For those who haven't been forced to read this for a university or collage class, you should still read it in your spare time. I finished it from cover to cover for one of my history courses, though I'm an English major. The wonderful thing about this book is that it's not a text book, but written more like a novel. There is a kind of poetry in its words, making the reading light, smooth, and easy. Also, it's very comprehensive, starting from ancient Egypt and coming up to the modern age. What Mumford does is not only give history, but make it interesting, by putting the city at the center of history. He gives you so much amazing, shocking, and interesting info on just how the modern world is like what it is today (such as how and why sidewalks were invented). Also, there is a deep humanity to it, for Mumford pleads to not live a cold, static life based on technology, but one based on community, warmth, and an organic life: at points his words are so powerful that you must read it to know what I mean. It's the first of its kind: a text on history which can really move the reader. He even quotes authors like Shakespeare, Proust, Dickens, and so many others, not only to make his work interesting, but to give the experiences of these authors during their times or to make a stronger point. Read it, and you WILL NOT be dissapointed.

This book contains the full history of the city we know now. From the origin of the human organizations, the grandiose of Egypt and the megalopolitan, the author bring us not only in the strucuture of the city but it will help you to understand the evolution of man throught philosophy, sociology and the falling of great civilisations. Writting in a easy understanding way it bring you into the functions and adaptation of a community for survive and expension. This is a different way of seeing the history of your civilisation and to understand why we are struggling in your own time and city. For those within philosophy and history get that one.