A Spotter's Guide to Amazing Architecture : Marvel at the World's Coolest Constructions - and Where to See Them: a Spotter's Guide

This is a great book for arm chair travelers!

From the outset, it seems appealing to broaden one’s travel horizons with a list of over 120 architectural gems from across the world. This small format book, bearing the “Lonely Planet” logo, devotes one page to each such building, with one large photo and one or two short paragraphs of text.On closer look, things are disappointing :• The order in which the buildings are presented goes unexplained : it is neither chronological, nor geographical, nor alphabetical.• No index is provided so that going back to a specific building requires … flipping through the pages!• The photos are not of professional quality; many are overexposed, others too dark or too contrasted.• The criteria for choosing these specific buildings are not spelled out.• The author’s credentials are not mentioned. Is he an architect? A well-rounded traveller? A compiler of information provided by noncredited sources?The validity of the particulars may be confirmed by checking what is said for something you know. Only one building in Canada is listed : Habitat 67, in Montreal. In less than 100 words (94 actually), three significant factual errors can be spotted:• Montreal is presented as Québec’s capital (in fact, that’s Québec City);• Montreal is said to have hosted the 1976 Winter Olympics (in reality, it was the Summer Olympics);• Habitat 67 is portrayed as the Canadian Pavilion for Expo 67 (it wasn’t).This destroys any remaining credibility the book may have had, as these elements could easily have been checked with a quick search on the web.

The title gives the promise of a rich collection of architectural sites across the work with interesting information. Instead, the ultra thin book merely has standard glossy pictures of a few such sites with hardly any information or deeper insights.

It was purchased as a gift and I was surprised how small it is. But considering the price it is still a good buy!

Great book with lovely photos of interesting buildings many of which you would not know existed.