Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by katiescho741
Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of Twenty Lost Buildings from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers by James Crawford
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I did not think I was going to finish this one in 2024, but here we are!
A very interesting, chunky book. It sort of tells the history of civilisation using these destroyed buildings. Crawford spans the world with his choices, and it felt like a very accessible read. I could have done with a few more pictures throughout the text, but I enjoyed the ones that were there, and the colour photos were great.
I loved that the final chapter was on Geocities, and I got to learn about times and places I'd never thought about. There's a lot of sadness in this book as we watch some beautiful buildings be torn down, but there is also joy in learning about them, and sometimes in what they have become now. I liked the complex ones like the chapter about the Berlin Wall, and the history of St Paul's Cathedral in London was fascinating.
A really great book if you like architecture or the sweep of history in general. A wonderful read.
A very interesting, chunky book. It sort of tells the history of civilisation using these destroyed buildings. Crawford spans the world with his choices, and it felt like a very accessible read. I could have done with a few more pictures throughout the text, but I enjoyed the ones that were there, and the colour photos were great.
I loved that the final chapter was on Geocities, and I got to learn about times and places I'd never thought about. There's a lot of sadness in this book as we watch some beautiful buildings be torn down, but there is also joy in learning about them, and sometimes in what they have become now. I liked the complex ones like the chapter about the Berlin Wall, and the history of St Paul's Cathedral in London was fascinating.
A really great book if you like architecture or the sweep of history in general. A wonderful read.