cover image Architecture in Continuity: Building in the Islamic World Today

Architecture in Continuity: Building in the Islamic World Today

. Aperture, $45 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-89381-187-7

Lavishly illustrated with photographs and architectural plans, this work focuses on the 11 winning designs of the 1983 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, given every three years for buildings in the Islamic world that show ""meaningful expressions of the spirit of Islam within the context of modern life and modern technology.'' Winners range from the Hajj airport terminal in Saudi Arabiaa huge white tent-like structure made of fiberglass fabric that seems to float above the desertto an austere modernistic Yugoslavian mosque that contrasts with and yet does not disrupt the red-tiled masonry buildings around it. Including essays on the history of mosques, contemporary mosque design and post-Ottoman Turkish architecture, this collection offers a rewarding overview of a culture in flux. January 2 THE WICKED GOOD BOOK Steve Bither and the Wicked Good Band. Lance Tapley Publisher (P.O. Box 2439, Augusta, Me. 04330), $7.95 ISBN 0-912769-04-1 Although uneven, sections of this humorous look at the state of Maine are indeed wicked good. Among them: a career guide for Maineiacs called What Color Is Your Trailer? A study showing ``that of all of the Life magazines sold in Maine between 1940 and 1960, 61.2% are still extant, and half have already been resold at flea markets.'' There is a takeoff on Yankee, ``the magazine for people who don't live in Maine, but who have a better idea about what Maine is supposed to be like than the people in Maine do themselves.'' Other parts aren't so wicked or good: the ``Sperms-N-Such'' store for ``all your artificial insemination needs'' and the parody of Johnny Carson's ``Carmac the Magnificent.'' January2