Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places

Outside Lies Magic is a book about the acute observation of ordinary things about becoming aware in everyday places about seeing in utterly new ways about enriching your life unexpectedly. For more than 20 years John R. Stilgoe has developed and practiced the art of exploring the everyday world around us where so much lies hidden just beneath the surface offering uncommon knowledge if we but know what to look for. In this remarkable book Stilgoe inspires us to become explorers on our ownon foot or on bicycleand by so doing to reap the benefits of escaping even temporarily the traps of our programmed lives. "Exploration encourages creativity serendipity invention " he writes. And while sharing his insights on how to explore Stilgoe provides a fascinating pocket history of the American landscape as striking in its originality as it is revealing. Stilgoe dissects our visual surroundings; his observations will transform the way you see everything. Through his eyes an abandoned railroad line is redolent of history and future promise; front lawns recall our agrarian past; vacant lots hold cathedrals of potential. From the electrical grid overhead to fences malls and main streets Stilgoe offers a fresh understanding of the links and fractures in our society. After reading Outside Lies Magic your world will never look the same again.