redfiona99

I bought this book last Christmas because the title looked interesting. It was definitely a worthwhile purchase.

A witty and enjoyable read, Mount skilfully covers a lot of ground, although I don't think the book is quite as dip-in and dip-out as he suggests in the foreword, as the chapters build upon each other, particular in the technical details of the buildings, so that I'm not sure that someone who'd read the book out of order without previous knowledge of architectural terms would be able to entirely follow. I think some of the detail could do have done with being fleshed out, because, especially in the middle section about Gothic windows, I lost the thread of historical story.

There's also a few occasions where he refers to pictures on the covers, which I'm sure are there in the hardback, but they're not there in the paperback.

But, those minor gripes aside, I had a lot of fun reading this, and, since reading it, using the information in the book while looking at buildings.

Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings of England (Discovering) by Richard Harris
Spike Island: The Memory of a Military Hospital by Philip Hoare
The Comforts of Home: The American House and the Evolution of Modern Convenience by Merritt Ierley
Estates: An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley
Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture by R.W. Brunskill
The Book of London: The Evolution of a Great City by Michael Leapman
A Pattern Language : Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander
God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill
The Culture of Cities by Lewis Mumford
The Most Beautiful Villages of England by James Bentley

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