Why Architecture Matters (Why X Matters Series) - Hardcover

Paul Goldberger is the architecture critic for The New Yorker and has written the magazine's celebrated "Sky Line" column since 1997. He also holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in Manhattan. He began his career at The New York Times, where he received a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism. Visit the author's website: www.paulgoldberger.com

“Paul Goldberger is America's foremost interpreter of public architecture. . . "—Tracy Kidder (Tracy Kidder)

"Why Architecture Matters reminds us that in a democratic capitalist society, the only sure guarantee that we will get good architecture is if we shake off our ignorance and start to take a personal interest in the design of our neighborhoods. Here is a succinct, lyrical and heartfelt book that celebrates the best works of architecture and points the way to being able to build more of it in the world today. There are so many guides to the world of art, so few to the world of architecture. This is among the very best."—Alain de Botton, author of The Architecture of Happiness (Alain de Botton)

"A beautifully written and generous meditation on the art of building that every aspiring architect should read."—Witold Rybczynski, author of The Perfect House (Witold Rybczynski)

“Placing on display the most public of all the arts can be astonishing. Paul Goldberger, collecting his thoughts on architecture over 40 years, does this. His book, Why Architecture Matters, could be said to be a portable architectural museum that, by turns, astonishes, intrigues, explains and entrances.”—Architecture Bulletin (Architecture Bulletin)

“The strength of populist writing like Goldberger’s is that it is accessible and engaging.”—Penny Lewis, Blueprint Magazine (Penny Lewis Blueprint Magazine 2010-03-01)

“Best of all, Goldberger combines forensic analysis of the architectural art with a sense of wonder.”—Jonathan Wright, Scottish Sunday Herald (Jonathan Wright Scottish Sunday Herald 2009-12-20)

"This generously illustrated volume anchors its speculations in brief discussions of buildings that manage this hard-won equilibrium."—Brian Sholis, The Virginia Quarterly Review (Brian Sholis The Virginia Quarterly Review)