Koolhaas has great material. New York is WEIRD. And he paints a wonderful picture of it at various historical and spatial stages.

I take issue with his overarching theory. Much like what I refer to as the "things stoners thinking of when watching Wallace and Gromit" school of literary criticism (Baudrillard, Virilio), he prefers wacky style to cogent argument.

A good example of his school can be found in this conclusion I came to while stoned and watching Wallace and Gromit...

"Really, the wrong tr More...

Koolhaas, the most influential voice in contemporary architecture, explicated his theory of Manhattanism in "Delirious NY" in 1979. 30 years on, it still stands as a fascinating insight into the culture and architecture that make NY one of the great cities of the world. A very engaging quick read that illuminates NY's signature achievement, the "culture of congestion". Notable chapters include Coney Island: the technology of the fantastic, The Lives of a Block, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the More...

The main thing I learned from this book is that architects have incredible freedom in establishing their own narratives. It helps when it is done masterfully, as is the case here.

Seemingly unrelated and sometimes arbitrary elements intermingle to produce an intense and inimitable environment...the history of urban life in Manhattan becomes spectacle as seen through the critical eye of the author. Fueled by Koolhaas' precise and colorful verbal descriptions, the book makes good use of historical More...

Ziemlich verquast geschriebene Geschichte des "Manhattanismus", ein Architekt, der beim Schreiben verrätseln will. Großartiges Bildmaterial. Z.B. 1851 der dampfangetriebene Aufzug von Elisha Otis, mit der eigentlichen Attraktion, der neuartigen Fallbremse. Die Dreamland-Vergnügungsparkwelten in Coney Island mit Earthquake-Fläche, Liliputaner-Stadt mit eigener Miniatur-Feuerwehr, Incubator-Building für die Frühgeburten aus dem Großraum New York. Die heroische Wolkenkratzer-Epoche. Man muß nicht m More...

Rem Koolhaas is an architect and writer whose style of glossy, heavily-illustrated art and architecture books have become the norm since their release in the 1970s. His most recent architectural work is the finally completed CCTV Tower in China, for which he has provided a long and detailed explanation on how it is the pinnacle of the theories he originally proposed in this book.
Published in 1978, Koolhaas proposed that the street grid system of Manhattan, as well as what he called the "Culture More...

It's got five-star moments, but Rem's not a writer. Sure, there are new, mind-expanding ideas, and new terms to define, but you can't trick me into thinking unclear writing is just "beyond me." It's just unclear writing.

But bushwhack through this babble and you catch fleeting vistas of lucid thought about the unique architecture of NYC.

Rem has put his mind to understanding both the material and psychological engines of architecture as one complex.

I was in the habit of thinking of the progressio More...

The book focuses on development of several landmark buildings on Manhattan, provides useful insights on "unplanned" process of development of NYC. Describes quite vividly key characters involved in the planning and construction of Rockefeller center, Empire State Building, Waldorf-Astoria.

I picked up this book since it was described as an "unurbanist manifesto", sadly I found that book's scope is much smaller, as it does not touch any city planning issues, such as transportation, zoning, etc. More...

Interesting historical tidbits about the development of New York (including some plans that were never built), wrapped up in a "retroactive manifesto" of Manhattanism, which, as these things go, is fairly readable, but makes much of small observations, like: the street grid calls attention to the finitude of the island, a skyscraper is a piece of territory repeated many times ("the Theorem"), a skyscraper breaks the traditional connection between exterior appearance and interior use ("the Loboto More...

seriously one of the most enjoyable books i've read, tracing the history of Manhattans construction with a particular focus from the late 19th century through to the late 1930s.

The great thing about this book is that koolhaas creates a panorama of the story of the skyscappers in US and the caotic Congestion Culture urbanism.

More architectural fantasia, if you like that sort of thing. If you didn't already know it, New York only exists in your dreams.

Strange. Thought-provoking. Curious. Funny. Informative. And sometimes annoying.

I am glad that I finally read it (and finally finished it), but I don't think it lived up to the hype. Don't get me wrong - parts were Very interesting and entertaining, but as a whole I didn't feel that way. I do think it hurt my opinion that this book took me soo long to finish. Had I read it in the span of a few weeks (instead of many, many months) it would probably have made more sense to me and gotten another s More...

Certainly one of the top 10 retroactive urbanist manifestos of the 1970s. Genius, in fact.

Wrote back in the 70's, but if you read it today it feels it was written just today.

One of the best books on cities I have ever read. Koolhaas at his best.

one of the 10 or so books i'll take with me if i have to go to prison...

for anyone who loves architecture and nyc

Absolutely mental.

This is a non-fiction book focusing on the history of New York's architecture, explaining how this city architectually exploded into what it is now. It's from the 70's so it's not exactly up to date, and the writing style lives up to it's "delirious" title sometimes.

Not every chapter is captivating, but altogether it's a very interesting history lesson on New York. I was especially surprised by the rich history of Coney Island, considering the sad (but somehow beautiful) little beach it is nowa More...

first anthropology book about a city. the trick was simple, acquire a collection of tourist postcards, identify previous crossroads/fantasy destinations, analyze the 1)deformity in the postcard's view, the condensation, 2)analyze the connections between scales, materialism, pleasure, classes. link in loose narrative these narratives of building. result: masterpiece.

"If Manhattan is an archipelago of Paranoid-Critical islands insulated by the neutralizing lagoon of the Grid, then to spill their hidden contents into the objective space of the street is a subversive action [...] Manhattanism acts in self-defense to restore the integrity of it formula [...]" (273).

This was the May book cub book 2009. It was very interesting and so different from anything that we have ever read. I really enjoyed learning about how New York was constructed and how New York came to be. I would recommend it to anyone, but you have to recognize that it was much more of a text book than a novel about New York

The only book by Rem I have read. It was great, with a abundance of fascinating and personal insight. Anecdotes, Analogies, Allegory, it's All there. A good sense of wonder. A researched informative graph. A picture book. SERIOUSLY FOLKS THIS BOOKS GOT IT ALL. Read it in the large format if you can find it or afford it.

coney island as laboratory for new york architectural innovation. what ny would have looked like if corbusier had his way. the genius of rockefeller center. cold hard man love of the skyscraper age. this is an essential book for anyone who loves the city. equal parts cultural/social history, urban studies, and architecture.

A fun and thoughtful love letter to the greatest city in the world, Rem Koolhaus not only takes us through an architectural history of nyc (the extensive coverage of coney island is delightful) -- he also proposes some fanciful projects to the city. That Rem is one kool nutjob.

Living in nyc, this introduced a really interesting history of the city. The ideas where clear and definitely made me think more critically of how the city, its history, and the influence of the grid has shaped its growth/past/future. Good solid work Rem.

I am actually reading it, but it's not really easy to read. I've read it in bits and pieces and hope to focus a bit more around the holidays. Nevertheless, it will take a while. I do find it interesting.
... not sure who I'd recommend it to though......

awesome. the first chapter alone is mind-blowing...you probably have no idea how crazy coney island was before 1914. steamers carrying people from manhattan. midget towns. perpetually burning buildings. premature baby incubators. all part of the fun...

pure unadulterated architectural self-aggrandizement. completely pretentious crap. some interesting material, but you have to wade through every other sentence of bullshit metaphysical declarations that this guy just pulls out of his ass.

Certainly delirious, certainly a manifesto. A bit too breathless and over-eager for history, but spot on for entertainment and legend-making.

I loved the coney island chapter. Now I want to go to coney at 4 am and run the steeplechase.