Book Review - Humans of New York

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For 29 years, I lived in New York. I was never overwhelmed by NY, but rather I always found it intriguing and interesting. I arrived at the age of 12, and shortly after that, I was taking public transportation to go to elementary school. Riding the bus started a life long love affair with people watching and people listening (if that is a thing). There were so many dialects, juxtaposed with people from all walks of life. As I grew, all modes of public transportation became the vehicle for which I learned the city and this knowledge translated into love.

I don't know how I started reading Humans of New York on Facebook, but I do know once I started I was hooked. In its simplest form, it's a chronicling of humanity. It displays the complexity of the human spirit, and even in flawed humans, we see bits of ourselves. Because I was so enamored by the HONY FB page I requested this book  - Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, for Christmas.

This book does not disappoint though it has a slightly different format than the FB page. There are images of people from every facet of life, every race, each gender, every age and stage, frozen at a point in time. Sometimes there are unexpected captions and stories associated with each photo and sometimes the portrait tells a story. Ultimately Humans of New York is about people and their city. Though I've lived a couple of places, I can truthfully say there is no place like New York and the portraits in this book do a superb job of capturing the essence of the city.

If you'd like an all-encompassing view of NY through the eyes of the people that live or pass through there, this book is a great place to start.