{"product_id":"9781501383700","title":"Concrete","description":"\u003ch3\u003eObject Lessons\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003eConcrete\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch3\u003eStephen Parnell | Ian Bogost | Christopher Schaberg\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eLiterary Criticism \/ Semiotics \u0026amp; Theory\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eConcrete has an image problem. Portrayed as boring, cheap, and thoughtless, it is often considered synonymous with bad architecture. For many, concrete is architecture gone wrong – dogmatic, ugly, and as miserably grey as English drizzle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Stephen Parnell's \u003ci\u003eConcrete \u003c\/i\u003eis an apologia of concrete, second only to water as the world's most consumed material. From the personal, intimate scale of jewelry to the monumental scale of Brutalist architecture, Parnell explores the personality of concrete and how it is embedded and embodied in everyday and familiar objects. He revels in concrete's ambiguity and contradictory qualities, from its sensitivity to the tiniest imprint to its immense compressive strength in hydroelectric dams, and traces how concrete is both the ultimate unaesthetic material as well as the quintessential building block of modernity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eStephen Parnell is an independent architectural writer and historian of modern architecture. He has been an architect, academic, and editor-in-chief of the Royal Institute of British Architects' \u003ci\u003eJournal of Architecture.\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e17 September 2026\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781501383700\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback softback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e192\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e6.56\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53973564915852,"sku":"9781501383700","price":13.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_51e8c947-9534-40ce-adc2-58d989354e65.jpg?v=1787712909","url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9781501383700","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}