architecture

Asterios Polyp is a self-assured, domineering, wind-bag of a paper architect. A paper architect being one “whose reputation rests on his designs, rather than on the buildings constructed from them. In fact, none of his designs had ever been built.”

When we meet Asterios, his Manhattan apartment, where he wallows in self-pity while riding out a mid-life crisis, has just burned to the ground. So he takes the last of his money, hops on a bus, and “give[s] up on the one thing [he] thought defined him.” And it “prove[s] to be a lot less difficult than [he] could have imagined.”

Asterious Polyp is

Until recently, green living meant household waste recycling or choosing bamboo or cork flooring. This book explains new directions in architecture where efficiency is the new priority in building culture, offering the latest trends in conserving resources, maintaining healthy indoor environments, and reducing environmental impact of your house.  Eco House is a thorough guide to the structural features and interior and exterior elements that make a house eco friendly and “green”.

Eco House explains, among other things: the principles of thermal and geothermal installation; how to build a mini

Another great non-fiction book from one of my favorite authors.  The author grabs inquisitive readers’ attention from the beginning:  It starts by Bryson pondering why all of our dining tables display salt and pepper shakers rather than other equally common spices, where the expressions “sleep tight” and  “room and board” generated, and why does he have decorative buttons on the end of his jacket sleeves.  His curiosity is justified; according to his diaries, even Albert Einstein was more preoccupied with the places where he lived and where he vacationed rather than his research.

With the