This piece is based on an episode in the “Talk Architecture” podcast, hosted by myself, Naziaty Mohd Yaacob, on the topic of the “culture of reading that will result in more critical thinkers that can differentiate truth from lies” and “bringing awareness on social media”, that was addressed, by Kevin Mark Low, referring to the first part of three episodes which has to do with “influencers and leaders“.
To create the “culture of reading”, I assume that an individual wants to have a book to be their companion, at all times, every day, whereby having read the book, be it fiction or nonfiction, and delving into the mind of the author, and even authors telling stories from a third-person viewpoint, to expand their minds. There is some research into the deeper thoughts and meanings that is inherent in what the author is expressing. The writing style depends on the taste of the person reading, whether they like it or not. Thus, being comfortable with what you read, or enjoying reading is what matters most. Arguably, there are some books that are hard to read, and there are some books that are necessary to read. This list is given to me by Kevin Mark Low (including his bracketed comments) for your reference to start being that critical thinker, and thankfully, it is a good reference to discuss the matter further:
- Finite and infinite games – James P. Carse
- Tropical architecture – Maxwell Fry & Jane Drew
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Sapiens – a brief history of humankind – Yuval Noel Harari
- Tropical architecture/design with climate – Victor Olgyay
- Orchid fever – Eric Hansen
- To kill a mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig
- Manual of tropical housing – Otto Koenigsberger
- A prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
- Never let me go – Kazuo Ishiguro
- How we got to now – Steven Johnson
- The landscape of man – Geoffrey Jellicoe (read critically much to question!)
- Perfume – Patrick Suskind (ask yourself if the end is as good as the start)
- The thinking hand – Juhani Pallasma.
- Sun, wind, and light – G.Z Brown
- No logo – Naomi Klein
- The shock doctrine – Naomi Klein
- Confessions of an economic hitman – John Perkins
- The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand (don’t bother with her follow-up ‘atlas shrugged’)
- Architecture, power and national identity – Lawrence Vale
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Annie Dillard
- About looking – John Berger
- Foundation/Foundation and Empire/Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Going back to this point on “bringing awareness on social media platforms” with the “Talk Architecture” podcast, the intention here is to bring awareness with the bigger picture in mind in architecture, education, design, architects, and architecture students, in different contexts, like, mental health, growth and transformation, skills and knowledge and architecture practice theory, and philosophy. Some insights came from our conversations with people, and from our own experience, such as lived-in experience teaching architecture programs, plus being friends with our students, and finding out their concerns. The main intent of this podcast is based on bringing awareness to these issues pertaining to the architect and architecture. Notwithstanding, we do this because some topics are not being discussed deeply enough, for example “the culture of reading”. So when I encountered students in architecture school that say “I don’t like reading”, I assume they are not reading books, but maybe reading from the internet. What the student is saying is he just doesn’t like reading and he may not realize it, but he is observing the world around him and making decisions based on his own observations – observing, absorbing, and analyzing, but how he does it is on his own technique or method, and it’s kind of narrow, not expanding, noncurious, aloof and is not delving into other minds. The importance of reading books that other people write and broadening our thinking reveals the crux of the matter – exploring other people’s experiences and opinions and probing into their minds. What the student is saying is that there is no need to delve into other people’s mind, as what you have is enough already. Perhaps, just listening to people is enough, or reading tweets is enough from social media, skimming topics, and reading banners and headlines, so why should I read serious books?
Returning to the first episode with Kevin Mark Low, leaders are differentiated by being critical thinkers in society and could only develop from people who are critical and be able to perceive between truth and lies. Being critical creates the habit of reading and being determined to find out other people’s opinions and viewpoints to be able to establish the truth from lies.
I claim that there are differences between schools of architecture in terms of approach to teaching and learning when we were discussing whether local graduates can be competitive as overseas graduates some time ago. For the last two weeks, perusing LinkedIn, and paying attention to people’s profiles, work experience, educational background, what are their ages and where they are working now, adding to knowing that I have former students competing at that level in multinational companies and understand the confidence that they could compete at that level, there is much to keep abreast of development.
In some schools of architecture, the students are forced to read to understand theories and philosophies in order to be able to argue and defend their project and essential when they come up with a program, because in these schools it’s not focused entirely on physical models and drawings skills, or it’s not simplistic, and conversations get very deep, arguing based on defining and interpreting texts, from articles. So this is benchmarking of how good you are in architecture – the ability to engage with other people and have conversations about certain topics is fundamental to passing your examinations such as in the AA school.
Architects are not merely engineers and we are also involved with arts and the humanities. We are concerned that there be a culture of love of reading, and there is criticism regarding the quality of teaching academics that also do not read. I would question whether am I able to compete and be a professor in certain schools of architecture? So the answer is, that I am not able to compete, because of the limitation and the confidence that I have and is based on the lack of reading. So what I’m trying to say is that whether you want to compete or not, is up to you, or whether you want to be knowledgeable on theories of architecture and philosophies. It’s up to you if you want to be a critical thinker. But do not lie to others, and do not engage in debates if you do not want to be critical enough, as being discussed in our conversation with Kevin Mark Low.
Being honest about yourself is what it’s all about. It is fair to say that because you may be lying a little (dishonest nevertheless) or teaching the wrong things or not giving the correct scenario when young people want to learn from you. A tutor could engage better with younger people, and provide better options. Giving the right guidance mean being sincere that another person (other than you) could teach the students better in a particular topic, or that another school of architecture could be better suited for that student. And that potential (of the student) need to be realized … so that’s the problem with architecture education, where tutors do not guide the students to the fullest potential that they could be.
©️Talk Architecture 2022, Author: Naziaty Mohd Yaacob.
Life is a Design Thesis 