This is my second favorite book of all time on the subject of architecture. The over appreciated invisible cities, by Italo Calvino, still holds at number one. But this book is sadly left behind. Difficult and dense, it is nonetheless one of the most profound and poignant reflections on architecture and man's place in the world. Rossi shows us just how intimately architecture is connected to man's search for happiness, and how it participates in our mortality, our will to live. Read this and love the human project just a little bit more.