Detroit Disassembled
Andrew Moore
I find something incredibly satisfying about Moore’s photos of a decaying post-apocalyptic Detroit. While the building are crumbling to nothing, nature is reasserting herself. Man has not conquered nature, nor ever will. We may be doing our damnedest to overpopulate and pollute the planet, but nature will have the last laugh.
The photos are also history in action. Often archaeologists unearth ruins and state in a purposeful (confused) tone that “trade routes must have changes and the social dynamic made people leave, yadda yadda.” It sounds so fancifal, Why would people leave a perfectly good city and move elsewhere? Why wouldn’t they take their stuff? You can’t just leave a city and walk away… can you?...
Beneath the Metropolis – The Secret Life of Cities
Beneath the Metropolis – The Secret Life of Cities – Alex Marshall
Marshall gives a short overview on a number of famous cities and their secret underground. From waterworks, subway tunnels, aqueducts, crypts and even whole secret cities and train systems under Moscow, most major metropolitan areas have thousands of feet of under-structures that very few people are aware of. A good starter book for anyone interested in learning about underground structures.
Access All Areas
Access All Areas – Ninjalicious
Ninjalicious, founder of Infiltration.org and master urban explorer, came out with the wicked useful guide to visiting hidden and off-limit places. Sadly, he died weeks after the book was published. However, his immensely useful collection of tips on getting in and out of spaces is available to one and all. Urban exploration in the hobby/art of visiting ruined buildings, construction sites and off-limit areas of “live” buildings. The purpose of these trips are to visit and appreciate sites often long-forgotten or seen only by handful of select few. Interspersed with stories of his actual trips,...
Ghostly Ruins – America’s Forgotten Architecture
Ghostly Ruins – America’s Forgotten Architecture – Harry Skrdla
Harry Skrdla is a prat. His writing is pompous, overblown and redundant. I can almost guarantee he has a closet full of notebooks where he wrote wretched Goth poetry in while in high school.
The pictures, on the other hand, are beautiful. Encompassing a wide array of ruins – homes, factories, amusement parks – Skrlda shows the beauty and sadness of wonderful unique buildings left to rot. Many of the locations were built during the Victorian era and are massive and solid edifices. These hospitals, jails and mansions are often stone and brick with slate...