* Just the essential information for readers on the go who want to understand architecture.
* Covers the highlights of architectural history, from the Great Pyramids to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.
* Explains how to look at a building and appreciate it. Explains when a building's a building and when it's art.
* Part of Tens includes: Ten Great Architectural Masterpieces, Ten Biggest Architectural and Engineering Failures, Ten of the Most Interesting Architects Working Today-and more.
Foreword.
Introduction.
Part I: Knowing and Appreciating Architecture.
Chapter 1: Knowing When a Building Is Just a Building and When It's Architecture.
Chapter 2: How to Look at a Building.
Chapter 3: Building Your Architectural Vocabulary.
Part II: Nuts and Bolts: Looking at How Architecture Is Designed and Built.
Chapter 4: How Buildings Are Born.
Chapter 5: Just What Do Architects Do, Anyway?
Chapter 6: A Simple Structure: How Buildings Stand Up.
Part III: Western Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures.
Chapter 7: Gimme Shelter: Prehistoric Structures and the Ancient World.
Chapter 8: Acropolis Now: Classical Greece and Rome.
Chapter 9: Domes, Arches, and Vaults, Oh My: Byzantine and Medieval Architecture.
Chapter 10: Beauty Meets Mathematics and Drama: From Renaissance to Rococo.
Chapter 11: Revivals Everywhere: The Classical and Gothic Are New Again.
Chapter 12: Here Comes the Industrial Age: Prefab Is Here to Stay.
Chapter 13;
Flying High and Close to the Sun: Skyscrapers!
Chapter 14: Mother Nature versus the Machines: Modern Styles.
Chapter 15: The Only Constant Is Change: From Modern Purism to Postmodern Pluralism.
Part IV: Eastern Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures.
Chapter 16: China and Japan: Traditions in Wood.
Chapter 17: More Than the Taj Mahal: Architecture in India.
Chapter 18: The Islamic World.
Part V: Arranging the Present and Saving the Past.
Chapter 19: Understanding Urban Design.
Chapter 20: Historic Preservation: Saving the Past for the Future.
Part VI: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 21: The Ten Most Fascinating Architects Working Today.
Chapter 22: Ten Architectural Masterpieces.
Chapter 23: Ten Amazing Items of Trivia That'll Impress All Your Friends!
Chapter 24: The Top Ten Skyscrapers.
Index.
