‘Any book that you read is not entire to itself, its contents ricochet through all the books that we have read, and every personal library constructs arguments that are part of what Italo Calvino called the super-book of the world. Every book speaks to and through its neighbours.’

—Leon van Schaik

In Thinking Space, architect and educator Leon van Schaik explores how books, and book collecting, have framed his lifelong research into spatial intelligence – the ways in which our past experiences in physical space shape our mental space, which in turn informs how we act in the world.

A journey through the history of the author’s own library – a collection gathered and refined over decades of teaching and thinking about place, space and architecture – the book reveals some of his most prized texts, the often deeply personal relationships they represent, and their influence on him as conceptual touchstones.

Thinking Space is an extended reflection on a life lived thoughtfully – a celebration of the art, poetry and philosophy of inhabitation, and its power to change our understanding of the world.