Podcast
99% Invisible
It encouraged listeners to pay attention to the often-overlooked wildlife and flora living in urban environments, particularly those creatures and plants who coexist with humans (synanthropes). It was described as a book that encourages readers to see the urban world in a different way.
But in Nathaniel Johnson's new book, Unseen City, he implores us to slow down and notice the beauty and resilience of the life that thrives within our urban landscape.
— Episode: Unseen City
Episode: Unseen City
It encouraged listeners to pay attention to the often-overlooked wildlife and flora living in urban environments, particularly those creatures and plants who coexist with humans (synanthropes). It was described as a book that encourages readers to see the urban world in a different way.
But in Nathaniel Johnson's new book, Unseen City, he implores us to slow down and notice the beauty and resilience of the life that thrives within our urban landscape.
He writes about all the gross stuff they do too. They're no grosser than us humans, but let's just say that every time you admire the green iridescent shimmer of the neck feathers on a pigeon, you will also be reminded of a thing called pigeon milk and it will haunt your nightmares.
And so I had this terrible choice between like saying tree, tree, tree over and over again or or listening to her scream for the entire time.
And you have this corollary that I love that's sort of the equivalent in the natural wonders of the cityscape, always eat the weed.
It says, ginkgo toxin is similar in structure to vitamin B6 and eating too much of it interferes with our ability to synthesize the vitamin that can provoke a biochemical cascade that, especially in children, may lead to seizures and even death.