Sociology

The book starts with Tsukiji which happens to be located in Tokyo and it has a huge market for fish. It also happens to be a major attraction for tourist and this is very odd as there is very little to attract tourists here. The book describes the market as a must see and the city has nothing else that is attractive. The author gives a thorough description of those key aspects of the market place of Tsukiji after justifying the city. He starts with the marketplace neighborhood in the 1930s, the layout of the form-follows-function that is done by avant-guarde, the importance of food to Japan, the role of Tsukiji, the importance of the marketplace to the economy and to the whole nation and the true anthropological study of the society that is living in the town. Then the author looks a little into the future and there reflects on the changing landscape in Tokyo. He also looks at the effects and the possibilities of moving the marketplace into a new location.

The book can be said to have some few drawbacks that can be realized as one reads it. One of them is that some parts of the books are too technical such that they will be understood by some specific people. For instance, the very first chapter may be said to be meant for anthropologists and they may question the legitimacy of the anthropology used. In addition, some of the materials that are used may confuse all the people that have never visited Japan.  I can argue that the book had some exaggerations or rather that the book fails to expand that are mentioned. None the less, the book is a good read and it can act as a guide to all those people who are visiting Japan. I can describe it as a rewarding read that focuses on one particular aspect that is found in Japan. It makes the reader to have more understanding of some aspects in Japan more than a normal sociological book would.

City of the Walls Crime, Citizenship  Segregation in the Sao Paulo
The author who happens to be a pioneer studying crime, fear and segregation that is in existence in Sao Paulo happens to pose an essential question concerning the urban changes and the citizenship in the so called contemporary democratic societies. She identifies a new segregation patter after comparing Sao Paulos data with that of Los Angeles. The authors insight illuminates the geography of the city and also its boundaries. She also presents the situation where there is lack of boundaries due to violence. She presents an account of violence in cities in an extraordinary way thereby bringing a rare depth of understanding and knowledge to this task. The book presents most of the obstacles and challenges which civil societies and governments face in these new democracies.

The book starts with a statement in the very first pages that can be referred to as an extraordinary method of dealing with a difficult problem. It is more than a comparative study and therefore can be termed as a genuine transnational and trans-cultural work. I find the book wonderfully ambitious and ethnographically rich. The book can also be referred to as being historically specific while at the same time it is theoretically bold. It is an analysis that is brilliant concerning the fears that are usually found in urban areas. The sophistication that is presented in this book should bring up new discussions on urban life and cities in the whole world and therefore its significance may be said to go beyond the situation that is presented in Brazil. I can therefore refer to it as a great book and I would recommend the book to all those students that are taking political science and any other person who feels he needs to understand politics better.

First stop in New World Mexico City, Capital of 21st Century
About fifteen years ago, David Lida moves to the city of Mexico in search for a kind of energy, culture and spontaneity. This is what he thought had been out of his life in native city of New York. When he arrived there, he found a thriving miraculous urban centre that has centuries of living history. Through the eyes of this American who happen to become an insider, this book is a street level panorama of the current contemporary Mexico City. That is from the dense urban politics jungle, the high art of sex industry to the interaction of everyday commerce, from the end of this city which is about five hundred square miles to the other. David captures what is referred to as the kaleidoscopic nature of city life in a perfect way defining danger and pleasure, lawlessness and justice, appalling tragedy and ecstatic joy which is in limbo between the developing and the developed worlds. This is something that will extend up to the twenty first century where David will still serve the role of an ultimate chronicler of the cities that are in existence at the vital moments in their history.

This is an interesting book but there happen to be some things which can be termed as being highly dubious. A good example is a claim that male adultery n the city of Mexico happens to be universal. This is what David was told by his feminist friend but this is not the case in reality. Men are the name from different parts of the world and therefore it is not likely that Mexican men are more likely to cheat on their spouses than men from the other parts of the world. Another one is a conviction that people in Mexico lie all the time. This is not true and I can refer to it as a mis-presentation of the fact. David was meaning that people in Mexico do not like disappointing other people.  None the less, the book is a great one and it is highly recommendable especially to all those people who love history and all those people who like to know more about what is happening in the cities.