My caveat for March is that I was out of town for a week or so with the new nephews which cut into my reading time somewhat. I know its a lame excuse but I'm making it anyway. I have also come to really not enjoy the days I have to drive to the office for the simple reason that it really cuts into my reading time. I know, what sort of real world problems are those when my biggest complaint is that I didn't read as much this month as I wanted to? Awesome problems, that's what.
Anyway, without much ado I took a massive flashback to the 1970's with four classic selections.
Future Shock - Alvin Toffler
Toffler coined the phrase "Future Shock" in reference to a person's inability to cope with or process the rapid pace in which society changes due typically to technological advances. While reading as a series of psychological/sociological studies and examples Toffler begins to explore the repercussions of rapid changes of personal life, education, government, work and military interventions (in fact Toffler begins to explore what has recently been diagnosed as PTSD). While I admit reading a book regarding the predictive shifts of society 40 years after the fact is sometimes humorous (there are some odd assumptions folks 40 years back were making about the future) it becomes even scarier when one realized just how right Toffler was.
What does this have to do with architecture? Probably it is only useful if the designer is interested in the social sciences and impact of the structure with regards to use (programmatic studies based upon shifting work flows, etc.). 8/10
Tools for Conviviality - Ivan Illich
What is the value of your time? How has the dependence on the automobile affected class economics? Illich begins to weave a careful thread between the desire to create, quality of goods, strong working class and our dependence on technology, automobiles and the ever growing complexity of our solutions. Potentially a wonderful primer for anyone exploring secondary economies or one who struggles with why they feel discontent with their office existence and struggles to feel "useful" or satisfied with the completion of tangible tasks. 8/10
The Right to Useful Unemployment - Ivan Illich
A further exploration based upon the previous Tools for Conviviality Illich further dissects the self replication purpose of most professions. As a former educator (and current "professional") I found quite a bit rather difficult accept even though I understood quite a bit of the reasoning behind it. The simplest explanation being that most professionals develop metrics for success that can only be met by members of the profession, in this manner the power of independence is striped from the common citizen as they are constrained to regulations and expectations of the professions that govern, and in exchange are governed by their specific fields. Illich argues (quite rationally) that this devalues the self reliance and productivity of our citizens in exchange for a sense of security and technological advancement. Quite a quick and smart read. 8/10
The Silent Language - Edward T. Hall
A boss of mine (I suppose I have many) mentioned that this book was considered a primer when he was in school during a conversation regarding the inherent differences between physiological and learned interpretations of our surrounding space, the standard nature versus nurture argument. Hall, an anthropologist, attempts to unravel the unspoken communication that establishes the baseline for interactions. While more general and not as rigorous as I would have liked it is a solid primer for accentuating that it is vital for a designer to understand not only their clients needs but also their culture in order to create complete solutions. 6/10
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