Best book I've read all year ! A thousand- no, a million stars for The Great Good Place !

Was really looking forward to this, but it was disappointing. Should have been called "Let Me Tell You How Awesome Bars Used To Be".

This book literally took me a year to read. It was an incredibly frustrating read because for all that I was on board with the overall points of the book (third places are essential for truly enjoying life, their demise is lamentable, driving everywhere is a chore and isolating), the book is plagued by repetition. Honestly, I wonder if this book was edited at all - it could be a quarter of the length.

When I started to read the book, the initial chapters setting out the main points were good, but I was really looking forward to the case examples. Turns out those first chapters are the best. The case examples are essentially a vessel for Oldenburg to lament the fact he can't wander to a local for a few pints with the lads.

And I mean pints with the lads - the author is preoccupied with lamenting the dearth of spaces in the USA for men to be men and leave "the wife" at home. Women are wives in this book. And there's a disturbing suggestion that there could be a direct correlation between the decline of third places (neighbourhood bars) and an increase in domestic violence (!!) 'They are spaces for men to let off steam'. Also men and women shouldn't mix in third spaces according to the author (lol)

Cafes are given a cursory mention, but hair salons (which are named in the title) are absent entirely.

TL;DR - this is 300 pages of a guy wishing he could stagger home from the pub almost every night

An excellent thesis supported by evidence/arguments so dated that they’re offensive to read

Interesting 100 page idea stretched out to fill over 300 pages.

The idea of a 3rd place between home and work can contribute to well being, community, relationships not dictated by work or class is interesting, but the author seems to repeat it over and over.

Also this idea may have been novel 20 years ago, but the recent republishing fails to acknowledge major societal shifts, women at almost equal numbers to men in the work force and the rise of the internet.

The author also seems focused on a more urban existence, where people can walk to this third place or to the corner store, it does not address more rural environments (he goes on and on about how terrible suburbs are) but what about the rural communities in Europe--where is their thrid place, how is the isolated farm life different than the isolated exburb existence he rails against?

"Precious and unique benefits accrue to those who regularly attend third places and who value those forms of social intercourse found there. The leveling, primacy of conversation, certainty of meeting friends, looseness of structure, and eternal reign of the imp of fun all combine to set the stage for experiences unlikely to be found elsewhere...The benefits of participation both delight and sustain the individual."

"for letting one's hair down...Many a dutiful wife and mother will confess that she feels most at home with her close friends at some comfortable snuggery apart from her home and family."

i think the most compelling part of this book is the idea that having a space for people to come together and build fellowship with their fellow neighbors and air out grievances and discuss politics is an important deterrent from being spoonfed information from mass media sources and is also a good way for workers to unionize. the author seemed to go off the rails at other parts and the entire last bit was incredibly sexist from what i remember. this book could have been a lot shorter if some of the rambling about bars and cafes was cut out. however, i am eager to learn more about third places

" It is widely assumed that high levels of stress are an unavoidable condition of modern life, that these are built into the social system, and that one must get outside the system in order to gain relief... ... while Germans relax amid the rousing company of the bier garten or the French recuperate in their animated little bistros, Americans turn to massaging, meditating, jogging, hot-tubbing, or escape fiction..."
and other such gems.
The trouble is that this book is dated for 2021-22. "Dish-antennas" are the peak of entertainment technology that this book refers to. Online Social networks did not exist when this book was written and hence misses that perspective. On one hand, it amounts to pages of less consequential material, and on the second hand it raises interesting questions on the impact of online social networks and other such things that came about in the 21st century

Love this concept and the many angles examined by the author. Sometimes overly romanticized and outdated presentation but still interesting and thought provoking.

A great good book. The premise that most of the places where one used to have a good time that was unscheduled, unplanned and unsupervised are gone. This has had catastrophic ramifications for young and old. Our minders and planned have taken most to the fun out of life and it is documented here if you look.
The only drawback to this terrific expose is that it is out of date (many people under fifty may not even understand the references). If you are wondering why life is not fun get this and find most of the reasons.

Notes as I read it

If you are interested in the authors suggested reading list look in my want to read items from Jan 2024.

The preferred and ubiquitous mode of urban development is hostile to both walking and talking. In walking people become part of their terrain, they meet others,they become custodians of their neighborhood. In talking, people get to know one another, they find and create their common interests and realize the collective abilities essential to community and democracy.

20 percent of the US population changes residence each year.

I'm convinced... While many problems exist in America that have gotten us to where we are today, Great Good Places or "third places" are the beginning of solving nearly all of them.

No matter how educated or brilliant individuals are, synergy will win eventually. And those conditions do not occur within the home, but in the democratic, socially-leveled places where anyone may enter and be a part. Social isolation in urban areas but especially in suburbia severely magnifies the effects of weaker values and character development of adolescents, teens and even adults, the results of which simply compound without mechanisms to debrief them and solve them.

If nothing else, humans are social creatures (even coming from an introvert), and wouldn't anyone enjoy going to a place, confident that you'll know people and have a decent conversation? I do, and I believe that our society doesn't even know what we're missing, as so eloquently and comprehensively described by a scholar watching the effects of World War II.

The book is very comprehensive, and due to extreme detail makes it very dense and difficult to read through. Each week's worth of material to process is extremely insightful, and opens up the world to new dynamics whose catalysts are long out of the perception of this current generation.