The Modern Scholar: Classic Foundations

By: Professor Carroll William Westfall

Narrated by: Professor Carroll William Westfall

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this engaging series of lectures, Carroll William Westfall, the University of Notre Dame's Frank Montana Professor of Architecture, delves into the classical principles of Western architecture. Exploring features such as ornamentation, decoration, and innovation, Professor Westfall shows how architecture is derived from the very principles that form the cornerstones of our civilization - and, with scholarly precision, he also demonstrates how this field of endeavor is rooted in nature itself.

©2012 Carroll William Westfall (P)2012 Crescite Group, LLC

Truly fascinating!

Any additional comments?

In this short series of lectures, Professor Westfall brilliantly underscores the value of tradition in the fields of architecture and city building.  His points of view have clearly been polished by years of consideration and he integrates a variety of fields in his discussions: philosophy, history, political science, etc.

He succeeds in speaking of architecture without any illustrations.  Thus, though he largely shares the same positions, he comes out as the complement of Léon Krier who often expresses himself with drawings and very little text.

It must be pointed out that Professor Westfall, though critical of modernism,  is not at all closed to modernity.

6 people found this helpful

Outrageous!

Would you try another book from Professor Carroll William Westfall and/or the narrator?

No

What could Professor Carroll William Westfall have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not written it

What didn’t you like about the narrator’s performance?

Everything

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No

Any additional comments?

This is disgusting conservative Christian sexist racist waffle passed as academia. I am in shock. I tried to accept it as an interesting window into a frame of mind different from my own but was reduced to shouting profanities at my iPad in disbelief at what I was hearing! It is off the richter. Although I did listen to the whole thing, like a train crash it just kept getting worse! I am relieved to discover that audible offers refunds. Don't even think about it. Unless you enjoy a good rage against the machine and are in the mood to pace around and rant in outrage.

5 people found this helpful

Closed minded

An elderly traditional white man argues that traditional building and “traditional values” are being lost. Modern architecture has become like modern art (which is a bad thing according to this guy because how can you judge if it’s good or not when novelty is all that is valued at the expense of the common good) I found it simplistic and offensive at times. This man has a political agenda that’s obvious and obnoxious.

Hideous

This is awful. For the first few minutes I thought these lectures would be beneficial. Professor Carroll William Westfall delivers at a sensible pace and his way of teaching is articulate and his thoughts work through a logical process... That is, until you reach five minutes into the first lecture (which is 40 minutes long), which quickly turns into a rambunctious polemic on the differences between man and beast. He speaks with great authority that man has a soul while animals do not. Whether you believe this or not, I see it totally irrelevant to architecture. Talk about man, yes, fine. Just please do away with the comparisons to all other animals. I do not care to listen to stories about your grandfather shooting squirrels out of the tree with a 22 calibre shotgun! He spends most of the 40 minutes trying to describe why we're different from dogs. Or whales. I disagree with his views.
What started off as a fairly eloquent approach--a philosophical approach--turns into rather uncomfortable listening of the prescriptive variety; a diatribe bordering on the religious, and worse yet, fed to us as though we are ten years old and in need of countless metaphorical illustrations in order to grasp his ideas. I haven't the patience nor the will to indulge him further. For all I know, the bits actually about architecture might be ok, but based on the method and style he adopts early on, I'd rather put that time to better use and read something by Juhani Pallasmaa or Paul Goldberger.

4 people found this helpful