Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was my selection for Book Bingo "a best selling book" after I combed the NY Times Bestseller List three times. Just my luck that recent branching out had caused me to knock off three book from that famous list without even knowing I was doing it until this Bingo challenge led me to bother to glance over it.

Brandon Stanton, in his attempt to become a photographer, discovered a love of photographing people where he came across them in his rambles around New York City. He wanted to create a photographic census but wound up with an engaging blog which has since been turned into this book.

I'd never heard of the blog before and was grateful to my Book Bingo challenge for introducing me to Brandon Stanton's work. While I was waiting for the book to arrive, I began reading the blog.

This showed up from the library yesterday and, as with most books that are photos with a smattering of text, I polished it off in a couple of hours. They were very enjoyable hours, during which I often pestered my husband to look. As a result he had me put it in his "to read" stack when I was done.

I'd say that the book's greatest failing is that the quotes and anecdotes he gathers from each subject are not always included in the book. Also the all caps typesetting can be difficult to read for long anecdotes.

The tendency, when thinking of those who live in New York is to focus on the quirky, of which this book shows a multitude. Therefore, I found myself enjoying most the photos of less flamboyant subjects which were found more among the young, the old, those at Lincoln Center, and dogwalkers. Obviously these are broad categories, but they were the images I liked best.

My favorite: the spread of the man walking the three French Bulldogs who has met up with the Asian man whose little boy is on a leash. The tender smile on the dogwalker's face as he looks at the little boy made me come back again and again.

This is a highly enjoyable book and I hope it allows Brandon Stanton enough income to continue his blog and photography. I like to see dreams come true.