Such a book is Seattleness: A Cultural Atlas by Tera Hatfield, Jenny Kempson and Natalie Ross, published this fall by Sasquatch Books. It’s an oversized book, but not too huge, but heavy in hardback and dense with data. So dense that at times I could have used a magnifying glass.

Many writers have attempted to capture the city’s essence between covers. Writers in fiction and non-fiction have tried to flesh out the essence of Seattle and the Northwest: Murray Morgan, Bill Speidel, Emmett Watson, Nard Jones, Betty MacDonald, Jonathan Raban, Maria Semple, Roger Sale, Jim Lynch, Paul Dorpat, Sherman Alexie, Tim Egan, Jamie Ford, David Guterson and so on. It’s a moving horizon, never quite reached, but every attempt brings something new to the city-watcher.

Which is the appeal of Seattleness. It feels like a novel approach and one also suited to the changing city. The authors of this book are digital and graphic designers who have studied mapping, geography and creating environments.

Which is a reason capturing the city’s essence in print is so difficult: the physical and cultural environment has always been changing and growing, never more rapidly than in the 21st century. As we wrestle with that growth, as newcomers outnumber native born, as technology and industries and aspirations shift, the “is-ness” of the city of cranes is mutable, though not the belief that we can capture it and reveal it.