Imagine a City: A Pilot Sees the World (Hardback)

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, Massachusetts, Mark Vanhoenacker has been fascinated by cities; by the bright lights, the hustle and bustle, the dazzling cityscapes, and the opportunities they present for personal reinvention. Now, as an adult, he travels as a commercial airline pilot, visiting hundreds of cities all around the globe.

The way he experiences these metropolises - in short, 27-72 hour layovers, sometimes multiple times a week, and then not at all, for months or even years - is unlike that of any other traveler, giving 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 Tokyo to Jeddah-through the lens of the hometown he grew up in.

Through chapters that explore individual facets of city identity-their geography, their climate, their weather-he shows us with fresh eyes the man-made wonders that billions of us call home.