Books like The Man in the Glass House — picked by fans

If you’ve ever wondered (or haven’t) what Richard Nixon, Jane Fonda, Linda Ronstadt, All in the Family, and the films Chinatown and Shampoo share in common, and why it matters, author and political correspondent Ronald Brownstein connects the dots in a compelling examination of how the seismic cultural upheavals we attribute to the late 60s were in fact late bloomers, leaving their mark only in the early 70s.  

Part nostalgia, part pop and TV history, part political analysis, this book zeros in on the cast of personalities and classic artistic works that collectively made 1974 the pivotal year in the modern American zeitgeist. Something for everyone who lived through that time—I can attest to that—and a timely cultural history lesson for those who didn’t.

Electric guitars are all around us, but they didn’t just burst upon the scene with 1950s rock ‘n’ roll, fully formed; their zig-zaggy path to ubiquity surprised me, and I’m sure it will surprise others. Ian Port’s captivating triple biography of the electrified guitar and its creators Leo Fender and Les Paul (the Gibson guitar), is set against the atmosphere of competing visions and vicious rivalry between Fender and Gibson, and their rush to win the hearts and pocketbooks of their famed rocker customers. 

This very American tale of spontaneous mom-and-pop invention that spawned a beloved tool of music we take for granted uncovers the dark and sometimes clandestine side of its creation. It resonated with my own similar discoveries about Bob Moog and his synthesizer.

The invention of the radio came at a great price for Edwin Armstrong, inventor of the key component that made broadcasting possible. Financially ruined by nefarious competition, he jumped from a window. Lewis’s gripping account of the lives of Armstrong, Lee de Forest, and David Sarnoff—the pioneers who put our lives on the air—is another tug-of-war tale of who got there first or who claimed to have gotten there first and who would profit from crossing the finish line, deserved or not.  

I’ve researched the history of radio extensively for my own writing, and Lewis’s account is surely the best seat-of-the-pants history of this technology that fostered not only radio but every incarnation of electronics during the first half of the 20th century. 

I’ve been a fan of Leonard Bernstein’s music and his peerless conducting since I was a child and I knew that his personal and creative life was stormy. But I was gobsmacked by Jamie Bernstein’s deeply personal tour through the up-close, at-home world of this timeless genius. She invites us into Lenny’s study, his living room, or seats us at the dinner table as he puffs his umpteenth daily cigarette, downs a scotch, and holds forth on the sacred, the profane, and the mundane.  

As a biographer, I gleaned much from this powerful memoir, a confessional chronicle that emboldened me to take chances and dissect the deepest innards of my subject unapologetically. If we can witness Lenny soiling himself onstage in his last year as he is honored for lifetime achievement, we can also plumb the depths of his deeper psyche as well. A masterful portrait.  

This is a fun sketching book to let your imagination run wild. More than just a coloring book, there are visual prompts that allow the user to modify or redesign an iconic building, or create one from scratch. It provides the framework; you provide the artistry. For kids and adults of all ages, this book will provoke creativity and encourage the architect in everyone.

To read about the long, long history of creating solid, sun-lit, comfortable, and sound houses and homes is truly inspiring.

I keep going back to Bill Addis bible again and again as I look for understanding of how the inventiveness of humankind have evolved the world we live in. To read about the symbiosis between material and matter is not only joyful; it is also a source of inspiration as we today have to re-invent many of the un-sustainable solutions we rely on.

In this book, Patsy Healey develops an approach to understanding and evaluating governance processes of urban space by investigating ‘actors’ who are involved in these processes and their power relations.

On the one hand, she emphasizes the importance of context, such as economic, social, and environmental contexts, which impact how the physicality of space and its governance process is shaped. Using a social constructivist and relational approach, she investigates urban space, its dynamics, and governance processes and shows the multiplicity of social worlds, rationalities, and practices that co-exist in the urban context.

Healey also explores and demonstrates the complexity of the power relations between actors of urban space governance. She finds out that particular forms of the collaborative process of spaces (especially socially inclusive and just collaborative ones) can be more effective in transforming practices, cultures, and outcomes.

Over his lifetime, Alexander’s controversial approach to architecture incited widespread criticism, yet it is precisely these unique and thought-provoking ideas that make The Nature of Order an essential read. Beyond his sometimes obscure writing style and lackluster built examples, Alexander's deep commitment to architecture as a complex layered system of patterns—an idea he first popularized in his hippy-architects bible, A Pattern Language—is still palpable in this four-volume magnum opus. 

I found the second volume, where he offers a guide for how to “create life” through patterns, most pertinent to this list. Here he distills his earlier work down to fifteen essential patterns that lead to architecture as a living structure. There is gold to be mined here, for those in search of some semblance of order in the chaotic current of modern architecture. 

Whenever I’m reading Ruskin, I feel like I’m overhearing a crusty old man’s rant. Some rants I love—when he talks about honesty in materials, or his in-depth thoughts on nature and light; some I question—demonizing cast iron facades; and others I disagree with—the necessity for obedience to God as an architect. And some of his ideas are so outdated, they’ve almost come back full circle. But the reason I included this older volume, is simply because Ruskin’s seven principles on architecture have withstood the test of time.

In one of the most popular books published on form and composition in architecture, Francis Ching examines basic elements of form and space (edges, corners, planes, etc.) and strategies for their organisation (axes, grids, symmetry, etc).

Like Baker, he includes approach, entry, and movement through built form.

The examples are taken from contemporary and historical buildings. The text is short and the diagrams plentiful.

Ching has also written good books on basic ideas in building structure and construction, both helpful in analysing buildings beyond form and space.