How low can you fall? 2 rag books? Your disgrace can only be atoned by committing hara-kiri or seppuku. Or go out and do pennance by reading a few books wholly unrelated to architecture. Milan Kundera, louis Gates, david Brooks.... Save your innards and soul while you can.

and should you dare venture to "read" architecture must burn, may your eyes not become crossed and bugged from looking at the horribly egotistical 'design' and esoteric layout.

oh great. you again.
these books were recommended from archinect'rs. so whatever.
and you're always bitching about something, so you don't count.

avoid "architecture must burn." it had almost zero life span and the graphic design (done by the wired magazine people, i believe) is extremely bad and only serves to highlight how thin the writing is.

superstudio was great. i have not read the book mentioned, but i will take a good look.

Architecture Must burn.....is good in snippets....
I agree with Israel that the Graphic Design is pretty oppressive on your eyes....but one should not discount the text totally...
If you take the time to go through it, and if you're not completely blind by that time, there is some good text in there...

I love Archinect and I love all people, especially cold fuming people who have a fondness for understanding and critically editing comical hyperbole without boiling over or loosing sleep: rag, disgrace, atoned, hara-kiri, seppuku, penance, innards, soul…
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Simply said, quite a few other people agree and have made critical remarks about “Architecture must Burn.” It’s simply a bad book. Like I said, It’s a horribly egotistical and esoteric book.
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Stripped of the implied parenthetical commentary, my previous response suggests that you would be better served by expanding your horizons and reading a good book.
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Always be judicious in how you disburse your energies lest they be promptly rendered insolvent or worse yet erased.
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And this evening when you are unable to sleep because you are still fuming and thinking about the needle and thread, please do tell sheep #1,453 that I said hello. It’s the one sheep that looks like Betsky that is about to pull the wool over your eyes. Sleep tight!
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and those Kundera books are nice!

thanks for feedback everyone. I guess i'll just read this book "Architecture must burn" and just return it back...

suture: kundera's ignorance is so great that garcia marquez mentioned it and praised it when he lived to tell the tale.

aml,

Please expound on your comments or in the least cite where i could read that marquez interview. I am always fascinated about what writers think about their peers-their comments usually reveal an amazing amount of insight regarding their personal motivations.

duh! it's on garcia marquez's 'live to tell the tale' [vivir para contarla]

mine is in spanish but if i have a bit of time i can translate that bit later on, if you're interested.

Thanks aml. Its one of my favorites. I will have to read "living to thell the tale" again more closely.

.. i can tell you what i remember

in his autobiography, garcia marquez mentions several books in the context of the moment in his life when he read them, and the effect they had in him. they are usually well known classics. it was surprising to find, in passing, a reference to kundera's 'ignorance' since it was published only 2 yrs before garcia marquez's book - actually published in english the same year.

in any case, garcia marquez muses about a moment in his life when he was thinking about an essay on 'the odyssey' as a reflection on nostalgia, and that that topic had never been properly written about until years later, he found it beautifully written in kundera's novel.

ok so i guess im going to read this book "archtecture must burn and then return it"...

what book could i get for the 10 bucks i shoving back? hahaha

yeah eugene, you already told us you were going to read the book. what's your point i don't get what's so funny.

easy easy. just meant that i was going to check it out for what its about, and return it since i dont feel its something worth keeping. my bad if i didnt explain well. and my bad im such a cheap-ass ..

Life without objects is simply the best book around on Superstudio, theres not much point in telling more than that as the book does a better job than i could. Certainly a good read on an infinately intriguing and challenging group of people / architects. It would make an interesting thread just to see what you make of them afterwards.

I have to agree Architecture must burn is not a good book. If you actually manage to 'read' it some of the points Betsky makes are very valid and some of the essays are good BUT this is only if you manage to get past the intensly off putting graphic design that is weak in every sense. Its, certainly, worth a look but if you havnt already, dont pay any money for it.

Eugene, I don't mean to be rude, but why is it that you seem to need our blessing to read/like a given book? Don't assume that because people here are sour on the Betsky book that it's complete garbage and you'll find no reason to keep it. (Personally, I wouldn't keep it, but that's besides the point). Be a critical thinker on your own. Don't ask for our permission to like a book... because that's what you're doing, albeit not directly. You're letting us prejudice you, and if that becomes a habit (on archinect, in studio, in the real world), you'll end up a regurgitator instead of a thinker.

.mm

well said