De architectura

By Meredith Nicholson

Book Overview

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer flourishing in the first century B.C., was the author of the oldest and most influential work on architecture in existence. For hundreds of years, the specific instructions he gave in his "Ten Books on Architecture" were followed faithfully, and major buildings in all parts of the world reveal the widespread influence of his precepts. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he was "the chief authority studied by architects, and in every point his precepts were accepted as final. Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio, Vignola, and earlier were careful students of the work of Vitruvius." His book is thus one of those rare works that have been supremely important in the creation of the greatest art masterpieces.Vitruvius describes the classic principles of symmetry, harmony, and proportion in architecture; the design of the treasury, prison, senate house, baths, forum, and temples; the construction of the theater: its site, foundations, and acoustics; the proper style and proportion for private dwellings; the differences between the Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian styles; methods of giving durability and beauty to polished finishings; and many other topics that help us understand the methods and beliefs of the Roman architect.It is a direct, authoritative, and detailed introduction to the ancients' methods of construction, the materials of the architect, and the prevailing aesthetic beliefs of the times; but it is also a work of art. Vitruvius wrote in such a fascinating manner, and digressed from his subject so often (as, for instance, when he wrote about the winds, Archimedes in his bath, and why authors should receive awards and honors at least as often as athletes), that his book has had a continuing appeal to the general reader for many centuries. Besides being an instructive treatise on nearly everything connected with Roman and Greek architecture, it is an entertaining description of some aspects of the life and beliefs of the times. This edition is the standard English translation, prepared over a period of several years by Professor M. H. Morgan of Harvard University. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486206459
• ISBN13: 9780486206455
• Release Date: June 1960
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Up in the sky! It's a . . . giant planet?

I think Leiber is more well known for a certain fantasy series involving a pair of thieves than his SF work, although he has done some interesting tales. I wasn't even aware that this story existed, let alone that it had won a Hugo award, until they reissued it some years back. And for its time it must have been groundbreaking, a big globe-spanning disaster novel in the style that people like Niven and Pournelle would eventually...

A wonderful sci-fi/disaster book

While everyone's eyes are turned to the skies to watch a lunar eclipse, a planet appears out of nowhere. At first, people are intersted in this new planet, then the devastating earthquakes and tidal changes begin as the Wanderer, as many have named the planet, begins threatening the Moon.This engrossing novel catalogs the catastrophic events following the Wanderer's appearance through the eyes of many people instead of focusing...

One of the best

This is simply one of the best books of Leiber. It is poetic, filled with entrancing images, beautiful cats, utterly bizarre situations. It was one of the first to use the "mosaic" form of writing, where several different plots are being exposed simultaneously (a later example is John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar). If you like to dream, read it, you 'll love it.