In July 2008, illustrator and designer Christopher Niemann began Abstract City, a visual blog for the New York Times. His posts were inspired by the desire to recreate for his readers simple and relatable observations and stories from his own life. In Niemann's hands everyday experiences such as trying to get a good night's sleep, or dealing with appliance cables were transformed into delightful flights of visual fancy. The struggle to keep up with the housework became a battle against adorable but crafty goblins and baking for Christmas offered the opportunity to re-imagine how the universe was created. This book collects all sixteen original posts and also includes a new, exclusively created, chapter.