From dust jacket notes: "...Here, Rudofsky displays his genius for seeing and explaining the meaning of vernacular architecture - the dwelling, fortifications, tombs, monuments, and countless other adaptations that constitute the global legacy of untutored men both ordinary and extraordinary: the 'prodigious builders.' The author's discussions range from China's floating villages to the cultural significance of doors and windows in various parts of the world; from a Polish salt mine so vast as to be a self-contained community complete with churches, restaurants, and a narrow-gauge railway, to the African Dogon's 'Big House,' whose parts collectively symbolize a man procreating; from the ingenious pre-technological alternatives to air-conditioning, to giant observation kites. In each case Rudofsky brings to his subject a singular blend of erudition, wit, and insight that makes the exotic seem logical and the commonplace bizarre....Rudofsky's cogent arguments are amply documented with over 100 of his unparalleled photographs, in addition to many more rare engravings and other illustrations. The total effect is to expand far beyond dictionary definitions our concepts of both architecture and the human spirit."

The Prodigious Builders: notes toward a natural history of architecture with special regard to those species that are traditionally neglected or downright ignorant

Science & Math

RUDOFSKY, Bernard

Nature & Ecology

Harcourt, Brace. Jovanovich

Unfashionable Human Body

Hart-Davis

Streets for People: A Primer for Americans

For anyone who has been wondering what American cities are coming to, this book is a 'must read.' Despite multitudes of environmental studies, planners have been unable to arrest the disintegration of urban America; architects have often speeded it up. 'Streets for People' helps the reader to understand where things went wrong, for Americans are stubbornly putting their faith in projects and budgets with never a thought of exercising their individual duties as city dwellers. It never occurs to them that a town is not the result of a design program but the reflection of the inhabitant's way of life. Streets, which serve as the lifeline of urban civilizations, have not been adequately studied. People have let their cities' streets degenerate into highways, indifferent to the cost in human dignity and happiness which this entails. The authors explores streets from a dozen countries, including Italy, among others. The author starts with the a short cultural history of each street, then discusses the fine art of walking and other performance arts; street theater and street concerts of the past and present; the prevalence of Italian street scenes in Shakespeare's plays; playgrounds in American cities; the covered street, sidewalk cafes and outdoor restaurants. The author also surveys the street's temporary attractions including processions, parades, and streets and squares in Baroque Rome, as well as American block parties and the street decorations of Latin countries and the Far East.

Arts & Photography

doubleday& co.

A discussion of the form and constuction of indigenous architecture not attributed to any particular architect

Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture

Architecture

DOUBLEDAY

Art, Sexual Studies, Physiology, Gender Studies

The Unfashionable Human Body

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Beauty, Grooming, & Style

Doubleday Publishing

Now I Lay Me Down To Eat is a commentary on the instability of the ideas and ideals that shape our way of life. Modest in size but broad in aim, this book examines five basic functions - eating, sleeping, sitting, cleansing, and bathing - in the rear view mirror of humankind's accumulated knowledge.

Now I lay Me Down to Eat

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Anchor

Now I Lay Me Down to Eat: Notes and Footnotes on the Lost Art of Living

The prodigious builders: Notes toward a natural history of architecture with special regard to those species that are traditionally neglected or downright ignored

Secker and Warburg

A third of the front dustjacket is missing, half the girls face. Book itself is in very good condition. Jacket poor- book itself VG+. Great book on a better way to do tourism and travel.

Kimono Mind

History

Asia

In this book, Bernard Rudofsky steps outside the narrowly defined discipline that has governed our sense of architectural history and discusses the art of building as a universal phenomenon. He introduces the reader to communal architecture--architecture produced not by specialists but by the spontaneous and continuing activity of a whole people with a common heritage, acting within a community experience. A prehistoric theater district for a hundred thousand spectators on the American continent and underground towns and villages (complete with schools, offices, and factories) inhabited by millions of people are among the unexpected phenomena he brings to light.
The beauty of "primitive" architecture has often been dismissed as accidental, but today we recognize in it an art form that has resulted from human intelligence applied to uniquely human modes of life. Indeed, Rudofsky sees the philosophy and practical knowledge of the untutored builders as untapped sources of inspiration for industrial man trapped in his chaotic cities.

University of New Mexico Press

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