This small book is delightful in its compact overview of an inherently fascinating topic: the homes we build. 500 pictures of 500 houses range from native dwellings to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, representing six continents and weighted toward the UK and USA, Japan and Europe.By its nature this is the briefest of looks at iconic and important instances of human dwellings. Though the text is minimal it is stunningly packed with interesting facts and historical context. Of course the book suffers from having only one picture of each house, but the color photos that ARE here are lovely and illustrative. The entries are ordered alphabetically by architect, designer, patron or tribe, and an incomplete index based on country is not much help in finding entries. (Like many Phaidon books, the content is superb but the index is poor.) A handy glossary helps you brush up on your Art Nouveau and Bauhaus.This is a superb little introduction to the many types of houses humans have lived in, a friendly conversation starter or an excellent introduction to the subject for children interested in architecture or design, or homeschoolers. I really enjoyed leafing through this beautiful little book; the pictures and text were compelling, and I learned about some interesting architects and their ideas, and appreciated the effort to tie the examples into the history of architecture. I was disappointed not to see an entry for the delightful town of Portmeirion in Wales, but pleased to see others. I thought the photos did justice to the places I'd actually been, and I now have a long list of new places I'd like to visit.The image to represent Frank Gehry is his own house in California. For Gaudi, one of my favorite architects, they use Palau Guell. I also saw examples of the work of others whose work is similar. The book is well done, fun and compact. A lovely party book.