I enjoyed this book - however, as a city planning student, much of this information was not new to me, so I hope that didn't color my opinion too much. I think many people would find a great deal of new information in Happy City and I think that more people should read it. Thinking about urban living (or suburban or rural living, for that matter) as a way to increase quality of life should be a standard viewpoint.

I think my favorite parts of the book were the case studies, rather than the historical sessions - although the historical context is absolutely necessary to understand our current situation. I'm glad that the case studies ventured beyond Europe and English-speaking North America to Colombia and Mexico City, but I would have loved to see a few set in China, as they were mentioned in passing several times.