A House Is Not a Home

Architect and critic Witold Rybczynski has a long list of books and articles on architecture (Looking Around), the pleasures of the metropolis (City Life), and even leisure time (Waiting for the Weekend). Informative and entertaining, he's a fascinating guide to the reasons behind things we see every day, but take for granted.

His new book is out today. Last Harvest : How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live In Houses Anyway focuses on the ubiquitous subdivision. It's excerpted at slate.com, so you can get a peek.