London Orbital

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Iain Sinclair

Penguin, New York, 2003, 2002 English

Nonfiction, General

ISBN: 9780141014746

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By one of the main exponents of the awkwardly termed “psychogeography”—that is, how a landscape, town, or place can affect you emotionally. Sinclair is a dense writer who does extensive research on the locations he writes about. The texts are part autobiographical, part stream of consciousness, part social critique, part poetry, part factual observation. The author is a resident and lover of London, (similar to me in this respect). This particular book deals with a walk with his friends around a motorway that encircles London—which doesn’t sound like a good starting point for a book, but it’s a wonderful, beautiful read. You learn history, the mundaneness of places with no identity, the possible future for us all, the alienation of the individual, and the emotional beauty of even the smallest details of your journey.

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