This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

We built the cities for us.

The concrete, the metal, and the glass were formed into countless austere structures designed

to give comfort to squishy, hairless bipeds.

When we made the cities, we were largely unconcerned with the feathered, the spineless, or the photosynthetic.

But to quote our greatest scientist, Dr. Ian Malcolm, of Jurassic Park. Life finds away.

But the life that found a way to thrive within our city limits isn't celebrated for its ingenuity or lauded for its fortitude.

The plants and animals that have made it, the life that found

away, is reviled.

Familiarity has bred contempt at worst or indifference at best.

We kick pigeons, we poison snails, we mow down even the most useful

weeds. But in Nathaniel Johnson's new book, Unseen City, he implores us to slow down and notice the beauty and resilience of the life

that thrives within our urban landscape. He encoures weeds that are tastier

than you've imagined.

Squirrels are smarter than you suspected, and pigeons that exemplify their aristocratic origins.

He writes about all the gross stuff they do too.

They're no grosser than us humans but let's just say that every

time you admire the green iridescent shimmer of the neck feathers on a pigeon you

will also be reminded of a thing called Pigeon Milk,

and it will haunt your nightmares.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Nathaniel Johnson

in front of an audience at Nightlife,

...