Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Humans of New York: Stories

Rate this book
In the summer of 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton began an ambitious project -to single-handedly create a photographic census of New York City. The photos he took and the accompanying interviews became the blog Humans of New York. In the first three years, his audience steadily grew from a few hundred to over one million. In 2013, his book Humans of New York, based on that blog, was published and immediately catapulted to the top of the NY Times Bestseller List. It has appeared on that list for over twenty-five weeks to date. The appeal of HONY has been so great that in the course of the next year Brandon's following increased tenfold to, now, over 12 million followers on Facebook. In the summer of 2014, the UN chose him to travel around the world on a goodwill mission that had followers meeting people from Iraq to Ukraine to Mexico City via the photos he took.
Now, Brandon is back with the follow up to Humans of New York that his loyal followers have been waiting for: Humans of New York: Stories. Ever since Brandon began interviewing people on the streets of NY, the dialogue he's had with them has increasingly become as in-depth, intriguing, and moving as the photos themselves. Humans of New York: Stories presents a whole new group of humans, complete with stories that delve deeper and surprise with greater candour.

428 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2015

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Brandon Stanton

8 books720 followers
Brandon Stanton graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in History. He traded bonds in Chicago for three years, before losing his job and moving to New York. In November of 2010, he started the photography blog Humans of New York. Today HONY is followed by nearly one million people, and is the fastest growing Arts and Humanities page on Facebook.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
12,899 (67%)
4 stars
4,602 (24%)
3 stars
1,218 (6%)
2 stars
251 (1%)
1 star
199 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,737 reviews
Profile Image for Chelsey.
247 reviews123 followers
July 21, 2015
Honestly, it may sound cliche but these stories and the pictures that accompany them make me feel human. Like take a deep breath, think about yourself, think about people other than yourself kind of human. It makes you appreciate that the person you hold a door open for has a whole story you know nothing about. So be kind.
I laughed, I cried, I was moved. This is just a beautiful depiction of life and the millions of fascinating people you walk beside every single day. I loved it.
Profile Image for Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill).
1,358 reviews3,263 followers
September 8, 2023
This is the second book from the Humans of New York series by Brandon Stanton.


Only once in a while will you see a different book that is made in a different format that will deeply move you and increases your empathy to a great extent. This book, based on the blog under the same name, is the reason why the UN chose the author as a goodwill mission ambassador. It focuses more on the stories collected in Stanton’s work and his blog. This will be a great addition to the first book, and you will love it just like the first one.


—————————————————————————
You can also follow me on
Instagram ID - Dasfill | YouTube Channel ID - Dasfill | YouTube Health Channel ID - Dasfill - Health | YouTube Malayalam Channel ID - Dasfill - Malayalam | Threads ID - Dasfill | X ID - Dasfill1 | Snapchat ID - Dasfill | Facebook ID - Dasfill | TikTok ID - Dasfill1
Profile Image for Paul Bryant.
2,289 reviews10.7k followers
February 14, 2016
To read this book you will need around four hours and a box of tissues and some solitude in order not to look like a complete idiot to your family. The tissues are to mop the tears which will flow down your cheeks on regular occasions, especially on page 428 when you realise that’s the last page. As you may already know, this book is just photos of random people in NYC with some quotes from them – Mr Stanton talked to each one for around 20 minutes. It would not be a nice thing if I just quoted my favourite quotes because you need the photos that go with them, but to give you the jist of the thing there’s a well-dressed older couple and the quote is

"Sixty-one years today!"
"Sixty-two."
"Sixty-one."
"Sixty-two."


The glimpses, vignettes and slivers of human lives here careen wildly from the utterly banal (“I guess she just decided she wanted to be with a different person”) to the sinister (“I’ve done a lot of whacked-out shit for money”) to the upsetting (“I’m having trouble dealing with society.” “What aspect of society?” “The whole thing.”) to the frankly alarming (ordinary looking older woman : “I’ve completed a series of monumental-sized drawings in ballpoint pen of girls who’ve killed their mothers.”)

You could complain bitterly about the deliberate lack of contextualisation here – that last quote, which is the only thing recorded for that lady, should really be followed by “Whaaaat???” and some kind of explanation, but this is one of those it is what it is deals, each photo & quote is a negotiation between Mr Stanton and his great subjects.

If the next novel I read has a tenth of the emotion and pure shining soul of this book then it will be my novel of the year.

So here’s a thing you could do, if you have a copy of this. Invite your most stonyhearted, most cynical friend round and give them this casually to look through while you’re fixing up a stir fry or sumpin and then see how long it takes them to baww or lol. If they do neither I think you have a psychopath on your hands and you should get the hell out.


Profile Image for Natalie.
589 reviews3,851 followers
August 2, 2018
I read and completely loved Humans of New York a few months back and, since I still think about it daily, I was beyond excited to get the continuation. And damn, I needed this more than I care to admit.

This book differs a bit from the first book because it includes in-depth storytelling that will puncture your heart (for better or worse).

As usual, here are a few of my favorite humans of New York:

description
“I’m trying to write a book based on myself, but I keep changing.”

description
“When you yell at someone, who hears it more: you or them?
You’re only hurting yourself by getting angry. I want to live to be
one hundred. I haven’t raised my voice in forty years.”


This one really stayed with me. I even wrote it down on paper so as to not forget.

description
“She does her thing, I do my thing. We interact in between.
We’ve been married thirty years, and that’s how we like it.”


description
“I worry that one day she’ll get separated from me, and nobody will understand that she’s deaf.”

description
“I hated God for a long time.”

description
“If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?”
“Stay single.”


description
“I’m learning to deal with negative feelings, like envy. I’m envious of all
the normal things. Women with more successful careers, things like that.
I’m finding that if you try to resist your envy, it sticks around. But if you
accept it as natural and don’t judge yourself, it will pass, like a cloud.”


Damn, how did Brandon know I really needed to read this...?

description
"What's your favorite thing about her?"
"She still gets giddy when she sees a firefly."


AHHH, it was such a tremendous surprise to see Bryan Cranston with his wife Robin Dearden.

description
“My husband was an editor at The New York Times, so he’d work really late nights, and I’d sometimes get lonely. So I started letting this tomcat into our house every day. But my husband was horribly allergic to cats, so right before he’d get home, I’d let the cat back out again. But one night it was raining so hard that I refused to let the cat out, and my husband stayed up all night sneezing. And that’s how I got a puppy!”

description
"He wants to go home."

description
"Who's influenced you the most in your life?"
"My principal, Ms. Lopez."
"How has she influenced you?"
"When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."


description
“Who has influenced you the most in your life?”
“My mother. She had me when she was eighteen years old, and my father left
when I was one year old, so I never really knew him. Like a lot of single moms,
she had to struggle to work, and eventually she also struggled to go to school.
And she’s really the person who instilled in me a sense of confidence and a sense
that I could do anything. She eventually went on to get her PhD. It took her ten
years, but she did it, and I watched her grind through it. And as I got older, like
everyone else, I realized that my mother wasn’t all that different than me. She
had her own doubts, and fears, and she wasn’t always sure of the right way of”


So many great people featured in here!!

description
Damn, this one hit right home.

description
"My kids are teenagers now, and they're going off on their own. And you understand it, but it's hard for it not to hurt. Like the day you realize you're not allowed in your daughter's room anymore. Or when your son doesn't want you to show him how to do something. The relationship tends to ebb and flow between 'help me' and 'leave me alone.' But lately, it's been much more 'leave me alone.'"

All I'm missing now is for Aaron Paul to be photographed and quoted...

description
"He's one day old. I still can't believe that he's real and that he came out of me."

YES! I was waiting so patiently for this one to show up.

description
"What's your favorite thing about your brother?"
"Well... well... well the WORST thing is when we argue!"


description
“I asked her what she felt most guilty about, and she said: “I can’t say it, because
it will make me cry. And I don’t like people to see me cry.” I told her that was
fine and changed the subject, but after a few minutes she typed it out on her
phone and handed it to me:
“When I was eleven years old, I got in a fight with my twin brother and told him
that he was going to die before me because he had a brain tumor.”
��Is he still alive?” I asked.
“Nope.”


Damn... now I'm the one crying.

description
“After I finish my shift at the bakery, I start my shift at Starbucks. I
work ninety-five hours per week at three different jobs. One of my sons
graduated from Yale, and I have two more children in college. And when
they finish, I want to go to college, too. I want to be a Big Boss. I’m a boss
at the bakery right now, but just a little boss. I want to be a Big Boss.”


description
“I’m the original John Lennon! I was born eighteen months earlier.”

description
“Should I do my dinosaur face?”
“Yes.”


description
“Louis is different. He’s got two moms. He’s an old soul. We live in the projects,
and he doesn’t know who Michael Jordan is, or anything about rap music. He
dresses himself in the morning. He chooses a button-down and slacks, and sits
in the kitchen with his legs crossed and reads the newspaper. But he’s still got
the heart of a child. Yesterday he had five dollars to buy himself a Halloween
costume, and he saw a boy he knew while he was walking to the store, and he
chose to buy him a costume instead. I always tell him: ‘You’re different, Louis.
And that’s okay.’ When he wants to play, I walk him all the way down to
Central Park, because I don’t really want him to change.”


description

description
“His grandmother and I are raising him. I worry about putting him into the public school system. I was a teacher for many years. I’ve seen so much confidence destroyed by the standardized system. Every human is born with natural curiosity. I’ve never seen a child who wasn’t inspired. But once you force someone to do anything, the inspired person is killed. I dropped out of school myself in 7th grade. So I know. I taught a GED course for years, so I’ve seen the end results over and over. I’ve seen so many kids who have complexes and insecurities because they were forced to do something they weren’t ready to do, and then they were blamed when they weren’t able to do it. What we call ‘education’ today is not organic. You can’t take something as complex as the human mind, compartmentalize it, and regiment its development so strictly.”

description
“This is my neighbor. She only speaks Mandarin, so we’ve never had a conversation. But she’s brought me a handful of candy every day for 20 years.”

TWENTY YEARS!!!

description
Seen in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

description
“We’ve run marathons together on all seven continents.”
“You ran a marathon in Antarctica?”
“Ran it? She won it!”


description
“He was away for almost four years during the war. When he
wrote me letters, he was never allowed to tell me where he
was. So he’d draw cartoons to help me guess.”


description
“I have a neck injury so I had to tone it down this year.”

description
“I’m always sad.”
“Are there certain thoughts associated with the sadness?”
“No, the sadness is under the thoughts. It’s like when you’re on a camping trip,
and it’s really cold, and you put on extra socks and an extra sweater, but you still
can’t get warm, because the coldness is in your bones.”
“Do you hope to get away from it?”
“Not anymore. I just hope to come to peace with it.”


The specificity gave me chills.

description
“I had really hippie, alternative parents. They pulled me out
of middle school because they didn’t think it was fulfilling
me creatively, and we drove across the country in an RV.”
“You can’t just not go to school, can you?”
“Actually, you kinda can.”


description
“He had his first birthday yesterday, so he goes crazy every time he hears the ‘Happy Birthday’ song.”
“Let’s see it.”

description
As always, I'm left feeling both speechless and heart-broken for everyone featured in this collection.

I also loved how some stories connected even though they were told from completely different people with completely different circumstances.

5/5 stars (without a doubt).

*Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Humans of New York: Stories, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!*


Support creators you love. Buy a Coffee for nat (bookspoils) with Ko-fi.com/bookspoils
Profile Image for Whitney Atkinson.
982 reviews12.8k followers
July 11, 2016
Automatic 5 stars just because Lin-Manuel is in this...

I genuinely did not expect that I would read this all in one sitting. It's a huge book, and filled with hundreds of pictures and captions. I am just obsessed with HONY because it is SO fascinating. The diversity of voices and people is just so refreshing and I could honestly read and look at them for HOURS. Some were funny and brought a smile to my face, others were so upsetting they brought tears to my eyes, and others were just very thought-provoking. Reading things like these makes me empathize with complete strangers, and it's actually sort of comforting for someone you've never even met to be describing a feeling that you've known so acutely but haven't been able to put into words. I enjoyed this book more than Brandon's previous one and I HIGHLY recommend it if you're a fan of HONY :)
Profile Image for Roy Lotz.
Author 1 book8,543 followers
September 1, 2016
The great thing about New York is that if you sit in one place long enough, the whole world comes to you.

I missed New York. I missed the skyscrapers, the crowds, the noise (though not the smells). I missed the halal food, the pizza, the pan fried noodles. And I sincerely missed the people. I missed the diversity, the vibrancy, the ceaseless flow of human life. You can see the whole world here, packed onto a city block.

This book came out shortly after I went to Spain. That was disappointing, since I’d been following Stanton’s work for some time. Now that I’m back, I could think of no better way to celebrate than by reading through this wonderful collection.

I couldn’t keep it together with this book. I quickly found that I had to be in private. Every other page made me tear up, and sometimes I had to let myself get carried away with the emotion and ride it out. The stories just hit you.

This book is beautiful because there’s so much life in it, and life is beautiful. That’s something easy to forget in New York. There are so many people that the crowds can become anonymous obstacles. These photos make you stop, look, and listen. You realize that every face is unique and compelling; and that behind these faces is somebody thoughtful, frightened, lonely, or confused. Far from anonymous crowds, you are surrounded by vulnerable, struggling, and triumphantly strong individuals. It feels so cheesy to say it like that, but the realization can be overpowering.

Many of my favorite photos are the ones in familiar places—Central Park, the High Line, the New York Public Library. I especially like the ones in Grand Central, since I know that building so well. Though I'm no connoisseur, I think these are superb portraits. But the quotes that accompany the photos are the main attraction. They’re so pungent and revealing. Honestly, I have no idea how Stanton does it, how he gets perfect strangers to open up to him. The combination of the portraits—portraits of people I might pass on any given day—and these deeply personal quotes is what hits home. Instantly a face is transformed into a person, and you see the portrait in an entirely new light.

I ran into Brandon Stanton once. I was with a friend, about to get onto the 7 train to go to Queens, and suddenly his face appeared out of the crowd. “Brandon Stanton!” my friend said. For a split second he smiled at us, and we smiled back. Then he kept going towards the escalator, while we pushed our way onto the packed subway. The doors closed behind us, and soon we were speeding away.
Profile Image for Mariah Roze.
1,048 reviews1,052 followers
May 22, 2017
I love Humans of New York! I follow Brandon Stanton's work on Facebook, so I never had the urge to read this book. However, once I started reading this book I realized that I had missed a ton of his work. This book was fantastic and I suggest it to anyone!

Brandon Stanton is a photographer that began a project to take photos and interview people in New York. He has over one million followers. The UN even chose him to travel around the world to meet and tell the stories of people in Iraq, Ukraine and Mexico City.

This book is about people in New York only though. Some of the dialogue is in-depth and intriguing. The stories were funny, sad, heart wrenching and exciting.

This book was amazing and I suggest it to anyone!
Profile Image for Jeanne .
306 reviews
March 15, 2016

I really enjoyed reading through this! I would recommend anyone interested buy it in hardcover. It's a book of photographs, so this is the one time this kindle addicted reader would recommend the real book. In this book, Brandon published some of his photos of random, ordinary people in New York City. Sometimes it's just the photo, and sometimes the people share a story with him and he writes quotes with his photos. It's amazing how interesting this can be. In a world where people sometimes seem consumed with themselves, it reminds you that we're all human, and everyone has their own unique story to tell.

Here are a few examples of Brandon's photos from his facebook page. The info on goodreads is a little outdated, because his blog as of today actually has 16 and a half million followers.

https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewy...

Look at this kid! So cute!






"I want to be a physicist and find a unified field theory because it kind of needs to be done."

A couple days ago, Brandon asked for contributions to help out the refugee families he interviewed in December because they lost everything in the war. He was hoping to raise a few thousand dollars for each family, but in one day raised $40,000 for each family. I love his positivity and his genuine compassion for the people he interviews. I think he's truly a nice guy, and that's why people open up and share their stories with him.



http://www.today.com/news/humans-new-...
Profile Image for emma.
2,097 reviews66.4k followers
September 20, 2021
i like humans of new york. it's a cool project. there was a time when i was obsessed with it - nevermissedapost obsessed - and it was during that era of my existence that i received this book (for christmas), started it (on christmas), and finished it (on christmas).

it's good and very heavy. all that photo paper.

i am pretty enamored with the moment(s) of realization that every person you have ever seen in your life has the same level of complexity as you. and often a way better story. humans of new york is one of the most fun ways to be reminded of that.

note to self: pencil in some time to catch up on HONY.

(this is part of a project i am doing in which i write mini-reviews for books i read a long time ago.)
Profile Image for Vina.
189 reviews219 followers
November 20, 2015
It's amazing how touching and inspiring a photo with just a line or two of a quote can be!
This book really reminds you what it is to be human. We are all fighting our own battles. It's amazing how much people Wil open up if you just listen to them. Such a beautiful book, I'm reminded to be a nicer person every time I look at it.

Looking forward to more work from Brandon. Maybe a book featuring photos and stories from his travels outside of NY.

Profile Image for Cheri.
1,888 reviews2,750 followers
January 26, 2016
This is a beautifully done book, the photographs - overall - are beautifully done, and the little "snapshots" into other people's lives run the gamut of every emotion. The stories are what you might expect of any city, but I think the feeling if very true to NYC.
Profile Image for Junta.
130 reviews243 followers
February 4, 2016
I'm physically nauseated by commonplace humanity, which is the only kind there is. And sometimes I willfully aggravate the nausea, like someone who induces vomiting to be relieved of the urge to vomit.
- Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (Text 62)
I like the concept of Humans of New York (HONY) - I admit to having spent some minutes of my life on my Facebook news feed seeing a picture of a human, hearing what that human has to say, and reading what other humans say about it. It's an innovative form of online entertainment that can be reached with a click of the mouse - perfect for this day and age. However, that's what it should be - insta-entertainment on our computer or mobile phone screen. It felt wrong reading, essentially, the voice of any random person on the street, in a book (and a hardcover no less). I would see the person/people in the picture, read their 'story', reflect on it for a few seconds, and go on to the next one. I think a factor is that I've gotten a little tired of reading these sorts of snippets anyway, so maybe people who have never seen this media form will find it more interesting and worthwhile. I respect Stanton for his work and humanitarian efforts, and as I said at the start, I like the whole concept of HONY. But reading it as a book? It wasn't very fun.

February 3, 2016
Profile Image for Chihoe Ho.
382 reviews95 followers
August 16, 2015
If I'd to describe this book in a couple words: THE FEELS.

"Humans of New York: Stories" hits all the right spots. It's funny and tugs at your heartstrings; it's grounded but also inspirational and thought-provoking; it's melancholic and nostalgic yet also hopeful. The quotes and anecdotes make the portraitures so much more engaging and relatable. I thought to myself two things: what about myself do I have to say if I were to be stopped by Brandon Stanton, and, what would I ask a random stranger if I was Stanton? I realized two things: I think I'd nothing interesting to offer up but when it comes down to that moment I'd probably share something that I've known in me as what has defined my life so far, and, how unique each situation and interaction would be for the interviewed individual and for Stanton. And that is what makes this book about humans so human for humans.
Profile Image for Ye Lin Aung.
147 reviews45 followers
December 23, 2015
Even if you have not been following the amazing Humans of New York page on Facebook, I am going to swear to you that this is going to be one of the best book you will ever read.
This is the kind of book you might wanna keep for the rest of your life, flip through and read again whenever you feel like it.
There are one-line or one-paragraph short, heartwarming, soul-crashing, groundbreaking stories.
They are all amazing because they feel so real to me. I mean, look at this cutie pie.



From : https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewy...

This book is just beautiful and I can't recommend y'all enough. ;-)
Profile Image for Negin.
663 reviews150 followers
March 31, 2019
This book was better than the first one. The stories have more depth to them and are longer. Some of the stories were heartbreaking and almost brought me to tears, while others brought so much joy and hope.

Reading this took me back to when I lived in New York back in the mid 1990’s. Although I love visiting New York, I’m relieved that I no longer live there. As the lyrics to the sunscreen song go, “Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.”

Some of my favorites:



“’If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?’
‘Try your best to deal with life without medicating yourself.’
‘You mean drugs?’
‘I mean drugs, food, shopping, money, whatever. I ain't judging anybody, either. I was hooked on heroin for years. But now I’ve learned that every feeling will pass if you give it time. And if you learn to deal with your feelings, they'll pass by faster each time. So don't rush to cover them up by medicating them. You've got to deal with them.’”

"This is my neighbor. She only speaks Mandarin, so we've never had a conversation. But she's brought me a handful of candy every day for twenty years.”
Profile Image for Nancy.
167 reviews14 followers
August 11, 2016
What an amazing book!! There are so many wonderful words of wisdom in these stories, and the photos really reflect and capture each person's story. I will be buying multiple copies of this book to give as gifts. Love, love, love!!!
Profile Image for Julie.
2,114 reviews36 followers
June 20, 2021
Each one of us has a story to tell. This beautiful book is full of stories from people's lives. They run the gamut, some are heartbreaking, others hopeful, all are worth reading and contemplating. I loved the accompanying photos on each page.
Profile Image for Louisa.
497 reviews396 followers
December 23, 2015
Absolutely beautiful and uplifting and sad and hilarious and inspirational. Whatever you think of HONY (I know people who find it cheesy), Stanton took a simple idea and created a marvel out of it. If you haven't already read his Syrian American series, or watched/read Aya the Iraqi refugee's story, those are 100% worth checking out too.

Also, the packaging of this is gorgeous. I love the juxtaposition of some of the photos/stories:



Profile Image for Beth Knight.
317 reviews5 followers
December 2, 2015
Ever since I can remember I've loved looking into other people's lives. I've always loved reading books that were made out of letters or diaries, I'm obsessed with watching "what's in my bag" videos on YouTube, and when I see people out in public I make up little scenarios about them based on how they appear: what they're wearing or eating or carrying. When I heard about this book I knew I had to have it, and just as I thought, it was perfect for me. I devoured it in a matter of a couple of hours over the past 24. I loved peeking into the lives of a lot of different people. Some of the "stories" are only a single line and some are a few paragraphs, but each of them is perfect.
Profile Image for Jen (Finally changed her GR pic).
2,901 reviews27 followers
May 30, 2015
The pictures are gorgeous. The stories and quotes, while usually quite short, add to the pictures and give you a quick glimpse into the life of another human being. Don't let it romanize NYC for you, NYC is brutal and doesn't give a darn about anyone. This book shows that it takes a special kind to live and love here. And they do, with abandon, with illusions eventually dispelled, but also with the underlying hope of the human spirit. This is a MUST for fans of photography and NY and the life that happens there. Five stars, all the way.
Profile Image for Mikey B..
1,039 reviews433 followers
July 11, 2017
Tenderness, rawness, cuteness, poignancy, destitution, happiness, sadness, dreams, illness (all forms), defiance, resolve, loneliness, comedy, love...

It’s all in here. It’s New York.

Great pictures too!

An above average coffee table book with lots of human heart.
Profile Image for Sena Nur Işık.
Author 8 books1,065 followers
January 22, 2018
Kitabı sosyal medyada ilk gördüğümde acayip merak ettim, çok heyecanlandım. Ellerime aldığımda ise şaşırdım, kuşe kağıdından yapılmış, ansiklopedi havasında çok kalın ve resimlerle dolu bir kitap, ne anlatabilir ki, ne kadar sevebilirim ki diye düşünmeye başladım. Dürüst olucam, kitap tasarımı ile beni mest etse de içerik olarak çekinmeme neden oldu. Ama ama ama....
Yazarımız bu kitap için tam beş yıl uğramış. İlk başta, New York sokaklarında insanların fotoğraflarını çekip blogunda paylaşırken, bir zaman sonra paylaştığı fotoğrafların yanına o kişilerden alıntılar bırakmaya başlamış. Kitapta aklınıza gelebilecek her şey, her yaştan, dinden, ülkeden, meslekten, düşünceden insanlar var. O kadar farklı şeyler ile karşılaşıyorsunuz ki kimi zaman ağlamak istedim kimi zaman kahkaha attım. Ama çoğunlukla yüzümde kocaman bir tebessüm ile okudum. Öyle yaşamlar okudum ki, içerisinde hem başarı hem başarısızlık hikayeleri vardı. Ve hepsi beni ayrı ayrı etkiledi. Bu aralar çok az olsa da, eskiden hep toplu taşıma araçlarında, duraklarda gördüğüm insanların hayatlarını tahmin etmeye çalışıp kendimce hikayeler uydururdum. 😂 Ne meslek yaptıklarını, nereli olduklarını, ailelerini düşünürdüm. Baya hoşuma giderdi. 🙈 Ve bu kitapta buna çok yakındı. Yoldan geçen birini durdurup birkaç soru sorup hayatından samimi cevaplar alıp bir resim çekiyorsunuz. Çok güzel bir fikir, çok güzel bir çalışma. 🙏🏻 Kimin söylediğini hatırlamadığım ama hayatımda her zaman bana yardımcı olmuş bir cümle vardır: “Zeki insanlar kendi tecrübelerinden değil, başkalarının tecrübelerinden faydalanandır.” Bu yüzden hep başkalarının yaşadıklarından kendime ders çıkarmaya odaklanmış biriyimdir. Bu kitap boyunca da gördüğüm tüm yaşamlar bana tecrübe oldu. 😍 Harikaydı!!! Okumanızı tavsiye ederim 🙏🏻
Profile Image for Elizabeth A.
1,933 reviews109 followers
December 28, 2015
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” ― Plato

This book is collection of photos and text lifted from a very popular blog, and I had such fun dipping in over the course of several days. I was reminded of the Plato quote, and found myself falling in love with humanity all over again.

If you have yet to check it out, I would highly recommend the Humans of New York (HONY) blog or Instagram feed to get a daily fix.
Profile Image for Sarah AlObaid.
275 reviews32 followers
August 29, 2016
This book was so beautiful both visually and content-wise. Photography and New York City, two of my favorite things of all time, combined; naturally, i love love love love loved this book. The quotes were so chilling and touching and inspiring, humans are such unique things that i feel like the word "normal" doesn't really apply to us. We're all too different to be normal. A must read.
Profile Image for blueisthenewpink.
485 reviews40 followers
January 19, 2020
[please scroll down for English]

Aki ismeri a blogot/Facebook oldalt, annak nem is kell ajánlgatni. Igaz, a híresen elfogadó HONY közösség támogatása, szinte csupa pozitív hozzászólása nincs benne, de a fantasztikus portrék, a pár szóba, mondatba sűrített életek igen. (A következő könyv HONY Stories and Top Comments lesz, fogadok.)

A szerkesztés is mesteri, ahogy szemben lévő oldalakon találkozhatunk a rendőrségre megjegyzést tevő fiatalokkal és egy rendőrrel, az anyáskodó barátnőkre panaszkodó férfival és egy nővel, akit az zavart, hogy a kapcsolatában már a partnere anyjának érezte magát. Némelyik tekintet egészen beszippantja az embert. Máshol a képaláírás üt akkorát, hogy képtelenség továbblapozni.

Őszintén ajánlom azoknak is, akik nem ismerik a blogot, és azoknak is, akik igen. Hiába ismerjük már a történetek jó részét, jó újraolvasni őket. Sok újjal is találkoztam, pedig már néhány éve követem az oldalt. Több száz világba pillanthatunk be. Ráadásul most végre lehet anélkül élvezni a HONY posztokat, hogy Facebook- vagy telefonfüggőnek bélyegeznék az embert.

------------------------------------------------

Yes, I pre-ordered this one, too! (Just like the new Shopaholic novel.) I had to wait for the delivery though, since this is a book book.

It is a much loved hard copy, which is a strange experience for me, as I read most books on kindle these days. It is easier that way with sleeping kids around. I don’t need both hands and proper lighting for it. Humans of New York is a blog I follow on Facebook mainly and now I can enjoy it without looking like a Facebook-/smartphone-addict. Yay!

Wow, how this book can be so much more than the blog or the facebook page!

What power lies in editing! (Look at pages 198-199!) I just love how the photos are placed next to each other. A group of youngsters saying something about the police on one page, a policeman on the opposite page. A man complaining about women starting to act like his mother, facing a woman telling how she felt like a nagging mother with her partner, on the next page. Some statements that make you raise your eyebrows, and the last person on the page telling it plainly: I have mental illnesses.

Some eyes I found hard to wrench myself away from. The man on page 209 gripped me with the pure pain and loneliness screaming from his eyes. His mouth shut. Such a powerful gaze. His story only supporting it. It’s like he is trapped in that body, silently screaming for help.

Then there are the ones that make you smile. My favourite rebel on pages 130-131: “Sometimes I stay up late without asking.”. You have to see that face, too! I remembered him from the Facebook page. And my all-time favourite on pages 310-311: that’s what I call imagination – and innovation!

I was really surprised to see how well I remembered some of these faces and their stories. Their lives touched me so deeply in just a few words that I look at a face and remember their lines. We are all in this together, right? “No man is an island” (John Donne).

It was great to see Vidal again, remembering and re-reading his story, seeing his photo with the President. So many of the stories inspire a wave of generosity from the HONY community, I sometimes wonder whether it will reach its limits one day.

Sometimes I wanted to comment on the photo, other times I wanted to see what others have commented. Out of curiosity or for some advice if the caption hit close to home. The community is such a vital part of the HONY experience, the next book will probably be HONY: Stories and top comments. Or HONY Fractions (you know what I’m talking about).

These days, Brandon is sharing the stories of Syrian families cleared for resettlement in the United States. When he goes global, commenters like to call it HOPE – Humans of Planet Earth. Indeed, he teaches us about the people he meets wherever he goes. He crushes our prejudices and teaches us to be accepting, kind and nonjudgmental. As Lori Duron of Raising my Rainbow said so many times, “to have an open heart and an open mind”. Lori’s was another blog-turned-book I read this year and I felt I shouldn’t have bought it. It was a bit wearing to read as I constantly felt I read those stories before and was just hoping to finish the book as soon as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I love that blog but I didn’t enjoy the book. However, with Humans of New York – Stories, it was just the opposite. It was nice to recognize so many of the stories and really enjoyable to re-read them. Great, sometimes funny, other times heavy stories, whole lives, sometimes in a single sentence. It is intense like Hemingway. Many mini-Hemingways. You have to stop after about ten pages, to give yourself time to process it. (Have you heard there was an app called Hemingway? It promises to make your writing bold and clear. I should test it in another post.)

Brandon Stanton must have a special gift for gaining the trust of strangers. He is exceptionally sensitive to other people’s lives and presents us with this bunch of case studies without ever judging anybody. (Maybe that is his secret.) And when I say ‘us’, I mean more than 16 million Facebook followers. Yes, really.
Profile Image for Roya.
192 reviews380 followers
February 2, 2019
I've followed Brandon's work off and on over the years and I love seeing how far he's come. HONY went from being about photographing randoms on the street to so much more, and this is a great display of that. It's a celebration of the human spirit. I have more post it notes within the pages than any other book I've read.
Profile Image for Dan.
230 reviews164 followers
December 30, 2015
There are very few books I would recommend to absolutely anyone – but this is one of them. In some ways, it's very short – just a sentence or short paragraph per page – but every single page and the accompanying picture is a whole story, a whole biography all in itself. Sometimes fun, sometime silly, often heartbreaking... it's just an absolutely beautiful book. Stanton has a great eye for photos, and he keeps the balance of emotion steady, never too overwhelming. It's very easy to see why every review on Goodreads is a positive one.

Definitely worth your time, and then pass it to a friend.

(p.s. The Facebook page that this is based on posted pictures and stories from Asia and the Middle East this summer, and recently did a refugee series. What a powerful project!)
Profile Image for Op.
364 reviews122 followers
October 27, 2016
Thank you, Brandon. Thank you so much.



"I'm always sad."
"Are there certain thoughts associated with the sadness?"
"No, the sadness is under thoughts. It's like when you're on a camping trip, and it's really cold, and you put on extra socks and an extra sweater, but you still can't get warm, because the coldness is in your bones."
"Do you hope to get away from it?"
"Not anymore. I just hope tp come to peace with it."
(Page 392)

Not anymore.
Profile Image for Elsa.
60 reviews34 followers
September 16, 2016
I started to follow his page on Instagram and as soon the book came out had to buy it. The history behind it is fantastic and so the pictures and short statements from the ones on the pics. Beautiful
Profile Image for David.
724 reviews133 followers
December 29, 2020
Bizarre. The pictures/quotes from the children are very cute. The ones from teens are mostly positive or questioning. The adults are depressing! If you maybe want to feel better by reading about people that are feeling MUCH worse than you, then this is your book.

It is remarkable that the interviewer got people to say such incredibly intimate (and often negative) stuff about themselves. It is all very 'real', but after 2020, I need something more positive.

Kid
Interviewer: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Kid: "Fireman."
I: Why do you want to be a fireman?"
K: I said, 'Iron Man'!"

Teen
"I've sort of had an arrogant demeanor my entire life, and I'm learning that I'm going to have to change that if I want to succeed. I realized that it doesn't matter how clever you are if nobody wants to work with you."

Adult
"I started taking heroin to get away from the draft, then joined the army to get away from the heroin."

All the pictures are well done. The book layout is excellent. I just felt the book went from slightly depressing to very depressing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,737 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.