Title: Cities: The First 6000 Years

Author: Monica L. Smith

Publisher: Viking 2019

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Nonfiction Bingo - 2019 Release

Cities is an impassioned and learned account full of fascinating details of daily life in ancient urban centers, using archaeological perspectives to show that the aspects of cities we find most irresistible (and the most annoying) have been with us since the very beginnings of urbanism itself. She also proves the rise of cities was hardly inevitable, yet it was crucial to the eventual global dominance of our species--and that cities are here to stay.

Oooof! I just wanted to love this book, but it was just way too long and dry for me. There were many sections that were fascinating. I loved when Smith dove into very specific examples of cities or archaeological digs. But then there was just too much filler to me. Those passages really turned me off to the book.

Next up on the TBR pile: