Bill Hillier, professor of architecture at University College London, is best
known for his innovative ideas on designing public spaces (Space Is the Machine,
$25.95, ISBN 052164528X). It seems appropriate for someone who challenges
current thinking to be reading The Definition of the Thing by John William
Miller, a reinterpretation of the history of philosophy (W. W. Norton,
拢9.95, ISBN 0393300595)
Hillier says he doesn鈥檛 get much time to read fiction. But his current
lighter reading is George Steiner鈥檚 1967 classic on the power of language,
Language and Silence (Faber, 拢11.99, ISBN 0571135536) because 鈥渋t talks
about people like me鈥�. If he were to give a book it would be Edmund Spenser鈥檚
Irish Experience by Andrew Hadfield (Clarendon, 拢35, ISBN 0198183453). The
book is a re-examination of Spenser鈥檚 poem, The Faerie Queen (Penguin,
拢15.99, ISBN 0140422072)