No Gift At All

In the opening pages of Humanize (Simon & Schuster, 2023), Thomas Heatherwick fondly recalls the experience of encountering a used book by Rainer Zerbst about Antoni Gaudí. Heatherwick is delighted by Casa Milà (1912)—its form, its textures, how it breaks the plane of the sidewalk and invigorates the street: “Gaudí and his clients were making a priceless gift to the city.”

Zerbst’s book, like Gaudí’s building, is something of a gift. It’s richly illustrated, unlike Heatherwick’s book, which is cluttered with stock photos. It trusts and respects the reader, situating Gaudí’s work in context and articulating clearly where historical certainty ends and speculation begins. It is a book for people who want to learn about architecture.

Heatherwick writes for those who want to appear knowledgeable about architecture without having to do any work. Humanize is stuffed with too-simple diagrams, TED Talk–style anecdotes, and sweeping generalizations about human behavior based on something that resembles science. Reading it feels like being cornered at a party, forced to listen to someone recount a podcast they can almost remember.