With its companion, this handsome, accessible book is particularly welcome, enhancing subject diversity with its refreshing...
This engaging, immediate and immersive book introduces the eight men behind eight towering, sky-scraping structures.
They range in age from Gustave Eiffel’s eponymous tower (1889) through William Van Alen’s Chrysler Building (1930) and Fazlur Rahman Khan’s John Hancock Center (1969) to Adrian Devaun Smith’s ingenious, wind-resistant Burj Khalifa (2010) in Dubai—now the world’s tallest building. The text in this French import is pared down to informative essentials, and it reflects a sophisticated, seamless, accessible design sensibility. Each architect (all men) is briefly introduced, and then his iconographic building is explored over successive pages. Cornille favors simple line drawings with just hints of color and plenty of white space. The book’s distinctive look echoes the effects achieved by AutoCAD—today’s computer-assisted architectural design tool of choice. The trim size also telegraphs and quickly signifies the subject. One of a two-book suite, it is taller than it is wide. Its companion, Who Built That? Modern Houses: An Introduction to Modern Houses and Their Architects, enjoys a landscape format. Happily, Houses also employs a similar approach to its taller cousin: 10 architecturally significant houses by 10 notable architects (Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Courbusier, Rem Koolhaas, etc.).
With its companion, this handsome, accessible book is particularly welcome, enhancing subject diversity with its refreshing treatment, and all the more notable for its clean simplicity. (footnotes) (Informational picture book. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61689-270-8
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Weaving together architectural, engineering and Native American history, Weitzman tells the fascinating story of how Mohawk Indian ironworkers helped construct the sprawling bridges and towering skyscrapers that dominate our urban landscape. The book begins with a brief but informative history of the Kanien'kéhaka—People of the Flint. Leaders in establishing the League of the Iroquois, a confederation of Indian nations in the New York region, Mohawks had a longstanding reputation for their sense of tight-knit community, attraction to danger and love for physical challenge, qualities that served them well when hired in the late 1800s to do the most arduous work in railroad and bridge construction. With the advent of the skyscraper, Mohawks possessing agility that seemed gravity-defying worked hundreds of feet above the ground. They were not immune to tragedy, and the author discusses in detail the collapse of the Québec Bridge that killed 31 Mohawk workers. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs that capture the daring spirit of these heroic workers, the concise, captivating account offers great insight into the little-known but considerable role Native Americans played in our architectural and engineering achievements. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59643-162-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
Starting with a lonely slice of pizza pictured on the cover and the first page, Thornhill launches into a wide-ranging study of the history and culture of food—where it comes from, how to eat it and what our food industries are doing to the planet. It’s a lot to hang on that slice of pizza, but there are plenty of interesting tidbits here, from Clarence Birdseye’s experiments with frozen food to how mad cow disease causes the brain to turn spongy to industrial food production and global warming. Unfortunately, the volume is designed like a bad high-school yearbook. Most pages are laid out in text boxes, each containing a paragraph on a discrete topic, but with little in the way of an organizing theme to tie together the content of the page or spread. Too many colors, too much jumbled-together information and total reliance on snippets of information make this a book for young readers more interested in browsing than reading. Kids at the upper edge of the book's range would be better served by Richie Chevat's adaptation of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (2009). (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-897349-96-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Maple Tree Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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