Some books you read more than once. Maybe you return to them because you think you are a little wiser than the first time you read it. Maybe you read it again because it left an impression – like a scar – and you feel like you need to try again. For whatever reason, there are books out there that you value because they had resonance.
To begin, I will admit that I don’t own all of the books on this list. For some time now I have been asking people if there is a particular book that they like – a book of substance, not the coffee table variety. The responses I received back yeilded some surprising answers but I thought I would include the books that showed up on the list from more than one person. Some titles that showed up over and over I didn’t include; titles like ‘Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture’, or ‘Experiencing Architecture’– these are on every incoming architecture students reading list.
How many of you have read these books? Are there other books I should add to the list? I will also admit that I have an ulterior motive; I get emails from the world at large asking me what books should they buy if they wanted to learn about architecture, or what it means to be an architect, etc. This list started as a response to those emails – eventually I will simply point the people with those questions here. So please let me know what other books you think should be added to the list I have started here.
Cheers and thanks for participating.
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“How Buildings Learn”
written by Stewart Brand
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“Anonymous 20th Century”
written by Leonardo Ricci
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“Aesthetics of Architecture”
written by Roger Scruton
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“The Architecture of Happiness”
written by Alain Botton
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“Why Architecture Matters”
written by Paul Goldberger
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“The Invisible Man”
written by Ralph Ellison
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“The Classical Language of Architecture”
written by John Summerson
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“Down Detour Road”
written by Eric Cesal
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“Anxiety of Influence”
written by Harold Bloom
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“Between Silence and Light | Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I Kahn”
written by John Lobell
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“Atlas Shrugged”
written by Ayn Rand
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‘Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency’
written by Andrea Oppenheimer Dean and Timothy Hursley
So what do you think of my list so far? I decided that I wasn’t going to try and review all the books on this list in one post and if you click on the amazon tag below each book, there is a review written there. All of these books come highly recommended from many sources – all except one but I’m not going to tell you which one that is. From everything I’ve read about it myself, it’s worth adding to the list … and to the Kindle I just got for my birthday.
Thanks again for your additions.
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