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Art & Architecture Books in this online selection represent only a sliver of what we offer in the store. If you've got a particular book in mind and want to check on its availability, call us at 415-362-8193.

1 2 3 >>>     sort list by author | publication date 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School Matthew Frederick This is a book that students of architecture will want to keep in the studio and in their backpacks. It is also a book they may want to keep out of view of their professors, for it expresses in clear and simple language things that tend to be murky... 101 Things to Learn in Art School Kit White What is the first thing to learn in art school? "Art can be anything." The second thing? "Learn to draw." With 101 Things to Learn in Art School, artist and teacher Kit White delivers and develops such... Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end!' Since its publication in 1865, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has delighted the world with a wildly imaginative and unforgettable journey, inspiring children of all ages... The Anthropology of Turquoise Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky Ellen Meloy Greater than Silko, equal to Solnit. What an immense pleasure to hear the voice of this smart and witty desert dweller, and how restorative to know that human beings can be like this. Yes, there is some turquoise involved. —Recommended by Gent The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin You could spend years trying to read Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project--after all, he spent much of the last 13 years of his life doing the research. When he committed suicide in 1940, he destroyed his copy of the manuscript, and so for decades... The Architecture of Happiness Alain de Botton The Achitecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations. One of the great but often unmentioned causes of... Bibliodeath My Archives (With Life in Footnotes) Andrei Codrescu Award-winning author Andrei Codrescu's Bibliodeath: My Archives (With Life in Footnotes) surveys the evolutionary relationship between language and technology by examining his own career as a prolific American writer for more than four decades, Emotional Design Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things Donald A. Norman Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Why sales of Macintosh computers soared when Apple introduced the colorful iMac? New research on emotion and cognition has shown that attractive things really do work better, as Donald... The Essential Engineer Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems Henry Petroski From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human, The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our world's most pressing issues, from dealing with... Everything Is Its Own Reward An All Over Coffee Collection Paul Madonna "The book is fantastic. Of time and tenderness. Beautiful drawings. Beautiful text. Ethereal and serious at once. The book is its own reward." -- Maira Kalman, author of "And the Pursuit of Happiness" High Sierra of California Gary Snyder Combining the dramatic and meticulous work of printmaker Tom Killion--accented by quotes from John Muir--and the journal writings of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder, The High Sierra of California is a tribute to the bold, jagged peaks that... History of Beauty Umberto Eco Now in paperback, Umberto Eco’s groundbreaking and much-acclaimed first illustrated book has been a critical success since its first publication in 2004. What is beauty? Umberto Eco, among Italy’s finest and most important contemporary thinkers... How to Read Buildings A Crash Course in Architectural Styles Carol Davidson Cragoe This practical primer is a handbook for decoding a building’s style, history, and evolution. Every building contains clues embedded in its design that identify not only its architectural style but also the story of who designed it, who it was built... Just Kids Patti Smith Winner of the National Book Award. Just Kids illuminates the impressive lover of literature that Patti Smith is. Her memoir will be of particular interest to City Lights enthusiasts as she is our quintessential reader, a fan of the Surrealists... 1 2 3 >>>