Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish

A reissue of an award-winning book on architecture explores various architectural styles around the world, depicting churches, fortresses, bridges, air terminals, mills, cliff dwellings, tombs, and lighthouses of particular note.

Grade 4-7 This obtuse collection of photographs takes readers on a tour of major and minor buildings around the world. In the accompanying text Isaacson discusses the elements that give a building its character and attempts to explain how the harmony of these elements makes a structure beautiful. Unfortunately, the organization of the book is so fragmented, jumping from place to place, backwards and forwards through time, that the result is more a travelogue than a survey of architectural styles. After looking at the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon, and Chartres, Isaacson examines building materials, windows, doors, roofs, and ornamentation. Some points are belabored, while others are not clearly defined, and the ``gee-whiz'' tone quickly becomes annoying. The 93 color photographs are mostly of high quality, and each is numbered for reference within the text. Because each building generally is allotted only one photograph, even when a different element is being discussed, readers are frequently required to turn back to a previous picture. An appended list of the photographs purports to offer additional information about the buildings and structures discussed but, for the most part, simply repeats information previously given. The lack of a bibliography, a glossary, and an index limits the book's usefulness. Jeanette Larson, Mesquite Public Library, Tex.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Clear, stunning photographs combine with a sincere, well-meaning text to lead readers on a tour of places that seem close to the author's heart, if not his sensibilities. Included are the wonders of Alhambra, the Taj Mahal and the Parthenon, and such unlikely but apt entries as New England shelters. In the chapters on doorways, ceilings, structure, etc., simple concepts and more complicated ones sit side by side and require some explanation. For example, to say that one building has more dignity than others without offering firm background on the criteria for judging architectural "dignity" renders the comparison meaningless. So is the statement that "Order and loveliness at York (Minster) have equal voices," since few readers will understand "voice" in this context. And the sentence structure can be confusing; the "This is" that begins many statements sets readers adrift for a few words until the picture is directly referred to. When the text works, the images are exceptional: Trinity Church next to the John Hancock tower in Boston "slumbers on like an old monk gathered up in his robes." Because of such references, and despite its flaws, the volume is certain to impress readers, and open their eyes to the architectural wealth around them each day. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.