Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of A Community
Author: Ray Oldenburg
Ten years after its original publication, The Great Good Place is touching more people than ever before. The owners of Seattle's Third Place Books, which opened in 1998, were directly inspired by this book, as are, increasingly, entrepreneurs and planners nationwide. They are fueled by its compelling central thesis: that "third places," where people can gather, put aside the concerns of the work and home, and hang out simply for the pleasures of good company and lively conversation, are the heart of a community's social vitality and the grassroots of democracy.
Newark Star-Ledger
Well-written, informative, and often entertaining.
New York Times Book Review
The great value of this book is that Mr. Oldenburg has given us an insightful and extremely useful new lens through which to look at a familiar problem.
Parade
Examines gathering places and reminds us how important they are. People need the 'third place' to nourish sociability.
World of Beer
A book that should be read by everyone in North America over the age of 16.
Florida Architect
Shows how informal gathering places are essential to the vitality of a city and its people and it also includes a social history of informal life throughout the world.
What People Are Saying
Victor W. Herman Andrew M. Greeley New interesting textbook: Action Plan for Diabetes or Migraine Author: John Gorenfeld John Gorenfeld's Bad Moon Rising takes readers into the chilling Washington underworld of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, whose cult-like Unification Church calls him the True Father. Whether claiming endorsements from George Washington, pronouncing Jesus obsolete or dictating sex positions to his followers, Moon has pursued loopy schemes for decades. For the first time, Bad Moon Rising tells the full story of the reverend's coronation in U.S. Senate offices in 2004; his quest to become world leader; his founding of a media empire with the creation of The Washington Times and purchase of United Press International; and his unlikely influence on the GOP propaganda machine, financing the stories that make Fox News Channel. Although Beltway conservatives rarely acknowledge their embarrassing patron, Gorenfeld is not afraid to follow the money to famous names and shameful secrets, revealing a hidden saga of political corruption, lost souls, and megalomania. Foreword Barry W. Lynn Lynn, Barry W. 1 Moon Behind the Curtain 1 2 George H.W. Bush and the Desperate Widows 38 3 What Does God Need with a Newspaper? 52 4 The Night They Replaced Jesus 90 5 Reverend Moon and the Conservative Revolutionaries 125 6 Origin Stories, 1920-1970 140 7 God Forgives Richard Nixon 162 8 Ronald Reagan and the African Inquisitor 190 9 The Reverend Moon and the Pious President 223 10 Kim Jong-Il and the Returning Lord 230 11 We Can Smash the Whole World 242 Notes 255 Acknowledgments 309 Index 311 About the Author 329
Ray Oldenburg is inspirational. He is the first to recognize and articulate the importance of the greeting place (third place) for the well-being of the individual and society at large.
The Great Good Place has put into words and focus what I've been doing all my life, from the barbershop I remember as a child to the bookstore I now own. My goal at Horizon Books is to provide that third place in which people can "hang out." Ray Oldenburg has defined those good places while still recognizing the magical chemistry they require. The Great Good Place is a book to read, to recommend, and to quote.
— Victor W. Herman, (owner of Horizon Books, with locations in Traverse City, Petoskey, and Cadillac, Michigan)
The Great Good Place is a great good book. As a fellow defender of neighborhoods and all they stand for, I salute you on it.
Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right and Built an American Kingdom
Table of Contents:
No comments:
Post a Comment