Many people who have flown over the middle United States have noticed the nearly perfect grid of country roads, properties, and towns that generally run north to south and east to west. This expansive grid was the brainchild of Thomas Jefferson, and Amir Alexander's Liberty's Grid: A Founding Father, a Mathematical Dreamland, and the Shaping of America is the story behind the gridded nature of America's rural and urban landscape.
Alexander notes that gridded landscapes and roads that roughly follow compass directions are not unique to America. The Romans designed arrow-straight roads that, for first and second century standards, were roughly designed to the north-south, east-west compass. Japan and the Netherlands have property features that generally align to grids in rural areas. Jefferson used the idea of grids to help carve out land in much of the United States. Starting in 1784, areas west of the Appalachian Mountains were subject to surveying and the development of square mile grids (and subsequently smaller sections of those square miles) came about as a result.
Alexander pivots slightly with a few chapters on the grid of Manhattan. While this grid follows the countours of the island, it isn't perfectly aligned to the directional compass as Jefferson's grid is throughout the country. One missed opportunity here is not discussing how Manhattan's grid provides the opportunity for "Manhattanhenge" to take place in May and July at sunset each year. This is when the sunset aligns perfectly to drop down within the streets of New York's grid, similar to Stonehenge in rural England. While the designers of New York's grid were likely not thinking about tourist opportunities, the result of their grid eventually became one.
MY RATING: 4.5
