Gear: A Coffee Table Book for the Armchair Traveler
By Eda Lesk
Written on 26 March 2008
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This book takes travelers to meet the people of Paris, New York and Shanghai while they remain at home.
A Coffee Table Book for the Armchair Traveler
This book allows travelers to meet people from Paris, New York and Shanghai while remaining at home.
Product name: Paris–New York–Shanghai: A Book about the Past, Present, and (Possibly) Future Capital of the Wo
Made by: Photographs by Hans Eijkelboom
This book is actually three volumes in one and Eijkelboom is to be commended for the exquisite forethought in its planning as is the publisher for undertaking its unique and interesting format. Each of the three volumes—Paris, New York, Shanghai—has seventy-nine pages (plus a detailed index), depicting a photomontage of a specific observation of life in the three different metropolises. For example, Page 62 in each volume shows men relaxing outdoors. In Paris they are reading, in New York they are eating and in Shanghai they are thinking. We can compare and contrast other themes such as how residents of the respective capitals dress for work and travel to work; how they carry their babies and their groceries; or what choices they make in the colors, patterns and styles of their clothing. Each volume informs the reader of the distinct flavor that is the city and its people and the clever format helps the reader to travel to the three cities simultaneously. As the 1,256 socio-cultural color images of each city unfold, so do the three volumes which are bound to each other accordion style and when fully extended measures 63 inches. Just as the book opens in this intriguing way so the reader is intrigued by observing and learning about people and how they go about their life of the everyday. This book is not about beautiful parks, famous monuments or great restaurants. It is a photo-essay about real people who inhabit the culture of each city and how the culture of the respective city inhabits them. It is not about sightseeing but it is about people-watching. This is a coffee table book for the armchair traveler, for those moments when we can’t be on the go.
Other book details:
Compilation by Aperture Foundation
Photographer: Hans Eijkelboom
Introduction by Martin Parr
Essay by Tony Godfrey
Published by The Aperture Press
Publication date: 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59711-044-0
101/2 x 81/4 in. (26.7 x 30 cm)
$49.95
