Imagine a City

A love letter to the cities of the world, from the airline pilot-author of Skyfaring.

Ever since he was a boy growing up in Pittsfield, in western Massachusetts, Mark Vanhoenacker has been fascinated by cities: their bright lights, hustle and bustle, and dazzling skylines, and the endless opportunities they offer for personal discovery and reinvention. Now, as an adult, he travels the world as a commercial airline pilot, visiting every city he dreamed about as a child and many, many more. The way he experiences these metropolises--in 24- to 72-hour layovers, sometimes twice in one week and then not at all for months or even years--is unlike that of any ordinary traveler, and gives him an utterly unique perspective on what makes a city a city. In this hybrid work of travelogue and memoir, Vanhoenacker celebrates the cities he has come to know over the years, from Pittsburgh to Cape Town, and from Tokyo to Jeddah--through the lens of his small hometown. In chapters that explore individual facets of city identity--their geography, their poems, their weather--he shows us with fresh eyes the man-made wonders that billions of us call home.