Spain: Interiors * Gardens * Architecture * Landscape

Rating:
Summary: Yes, but it is still a good book
Review: I agree with the other reviewer, this book has concentrated on the areas exactly as he stated, however I still think this is a very nice book, and the pictures / places in it are very good. Spain is a beautiful place and this book is a bit one-sided, although to be honest I didn't even notice that until I read the other review.

If you are interested in the things it does concentrate on, it is a very nice book. If you are looking for the things it has stayed away from, or you are looking for an overview of Spain, well it might not be the book you are looking for.

Please note I have travelled all over Spain.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: I have found this book of very little help for those who want to get an idea of how Spain looks like. It seems it was written in the 19th century instead of in the 21st. The authors present (represent) Spain the same way it was pictured in many European and North American books of the 1800's and early 1900's: focusing mostly in the moorish buildings (which are not the majority in Spain)and the drafty rural houses. It seems that mostly shows, except for some pictures of Galicia, the misleading stereotype of Spain as a land of matadors, flamenco and moorish influence.
I can't believe there aren't any pictures of Madrid, the capital of the country and with an enormous cultural heritage, Salamanca, with one of the oldest Universities in Europe, all the incredible cathedrals in Castile, the Renaissance buildings in Andalusia, the Cathedral of Santiago the Compostela and the Pilgrim's Path in Northern Spain (with a tremendous importance in Europe's Middle Age cristianity).
The book omits the legacy of the Roman Empire, the palaces built during the Habsbourgs and the Bourbons, resulting in a very partial way to show the reader a general idea of Spain. It also surprises me that, in a book titled "Spain: Architecture,Interiors, Landscape, Gardens" there are the authors' political references to Spanish history, like when they say "...the infame Pizarro", refering to the conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro.
The conclusion is that most Spaniards will be offended reading this book, the foreign readers that have already visited Spain will think they visited a different country and, if they haven't been here yet, when they first visit, they will most likely have the feeling they arrived to a very different place .
I planned this book to be a present for my girlfriend's family in the US, but I decided to return it because it would have not met my expectations: to show them an objective perspective of Spain's Architecture, Interiors, Landscape and Gardens.