MixedCrosscutIs the Gum Wall enlightening about our nature? I doubt it, but compendiums like this are triumphant, often, for their bizarreness—like walking a carnival midway at a world’s fair: You calibrate reality between the high-minded and the low-brow, the space age exhibit and the six-legged lamb ... From a practical standpoint, though, the book is too small to contain its ambition with nearly zero utility, and the type is nearly microscopic. To really appreciate you’d need to see it as an interactive of a large computer screen, or at the least a wall poster. Which brings me to the problem with the book: There is so much data and such limited space to spread it out ... Still there are many cool things in it ... I\'m not sure that Seattleness captures Seattle’s essence. I think tackling it with data is interesting and sometimes enlightening. It’s fun to dip in and out of.
