The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Infinite City: A San Francisco Subcultural Atlas

If you love maps as much as we do, the 13th book by author Rebecca Solnit‘ (of Wanderlust fame) will make you swoon. Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, out today, is a collection of 22 magnificent maps brimming with full-color whimsy that reveal the city in an entirely new light.

The result of collaboration between 27 writers, cartographers, designers, artists and researchers, the book is an absolute treat regardless of your relationship, or lack thereof, with San Francisco.

Monarchs and Queens
Butterly habitats mapped alongside popular queer public spaces

The maps, beautiful and often provocative in theme, are accompanied by 18 thoughtful essays that contextualize the geography depicted in insightful and unexpected ways to reveal a hidden city of thriving subcultures, political and commercial dynamics, and cross-cultural relations.

Who Am I Where? / ¿Quién Soy Dónde?
Paired with first-person interview from residents and day laborers in the iconic Mission District, this map draws the US-Mexico border at Cesar Chavez Street

I wanted to make maps gorgeous, seductive, delicious, and beautiful again. Cartography used to be both an art and a science. I wanted to return to that.” ~ Rebecca Solnit

Poison / Palate
Toxic mines and factories in the Bay Area plotted alongside farmers markets, farms, and artisan food producers

If you call San Francisco home, the book will fill your heart and tickle your brain. If you don’t, you’ll want to visit. But, above all, Infinite City will give you a broader awareness of cities as living organisms and complex ecosystems of art, culture, commerce and politics that exist in multiple, layered realities.

via 7×7 HT @kvox


Published November 29, 2010

https://www.themarginalian.org/2010/11/29/infinite-city-rebecca-solnit/

BP

www.themarginalian.org

BP

PRINT ARTICLE

Filed Under

View Full Site

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy. (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)