This is a very readable and interesting overview of architecture’s elements, issues, and leading practitioners.  A multitude of technical terms is partially addressed in a glossary, but my list of words to look up reached 23, from mullions to columbarium.  Chapters on setting, site, plans, structure, skin, details, style, and taste introduce the reader to technical aspects as well as historical influences on today’s American architecture.  LeCorbusier is often quoted (‘the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light’) as is the 18^th C Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield (‘style is the dress of thought’).  Super star architects and their buildings are discussed, though the small, black and white photographs of these structures are often disappointing.  The architects include Alvar Aalto (Finnish modernist and model for Kahn), David Adjaye (Smithsonian  African American Museum) Tadao Ando (Forth Worth’s Modern Art Museum, Clark Museum), Mark Appleton (Villa Pacifica and Villa Corbeau), Henry Bacon (Lincoln Memorial), Peter Bohlin (Apple Store), Paul Philippe Cret (Chateau Thierry Monument, Federal Reserve Bldg, Folger Shakespeare Library), Norman Foster (Sainsbury Centre, Swiss Re Bldg), Frank Gehry (Disney Concert Hall, Bilbao Guggenheim, New World Center), Michael Graves (Portland Building, Warehouse), Herzog and de Meuron (deYoung Museum), Philip Johnson (AT&T Bldg, Glass House), Louis Kahn (Kimbell Art Museum, Philips Exeter Academy Library, Salk Institute, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University Art Gallery), Rem Koolhaus (Seattle Public Library), Thom Mayne (Cooper Union), Richard Meier (Getty Ctr), Mies van der Rohe (Seagram Bldg, Barcelona Pavilion), Charles Moore, Richard Neutra, Jean Nouvel (Arab Institute, West Side Highway apartment bldg), I.M. Pei (East Bldg, National Gallery), Renzo Piano (Morgan Library, California Academy of Sciences, Centre Pompidou, LACMA, Menil Collection, Nasher Scuplture Center, NYT Bldg), John Russell Pope (Jefferson Memorial, National Gallery of Art), William Rawn (Ozawa Hall), Richard Rogers (Centre Pompidou, New Jersey Ave, DC), Eero Saarinen (CBS Bldg, TWA Terminal, Gateway Arch), Eliel Saarrinen (Cranbrook Library), Moshe Safdie (Crystal Bridges, National Gallery of Canada), Robert A.M. Stern (Bush Library, Rittenhouse Square, 15 Central Park West),  James Stirling (Neue Staatsgalerie), Jorn Utzon (Sydney Opera House), Robert Venturi (Sainsbury Wing).  A fine addition to my architectural education.