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Quote by Matt Haig

“And besides, libraries aren't just about books. They are one of the few public spaces we have left which don't like our wallets more than us.”

Quote by Matt Haig

Book:Notes on a Nervous Planet

Work

Notes on a Nervous Planet

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Author

Matt Haig

Matt Haig is a British novelist born in 1975. His works are known for their humor and profound emotional insight, enjoying great popularity among readers. Haig's writing spans a variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and realism. more

“There are many causes for the increasing concentration of wealth in a shrinking elite, but let us throw one more into the mix: the ever more aggressive appropriations of the attentional commons that we have allowed to take place. I think we need to sharpen the conceptually murky right to privacy by supplementing it with a right not to be addressed. This would apply not, of course, to those who address me face to face as individuals, but to those who never show their faces, and treat my mind as a resource to be harvested.”

Attention Democracy Public Spaces

Author:Matthew B. Crawford

“If I want religion, I know where to look for it - and if for example I don't want it, then why should it be forced on me in media and public spaces?”

Religion Media Example Forced Public Spaces

Book:Blachart: Galaxii Series Book 1

Source: Blachart: Galaxii Series Book 1

“a city square that's designed on a scale to express national greatness is hostile to the human intimacy necessary for freedom's space [George Packer, "History: Influence on Humanity"].”

Intimacy Scale Public Spaces

Book:City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World

Source: City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World

“In newer countries, you often find two types of public square: one that is older, organic, chaotic, and populated; and one that is recent, planned, orderly, and deserted. The first type predates the nation-state and accretes over time to accommodate the habits and needs, mainly commercial ones, of ordinary city dwellers. Its names are maidan, souq, bazaar, market. The second is constructed according to a master plan to embody the idealized qualities of the nation, often with grandiose results. The first thrusts people together in a public space, a hive if activity. Its essence is accidental and spontaneous. The second leaves nothing to chance. It tells people that they are subservient to the state and, in a sense, irrelevant to it [George Packer, "History: Influence on Humanity"].”