Heinfried Wischermann

When I signed the contract with W. W. Norton for my "Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture" in 2009 I went on a binge of buying up just about any architectural guide I came across, as a means of determining what works and what doesn't in terms of structure, layout and other bits of content. This is one of those books, a slim guide to Paris with b/w photos and predominantly short entries arranged into chapters by time/style. My preference is for geographical organization of show more guidebooks (they are meant to be used while out and about in a city, after all), but this book is organized into three broad timeframes: Renaissance to Rococo, Classicism to Art Nouveau, and Art Nouveau to present (ca. 1997). So those interested in modern architecture, for example, will hop to the last chapter, ignoring the rest. Nevertheless, it's a very well done guide, along the lines of the publisher's same guide to Carlo Scarpa. show less