Rybczynski is an artful conductor and learned hand who leaves much of the pleasure of architectural discovery to readers.
The erudite and architecturally well-traveled Rybczynski (Makeshift Metropolis: Ideas About Cities, 2010, etc.) offers a brimming toolkit that we should bring to “our daily experience of buildings, which is practical as well as aesthetic.”
In this robust tour of architecture—in which he offers plenty of opinions, without being overly opinionated, and a host of useful, disarming illuminations—the author delivers a conceptual framework for approaching architecture, in addition to presenting the many different intentions and theories of architects. It is also written for the man and woman on the street, the story of these settings of everyday life allowing readers into architects’ heads. Rybczynski writes with equal felicity on architecture as art—why a building touches us and speaks to us—as well as its function and realization. He moves with ease, accompanied by copious examples and illustrations, among significant moments in the architect’s work: the importance of the specificity of site; symmetries and axes, movement, orientation and disorientation; how the setting can be both embraced and set in opposition; working with a street grid, a brassy or refined environment; fashioning a small house in a cramped lot. In architecture, writes the author, the materials are the message, as in the skin of a building: tight, soft, heavy, light, ornamental, flat or backlit. There are all the details and quirks that can make or break our immediate response to a building—a Rem Koolhaas studio railing is a lovely example—and there are all the creations, borrowings, manipulation and nurturings of style, not to mention the furtive notions of taste, suitability and proportion.
Rybczynski is an artful conductor and learned hand who leaves much of the pleasure of architectural discovery to readers.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-374-21174-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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