Buy used: $7.96

$6.29 delivery October 31 - November 21. Details

Used: Good | Details

Sold by WeBuyBooks-UK

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Follow the Author

Richard Sennett

The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities Hardcover – January 9, 1991

by Richard Sennett (Author)

4.0 16 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$142.46

$38.78

Hardcover, January 9, 1991

$7.96

—

$3.74

Paperback

"Please retry"

$21.49

$13.71

$2.48

A fascinating study of the search for shelter and the fear of exposure to strangers and new experiences in Western culture and how these two concerns have shaped the physical fabric of the city. Sennett's exploration of the development of urban society and structure jumps back and forth from the ancient world to the present: from the assembly hall of Athens to the Palladium Club; from Augustine's City of God to the Turkish baths of the Lower East Side. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Print length

266 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Knopf
Publication date

January 9, 1991
Dimensions

6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0394571045
ISBN-13

978-0394571041
See all details

Richard Sennett
138
Hardcover
$16.41
Get it as soon as Friday, Oct 27
$11.71 shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sennett's study of urban culture began with a discourse on public and private life, The Fall of Public Man ( LJ 12/15/76), and continued with the historical novel, Palais Royal ( LJ 12/86). This, the final installment of his loose "trilogy," seeks to relate architecture, urban planning, and sculpture to the cultural life of cities, from the time of ancient Athens to late 20th-century New York. The author achieves a great deal more, for he offers a broad humanistic reflection on many of the elements that constitute modern culture: literature, spiritual rootlessness, philosophy, music, poetry, ballet, bars, and public baths. The central thesis, that modern humans suffer because of the dichotomy between their subjective private experience and their outside public life, is thoroughly persuasive. Almost every page of this elegantly written work of cultural history contains food for thought, e.g., "The essence of developing as a human being is developing the capacity for ever more complex experience." For general collections.
- Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf; First Edition (January 9, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 266 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394571045
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394571041
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #512 in City Planning & Urban Development
- #611 in Urban Planning and Development
- #1,420 in Sociology of Urban Areas

Customer Reviews:
4.0 16 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Richard Sennett

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4 out of 5

16 global ratings

3 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

jale erzen

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

Moat texts are dealing with details, one would expect some design evaluations tat are more general.

Helpful

Coffe-N-Books

Space; Human Geogrpahy

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2011

Verified Purchase

This is an interesting and easy read book. It is written by a major contributor in human geogrphy and addresses the role of space in society. This is a great book!!!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Pablo Osorio Guerrero

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

A deep view on the ancient and contemporary city.

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2015

Verified Purchase

A classic that everyone should read.

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014

Sometimes tough to read and never really brings the central thesis home in a clear way, but still an important book full of luminous examples and wonderful observations in an under-studied area.

Helpful

Taeho Paik

Looking beyond the walls

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2000

Richard Sennett is an articulate writer whose style reveals a fascinating mind and above all, a keen pair of eyes. In relating our visual organ to the conscience, he implores us to start seeing our lives as wholly related to and organically integrated with, the cities that we live in. In this thoroughly original and important book, Sennett successfully avoids the tendency of many writers on urbanism to proffer 'well meaning' solutions, but instead takes us on a historical and psychological journey. He convinces his readers to focus on impulses and 'spriritual' reasons behind the creation of cities, ranging from the Greek ideals of 'grace' and 'balance' that produced the 'Agora' to the dilemmas of the modern soul that creates walls made of sheer glass. In chapter after chapter of engrossing reading anyone deeply interested in the well-being of urban life will begin to share his insights on urban forms. He articulates his views using descriptions of ordianry people's lives through history. His well researched narrative succeeds in relating their living conditions with their daily activities as being outward expressions of their inner being. Psychological and emotional states which then find direct expressions in the physical forms of the places in which their lives are enacted. For anyone working in architecture or urban planning, this book is a must-read. In the modern age we are conditioned to believing that a city is a product of functional processes. It is this commonly held apathy which is the very root cause of our modern urban alienation. To me, the message of Richard Sennett's book is a revelation. It is a matter of conscience to use our eyes to see the spirit of our own lives embedded in the walls and the streets that our fathers and mothers have made.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful