Barry Bergdoll

Curator; Academic; Writer / Architecture / United States / Columbia University; The Museum of Modern Art

Books Every Architect Should Read

Long before I came to the conclusion that I wanted to study architectural history, I knew I wanted to collect books. Arranging my books in new classification systems in my room at home as a teenager on rainy days, I even imagined that being a librarian might be the best of all possible worlds. Ever since then I’ve had at least as many books I intend to read as books I have actually read. And ever since then I have been torn between the idea of a small collection of desert island books and a big house with every room lined in books—“dessert island” books, I suppose one could call those that would line the dining room—so that every after dinner conversation might be seasoned with reading and shared books. . . . View the complete text
1 book
William Strunk Jr.
E. B. White
Maira Kalman Illustrator

It has to be an edition with the added part by E. B. White on writing. It is one of the most useful, delightful, and wickedly funny books I have ever had the pleasure of reading, owning, assigning, and returning to. Even reading the part about the invitation to speak at the dedication of a cat hospital is something I am sometimes tempted to grab off the shelf during a dinner party to add to the hilarity. Architects and architecture students, too, might find it very helpful in preparing reports and presentations for clients to help wean them off the insider language of schools and the profession.

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