The Ghosts of Berlin

Fantastic look at the history of Berlin via architecture and landscape. The book really shines when it discusses the human drama surrounding these monuments and buildings, the little personal stories that highlight everything. The use of design contests was surprisingly frequent, as was the total disregard for the winning design. By far my favorite story was about the Linné Triangle and the only mass flight from West Berlin to East Berlin.

Also excellent was the way the author explained the controversies related to the decisions by successive governments on what to keep, what to tear down, what to replace and how - and believe me, everything was a controversy. And rightly so. A monument to communism looks like a monument to oppression in the eyes of a West Berliner, but a decision to remove a monument to communism says to East Berliners that their personal history is of no value.

I've used this book a few times to take N to interesting places and then read the related snippets aloud, and it's been a successful form of low-key walking tour.