Want to know more about the buildings around you? Can't tell a Doric from a Corinthian column? Interested in how the Egyptians built the pyramids, and how on earth a dome stays up? Then this book is for you.

Packed with absorbing facts and quirky illustrations, Cool Architecture tells you everything you need to know about architecture around the world, from the simple dwellings created by the earliest humans to today's most innovative buildings, via forbidding medieval strongholds, great 18th-Century palaces and the classic Art Deco skyscrapers of New York.

Learn about the great architectural movements and the personalities that created them, and explore the most iconic buildings in the world, from the Parthenon in Greece to the (current) world's tallest skyscraper, the Khalifa Tower in Dubai. This book is a perfect introduction to what's cool about the fascinating world of architecture.

Word count: 20,000

This book is part of a book series called Cool .

There are 112 pages in this book. This book was published 2015 by Pavilion Books .

Simon Armstrong is Book Buyer at Tate Modern and Tate Britain and a writer, record collector and DJ. He lives in London.