[.ca] The House Book (ISBN 0714839841)

The House Book:
If you liked The Art Book you'll love The House Book. An alphabetical listing of the most important 500 houses from all time. This concise visual history of icons covers everything from ancient cave dwellings to the latest in architectural wonders. Everyone one is there - Gehry, Aalto, Eames, Thomas Jefferson, Henry VIII, Palladio. Beautifully photographed and printed, I ordered 10 copies of this coffee table book for holiday gifts.

Steal of the century:
Why ....O....Why is this book so cheap???!!??? It's so wonderfully done. Each designer gets exactly one page (even Frank Lloyd Wright). One beautiful photograph(and thank \ogoodness\c not too many words), then on to the next,500 in all; an incredibly diverse view of the different ways that "Home" is accomplished, with suggestions in fine print of other entries that might interest you if you like this one. Every book I've ever bought even close to this quality really hurt me at the checkout counter....but this one is \oPRICE\c..!!?? Perhaps it's the ugly cover photograph of bricks. Who knows, but inside is one of the most incredible and inspiring collections of images I've seen in a long time...kind of like "Shelter" without the excess verbage. Years ago, my sister cut thousands of small photographs out of years of National Geographic and laminated them into an incredible montage that covered the entire wall surface that separated the kitchen from the dining room. Colors, textures and images provided us with endless amusement. I'm ordering 2 extra copies of this book to chop up. No \okidding\c, I'm not associated with this book in any way, I'm just an economy minded Architect that can spot an incredible buy.

Really fun to look through:
A great collection of 500 houses, from huts in thirdworld countries, to historic castles and palaces and estates and chateaus, to modern architecture, done by 500 architects. This is a visuals-only book. It does not have much information about the buildings or the architects, but it makes up for the lack of text with the large, vibrant photos, which is what the book is all about. This book is a trade-off - it has more homes and architects than any other book out there, but it also has very little information, since with 500 architects, that only leaves one per page. Fun to look through and mentally design the dream estate of my retirement years...and to learn about a lot of architects I'd never heard of.

A Sumptuous Feast For The Eyes:
A roof over our head is a need just as the air that we breathe, the food that we consume, & the water that we drink. As human gradually evolves & that our mind is getting more complex, a house doesn't serve the need simply but it also has become a form of expression, a display of the occupants' personality &/or their wealth, bringing into fruition an ideal or an -ism, &/or a culmination of both. Irrespective of which countries we're going to, & what cultures we immerse ourselves into, we still need a house to go home to. And the "House Book" delves into the residential end of architecture scale by showing us all range of houses that transcend boundaries, dollar value, time. I view this book as a collage of 500 houses. I wish certain iconic houses could be discussed further with provision of additional pictures but what we are provided with are simply pictures taken from the most potent angles, which supposedly do the most justice to the houses. Having said that, I would opt the strengths & weaknesses are exposed & they are to be judged by their own merits but then, the size of the book would have been increased quite significantly & so does the cost of owning the book. Still, this is an exceptional book with high grade quality pictures, good summary, good end notes for us to delve into a particular style, particular countries. At the end of the book, there is also an index of further information regarding houses that are available for public viewing. Overall, a very well-done book & it is featured permanently & prominently on my coffee table. Highly recommended