Great Architecture of the World

This is a great resource for anyone interested in Architecture. It gives really good background information on the history of architecture in many different areas of the world. And if you need some really good photographical examples, this a great book. It also includes great picture descriptions so that you can relate it to the body of the work. This book has a wide range of architecture from much earlier ages to the modern age. All in all, I highly recommend this book if you need a resource for a project or if you're simply interested in architecture.

You will not find a more comprehensive book in print on Architecture History. It covers more regions and time periods than any other book I've seen. To get this amount of information on architecture history through another source you would need to buy two or three other books. This book has 4 times the number of drawings, photographs, and graphics of any other architecture history book. It is also well written in a concise yet understandable manner. Not only is this book the best quality and most complete book of its kind, it is also by far the least expensive.

As a licensed architect, I'm often asked to talk to children or teenagers who are vaguely interested in architecture. (Well, not that often, but it has happened.) I've been recommending this book for years. It has lots of full-color cutaway drawings. Let me put it this way, if you don't stare fascinated at these drawings, you probably won't be drawn to architecture. My copy of the book is hardcover, printed in 1975, but it's politically correct--Chinese and Hindu architecture is not neglected as in other Western-focused books. You won't find any post-modernism here, however, because I don't think the paperback has been updated (but I might be wrong)