About the Book

What does a library say about the mind of its owner? How do books map the intellectual interests, curiosities, tastes, and personalities of their readers? What does the collecting of books have in common with the practice of architecture? "Unpacking My Library" provides an intimate look at the personal libraries of fourteen of the world's leading architects, alongside conversations about the significance of books to their careers and lives. Photographs of bookshelves"--"displaying well-loved and rare volumes, eclectic organizational schemes, and the individual touches that make a bookshelf one's own"--"provide an evocative glimpse of their owner's personal life. Each architect also presents a reading list of top ten influential titles, from architectural history to theory to fiction and nonfiction, that serves as a personal philosophy of literature and history, and advice on what every young architect, scholar, and lover of architecture should read. An inspiring cross-section of notable libraries, this beautiful book celebrates the arts of reading and collecting. "Architects and Their Books "features the libraries of: Stan AllenHenry CobbLiz Diller & Ric ScofidioPeter EisenmanMichael GravesSteven HollToshiko MoriRichard MeierMichael SorkinRobert A. M. SternBernard TschumiTodd Williams & Billie Tsien Peter Eisenman's Recommended Titles: Robert Musil, "The Man Without Qualities"Le Corbusier, "Vers une Architecture"Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"Robert Venturi, "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture"Rem Koolhaas, "Delirious New York"Jacques Derrida, "Of Grammatology"Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books on Architecture"Walter Benjamin, "Illuminations"James Joyce, "Finnegans Wake"William Faulkner, "Light in August"

Product Details

Media: Hardcover Book, 182 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Yale University Press (Nov. 30th, 2009)

ISBN-10: 0300158939

ISBN-13: 9780300158939

Dimensions: 8.30 x 5.70 x 0.80 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.05 lbs

• Categories: Antique and Collectible Architecture Criticism Photoessays Photography Documentaries