learn more about Architecture

Greater Greater Washington has some neat posts on architecture that I should work my way through (but i should wait until after finals to really get into it). http://greatergreaterwashington.org/blogposts.cgi?filter=tag&label=architecture

I’ve lived in D.C. for almost two years now, and I’m still the guy who looks up at the buildings. Granted, since this is the District, I’m not looking up at skyscrapers or anything, but there are a lot of new 10-12 story buildings coming up downtown, and in Columbia Heights, and near the ballpark, and just about everywhere else in the city it seems. I’ve been told that things I notice are interesting, or that I catch minutia, but I don’t know anything really about what I’m noticing. When these new buildings come up (or when we’re talking about an older building), I want to be able to say more than “boy, I really like that building” or “I’m not a fan.” I want to be able to say why, too, and to understand what the designers and architects are doing.

It is one of those things that I have always been interested in but never got a chance to pursue in college. Now that I am in graduate school it is often alluded to or touched on briefly but never sufficiently discussed. Anyone have a suggestion for good books to read to get a beginner’s grasp on how to understand and “read” architecture critically?