Magnetic City

This audiobook is such a rich compendium of architectural, social, and political history, replete with photographs, maps, and drawings in its paper incarnation, that if you are any kind of lover of urban landscapes, you may want to own it in two kinds. As a book of walking tours by NEW YORK magazine's architecture critic, it is original and fascinating, finding fresh ways to route you through well-known environs as well as leading you to new and untried ones. Justin Davidson's performance of the text is smooth and likable, and wherever he takes you, he will make you see it new. His writing is vivid and lively, and the city he shows you becomes layered with past personalities, architectural fashions, and political battles lost and won. Eliza Foss does a graceful job of reading the directions for the walks themselves. B.G. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine