's possible because San Francisco is so well documented but this book adds many new facts and bits ofinterest guaranteed to hold your attention. It's an entertaining, delightful and informative read as well as terrific reference. "Infinite City" is a new gem on my bookshelf which is located 750 miles from San Francisco. Despite the distance, as Solnit wrote, "More than anything, this is a map home."

The beautiful "Infinite City" belongs on any list of essential San Francisco books. Rebecca Solnit and her collaborators have taken a core sample of the endless layers of San Francisco history and laid it out in twenty-two brilliantly imagined maps and eighteen essays exploring the city's history, geography, demography, biology, and myth. "Infinite City" is vast enough to encompass the Coliseum, Coronet and Alexandria theaters; the Pipevine swallowtail, Satyr anglewing, and Orange sulfur butterflies; the Yelamu, Aramai, and Urebure peoples; the "McKittrick Hotel", "Argosy Book Shop", and Ernie's; Josephine McCrackin, Carrie Stevens Walter, and Barbara Eastman; Bechtel, RoboteX, and Jeppesen; Jimbo's Bop City, Ann's 440, and the Six Gallery; Acme Export Packing, the Pacific Far East Line, and Triple A Machine Shop; and the Richmond Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The book itself is as lovingly designed as anything McSweeney's has published, proof that until we stop needing tactile pleasures, the screen will never replace the page.

This is one of the best books about San Francisco --if you want more than the usual tourist information.It is smart, compelling, and full of very well-designedand interesting maps.The author provides a fascinating mix of history and contemporary information,and strives to provide readers with more than the standard historical accounts.Best of all, she includes information that only the most observant,keen-minded inhabitant would know and experience.Smart, funny, useful . . . really, it's the best.

I read everything by Solnit that I can. I've planned my last two trips to SF using her book as a way to find parts of the city I knew nothing about. Thanks to RS, we took a trip up to the Lava Beds and learned much about the longer and deeper history of this part of California.

Anyone who wants to learn about San Francisco on a level much deeper than any magazine article, blog, or newspaper-- BUY THIS! It is incredible. I just moved to SF in September, and I really wanted to dive into some unique history and stories about this city. This book was the answer. It's a great conversation piece and also a great way to plan adventures throughout San Francisco.

An unusual kind of book, both in format and selection of topics. As a non-resident (but lover) of San Francisco, I found at least one or two maps of particular interest, and the commentary is engaging. I will probably pass the book on to people who live there and hope it will in turn get passed around until each map finds its special admirers.

This book is beautiful. No question about it. The print is a delight and the maps are interesting and informative, as well as being works of art in their own right. What lets the book down is that this has been written by multiple authors with some pretty obvious and extreme biases. Some (the named author in particular) have written interesting, informative articles to go with the map in question. Others have written turgid diatribes that are boring and difficult to read. And one has to say, this entire book has a certain political perspective which might best be described as 'left-wing hippy academic', written by ivory tower students. No problem with that in principle, but it can wear a bit thin after a while. For example, there is lots of bemoaning the loss of manufacturing and blue collar workers and overt statements that modern industry is mostly a waste of time, instead of celebrating the birth and evolution of silicon valley (which is not mentioned once). It should be noted by the way, that whilst focussed on San Francisco, this does extend to the whole of Northern California for some topics. All in all, a bit of a curate's egg: good in parts, not in others. When it is good though, it's really good.

As a fan of psychogeographic writing and mapping, this is a great fusion of both that joyable to flick through and dip into as well as exploring a city I don't know. Worth getting for anyone who enjoys Iain Sinclair, or Peter Ackroyd, but with a visual side too.

Sent as a birthday present so I haven't seen it but the recipient is overwhelmed by its brilliance and can hardly wait to see for herself, later this year, the places presented in the atlas.

Love Infinite City : A San Francisco Atlas.A very welcome addition to my collection of books, and not so much an atlas, but more of an art book.It would be cool to see an atlas of many more cities in this style.Thanks so much Rebecca, and the quality of the book makes for an enjoyable package.Top recommendation from myself.

Very inspiring and original book about San Francisco. Highly recommended