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CityReads in 10 Years: Something Novel,
Something Old, Something Marginal, Something Hard"When you are motivated autonomously, you act on a law that you give
to yourself; when you act heteronomously, the law is imposed on you by means of
a sanction." — Christine Korsgaard
Park,
R. E. (1928). Human migration and the marginal man. American Journal of
Sociology, 33(6), 881–893. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2765982Picture
source: World Map In The Style of Gustav Klimt, https://brilliantmaps.com/world-maps-famous-artists/On
November 21, 2014, CityReads published its first post. On November 22, 2024,
CityReads released its 525th post, marking a decade of its journey. As usual, I
procrastinated until the last day of 2024 to write about these ten years of
CityReads. Thank you to all the readers who opened and read this essay, and I
wish you a Happy New Year!As
CityReads turns ten, I'd like to share my principles for selecting readings, which I've summarized by adapting an English proverb: "Something novel,
something old, something marginal, something hard."Novelty,
not just newness. Indeed, sometimes what is new is also novel. Therefore, many
of the books/papers/articles I recommend in CityReads are the latest. However,
there are also plenty of new books that are clichéd, so being recently
published is not enough.I
focus more on novelty. What counts as novel varies from person to person. My
criterion is simple: if it teaches me something new, it's
novel. My knowledge is limited, so there’s an endless
supply of things I can learn. Life is finite, but knowledge is infinite. I take
it one book at a time.Heterogeneity
brings novelty. Different disciplines, countries, languages, cultures,
professions, genders, ages, health statuses (illness, disability, and aging
teach us more than health), sexual orientations… Choosing diverse
authors and subjects allows me to learn more.I
once listened to a TED talk where the speaker described how she tried to read
books from every country in the world within a year—one
book per country. It’s a great idea. CityReads primarily
recommends English books, inevitably focusing on Anglo-Saxon countries, but
there are ways to compensate for this. Many English books cover topics about
different countries and regions. Anglo-Saxon countries have many immigrants,
and many authors are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, often bearing the
imprint of at least two cultures. Some works by authors from other countries
have been translated into English. Moreover, with AI translation improving,
reading books in other languages has become increasingly accessible.First,
for the same reason as the first point, many old books contain novel ideas or
knowledge, which is why we should read them.Second,
in terms of quantity, the number of old books far exceeds the number of new books
published each year. Reading, of course, should not be limited to new books; we
must also read old ones.How
many books are there in the world?In
2010, Google estimated the number of books published since the invention of the
printing press in 1440 to be approximately 130 million (129,864,880). UNESCO
estimates that 2.2 million new books are published worldwide each year. Based
on this, it is estimated that by 2024, there would be around 160 million books
in the world. Of course, this is a very rough estimate and may significantly
underestimate the actual number of books. Regardless, the world has a vast
supply of old books, and it continues to grow.Third,
if we only read new books, we will inevitably have blind spots. Reading old
books helps reduce and avoid these blind spots. C.S. Lewis argued that every
era has its own zeitgeist, and everyone, to some extent, shares the
perspectives of their time, along with many unspoken assumptions, as well as
specific blind spots. As Lewis put it:“None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly
increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books.
Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where
they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already
dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the
centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old
books.”In
1926, Robert Park, in his essay Human Migration and the Marginal Man,
connected human migration, cities, and marginal man. Cities are societies of
strangers, filled with marginal people. Migrants often find themselves in this
marginal status, relocating to cities in search of their place within more
complex, heterogeneous, free, and inclusive urban environments. The marginal man,
as Park described, "is a man on the margin of two cultures and two
societies, which never completely interpenetrated and fused." In these two
worlds, the marginal man struggles to fully integrate into either, often
remaining an outsider to both.Marginal
man belongs to multiple cultures that may be mutually exclusive or even in
conflict. They maintain a certain distance from each culture, and their
position on the fringes of multiple systems often grants them deeper insights
into those systems. Park emphasized the importance of studying marginal man:"It is in the mind of the marginal man that the moral turmoil
which new cultural contacts occasion manifests itself in the most obvious
forms. It is in the mind of the marginal man-where the changes and fusions of
culture are going on-that we can best study the processes of civilization and
of progress."The
concept of marginality is defined in relation to the mainstream. Marginal
people, strangers, outsiders, amateurs, minorities, misfits, those abnormal,
the excluded, the disadvantaged, the displaced, the voiceless, the powerless—whatever
the label, their shared characteristic is a difficulty in conforming to
established norms and desires. They challenge the conformists, the calculators,
and the rule-followers, boldly and courageously pursuing independent thought.
They are individuals who "do not feel the need to sell themselves to the
highest bidder. They are committed to doing the right thing, even with little
or no reward."The
stories told by marginal individuals differ from mainstream narratives,
offering alternative worldviews. Marginal people and amateurs can have a
significant impact. Jane Jacobs, who revolutionized urban planning, and Henri
Lefebvre, who reshaped urban studies theory, were both considered amateurs.
Jacobs had no college degree or formal training in urban planning. She was an
unassuming outsider who unexpectedly triumphed over prominent master planners
on the critical questions of why cities are built and for whom. Her work marked
a turning point in the intellectual history of cities. Lefebvre, who once
worked as a taxi driver and only secured his first academic position at the age
of 65, authored The Urban Revolution, which catalyzed a Marxist turn in urban
studies. (For more, see CityReads | How Amateurs Have Changed Urban Theory and
Practice?)![]()
Although
most marginal individuals may not have a significant impact, their narratives
are indispensable. I am always moved by the writings of marginal individuals.Reading
difficult books expands one's boundaries. This is something I do not do well—it
remains more of an ideal for me.Nassim
Taleb, in his book The Black Swan, writes about the value of unread books:"The
library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means … allow
you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow
older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you
menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let
us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary."![]()
Although
my financial situation does not allow me to have a study room, fortunately,
there are e-books. An electronic library occupies very little physical space.
Whether physical or digital, a good library is filled with mostly unread books.Let
these unread books remind me that there is still so much unknown and so many
challenges waiting for me to explore.Even
after ten years, CityReads remains an insignificant public account. As of now,
it has approximately 79,900 subscribers (see Figure 1). However, most
subscribers do not open the articles to read; the number of regular readers
stands at 6,959, accounting for 9% of subscribers.The
gender ratio of subscribers is 45% male to 55% female. In terms of age
distribution, over 40% are aged 26–35, more than 20% are aged 36–45, nearly a quarter are aged 18–25, and
nearly 12% are aged 46–60. Nearly 90% of subscribers
are Simplified Chinese users, with approximately 4,576 English users (5.7%) and
1% Traditional Chinese users.The
geographical distribution of subscribers aligns closely with the urban
hierarchy of Chinese cities. The top four cities are Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, followed by Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an,
and Chongqing (see Table 1).City
distribution of the followers of CityReads
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Looking
back at the journey of creating CityReads, I find it somewhat similar to the
working principles of large language models (LLMs). Interestingly, my name’s
pinyin initials, LLM, coincide with the English abbreviation for large language
models.
In
the beginning, CityReads mainly involved translating English papers, akin to a
manual translation model. Then, I moved on to summarizing the content of
English books and providing critiques based on my knowledge framework. Later,
real-world issues inspired topics, leading me to organize, analyze, and produce
content from the data and materials I collected. Of course, the scale at which
I process textual materials is minuscule compared to what LLMs can handle.My
routine for updating CityReads revolves around reading selected books or
articles, translating excerpts, summarizing, critiquing, and organizing the
content into an essay. In recent years, I've frequently used AI tools
for assistance, primarily ChatGPT during the initial translation stage.
Recently, I've also started using the newly popular
DeepSeek, which indeed performs well. Based on my experience, both tools have
their own strengths. After AI-assisted translation, I edit and refine the text.
On this foundation, I summarize and rewrite, adding my commentary within my own
analytical framework to complete the article. Once the draft is ready, I send
it to student for formatting. Afterward, I proofread the formatted version,
request adjustments to certain texts and layouts, and, once everything is
polished, schedule it for publication.Over
the past ten years, I am deeply grateful to the students who participated in
formatting or editing posts on CityReads: Diao Canyu, Peng Dan, He Jiyu, Zhang
Huijuan, Yang Lan, Guo Weijie, Ji Yuqing, Xu Tianheng, Tian Yumeng, Meng
Lijuan, Zhang Yiting, and Li Xuran. Special thanks to Zhang Yiting for
compiling the decade-long statistics of CityReads.Through
doing CityReads, I've earned the recognition of some highly respected mentors and
friends, and I've also met new ones—an unexpectedly precious reward. My apologies for not listing
everyone here. I want to commemorate Professor Zhu Weijue, who, five years ago,
invited me to the One Way Space Library on Nanchang Road to organize a talk
marking CityReads's fifth anniversary. It was the only
offline event CityReads ever hosted for the public. Life is unpredictable; this
year, Professor Zhu passed away suddenly. Her kindness, however, will always
remain in my heart.I
am also grateful to Wu Yongbei, who approached me for translating a book
because of CityReads. During the pandemic, we communicated extensively via WeChat
and mail. Though we have yet to meet in person, her efficiency led to the
publication of the Chinese version of Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in
Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban Future. It remains the only tangible product
born of CityReads.
