woolcovered

Alright, so in quest for quality non-fiction, I seem to have been gifted with a few guides. Its worth noting that both of these led to me receiving some pretty strange reactions from my onlooking coworkers.

Access all Areas was written by the late Ninjalicious and is intended for those who wish to "discover a hidden world inside [their] own city" or partake in what is defined as urban exploration. Basically, if you've ever wondered what a storm drain or sewer drain looked like (or even what the differences between the two are), then this book is for you. Naturally, my favorite section of the book was the 'Social Engineering' chapter. I suppose its the aspiring PR man in me, but I enjoy the challenge that the human element could provide: basically, I like the prospect that I could be caught somewhere I'm not supposed to be and possibly walk away from it. The strategies put forth in the book are hardly foolproof, but there's some good ideas presented, and some good caution flags are raised. Unfortunately, as this is intended as a newbie guide to urban exploration, there's some pretty obvious, banal sections. However, I guess its comforting to know that some idiot will have less of a chance of getting run over by a subway train after reading this. I did find the 'us vs. them' perspective a little patronizing at times, but its bearable.

In true indie nature (Ninjalicious was a zinester responsible for Infiltration, and Kev bought this book for me at a hip Toronto release party thingy), Access All Areas unfortuantely suffers from some sketchy production values. All of the images are in black-and-white (which I commend; a great way to save a lot of cash), and at least two sections just cut-off prematurely upon the page break (which I don't commend, although I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony when it happened to the list of people who proof-read the book). Hopefully, the latter problem will be fixed in the second printing which is currently happening according to the Infiltration site.

I think the smartest thing Ninjalicious did with this book was to include a timeline of Urban Exploration as an appendix. Not only does this show where some of the innovations in the practice have originated, but it also legitimizes a largely marginal hobby. This plays into a major motive of the book; to break the negative perceptions commonly held regarding Urban Exploration.

Next entry...the second guide that occupied my spare time, The Way of the Rat.