Required reading over the holidays

How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand

Last year I purged my book shelves by giving away hundreds of books I’ve collected over the years. I kept a dozen, or so, that were too significant to give up. Since it’s been a slow news week for Downtown Austin, I thought I would use this time to recommend a couple of books that you can read over the holidays. Below are two of my favorite books about land use that I hope you will pick up.

• “How Buildings Learn” by Stewart Brand
  This book is interesting to me, not only because it has lots of pictures of old architecture, rather because Stewart Brand attempts to follow how the greatest buildings change use over the course time.

• “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs
  Long considered the urban planner’s bible, this book should be required reading for our elected officials (City Council and staff, County Commissioners, CAMPO board)

Extra credit
I encourage you to check out another book by Stewart Brand “The Clock of The Long Now“. This book is about many things including how civilizations evolve, how the digital age changes the way we archive and access our collective knowledge, and more. Throughout the book is a story about the design of a 10,000 clock that will be installed in the side of a mountain. Great read.