Alex Marshall (1) (1959–)

Journalist Alex Marshall takes issue with a a certain school of dismal science orthodoxy that elevates and regards free markets as all powerful forces to which we must bow. Offering many counter examples, from cooperatives, to physical and cultural infrastructure, to intellectual property rights and international law, in which we create and design markets, indeed Marshall calls into question the stature of economics as a "science" to begin with. People, Marshall argues, create the rules, features, common law, and cultural traditions under which markets function. It's a persuasive counterpoint to those who put their belief and faith in the inexorable forces of the blind, neutral, marketplace. Since, we are the creators and designers of markets, rather than its slaves, it behooves us, Marshall argues, to (re)design them intelligently and in a fashion that provides us maximum benefit. It's a powerful and empowering notion.… (more)

This book looks at the history and development of twelve major international cities via the infrastructure built underneath them. There is a brief introduction and conclusion, but the bulk of the book is the chapters for each of these cities---New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Mexico City, Cairo, Beijing, Tokyo, and Sydney.

I'm pretty much the target audience for this book---I'm a life-long city-dweller, I like to read and think about how cities work, and I am interested in the kinds of engineering challenges involved in building subways, sewers and the like. Also I read and enjoyed Alex Marshall's earlier book, How Cities Work.

Despite all it had going for it, the book was a bit of a disappointment. Or maybe I was expecting and hoping for too much. I expected a more general discussion of how cities develop their underground infrastructure, illustrated by examples from various cities. Instead, the book is primarily twelve separate essays on each of the twelve different cities. There is interesting stuff in each city's description, whether it is historical information about the cities, unique features, or ongoing challenges. But the book gets repetitive. Despite the differences between the cities, the bulk of the discussion of each city focuses on three topics: the subway system, getting water into the city, and getting sewage out of the city. This was fascinating for the first city (also the city where I grew up), interesting for the next few, and made my eyes glaze over by the time I reached Sydney at the end of the book.… (more)