Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2014 -

In their foreword, "starchitects" Richard Rodgers and Philip Gumuchdjian wonder at the variety, scale, and innovation of the contemporary built environment.  The awesome heterogeneity of construction over the past 10,000 years is deftly presented in this outstanding reference source, edited by architecture writer and consultant Jones. Architecture is both broad and granular.  Beginning with the Neolithic period and ending with contemporary times, each chronological section is subdivided by place and architectural movement.  Overviews of each time period provide key social, political, and cultural events that influenced the architecture of the time; focused entries provide in-depth formal analysis of landmark structures. Architecture eschews the European bias characterizing so many similar volumes and covers Asia, the Middle East, and South America.  The chronological organization allows a comparative understanding of simultaneously occurring movements across the globe.  Over 1,000 images illustrate buildings, details, and an occasional cross-section or floor plan.  Considering the book's worldwide focus, however, a map would have been a welcome addition.  Similar comprehensive reference works, such as the two-volumeOxford Companion to Architecture, edited by Patrick Goode (CH, Mar'10, 473549), are more systematic but lack the vitality of Joness work.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students; general readers.