ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL -- 25

NEW YORK TIMES WORDS/STEVE WRIGHT IMAGES

Beyazit Square, a windswept plaza behind the book bazaar, abuts Istanbul University, formerly the Ottoman Ministry of Defense compound: a sprawling campus of brick-and-stone buildings and newer, slapdash structures behind a monumental entrance gate.

The plaza seethed with protests, riots and army killings during the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr. Pamuk was enrolled at the journalism school during one of the most turbulent periods, but while his friends were risking their lives facing down soldiers, he spent most days reading at home in Nisantasi.

“I was an ambitious, brainy guy, and university seemed like a waste of time to me.”

-Joshua Hammer