Hugh Pearman"s Contemporary World Architecture is a remarkable work that gives new meaning to the term magnum opus. Its sheer bulk and scope are staggering: about seven pounds and 512 large pages, with about 1200 illustrations (predominantly in color) depicting 660 buildings around the world. It"s a 13-course visual feast showcasing the most interesting, dramatic, graceful, inventive, subtle, and significant constructions of the late 20th century. But size and looks aren"t everything: this book also has brains; it organizes the material by broad building types to allow readers to make logical comparisons, bringing order to potential chaos. Each chapter could be considered a small monograph on different building types--structures for the visual arts, performing arts, learning, religion, retailing and restaurants, housing, white-collar work, industry, tourism and entertainment, transportation, and sports, as well as skyscrapers and public buildings and spaces. It"s a near-impossible task, but Pearman endeavors to say something structured and intelligent about each of those many buildings, and place them in some societal or physical context. He doesn"t shy from strong opinions, declaring that Frank Gehry"s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, "instantly became the single most famous building in the world when it opened," and calling it the "most evocative architectural image" of our time. Many of the photos are frustratingly small given the complexity of their content, but remedying that would obviously have created an even larger, more costly volume. As it is, Pearman"s book is essential reading for students, practitioners, clients, or anyone else seriously interested in the architecture of our time. --John Pastier