A curation of what’s caught my attention over the past week:

• Whole Earth Discipline: from the land back to town: A review of Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand, the author of the 1970’s classic Whole Earth Catalog.¬† In this book Stewart slays several sacred cows of environmentalism, and celebrates the city as the best tool for energy and resource efficiency.

• Bad Example (or why we fail to adapt good examples): Attempts to answer the question “Why do so many places seem unable to learn even from their own successes, much less others?”¬† Key quote: “The mark of a great city is in how it treats its ordinary spaces, not its special ones.”

• Gary Vaynerchuk Live on Crush It Tour (Video): A link to a video recording of a special Gary Vee’s presentation hosted by Doug Sutton with Keller Williams Realty East Valley. I admit that I was skeptical at first, but seeing him speak in front of two different audiences on Tuesday night made me a believer. Though his message was largely the same, he carefully tailored it to the different audience, keeping it fresh and interesting (if anything I though the second time was better suited to me personally, even with the lack of his trademark¬† ‘colorful language’.)¬† Gary is truly somebody who gets it. Not just business, or social media, or family, or community, but ALL of it.¬† If you follow the link to my friend Jay Thompson’s site and leave a comment on Jay’s original post, you can win a copy off Gary’s bestselling book Crush It!.

• What Jane Jacobs Can Teach Us About the Economy: Jane Jacobs is well known for her contribution to urban thought.¬† After all, she recently led Planetizen’s recent Top 100 Urban Thinkers poll.¬†¬† She is less well-known for her insights into economics, although that is quickly changing.¬† Here ’s an overview of some of Jane’s economic notions and how they resonate during this recession.

• Halloween Costumes for Urban Planners: And for a bit of fun to mark the end of October, here are some Halloween costume ideas from Planetizen’s Nate Berg for the incurable urbanist.

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