"Eyes of the Skin", Juhani Pallasmaa

Many people have certain beliefs about the nature of "architecture". Some people think it's buildings. Some people think it's the character of a city or neighborhood. Some people think it's about the structure of back end computer programming.

In reality, "architecture" is space, as revealed to a person's senses through light. This tiny book by one of Finland's premier architects, covers just that topic.

In America, a person can be sued for calling themselves an architect when they haven't completed their licensing, and that reason alone causes the folks in the building world great consternation when hearing database admins throwing the term around casually.

This book is finally in a third printing. It consists of a series of essays covering different aspects of space and senses and how the two can interact. When it was first printed, every single copy was scooped up rather quickly, and the same can be said for the second edition. They became so scarce that copies ran for hundreds of dollars.

I know that side of it because my wife, the Missus Gonzo, has passed five of seven architectural licensing exams, and I've been around for the vast majority of her schooling. I'm the book guy, and she's the building girl, and I've been chasing this book for years.

It wasn't until this past Decemberween that I stumbled across it for sale, a third edition having been printed in the Uk. The book's dimensions are slight, eight inches by four, and not even 130 pages, the last 25 of which are bibliographical notes. It touches on many topics: a public square in rural Finland; Frank Lloyd Wright  and Le Corbusier; hill towns in southern Spain; Sartre, Plato, and Kearney...

When I saw it, brand new and reasonably priced, I knew it would make a great little gift.

For anyone interested in philosophy and space and how we experience the world, this little book is important.

"Ecotopia Emerging", Ernest Callenbach

Ernest Callenbach published in 1975 a utopian novel called Ecotopia. Set in 1999, Northern California, Oregon, and Washington have seceded from the US and formed a new country called Ecotopia. The novel has lots of up-to-date science and proved influential in the counterculture and hippie era.

In 1981, Callenbach followed it up with this novel, Ecotopia Emerging, which is a prequel to Ecotopia and sets the tone for the kind of world where the Cascade region could secede. It's mostly anti-Reagan, and uses his cadre of followers and their policies as the antagonists that prime the West Coast's attitudes.

The book was reviewed as young-adult material at the time, but wasn't reviewed too heavily. Some complaints have been that independence came too easily to the new nation. I imagine that if it wasn't an armed battle, it was probably too easy.

This book came to our collection by way of a former coworker of mine with whom I had long conversations about whales. It was hers, and somehow it became ours.