Le città invisibili

Name: Le città invisibili
ISBN: 9780099429838

by Italo Calvino, William Weaver 1923 · first published 1972

4mentions

2recommended by

2HN commenters

2022–2023first – last mentioned

100% recommend

Fiction & Literature

"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which "has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be," the spider-web city of Oc

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bjowen · Feb 7, 2022 · Recommends

Since someone’s done Hofstadter — Italo Calvino Le Città Invisibili or Invisible Cities. It’s a novel about complexity and civilisation and the difficulty and intangibility of memories, history and storytelling. It’s told in a series of 55 miniatures, each about a city that reveals some aspect of human experience. It’s like nothing else and utterly brilliant.
on “Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?” ↗
mdp2021 · Mar 28, 2022 · Recommends

Gödel, Escher, Bach is an artistic appetizer over the stimulating world of structures, - not a manual. They young mind is opened by being shown relations it did not yet see. Read the extreme in that direction: Italo Calvino - Le città invisibili (which not only masterfully connects ideas, but most of the realm of existence and experience) - you should be able to see that principle at its apex.
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗
mdp2021 · Jun 5, 2023 · Recommends

I submit this article as this public may be interested in the proposed «brainteaser[s]», and as of course Italo Calvino's Le città invisibili (in the list) we consider pretty much mandated for proper intellectual development - but I got intrigued, especially relevant to this public, by the summary of Elizabeth Tan's Rubik: > One night, Elena Rubik ... gets hit by a car and dies. Even in death,
on “Six Books That Feel Like Puzzles” ↗
mdp2021 · Oct 15, 2023 · Mentions

Very great initiative. I would add the year of composition in the list: 'Oct 10, Tacciono i boschi e i fiumi (1591), by Torquato Tasso' The voice is quite good. How will we submit requests? Today (15 Oct 2023) is the centenary of the birth of Italo Calvino. You could have added "Le città e la memoria 1. [Diomira]", the proper opening, from "Le città invisibili". > Partendosi di là e andando t