Welcome back! This week, we’re kicking off The Address Book by Diedre Mask, a book that dives into the origins and creation of street addresses and what they say about the world they represent.
I’m really enjoying this one so far — this week the goal was to read up through Chapter 4, but there’s still plenty of time to get your hands on it — and here’s a few topics to kick us off:
Much of the introduction and first chapter was about the privilege of merely having a street name, highlighting folks in West Virginia who lacked one and for whom that made life incredibly difficult. Going into this book, what had your expectations been? Did you know that street addresses were a fairly modern innovation? Did you know people still lacked them?
British imperialists sought to rename the streets of Kolkata to suit their aims, but only bothered with the parts of town they spent time in. Today an organization is attempting to name the streets of Kolkata’s slums. This is controversial, with some arguing a two-tiered system — street names from the government for some, street names for the slums from others — isn’t productive. What did you make of this debate?
Rome made roads, but did not give them names. Chapter 3 was all about where street maps originate from, namely: paths (roads), nodes (intersections), edges (rivers and rails), landmarks, and districts (“Soho”). Thinking about your city, what defines its streetplan?
How dare they do Gropecunt Lane dirty like that?
“The future of street names is women,” have you seen anything like that in your area?
I worked at a non-profit in rural WV for a summer in 2014 (right next to McDowell County -which I believe is mentioned in this book). Our goal was to repair homes for families and on the application there was a place for "address" and below this line we had 3 lines for "directions," to the home. Often the directions were as described in The Address Book. We'd often have to decipher directions like "Take a left over Joe's bridge, second turn after the barn, go up, take a right at the junction." Even when someone would list an address finding the street signs was not always guaranteed. Part of my responsibilities were to add GPS coordinates for these homes so others could find their way to the home for repairs.
I'm finding this extremely fascinating so far and am looking forward to the rest of this book.
What I like about Numlock BC is that these are books I probably would not have read. I also like that they are "approachable" as there was something in each chapter I could relate back to my own experience. My background for this topic is my education as a geographer as well as my work as a real estate appraiser. I remember reading Kevin Lynch's "The Image of a City" for a class. As an appraiser, once we left an urban/suburban area and long before the days of GPS, we too had to rely on verbal directions, including the popular "...turn left at the sleeping dog". But this book is also timely: Voting requires a physical address; the census begins with an address, as does contact tracing. Looking forward to the next set of chapters. Plus I do like the two-week schedule as it feels less like cramming for a test.
Another great book I never would have read without this book club. I am old enough to remember when you could address a letter without a zip code .....
"Location and Disease are inseparable for epidemiologists." (46)
For me, Chapter 2 was the most interesting chapter so far because I didn't think about how tedious contact tracing would be without a formal address system, especially in light of our current global pandemic situation. However, the story about Haiti and the spread of cholera was heartbreaking.
The WV address-less housing was quite interesting and I think speaks to how people navigate. My in-laws purchased a house in the country in France and were discussing all the ways they needed to direct people to get there, as it does not have a physical address. While I asked for the GPS coordinates, they settled on hanging a large flag by the end of the driveway. Sometimes, I think it’s just a bit more personal for people to describe the journey to their home than to give only numbers without a story.
I thought it was interesting reading about the reasons people advocate for specific street names. After reading Zillow Talk by Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries, I assumed most street names were either just (a) "leftover" names from historic events, stores, etc. that no one bothered to change or (b) names used to increase the value of the properties in the area. From this book however, I now realize that changing street names can often times be much more complex and meaningful than I previously thought!
Really enjoying this book — especially the friendly tone. I knew plenty of people didn’t have addresses, but I didn’t think about all the complications. I’ve learned about John Snow’s work in many different contexts but never really thought about the address issue. And thinking about inappropriate street names really brings it home since I live in a Southern U.S. city where an entire neighborhood has streets named for famous Confederates. (The city also has a moratorium on street name changes at the moment.) Looking forward you what else the author has in store for us!
The Wu-Tang Clan District! 40% of all laws passed by the New York City Council have been street name changes!! Also never knew that West Virginia had such few street addresses heading into the 90s. Can't even imagine what that must have been like! Plus imagine what this year's Presidential Election during a Pandemic would be like if states had such few street addresses?! Btw love that the guy ends up living officially on Stacy Hollow Drive (I wonder if the moms on this Drive got it goin' on?). The stories have all struck gold for me so far. Chapter 2 I found to be the most interesting and of course so relevant with the tracing and all.
Now living in New York City, It is interesting to think about the city planning that is going on regarding the use of streets. Thinking about the street plan, paths, and landmarks, especially parks and open-air spaces are very much important components of the mental map.
Growing up in the British West Indies in the 80s and 90s, it is crazy to think about how commonplace not having a mailing address at your place of residence was at the time. People of means had and, in some instances, still have post office boxes, especially if you want to get your mail in a timely efficient manner. Street naming projects are still very much government initiatives that are still carried out. We are very big on naming and re-naming streets after noted people in the community posthumous.
Finding this overall very interesting so far. I wasn’t totally convinced of the argument of addresses as a tool to “address” poverty. Is the advantage of being able to open a bank account worth getting taxed? Would facilitating policing in newly addressed areas really lead to better outcomes for the residents of the slums? (At least in light of the current situation here in the states, that’s at least not obvious).
I worked at a non-profit in rural WV for a summer in 2014 (right next to McDowell County -which I believe is mentioned in this book). Our goal was to repair homes for families and on the application there was a place for "address" and below this line we had 3 lines for "directions," to the home. Often the directions were as described in The Address Book. We'd often have to decipher directions like "Take a left over Joe's bridge, second turn after the barn, go up, take a right at the junction." Even when someone would list an address finding the street signs was not always guaranteed. Part of my responsibilities were to add GPS coordinates for these homes so others could find their way to the home for repairs.
I'm finding this extremely fascinating so far and am looking forward to the rest of this book.
I wanted to put in a shout out for Patti Lyle Collins of the U.S. dead letter office who is the real MVP here. I went on to do more research on the world's greatest detective and everything I've read about her is magnificent https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67304/patti-lyle-collins-super-sleuth-dead-letter-office
What I like about Numlock BC is that these are books I probably would not have read. I also like that they are "approachable" as there was something in each chapter I could relate back to my own experience. My background for this topic is my education as a geographer as well as my work as a real estate appraiser. I remember reading Kevin Lynch's "The Image of a City" for a class. As an appraiser, once we left an urban/suburban area and long before the days of GPS, we too had to rely on verbal directions, including the popular "...turn left at the sleeping dog". But this book is also timely: Voting requires a physical address; the census begins with an address, as does contact tracing. Looking forward to the next set of chapters. Plus I do like the two-week schedule as it feels less like cramming for a test.
Another great book I never would have read without this book club. I am old enough to remember when you could address a letter without a zip code .....
I’m kinda floored by all of these stories so far - especially the...directional neuron(?!)...research mentioned in the Rome chapter.
I think I’d read an entire book on each of these individually 🤯
"Location and Disease are inseparable for epidemiologists." (46)
For me, Chapter 2 was the most interesting chapter so far because I didn't think about how tedious contact tracing would be without a formal address system, especially in light of our current global pandemic situation. However, the story about Haiti and the spread of cholera was heartbreaking.
The WV address-less housing was quite interesting and I think speaks to how people navigate. My in-laws purchased a house in the country in France and were discussing all the ways they needed to direct people to get there, as it does not have a physical address. While I asked for the GPS coordinates, they settled on hanging a large flag by the end of the driveway. Sometimes, I think it’s just a bit more personal for people to describe the journey to their home than to give only numbers without a story.
I thought it was interesting reading about the reasons people advocate for specific street names. After reading Zillow Talk by Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries, I assumed most street names were either just (a) "leftover" names from historic events, stores, etc. that no one bothered to change or (b) names used to increase the value of the properties in the area. From this book however, I now realize that changing street names can often times be much more complex and meaningful than I previously thought!
Really enjoying this book — especially the friendly tone. I knew plenty of people didn’t have addresses, but I didn’t think about all the complications. I’ve learned about John Snow’s work in many different contexts but never really thought about the address issue. And thinking about inappropriate street names really brings it home since I live in a Southern U.S. city where an entire neighborhood has streets named for famous Confederates. (The city also has a moratorium on street name changes at the moment.) Looking forward you what else the author has in store for us!
The Wu-Tang Clan District! 40% of all laws passed by the New York City Council have been street name changes!! Also never knew that West Virginia had such few street addresses heading into the 90s. Can't even imagine what that must have been like! Plus imagine what this year's Presidential Election during a Pandemic would be like if states had such few street addresses?! Btw love that the guy ends up living officially on Stacy Hollow Drive (I wonder if the moms on this Drive got it goin' on?). The stories have all struck gold for me so far. Chapter 2 I found to be the most interesting and of course so relevant with the tracing and all.
Now living in New York City, It is interesting to think about the city planning that is going on regarding the use of streets. Thinking about the street plan, paths, and landmarks, especially parks and open-air spaces are very much important components of the mental map.
Growing up in the British West Indies in the 80s and 90s, it is crazy to think about how commonplace not having a mailing address at your place of residence was at the time. People of means had and, in some instances, still have post office boxes, especially if you want to get your mail in a timely efficient manner. Street naming projects are still very much government initiatives that are still carried out. We are very big on naming and re-naming streets after noted people in the community posthumous.
Finding this overall very interesting so far. I wasn’t totally convinced of the argument of addresses as a tool to “address” poverty. Is the advantage of being able to open a bank account worth getting taxed? Would facilitating policing in newly addressed areas really lead to better outcomes for the residents of the slums? (At least in light of the current situation here in the states, that’s at least not obvious).