Book Review: The Address Book

Talia Whyte Books

This is one of those books I had on my Kindle for a while and finally got around to reading.  I’m glad I read it; I highly recommend it.

I learned so much about the importance of having an address, and how in some parts of the world, not having one can literally be a life or death issue.  For instance, in India being address-less can block access to vital social services and even schooling for children.  I also didn’t know that house numbering was largely an American invention and the address system was not invented to help us get around or receive mail, but for the government to find us.  There is also a conversation about what street names say about a community, like those named after Confederate soldiers, Bobby Sands and Martin Luther King Jr, and lingering antisemitism in Germany.

There was also an interesting conversation in the book about banning employers from asking job applicants to provide addresses.  Many homeless people are not able to obtain employment because they don’t have a proper address.  Not having to list an address would give homeless people more confidence that they won’t be discriminated against during the application process.  But many employers use addresses to do background checks on job applicants.  It’s an interesting, but complicated issue.

My takeaway: you might own a home, but not your address.  An address is an identity.