Customer Reviews

Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings

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This is an updated version of Judith Dupre's masterpiece published in 1996. In the last 15 years the world has seen a skyscraper boom like nothing before in history. There have been dozens of "coffee table" books about tall buildings published during this period, but none have captured the passion for architecture and engineering like this series. I am happy to see this latest edition which features about 15 new buildings along with updated photos and information on the buildings featured in the first edition.

The book features a great mixture of some of the most famous skyscrapers, current projects and a few proposals presented in the same "tall" format. With current technology and structural materials, we are able to design unusually shaped buildings and go higher than ever, along with keeping in tune with nature. The highlight of the new edition is Burj Dubai, the tallest structure ever built by man, which is still under construction. When completed, it will be approximately the height of 2 Empire State Buildings!

Also check out "Bridges", "Churches" and "Monuments" by this author, all presented in an innovative format just as "Skyscrapers" has achieved.

This new edition of "Skyscrapers" is even more astonishing than the first one! New pictures, new buildings (and some additional classic ones too). This is a "must have" for the bookshelf of people interested in architecture, design, engineering, and graphic design (the lay-out is well tuned to the book's content). Don't forget to see Bridges by the same author, obviously, it is a very lonnnnnnng book.

This is a fascinating volume that will be of interest to architecture fans, travelers, engineers,future historians, and stay-at-homes who like to see pictures of far-away places.
The volume is tall and skinny, like the buildings it pictures. A great gift, a great coffee table book, a book to return to again and again.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for a friend who is an architect. They love the book. It is coffee table quality, and full of great pictures as well as the story and history of each building. I highly recommend this book . It also arrived early and packaged well.

Judith Dupre's books (Skyscrapers, Bridges; Churches) are a benchmarks of the genre, and since their unique and beautiful designs span different publishers, it suggests her personal input on this level as well.

The page layouts are in a class of their own, visually enticing and combining art and information seamlessly. The sidebars are joy of balance and usefulness.

Dupre comes across as a well tuned mind, completely familiar with and sensitive to the pertinent technical aspects of the structures. That she can now mix this with a highly developed sense of aesthetics and convey this in a text which is without a hint of pretension or ponderousness, makes these books an absolute delight.

The overall choice of pictures is excellent, bar a few, but one senses the enormous difficulty in sourcing suitable images that will fill the format and capture the essence of the subjects.

It is near impossible to over-recommend her books, and one can only hope that she turns her amazing talents to bringing out a book on perhaps great generic civil engineering feats such as roads, viaducts, overpasses, dams, tunnels, airports etc.

If you buy this, it's worth the money. Although this is
a revised edition of the 1996 version, everything is
so well-researched and conentrated! My big sister gave me
this for my birthday, and when I saw the pages of the sky giants,
it was pretty heart-pounding. I'm glad I own these treasures.
Although, page 68/69, the World Trade Center page wasn't really good.
I think she should have put the actual Twin Towers on the taller
page, and put the illuminating absence skyline as one of the smaller pictures. But still, everything else is great!