I'm currently waiting on Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it Back by Jane Holtz Kay. I received some birthday money from my aunt and that (along with Salt: A World History and Bad Astronomy) was what I spent it on. They should start arriving on Saturday or Monday, I think.

More relatedly, recently I read Bicycle Diaries by David Bryne, who is apparently a musician -- though not one I've heard of. "Diaries" consists of essays inspired by his time cycling through world cities. While I checked it out to read about bikes, his musing on two wheels is really limited to the intro and epilogue. The essays vary widely in topic depending on the city: in Atlanta, he writes about the problems of sprawl and 'edge cities'; in Rio de Janiero, on music; in Berlin, on justification and the past.

One book I'd reccommend and which I've not seen in this thread is Carl Honoré's In Praise of Slow, which introduced me to the slow movement. Given my interests in a simple, philosophical life, it stuck a chord with me. I dislike the section on medicine, but otherwise...he urges people to take stock of their lives and think about what matters: quality or quantity? It's a bit like Walden, but it covers a lot of ground. Separate chapters cover living arrangements, sex, work, leisure, food, spirituality, medicine, and childrearing.