Features four Valerio Olgiati projects, from Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Bahrain. Always hard to see new things for Olgiati, at least this is a start. Also, some Nieto Sobejano.

It is a brilliantly unromantic book of five places - London, Lagos, Guangzhou, Houston and Dubai - that opens with the author growing up in the London 1990s. Then off she goes, to some of the most difficult cities in modern history. She was born from the Dutch complex of water and harbor and culture - and she is drawn to the hardest such versions. Full color photos are the trees to the book, and she writes a path through them.

The newest projects, from the elegant Japanese architect Kuma. Who else gets the commission for the base camp of Mont Blanc and the Public Japanese Gardens of Portland. Full high gloss color of the eight works and eight projects of the period

We have had moments, years even, with no good title on Gio Ponti. Now. at the MAXXI in Rome, a brilliant exhibit, a brilliant catalog of an architect " enamored of civilization." What a treat, a long table of a feast of Ponti, the buildings, the drawings, the interiors, the furniture, all of it in colors and specifics and detail. It is the catalog you get when so many are enamored of you. It is civilization.

A very good cookbook, a triumph of the unmeasured teaspoon. $17 retail + $6 ship and handle = $23

A fine book from Harvard University Press, detailing from many cultures the long histories of navigation. And the subsequent weakening of powers as cities and electronics subvert the instincts. 544 pages,6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches 171 halftones, 54 line illustrations, 3 tables

People speak of their cat - but in Europe, they may even develop details of architecture, involving the life of the cat. Here, the lengths and speicifics of cat culture in Bern, Switzerland, and the small specific highways of their cats. $56.00 + 4 shipping

The very careful, elegant and favored study of the Teahouse, from 15th Century Japanese origin to present day. Folded pages, full color photography and plan details From Verlag Niggli, authored by Wolfgang Fehrer

430pp. Full color and b+w. From the Fondation Louis Vuitton , the best new monograph. Exhibition catalog to the show at Vuitton. Published on the occasion of the Fondation Louis Vuitton's major retrospective dedicated to Charlotte Perriand and her links with the artists and architects of her era, this book offers a fresh interpretation of her work, which was characterized by commitment and freedom. Edited by Sebastien Cherruet and Jacques Barsac, with contributions from international authors, it presents an approach that is both chronological and thematic, inviting us on a journey of creativity through the twentieth century.

Rob Hutchison's lovely catalog of residential work, from an exhibit in Mexico City.

A personal introduction to more than 100 of Japan's most distinctive and inspiring museums, with in-depth information about each's creation, collection, and highlights. Includes Nezu Museum, Nagi MOCA, Hiroshige Museum, Hokkaido Historical Village, and others. Sophie Richard.