Economics · Similar reads
Books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The best books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities are Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs is about urban planning, community, diversity. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Guns, Germs, and Steel
01
Jared Diamond · Science
Guns, Germs, and Steel is Jared Diamond's attempt to answer a question posed to him by a Papua New Guinean politician named Yali: why did Europeans end up with so much cargo — wealth, technology, power — while other peoples had comparatively little?
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
02
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert A. Caro · Biography
Robert A.
Both dig into urban planning.
Read the summary → - Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
03
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Matthew Desmond · History
Evicted is Matthew Desmond's account of eight Milwaukee families — tenants and landlords — living through the American housing crisis at its most basic level: the cycle of eviction.
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - Thinking in Systems
04
Donella H. Meadows · Science
Thinking in Systems is Donella Meadows's introduction to the discipline of systems thinking — a way of understanding why complex things behave the way they do.
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - The High Cost of Free Parking
05
Donald Shoup · Economics
The High Cost of Free Parking is Donald Shoup's comprehensive argument that parking minimums—the rules requiring developers to provide a set number of parking spaces per building—are among the most damaging and least examined policies in American cities.
Both dig into urban planning.
Read the summary → - A Man Called Ove
06
Fredrik Backman · Contemporary fiction
A Man Called Ove opens in a Swedish suburb where a fifty-nine-year-old man named Ove has just been forced into early retirement.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary → - A Pattern Language
07
Christopher Alexander · Science
A Pattern Language is an extraordinary attempt to describe, in systematic form, the conditions that make human habitats feel alive.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary → - Brotopia
08
Emily Chang · Business
Brotopia is Emily Chang's investigation into how Silicon Valley became dominated by men and why it has stayed that way despite decades of stated commitment to diversity.
Both dig into diversity.
Read the summary → - Category Creation: How to Build a Brand That Customers, Employees, and Investors Will Love
09
Category Creation: How to Build a Brand That Customers, Employees, and Investors Will Love
Anthony Kennada · Business
Category Creation is Anthony Kennada's account of how Gainsight, where he served as chief marketing officer, built the customer success management category from scratch — and the broader argument that this approach to marketing, creating a new market category rather than competing within an existing one, produces compounding advantages that conventional brand-building rarely matches.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary → - Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
10
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
H. G. Bissinger · Memoir
Friday Night Lights is H.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary → - Happy City
11
Charles Montgomery · Science
Happy City is Charles Montgomery's investigation into the relationship between the design of cities and the psychological well-being of their inhabitants.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary → - My Own Country: A Doctor's Story
12
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story
Abraham Verghese · Memoir
My Own Country is Abraham Verghese's account of his years as an infectious disease specialist in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic.
Both dig into community.
Read the summary →
Books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities: quick answers
What are the best books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities?
The best books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs are Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows, The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Death and Life of Great American Cities, such as urban planning, community, diversity.
What should I read after The Death and Life of Great American Cities?
A natural next read after The Death and Life of Great American Cities is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. A kindred economics read. Other strong choices are The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows.
What books are similar to The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs?
The Death and Life of Great American Cities centers on urban planning, community, diversity. Books with a similar feel include Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows, The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
