Customer Reviews

Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an architect and I am familiar with most of Frank Loyd Wright's buildings but knew very little about his life. A heart felt book, that made me realise the importance of doing what you beieve in. I decided to read this, after reading "Loving Frank" and getting a taste of what his life was like.

This book is actually my first study on this amazing man, so I can only guess how much of it is honest and how much he is deceiving himself. But one thing's for sure: it is truly fascinating. One can't get much closer to understanding his creative perspective, and why he chose to design certain projects the way he did. If you are interested in the creative process, this book is a great read.

Not just for architects.... the autobiography of Frank Loyd Wright it's a great story for everybody who's interested in passion for life.

This otherwise page-turning autobiography, written with style, feeling and insight, is diminished by the lack of any photographs. Other editions of Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography always included numerous photographs of him, his ancestors, family, co-workers, friends, wives, children, houses, etc.
FLW loved to "hold court" and always dressed the part of "distinguished architect", especially for photographers. Too bad that this edition does not include a single photo, either of the great man himself or anyone else in his life. FLW was a master of visual impact. This edition fails miserably in its lack of any photographs and the contribution they would have made to the life story of a man who lived very much in the public realm.
Better to spend your money on FLW's autobiography published by Quartet Bks, London 1977, ISBN 0704321963, 616p., copywright, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Eccentric as one would expect from Wright. His view of himself and the world is unigue, as complicated and cluttered as his praire houses are open and elegant.

I've studied Wright's architecture but never read his autobiography so I decided to purchase it. Wright's life story should be a movie. His autobiography is a great way to understand how he saw the world and himself. When reading you can follow where his ideas come from and reasoning behind them. This is a great book and well worth the money, in fact I'm surprised it doesn't cost more.

Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography is a classic.

but the copy I ordered as a gift Never Did Arrive.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, but he was never a writer. This book is more a testimony of one man's enormous ego than it is an insightful look into his own life. Wright was more obsessed with his legacy than anything else, and this book was his way of solidifying his reputation in a world that was being increasingly dominated by European modern architecture. He delivers copious lectures along the way as well, provides a spirited defense of "free love," in regard to his notorious affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and reinvents his childhood (in third person) to suit his image of himself. It takes a tremendous amount of patience to make it through this book and unless you are determined to make the effort I would go for one of the many biographies, like Meryle Secrest's Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography or Robert Twombly's Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture.