Humans

This is a book that I wish I could give to each of my friends and family. My heart has been touched, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried at the 400 or so amazing, tender stories presented here. Some folks might remember the work of Studs Terkel, an oral historian whose books of interviews with ordinary people telling of the Depression of the 1930s, on soldiering in our wars, and on working life were excerpted in Readers Digest and hit the bestseller lists in the 1970s-90s. These snapshots of regular people going about their lives and the words that accompany them are the closest thing I’ve seen to another body of work that celebrates our common humanity. Brandon started out telling the stories of people he met on the streets of New York City, and then was able to travel around the world to over forty different countries. His work’s been such a hit because it’s both surprising and comforting to enter the lives of strangers. Stylish people who are deserts inside, homeless people whose hopes rise high: no matter people’s faces, no matter their ages, no matter the country they’re in—no matter what people seem to be like from the outside, our insides are all the same: various degrees of love, fear, judgement, wonder, grief, certainty, hope, despair, confusion. Some of the stories I relate to so much; some make me sad or angry, others make me grateful for my own road taken. People talk about their pets, their relationships—or lack thereof—their joys, their sorrows; their childhoods, children, parents, schools, jobs; their opportunities and life losses. In this wide world, we’re each alone—and yet we’re all connected through shared experiences, through shared stories. All the friends we’ve known were just faces to us once, until we knew their stories. It’s curiously joyful—at the end of this awful year, in the season of love and new beginnings—to acknowledge that despite all the beliefs that divide us, we all have more in common than we fear in this fraught and changing world. The coffee-table size book is good to be dipped into at random, savored in pieces or gulped wholesale, however you care to; it’s just a bit heavy for arthritic hands. It’s on sale at many retailers and I highly recommend this glimpse into the common soul of humanity.

I loved reading stories from all the different people from New York and all the other countries. It gives you insight on what the person walking by you has experienced or thinks as well as someone half way around the world, without leaving your house. After reading the short story, you feel like you want to talk with that person and know more about them. Every person had something different to say which gave off a different emotion whether funny, cute, empathetic, or sad. I used to read the HONY posts on FB years ago but stopped using it, until I realized he was also on IG. So I was excited to finally have a book where I could read all of those posts I had missed. I believe the book has some stories that he never posted too. I loved the smell and feel of a new physical book because EVERYTHING I do is digital (ie. school). It's nice to keep the book for decades and to look back at it one day to see what people had experienced in this time and how they looked like. Buy The Book!

I’ve been a huge fan of HONY for a couple years now. Brandon Stanton is insanely talented at drawing the most amazing stories and insights out of people. I have been moved to tears before by the stories he’s captured, and he’s definitely done it again in this book. By capturing a person at a particular point in time, and asking them what’s really on their mind, we find that we are all not that different from one another. There’s stories from all over the world, in no particular order. Their struggles will make you pause, question your life and your challenges, and leave you feeling immensely grateful for what you have, and leave you with a newfound compassion for others around you. I am a medical student, and one of the things that draws me to medicine is the fact that every person has a story. Their stories are different from yours, and are to be respected for what they’ve lived through and how they’ve grown. This book captures the essence of masterful interviewing - one picture and a paragraph of their words is all you need, and suddenly you empathize with them, laugh and cry with them, and feel a bit more connected to the world around you. This is a much needed book in our times of isolation. It’s worth the money, I promise you.

I ordered this book thinking it would sit out and maybe I'd read a page here and there whenever. I ended up devouring it cover-to-cover over the course of two nights. May of the stories were familiar. Some I had forgotten. But the way this was arranged was so incredibly striking. One one page would be a story and a photo. On the opposite page would be a story with maybe the same kind of theme, and a photo that would make me do a double take because the lighting and scenery looked like it was maybe the other half of the first photo - like they were taken in the same place, moments apart, of different people. But then I would see that they were taken half a world away from each other, with probably months or years in-between them. So even though the stories were familiar, and I had read many of them already, seeing them in this arrangement and in this medium was incredibly beautiful and gave me a profound sense of connection with the world. Some of the stories made me feel less alone. Some reminded me to keep things in perspective. Some made me ugly-cry and gave me a headache that I still have 3 days later. And I was very thankful for the last story, which helped me release all those feelings & tension so that I could finally put down the book & go to sleep at 3AM.

This book is perfection. It’s physically beautiful as a coffee table book, and the stories within are as riveting, moving, and poignant as ever. I’ve been a long time fan of Humans of New York and I’m so glad to finally have this book!

Whether or not you are familiar with Brandon Stanton's work already (look for Humans of New York on Facebook or his website), if you haven't gotten to this book, I highly recommend it. (If you get it at the sale price, even better.) What started out as a challenge he set for himself to take a certain number of photos around NYC, which generally included either brief captions or a quote from the person in the picture, has expanded to him traveling the world and including longer stories from a variety of people who most of us would never encounter. It sounds trite to say that "people are the same everywhere," but I can't think of a more imaginative way to put it. People who struggle to get through the day, couples in love (with or without the knowledge and consent of parents), folks who are trying to figure out what their next step in life is, members of families who are happy or unhappy to have parted ways with one another.... From Pakistan to Kenya, from Russia to Japan, and with residents of New York sprinkled throughout, we are treated to glimpses into the lives of strangers who may not be so very different from ourselves. Those who live in countries that we see as in great turmoil have more than once expressed their appreciation that Brandon has used his work as an opportunity to show another side of their homelands. Those of us in the U.S. are able to discover that there are more to these countries than the war-torn videos we see on the nightly news. Faces of individual human beings, some with fairly detailed revelations about themselves, are an open door to life around the world. I have never traveled much and it doesn't seem likely in the foreseeable future, so this is both a fun way to visit faraway lands and a welcome escape from the chaos that is 2020. I'm only slightly more than halfway through my copy of this, as I am savoring every page. I bought another copy to give as a gift. I wish my mother was still with us, as I think she would love to experience parts of the world so far from her own. Word of warning: some of the language used and occasional narratives are not G-rated. What might not bother some people will be offensive to others, but so far, as someone who doesn't care much for four-letter words, I haven't come across anything I can't get past, knowing that other people's life choices and vocabularies are not going to be the same as mine. And now I'm going to spend a little more time reading it before I head to bed.

Nice picture book

Once again Brandon knocks it out of the park! I own a few of his books which I absolutely love. They sit on my end tables for either guests, myself or family to read and they’ve been read countless times by many. There is something special about this book though. Perhaps, it’s the pandemic and seeing others from around the world again, telling their stories. Perhaps, it’s the human connection that we are all longing for again and doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon. Or perhaps, it’s Brandon. Who can capture the moments when we are the happiest or the loneliest. Who can capture the storytellers. Who can bring the shy man or woman out of their shell for just a moment to let the world see them shine. Or perhaps it’s all of the above. If you purchase this book, you will not be disappointed in the slightest. I’ll be purchasing this book for a few others this holiday season. For a few college students whom wish to travel. For my parents. My grandmother who is now 96, has never traveled out of state much less been on a plane and for a few friends who wish to see the world though are not yet there in life. Brandon, THANK YOU!! You enrich millions of lives each day by your posts on HONY and it’s nice to have those stories stored in a book for us to look back on, to reminisce of our own times in life and to have a sense of great gratitude. You sir are AMAZING! Much love.