Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art - Hardcover

"This is a brief but delightful tour of contemporary architecture with a guide who is famous for his candor. He divides our best-known building designers into the architects, who keep in mind the users of a building, and the artistes, who keep in mind the cover of Architectural Review. Being John Silber, he names names and shows you the artists' buildings, travesty by travesty. This book will gall some of them. Even more so will it embarrass the guileless souls who have fallen under the spell of the artists' metaphorical lyricism 'explaining' their own work- and paid millions for such pretty words." Tom Wolfe"

John Silber offers a volume of spirited criticism of contemporary architecture, dividing well-known building designers into architects, who keep in mind the users of a building, and the artistes, who are self-indulgent and keep their own fame in mind.