You want to build your own home but where's the inspiration? Try a new book - World House Now (Thames & Hudson). But only if you plan to build a contemporary house - this isn't one for traditionalists.

It may picture big budget, sometimes severely modern homes but it's a nice way to get ideas and figure out how that could be applied to your own house (and probably drive your architect and builder demented in the process). The houses featured are grouped together under the term "new international style".

A large part of that seems to mean that a building's appearance is rooted in the site it is built upon, rather than any stylistic consistency. But while you mightn't have the spectacular site or views like some of these buildings, the most striking trend throughout the book is the use of windows - whole walls of glass or rows of different sized openings - as the basis of a building's design. €22.60 at Hodges Figgis, Dawson Street, Dublin 2.