Review by Choice Review
Focusing on Western architecture from the vernacular through monuments past and present, Goldberger (architectural critic, The New Yorker) considers his emotional and intellectual reactions to buildings and the uniqueness of the architectural experience: "Good intentions ... serious ideas ... inspire the creation of built form," and architecture "makes life better." The author looks at the social character of buildings and their forms and symbols, and considers the contexts of buildings with their sense of place. Drawing on many writers' works, from ancient to modern, he offers strong challenging opinions with his judgments and emotional responses to buildings. The book features wonderful descriptions of both buildings and sites. A particularly good chapter on memory in architecture looks at the author's personal memories and those evident in society, film, art, photography, and literature. Goldberger also considers the concept of time in architecture and is particularly insightful on historic preservation in New York City. The text includes an eclectic selection of small black-and-white pictures. This volume also features a glossary and "A note on bibliography," which examines Goldberger's favorite sources. Nontechnical in nature, it will be very useful for architecture and architectural history students as a noteworthy introduction to understanding buildings. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers. W. L. Whitwell formerly, Hollins College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With a broad topic and a deep reach, this collection of work from New Yorker architecture critic Goldberger reflects on the meanings and effects of architecture, both in the abstract and in everyday life. From specific places like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. ("may be one of the few great architectural works anywhere whose approach is marked only by directional signs, not by a glimpse of the thing itself") to discussion of individual architects (Saarinesen, Lloyd Wright, etc.), Goldberger is clear and direct throughout, occasionally addressing readers directly with questions and thought experiments ("For the next few pages . think only in terms of what a building looks like when you stand before it") that help recreate the architectural thought process. Sometimes focused too narrowly on the author's own experience (breathlessly recounted memories of architectural epiphany can fall flat), Goldberger occasionally risks alienating readers who lack his enthusiasm. For students and fans of architecture, however, this makes an elegant but energetic tour of building design, aesthetics, construction and inspiration that should encourage new ways of viewing one's surroundings. 55 b & w illustrations. (Dec.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Review by Library Journal Review
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Goldberger has long been recognized by readers of the New York Times and The New Yorker as an architecture critic on a par with venerated peers like Ada Louise Huxtable and Lewis Mumford. With many books to his credit-most recently an incisive take on Ground Zero doings in Manhattan, Up from Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York-Goldberger sums up a lifetime of musings on things architectural with picturesque essays concerning the way the built environment affects the quality of our daily lives. Owing to telling autobiographical insights incorporated into the narrative, we see how this most diplomatic of observers finds merit in the classicists and preservationists of the last two centuries, as well as in avant-garde innovators such as Corbusier and Frank Gehry. Verdict Although a bias for the East Coast can be detected, Goldberger's trenchant and deftly communicated insights retain a universal validity. These meditations will entrance and enlighten anyone curious about why the buildings around us affect us as they do.-David Soltesz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
