I am looking for a book, but I cannot remember the title or the name
of the author.  I believe that the book was written by a professor of
landscape architecture.  It is a fairly recent book.  The book talks
about how people no longer have the ability to percieve their
surroundings.  One chapter talks about following power lines.  Another
chapter talks about the rural mail carrier.  I feel like the author's
name was something like James Silgoe, or Sligoe.

Hello Blur386,

Thank you for your question.


The book you are referring to is “Outside Lies Magic” by John R.
Stilgoe.


Here are two reviews of his book where you can very that it is the
correct book.
 
“John R. Stilgoe, a professor of landscape architecture at Harvard,
writes with the infectious enthusiasm of a teacher sharing the subject
he loves. Reading "Outside Lies Magic," one senses that this is the
book that he has always wanted to write, the book that explains just
why his interests should interest the world at large. He writes
persuasively, encouraging us to notice our surroundings, to ask
questions, and to explore. As he puts it, "Learning to look around
sparks curiosity, encourages serendipity. Amazing connections get made
that way; questions are raised - and sometimes answered - that never
would be otherwise."

(..)

In this sense, the book is much more than collection of arcane facts;
instead, it offers a way of living one's life. Stilgoe wants to shake
us out of our habits of perception, so that we may re-experience the
world in which we live, paying attention to that which we took for
granted. He's a historian with the zeal of a transcendentalist:
Thoreau walked into the woods, reaching toward the divine in nature;
Stilgoe walks along abandoned railroad tracks, uncovering the
histories of commuting patterns, mail delivery, power lines, and
American main street.”
Kansas State University: Review
http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/reviews/stilgoe.html


“Stilgoe walks and cycles through ignored if not invisible landscapes
speculating on the values that their intellectual abandonment conveys.
He focuses on the ordinary and the seemingly mundane... power lines,
strip shopping centers, interstate highways, road kill, interchanges,
main street, mail boxes and backyard fences.”

(..) 

“We landscape architects are generally well schooled in reading the
remnant signatures of natural processes on a site. Stilgoe's
contribution to our profession is in helping us understand cultural
signatures. In Outside Lies Magic, John Stilgoe gives us the tools and
encouragement to read the landscape through yet another lens, and by
doing so, leaves us with the ability to have a more complete
understanding of place.”
Source: Spacemaker Press
http://www.spacemakerpress.com/lfwint99/lfpage06.htm


You may purchase this book at Amazon.com:

Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places
by John Stilgoe, John R. Stilgoe
Paperback: 208 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 0.54 x 7.99 x 4.87 
Publisher: Walker & Co; 0 edition (May 1999) 
ISBN: 0802775632
Price:   $11.16  
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802775632/qid=1052172634/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6762457-6875818?v=glance&s=books


Search Criteria:
book by "professor of landscape architecture" power lines


I hope this helps. If anything is not clear, just make a Request for
Clarification, and let me know how else I can be of service before
rating my answer and closing the question.

Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 05 May 2003 15:29 PDT

Here are two reviews of his book where you can very that it is the
correct book.

should say:

Here are two reviews of his book where you can verify that it is the
correct book.

I'm impressed.  The researcher was quick and right on.  I will
certainly use this service again.