Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Urban Studies ×
Showing 74 books in Urban Studies
City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York
1. City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York
BT: 12.46 188 comparisons
american history architecture economic history history +5
MR Post
Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District
2. Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District
BT: 7.80 91 comparisons
american studies law enforcement memoir non-fiction +3
MR Post
Build, Baby, Build
3. Build, Baby, Build
BT: 7.51 96 comparisons
economics ethics graphic novel housing economics +2
MR Post
T
4. The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London
BT: 5.68 121 comparisons
american history economics law legal history +3
MR Post
C
5. China’s Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History
BT: 5.30 155 comparisons
asian studies china economics history +2
MR Post
T
6. The First Irish Cities: An Eighteenth-Century Transformation
BT: 5.18 189 comparisons
18th-century history history irish history urban history +1
MR Post
D
7. Delirious Delhi: Inside India’s Incredible Capital
BT: 4.96 141 comparisons
cultural studies delhi india travel +1
MR Post
K
8. Kathmandu
BT: 4.60 157 comparisons
asian history cultural history geography nepalese history +2
MR Post
P
9. Parking and the City
BT: 3.92 196 comparisons
economics public policy transportation urban planning +1
MR Post
P
10. Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
BT: 3.69 217 comparisons
american history economics public policy urban economics +1
MR Post
M
11. Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy
BT: 3.54 169 comparisons
american studies cultural studies economics gender studies +4
MR Post
L
12. Lebanon: A Country in Fragments
BT: 2.70 259 comparisons
history lebanese history lebanese politics middle eastern studies +3
MR Post
P
13. Planet of Cities
BT: 2.26 253 comparisons
american studies demography economics geography +1
MR Post
O
14. On the Housing Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy
BT: 2.23 238 comparisons
economics politics public policy real estate +1
MR Post
T
15. Traffic
BT: 2.15 244 comparisons
economics psychology sociology transportation +1
MR Post
W
16. Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City
BT: 2.14 282 comparisons
american history biography history politics +2
MR Post
T
17. The Battle for Home: The Memoir of a Syrian Architect
BT: 1.91 280 comparisons
architecture history memoir middle eastern history +4
MR Post
O
18. Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities
BT: 1.84 944 comparisons
economics non-fiction urban planning urban studies
MR Post MR Post +2 more
M
19. Mexico City, The Capital of the 21st Century
BT: 1.73 276 comparisons
city planning geography latin american studies mexico +1
MR Post
M
20. Model City Pyongyang
BT: 1.69 305 comparisons
architecture asian studies north korea photography +1
MR Post
T
21. The Great Rent Wars: New York, 1917-1929
BT: 1.59 310 comparisons
american history economics history new york history +3
MR Post
T
22. The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City
BT: 1.46 247 comparisons
american history economics history sociology +2
MR Post
T
23. The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China’s Instant City
BT: 1.43 294 comparisons
architecture chinese history economics history +2
MR Post
T
24. The 1 Hour China Book
BT: 1.29 319 comparisons
asian studies business china economics +1
MR Post
E
25. El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City
BT: 0.97 331 comparisons
journalism mexican studies non-fiction travel +1
MR Post
B
26. Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City
BT: 0.43 324 comparisons
american history business criminology economics +2
MR Post
R
27. Radical Cities: Across Latin America In Search of a New Architecture
BT: 0.31 358 comparisons
architecture latin american studies social science urban studies
MR Post
T
28. The City that Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban Crime and its Control
BT: 0.19 335 comparisons
american studies criminology public policy sociology +1
MR Post
U
29. Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control
BT: 0.12 344 comparisons
development studies economics egypt middle east studies +3
MR Post
T
30. The Color of Law
BT: 0.12 364 comparisons
american history history housing policy legal history +3
MR Post
T
31. Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
BT: 0.04 597 comparisons
economics political science public policy urban economics +1
MR Post MR Post
M
32. Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
BT: -0.03 412 comparisons
cultural studies india non-fiction travel +1
MR Post MR Post
B
33. Building Optimism: Why Our World Looks the Way It Does, and How to Make it Better
BT: -0.05 334 comparisons
aesthetics architecture economics social science +1
MR Post
E
34. Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs
BT: -0.15 352 comparisons
american history biography intellectual history urban studies
MR Post
T
35. The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids
BT: -0.25 331 comparisons
child development design public policy social history +1
MR Post
G
36. Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment
BT: -0.28 349 comparisons
economics environmental economics environmental studies sustainability +2
MR Post
W
37. Who’s Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live The Most Important Decision Of Your Life
BT: -0.29 377 comparisons
economics geography sociology urban studies
MR Post
W
38. Wicked City: The Many Cultures of Marseille
BT: -0.39 375 comparisons
cultural history european history french history history +1
MR Post
T
39. The Return of Marco Polo’s World
BT: -0.43 321 comparisons
cultural history geopolitics global history history +3
MR Post
C
40. City of Quartz
BT: -0.58 305 comparisons
american history los angeles history non-fiction politics +2
MR Post
T
41. The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us
BT: -0.64 348 comparisons
demography economics public policy urban economics +2
MR Post
A
42. A History of Future Cities
BT: -0.83 682 comparisons
conceptual history history non-fiction urban history +1
MR Post MR Post
O
43. On the Run: Fugutive Life in an American City
BT: -0.95 543 comparisons
criminology non-fiction social justice sociology +1
MR Post MR Post
S
44. Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation
BT: -1.01 871 comparisons
economics public health public policy urban economics +1
MR Post MR Post +1 more
D
45. Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Urban America
BT: -1.26 388 comparisons
criminology policing public policy race relations +3
MR Post
B
46. Berlin Now: The City After the Wall
BT: -1.31 379 comparisons
cultural studies european history gender studies german history +4
MR Post
T
47. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
BT: -1.47 665 comparisons
history non-fiction social history sociology +1
MR Post MR Post
M
48. Mysteries of the Mall and Other Essays
BT: -1.63 375 comparisons
architecture design essays urban studies
MR Post
C
49. Cities and Private Planning
BT: -1.83 390 comparisons
asian studies development economics economics india +4
MR Post
B
50. Brooklyn: The Once and Future City
BT: -1.89 414 comparisons
american history history new york city history urban history +1
MR Post
T
51. The Great Reset: How New Ways of Working and Living Drive Post-Crash Prosperity
BT: -2.00 357 comparisons
business economics sociology urban studies
MR Post
B
52. Becoming Jane Jacobs
BT: -2.13 950 comparisons
american history biography history urban studies
MR Post MR Post +1 more
S
53. Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles
BT: -2.19 349 comparisons
american cities cultural studies los angeles non-fiction +1
MR Post
W
54. What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs
BT: -2.50 348 comparisons
social science sociology urban planning urban studies
MR Post
T
55. The Warhol Economy: How Fashion Art & Music Drive New York City
BT: -2.60 296 comparisons
american studies art cultural economics cultural studies +4
MR Post
G
56. Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong
BT: -2.95 340 comparisons
cultural studies hong kong studies non-fiction urban studies
MR Post
A
57. Atlas of Cities
BT: -2.97 334 comparisons
geography non-fiction urban studies
MR Post
T
58. The Rise of the Creative Class–Revisited: 10th Anniversary Edition–Revised and Expanded
BT: -2.99 674 comparisons
economic geography economics sociology urban studies
MR Post MR Post
G
59. Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect
BT: -3.06 362 comparisons
american studies social science sociology urban sociology +1
MR Post
D
60. Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore
BT: -3.26 369 comparisons
cultural history history lahore pakistan +2
MR Post
C
61. Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in a Hotter Future
BT: -3.35 352 comparisons
climate change economics environmental studies future studies +3
MR Post
O
62. Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis
BT: -3.58 322 comparisons
canadian politics economics housing economics public policy +1
MR Post
F
63. Freedom to Discriminate: How Realtors Conspired to Segregate Housing and Divide America
BT: -3.58 369 comparisons
american history economics history housing studies +3
MR Post
F
64. Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time
BT: -3.63 283 comparisons
american society community development economics politics +4
MR Post
P
65. Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan
BT: -3.70 282 comparisons
american history economics history politics +2
MR Post
E
66. Emergent Tokyo: Designing The Spontaneous City
BT: -3.75 319 comparisons
architecture city planning design geography +4
MR Post
T
67. The Digital Street
BT: -3.92 241 comparisons
criminology ethnography media studies sociology +3
MR Post
T
68. The New Urban Crisis. Staying ahead of the Curve
BT: -4.11 271 comparisons
economics public policy sociology urban economics +1
MR Post
N
69. New Atlantis Revisited: Akademgorodok, The Siberian City of Science
BT: -4.15 221 comparisons
economics history science science history +3
MR Post
T
70. The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History
BT: -4.34 226 comparisons
ancient history history social history urban studies
MR Post
C
71. Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civiliation
BT: -4.43 189 comparisons
future studies geopolitics global affairs urban studies
MR Post
O
72. On the Run
BT: -5.16 108 comparisons
african american studies criminology ethnography social science +2
MR Post
T
73. The Decline of the West
BT: -7.86 77 comparisons
cultural studies history philosophy philosophy of history +1
MR Post
A
74. All That is Solid: The Great Housing Disaster
BT: -9.34 72 comparisons
economics housing social policy uk studies +1
MR Post