William B. HelmreichBesprekingen

A few years after Princeton University Press published William B. Helmreich's well-received The New York Nobody Knows, it started putting out standalone "urban walking guides" to each of the five boroughs. Helmreich, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York, famously walked every street in New York City, speaking with just about everybody he came across (or so it seems), be it a building super, a doorman, a shop clerk, someone leaving their apartment, someone leaving a synagogue, ... The New York Nobody Knows discusses immigration, gentrification, and other issues in thematic chapters; it is thorough, but it must have been evident for both author and publisher that the effort of walking the five boroughs and the results of talking with so many people would lead to more than just one book. The first guide published was Brooklyn, in 2016, followed by Manhattan, in 2018. Sadly, a few months before the Queens guide was released in 2020, Helmreich died, succumbing to COVID-19 in March of that year, the same month fellow CCNY professor Michael Sorkin also died. At that time, as recounted by his wife Helaine, William had already finished the manuscript for the Bronx and the couple was starting to work on Staten Island, walking (again!) the streets of that borough. It's too bad we won't see Staten Island, because it, like the Bronx, is not as widely known (for me, at least, and I'm guessing quite a few other people) as Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. But as the earlier guides made clear, there is more to the boroughs than the familiar sites found in other guidebooks; and the boroughs are made up of people, not just buildings and landscapes, and it was those people that interested Helmreich the most. Their voices permeate The Bronx Nobody Knows, just as in the other guides. For me, someone who lives in Queens, one thing I appreciate about Helmreich's books is the way he managed to get people to open up and say things that would both describe a place and convey the similarities binding people across the city and, on a wider canvas, across humanity.

When I was 12 years old my best friend and I started walking Brooklyn. We both grew up in Midwood and wanted to see beyond the constricted parameters of our neighborhood. We walked and walked. Went from from Midwood to Sheepshead Bay and back and to Church Avenue and back, etc. and did this for years. The Brooklyn Nobody Knows is as authentic as they come. He does an excellent job of noticing both the specific and interesting details of each neighborhood where we meet the people and places that differentiates this neighborhood from another. What I love is that he also takes a wider view and looks at the issues that impact the neighborhoods and Brooklyn, as a whole. Fun, lots of great stories and also sometimes sad as he writes about some of the changes that have impacted many neighborhoods in Brooklyn (gentrification). Although I do not live there now this spring I am determined to go walking again in Brooklyn. If I am lucky I will get a slice of pizza at Difara, recently named the best pizzeria in the United States but really just my neighborhood joint. Thank you Mr. Helmreich for writing this gem. And thank you Netgalley and Princeton University Press for allowing me to review this book. All opinions are my own.

Interesting.

The title suggests that the author has walked every block of every street and this book is going to be a story of this walks. But for Helmreich, the walks are just a launch pad for something bigger, a sociological/ethnographic portrait of the City today in a single volume. It’s a huge undertaking, but I think he succeeds in creating a comprehensive portrait of contemporary New York, built on statistics, and illustrated with stories from his walk. His take on gentrification and life in New York for the poor today as well as the recent immigrant experience are particularly interesting. This is a good book for people interested in New York or in studies of urban environments.

Not bad but a phoney excuse to write a potboiler history of NYC, since the professor's walks through the city are not documented and appear to be totally besides the point. Very good on the recent immigrant experience, which was new to me.

William B. Helmreich has accomplished a rather remarkable feat. Over the course of four years, the graduate professor of sociology at City University of New York has covered all 6,000 miles of New York City's streets by foot. While his book includes the subtitle, "Walking 6,000 Miles in the City," his pedestrian (here I am obviously referring to the noun rather than the adjective) accomplishment is not the focal point of The New York Nobody Knows. Instead, he presents a detailed and insightful examination of the various sociological aspects of the city. He bolsters his analysis by drawing from his experiences walking New York's streets as well as from his day job as an academic. Helmreich's book is an engrossing and very informative sociological study of New York that is especially strong when covering the less-popular boroughs that are far less popular in the literature about the city. It was published by Princeton University Press and is certainly a valuable resource for any student of the field but The New York Nobody Knows is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in learning more about the city and its various and often colorful inhabitants.

The book is ordered thematically rather than geographically, further demonstrating that Helmreich's purpose is not to merely outline his four years of constitutionals. Instead, it is organized thematically. Helmreich looks into sociological subjects such as immigration, gentrification, and crime as they relates to New York. He devotes some time to the built environment, but he mainly concerns himself with getting to know the people of the city. Helmreich often stopped various people on the street for interviews, including in the more dangerous areas such as East New York and South Bronx. These impromptu conversations really enrich the book as they are able to provide additional perspective, and Helmreich's sit-downs with former mayors Dinkins, Giuliani, and (soon-to be former anyway) Bloomberg are highlights as the author is able to spend quality time with all of them. The book is filled with compelling anecdotes from his travels and the various characters he encounters, such as a converted Orthodox Jew from Colorado who shills special kosher cheese to Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and what they can tell us about the city. In addition, he did plenty of homework in the bibliographical department and he draws from a plethora of other studies when making his points.

Helmreich is incredibly knowledgeable about the city, having grown up in Manhattan and previously worked as a cabdriver as well as a sociological researcher on urban issues such as homelessness. He writes well and my interest did not lag at any point. There were, however, certain passages that read a bit dry and reminded me that this is a professor writing a book published by a university. Though the title was likely tacked on by an editor (neighborhoods such as Williamsburg and Harlem get their fair share of ink and feature prominently in several sections (not that they shouldn't)) Helmreich does not gloss over the more obscure boros and neighborhoods. He draws many examples and anecdotes from neighborhoods in Staten Island and Queens which helps separate the book from other urban sociology books on the city more focused on more popular areas.

In Sum

One great thing about graduating college was that I could bypass informative articles and books on my academic fields without any guilt. I could really cherry pick the economics and urban policy literature to find works that actually interested me and abandon those that didn't. The New York Nobody Knows definitely falls into that "actually interesting" category. While I learned quite a bit about the city and its citizens, I also had a legitimately good time while doing so. The book is worth seeking out for any fans of Jane Jacobs or books such as Sidewalk by Mitchell Duenier and The Power Broker by Robert Caro.

8/10

It takes all kinds - and stirs

My favorite description of New York City is that it is very convenient to the United States without actually having to live there. William Helmreich examines the extent to which this is true in a remarkable tour of the city, that saw him cover more than six thousand miles – on foot – up and down every street there is.

When I was a reporter, I marveled at my privileged status. I got to go places and speak to people I would otherwise not only not have access to, but who would be suspicious if I tried. This book empowered Helmreich to accost anyone, anywhere. So he saw New York like no one else has. He found that people in sports bars also have automatic icebreakers asking the score, and dog walkers have it because of their pets. My favorite of his discoveries is that “many people don’t pay attention to what you say, as long as you say something”. It got him into numerous places and revealing conversations with total strangers.

New York is different than pretty much any major city in the world, because it is the proverbial melting pot. Races, colors, religions and nationalities have to live and work side by side in cramped quarters, and they do to an extent that is simply not replicated anywhere else. For anyone outside the city, this will be a revelation. For those who live it, it is acknowledgment and confirmation of a work in process. As former mayor David Dinkins told Helmreich, New York was the only major American city to not break out in riots after the Rodney King incident in LA. New Yorkers look at things differently, and this book makes that really come alive.

New Yorkers don’t expect comfort and are resilient, he says. They may congregate by common interest, be it bocce or church or homeland or food. Some neighborhoods are fiercely united. Some districts have gangs. Some people mix. Some sit it out. It all combines to give the city a wealth of character, characters, variety, and depth.

Helmreich spends a lot of effort on gentrification as an issue: the situations it causes and changes. But gentrification is just a function of change. New York is constantly changing, renewing some neighborhoods while others slide. There is no stasis and no normal. Come back in ten years and the neighborhood will be different. Fugeddaboudit. New York City is very much a living, evolving being. Gentrification is a just another phase.

Oddly, with all his perspectives and perceptions, broken out and neatly collected into dozens of categories with examples from all corners of this vast agglomeration representing all the world, Helmreich missed possibly the most destructive trend going. For all his love of ethnic delis and foreign groceries and mid block churches, New York has turned precipitously to mass market national chains. For a hundred years, you could shop till you dropped in New York in unique New York stores, without ever encountering a national chain. Shoppers came by their millions to experience it. Now, it’s all but impossible to avoid them. There are eight Starbucks in just 21 blocks (one mile) on Columbus Avenue, pretty much every other block. There are Home Depots and Old Navys and Best Buys and JC Pennys. New York is being homogenized, and not for the better. It is becoming a just another American city, not simply convenient to the United States, but undifferentiated from it.

Despite this glaring omission, The New York Nobody Knows is an excellent snapshot of a miraculous city.

Expecting a book that would make me laugh, I was pleasantly surprised to find it's far more than that. Not only does Dr. Helmreich entertain, he teaches, and makes it fun to learn. His observations hit home with me, describing and accounting for a few "dumb" things I've done in life. An even greater "Aha" moment came when his descriptions seemed to predict and detail the public embarrassments of so many famous people. Helmreich's thoughts on risk, how we analyze it unconsciously (and often incorrectly) and make decisions accordingly, was fascinating.

This book was easy to read, to pick up for a few minutes now and then, although it made me want to sit still and read straight through all at once! I will definitely read this again and will refer to some specific parts as I see them applied in real life.

I don't know if I'm a strong enough character to make positive changes in my life based on what I learned in this book, but the author certainly did his part, and now it's up to me!

I enjoyed this entertaining read chronicling the stupid actions of people and what motivates people to make these very very bad decisions. This book provides a brief look at these evidences of human foibles and delivers interesting and entertaining analysis of what on earth these people were thinking. Its not a deep read, but that is totally Ok because the volume delivers good writing and often funny thoughts throughout. It is a good pick it up and put it down read for those with very busy lives that are looking for a bit of diversion.

"What Was I Thinking? The Dumb Things We Do and How to Avoid Them" proposes to explain why people, especially famous people, do the things that lead to scandal and undesirable headlines. The notorious blunders of Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, Tiger Woods,Martha Stewart, and others are described; and each chapter details a motivating factor, such as arrogance, ambition and greed, or the need for justice and honor.

While the explanations offered provide some plausible reasons for the falls from grace that are presented, the book misses the mark in several ways. During the first chapter, Helmreich asserts that the social changes of the past 50 years have caused our values to change such that the rare scandal of yesterday is a frequent occurrence
today. It is hard to believe there are proportionally more men seeking illicit sex today, more people trying to cheat on their on their taxes, or creating Ponzi schemes today than in times past. It would be a difficult task to find any of the described contemporary scandals that doesn't have a Biblical predecessor. The change is in the access to information and the vigorous reporting that occurs today.

The descriptions of the likely thought processes of the scandal-prone seem highly speculative, and cannot be verified. Bill Clinton supposedly believed Americans would react to news of his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky with a shrug, because history is full of presidents who have had extra-marital affairs. Helmreich unequivocally states that Bernie Madoff is a sociopath; a diagnosis that is not confirmed.

Two factors that are associated with notoriously dumb behavior are given short shrift in the book: the pursuit of illicit sex at the risk of losing everything, and attitudes toward women. Several of the profiled scandals are about people seeking to satisfy sexual urges in ways that are not condoned by society. There is something special about the level of risk public figures, especially men, are willing to take to satisfy sexual urges, but "What Was I Thinking" does not give the pursuit of illicit sex the attention it deserves. Also, several examples are about men who are driven to the extreme because they are dealing with women who have more power than they do; such as the road rage case that involved a male perpetrator and a female police officer, and the man who lost a game of ping-pong to a woman. The fact that Helmreich points out the gender those involved underscores the need to explore how the mens' attitudes toward women are important.

Helmreich speculates that Senator Larry Craig's behavior in the airport men's room might have been better tolerated if committed by Congressman Barney Frank in liberal Massachusetts. His assertion is an insult to Representative Frank and the people of Massachusetts. Barney Frank is well liked by his constituency because he is honest with them. The possibility that Senator Craig is gay, and cannot cope with the truth about himself is not explored. Also the book makes a factual error in repeatedly stating Senator Craig represented Utah, when in fact, he served as senator from Idaho.

Finally, the solutions provided at the end of "What Was I Thinking"; e.g., respect others, curb your appetite for power, and learn to listen, among others, are hardly new, and unlikely to prevent anyone from making another stupid mistake.

I actually liked this book more than I thought I would. It's not meant, in my opinion, for a straight read, but rather, I enjoyed picking it up, and looking for stories I liked. It takes us through many "current events," and stupid things people have done. We get some insight as to why these things happen. It is not meant to be a story of antidotes, but there are many, which I enjoyed. It made it easy to get through the sociological studies. I don't know that it's a self help book, but it is an interesting read.

This book discusses many public figures who have done what we all consider to be dumb things - Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, Tiger Wood's many affairs, people lying on their resumes, etc. The author gives many reasons why people do these things. In fact, this is most of the book. Only a small chapter at the end discusses how to avoid doing these dumb things.

The book was interesting to me at first, but it seemed to get repetitive. I found myself skimming over pages rather than reading them.

Thank you to Library Thing and Taylor Trade Publishing for an advance copy of this book to review.

This is a very short (around 200 pages) and entertaining read. You can pick just about any spot in the book and read a very interesting snippet of someones downfall. According to the author, all of the usual suspects that you would think of are the cause of peoples poor judgment. Greed, not thinking the rules apply to you, fear, ego, rage, and lies are just some of the causes that can lead to a persons downfall. I found it especially fascinating, that as the author points out, we are getting to be a more permissive and tolerant society. When someone famous makes the news for something frowned upon in society, everyone seems to forgive them quickly and move on. After all there is always someone on the horizon who will show even more poor judgment that will captivate our interest. I also thought it was interesting that often when we see a person doing something negative, for example, uttering a racist comment, we tend to think this was spontaneous blurb out of character. The author points out that many people really hide their true thoughts and that if you go far back enough in their lives you can see the roots of the scandal or poor judgment pretty clearly. There is a lot to think about from a psychological standpoint in this book. The end of the book is filled with ways to help you manage your own behavior to prevent your own what was I thinking moment. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about psychology or famous people to dissect why they do the things they do. Fans of Malcolm Gladwell's books will also enjoy this.

Not expecting to enjoy a proclaimed “self help” book, Helmreich makes an interesting analysis of the causes of unethical behavior. His examples of famed celebrity downfalls make it a quick, fun read and keep the reader questioning his or her own values.½

What Was I Thinking?: The Dumb Things We Do and How to Avoid Them by William B. Helmreich was a fascinating book, easily accessible, and extremely informative. What surprised me the most was how much of it applied to everyday people, such as myself. It gave me a better understanding of my thought process when I do silly things and more importantly an insight to others that made me more empathetic. Great book.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting when I started reading What Was I Thinking? I’m guessing I was thinking I would read a book about mistakes, and then have solutions directly following those mistakes. That’s not exactly what Helmreich has created; his book is more of a sociological study of misbehavior, with long lists of why people do things they later regret, with only the tail end providing some solutions. For something that labels itself as a self-help book on the back, I don’t think it quite makes it; as a study on the mistakes we all make, however, it’s an interesting read.

Full review: http://libwen.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/what-was-i-thinking-by-william-b-helmreic...

3.4/5

Sounds like a book everyone could use! We all need a little advice along the way! I'm looking forward to reading this book!