From noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3, Brainerd area author Charles Marohn will speak on his new bestselling book, “Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town” as a live event on the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library Facebook page.
In the book, Marohn, an engineer with more than 20 years of experience, pulls back the curtain on the North American transportation system. He explains how in his opinion transportation got so bad, and why it keeps getting worse. He writes about the deadly toll of bad design, why the conventional approach puts cities on the road to insolvency, and why public transit is in trouble.

He also talks about how transportation can be fixed - and why fixing it will involve not just engineers, but local residents and officials who have become effective and empowered advocates, connected with others to make real change.
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Marohn, known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a professional engineer and a land use planner with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota. Marohn is the author of “Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity” (Wiley, 2019).
He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time.
This presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library through their volunteer and fundraising efforts. While the Brainerd Public Library is not holding in-person events, Brown Bag Lunch author visits will be presented as live events on the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library Facebook page.
The Friends of the Brainerd Public Library are celebrating the21st season of the Brown Bag Lunch Author Series with a lineup of award-winning and acclaimed Minnesota writers.
For more information, contact the library at 218-829-5574 or visit the Friends of the Library’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Friendsofthebrainerdpubliclibrary.
