* Just the essential information for readers on the go who want to understand architecture.* Covers the highlights of architectural history, from the Great Pyramids to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.* Explains how to look at a building and appreciate it. Explains when a building's a building and when it's art.* Part of Tens includes: Ten Great Architectural Masterpieces, Ten Biggest Architectural and Engineering Failures, Ten of the Most Interesting Architects Working Today-and more.

Foreword.Introduction.Part I: Knowing and Appreciating Architecture.Chapter 1: Knowing When a Building Is Just a Building and When It's Architecture.Chapter 2: How to Look at a Building.Chapter 3: Building Your Architectural Vocabulary.Part II: Nuts and Bolts: Looking at How Architecture Is Designed and Built.Chapter 4: How Buildings Are Born.Chapter 5: Just What Do Architects Do, Anyway?Chapter 6: A Simple Structure: How Buildings Stand Up.Part III: Western Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures.Chapter 7: Gimme Shelter: Prehistoric Structures and the Ancient World.Chapter 8: Acropolis Now: Classical Greece and Rome.Chapter 9: Domes, Arches, and Vaults, Oh My: Byzantine and Medieval Architecture.Chapter 10: Beauty Meets Mathematics and Drama: From Renaissance to Rococo.Chapter 11: Revivals Everywhere: The Classical and Gothic Are New Again.Chapter 12: Here Comes the Industrial Age: Prefab Is Here to Stay.Chapter 13;Flying High and Close to the Sun: Skyscrapers!Chapter 14: Mother Nature versus the Machines: Modern Styles.Chapter 15: The Only Constant Is Change: From Modern Purism to Postmodern Pluralism.Part IV: Eastern Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures.Chapter 16: China and Japan: Traditions in Wood.Chapter 17: More Than the Taj Mahal: Architecture in India.Chapter 18: The Islamic World.Part V: Arranging the Present and Saving the Past.Chapter 19: Understanding Urban Design.Chapter 20: Historic Preservation: Saving the Past for the Future.Part VI: The Part of Tens.Chapter 21: The Ten Most Fascinating Architects Working Today.Chapter 22: Ten Architectural Masterpieces.Chapter 23: Ten Amazing Items of Trivia That'll Impress All Your Friends!Chapter 24: The Top Ten Skyscrapers.Index.