No comments about Learning Mastercam X2 Mill 2D Step by Step.

3 comments about Inspired Retail Space: Attract Customers, Build Branding, Increase Volume.

1. unlike the other reviewers, i actually found this book to be quite inspiring. there's a ton of beautiful pictures of what you can do if you have a lot of money. in my opinion, it's not how much money you have but how you use it that matters. this is quality over quantity here and if you just want to look like everyone else, don't buy this, just go to the mall and see what the shops there are doing.
   
   the idea that you have to jam pack as much stuff as possible in your store in order to be successful is outdated and frankly, just plain silly. i would much rather go into a store that was well edited then to a store that looks like the owner barfed up a bunch of product on the walls, floor, and ceiling - you name it. these stores personally make me want to leave - visual overload!
   
   so, if you are looking for what "could be" than this book is right for you - but if what you want is store with more product than floor space, look somewhere else... the title does it justice - the INSPIRED retail space. other books of note are "hip interiors" and "hip entertaining" both which i highly recommend for great inspiration.



2. This book was a dissapointment for me. I don't have an unlimited budget for store design and most of the businesses featured in this book clearly did. There are a few exceptions to this in the book, but if you're a small business looking for ideas to freshen up your store, I would not recommend this book.



3. This book is basically just a picture book of expensive stores most of us can't afford to shop in (the ones with 2 pairs of shoes on one entire wall, and 3 items on fancy hangers on the other wall). Most of the displays are designed so specifically around the products so it's difficult to even use the pictures as inspitration for different types of merchandise.
   
   We got much more inspiration from the book "Store Presentation & Design" by Vsiual Reference Publications.

No comments about Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture.

2 comments about Architectural Models: Construction Techniques, 2nd Edition.

1. Even though this is meant for graduate level and professionals, I ordered this book for our jr. high-aged homeschooled children, who are very interested in architecture and building models of their plans. I am happy with the way this book presents things simply and clearly, but does not restrict itself to only foam core board constructions. It introduces other ideas and techniques for models that my kids are excited to try. This book fulfills my wish to find a resource that will be of use to them for years and years...no matter how far they go into the field of architecture and model building.



2. A good insight into the diffreent types of materials available for the construction of several types of architectural models. I particularly liked the way in which the book is divided and the several practical hints wihch the author gives to the beginner -- a good book.

1 comments about UN Studio: Design Models - Architecture, Urbanism, Infrastructure.

1. When I first opened the book I was extatic to see these full page images of teh spaces that UN had worked on then I looked further in to the book to find the breaker pages were not as I had expected. They used these florescent colours that just didn't do it for me and the text was shadowed!
   
   Besides that the book was overall very good at breaking down the evolution and timeline that UN Studio has created in their modern building designs.
   
   The real "peice du resistance" was the Mercedes building (reason I bought the book). Now I just have to go see as many of their building as possible!
   
   Ben Van Berkal and Caroline Bos has come a long way.
   
   I felt I could relate as I have gone Graphic Designer to Architect!
   
   Good readings!

5 comments about The Professional Practice of Architectural Working Drawings.

1. I bought this book for electrical and drainage working drawings but unfortunatly, the book does not include any of that (very little info). Also, the drawings dimensions are all not metric and all on US and Canadian standards. I'm really displeased about these important issues and I think Amazon must add these details for other countries standards.



2. To chime in with the other reviewers, I am not exactly sure what is up with the one bad review, this book is excellent. I have read this book in its entirety and found that is very rich in content. The first section of the book covers various cad standards and conventions, however it is the latter part of the book that is pure gold. The book lays out the entire process of creating (as the name implies) architectural working drawings, and even gives examples of the development of the working drawings for various buildings of different constructions. It is in no way "out dated", some of the references to certain software and drafting technologies may be a bit stale, but the information contained in the book is timeless and applicable to both manual drafting, and CAD. In addition to this book I would also recommend the book on architectural detailing by the same author, as the two books make a good team.



3. I'm very surprised at the two star review below. This book is one of the most comprehensive and updated books on the topic of architectural working drawings to date. Each chapter is a literal list of things to do and strategies for preparing a full set of construction documents. There is even a CAD chapter and nearly 500 new CAD illustrations. Also, an appendix is available on the publishers website that has a comprehensive amount of CAD information. If you want more CAD information, google search "National CAD Standard". You're money is well spent on this book; look at the number of people who purchase it above 50%+ of the people who looked at this book and all others on the topic. Don't hesitate to buy it now :)
   
   Last thing, Dr. Wakita's other books are just as informative. Check out "The Professional Practice of Architectural Detailing" for a well packed book of drawings and strategies.



4. This guide is based on a few specific projects which have little relevance to today's market. No outlines, guidelines, or checklists were available to help with the process of putting together a complete set of working drawings. If you are already in the field of architecture, this book is too basic and not applicable to more modern projects.



5. I bought this book when my younger brother started taking CAD classes to come work with me. I have found it to be an excellent resource, for the beginning draftsman, for putting together a set of plans. For the intermediate and advanced draftsman it is a valuable "checklist" book. The book only has one small section on CAD, but that is not the idea of the book.

   This book will show you what is needed to be in a good set of plans. It has many examples of drawings and details and with good explanations for them. The explanations given also help you to understand what is being shown, but also why it is being shown. Having been in construction for over 20 years before I started drafting, I can say that the examples given are the types of drawings I wish came out to my jobs. You will be able to understand what information needs to be in your drawings, how to graphically show it. You will also be able to move around in the book and go to examples for whichever phase you are working on in your drawings and compare what you have done with what is given in the book.
   
   No matter what level of draftsman you are, I would recommend this book. It will be an invaluable resource for you for years to come.

3 comments about Small Spaces, Beautiful Kitchens.

1. This book might be useful to more people than its title implies. The emphasis is on efficiency and small kitchens, but some of the kitchens in the book are not so small. Most of the advice will be helpful to anyone who is considering a kitchen renovation, regardless of the size of the room. Of course, a large kitchen gives one the option to create unused space that a small kitchen does not, so the book is especially helpful for people with space-limited kitchens. I use that term rather than "small" because the dimensions of my kitchen are largeish, but the layout of doors (all necessary) limits the cabinets and countertops in the room. I'm looking for creative ways to think about reconfiguring the space, and this book has been very helpful in terms of encouraging me to think about where to store things (items used less often can be outside the main kitchen space, for instance), what I typically do in the kitchen vs. sometimes do or rarely do, and how to plan a cohesive design style that works functionally and makes the kitchen a pleasant place for the cook. For example, I've been using wire shelving units as a temporary solution to my kitchen's lack of counters and storage space, but I wouldn't have considered this as a permanent design option before reading this book. That wouldn't be everyone's preference, but this book provides examples of several design styles to suit a variety of tastes. Other kitchen books provide more advice about the nitty-gritty of kitchen functions such as including enough electrical outlets, materials choices, etc. For that sort of information, I recommend "This Old House: Kitchens" (an oldie but still the best). To help you think about what you want and need in your kitchen in terms of function and visual appeal, especially if every inch counts or if the kitchen is part of another room, this book is a good investment.



2. I am pleased with this book. It has a lot of ideas for the kitchen that I would have never thought of. If you are undecided and can't figure out just what you want this is a good book. I'm very pleased.



3. If you like contemporary, modern, eclectic, and retro styles, this book is great to look at. If not, borrow it from the library just for the text. I have made more practical moderations to my original ideas from this book than any of the dozens of other books and magazines that I own.
   
   For instance, I originally was set on installing a microwave/range hood combination over our stove. This book points out that having a microwave in this position is inconvenient, even dangerous since it is very high up and over an area that is frequently hot. Also, it is difficult for children to reach. Instead, a built-in microwave shelf in a different location makes more sense. The suggestion may not be as space-saving as my original plan, but made sense nonetheless. This coming from a family of four with an 11'x 8' kitchen.
   
   The photos presented an assortment of styles, sizes, and cost-ranges although it leaned more toward high-end, contemporary, and larger than my kitchen.
   
   I would have liked to see more photos with large key ingredients like refrigerators. I would have preferred to see more floor plans and actual room dimensions. Unfortunately, I have not seen a book yet that was strong in this area. I think that any decorating book that has the word `small' on it's cover should strive to include those details.

1 comments about Facility Design and Management Handbook.

1. A very comprehensive manual (31 chapters, over 500 pages) for any level of facilty management professional. Each chapter is written by practicing professionals and "expert" consultants. Given that the field of FM covers so many areas, it is useful to have many different perspectives from professionals in the field formed into one big book. Chapters are grouped into phases of FM disciplines, i.e, planning, design, management, technology. There are high level topics such as Strategic Facility Planning, Sustainable Design, Portfolio Management and Business Transformation. Also very detailed, nuts & bolts for topics such as Financial Management for FM's, Energy Management, System Implementation for CMMS (Maintenance systems, Benchmarking, Condition Assessment, and case studies for CAFM technology. Brief chapter summaries are provided to assist reader with content coverage. There are lots of graphics/figures which help readability of this thick book, as well as a CD with websites and templates for RFP's, standards and process related functions.

5 comments about Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance.

1. This book is a must have for enthusiasts and interested scholars. The book is filled with many pictures, illustrations and original renderings of Disneyland, and the subsequent other parks. The conceptual development of the original Disneyland is the focus of the book that admirably discusses the many details involved in the process. The amazing part for me was the scholarly research and the well written quality of the text. The subject is well examined for the volume of information it covers. It is the first book I have come across that credit's Walt Disney's innovative process of applying stage set design to 3D proportionality using an over-ridding narrative to connect it all. The scholarly research by art historians and architects for the Canadian exhibition is impressive, which is done without the control of the Disney Corporation. The scholarly nature of the book lends a new dimensionality to the understanding of Disneyland as an innovative artistic development, and a new architectural expression.
   Unlike other texts I have read about Disney architecture, this one takes on the subject from the art historical perspective examining the process that creates a new architectural form. Other books seem to veer away from this in favor of the new, celebrated corporate architecture at Disney company headquarters, or on these applications at newer Disney parks. By concentrating on the original development of Disneyland as a concept of Walt Disney's, and his special team of designers, the idea is well established as creating the foundation for everything else that comes after. This difference is insightful, and makes the understanding of the original conceptual design clearer.
   I highly recommend this book for the wealth of information it provides and the good read it is. Even for a seasoned Walt Disney enthusiast, like me, it provides a new awareness of the multi-dimensional qualities of the form created, and it makes a rich addition to the information previously unknown.



2. This book is great! I also want to be a Disney Imagieer. I already designed some cool, new rides. I hope I become an Imagineer! See Ya!



3. This book is amazing. It immediately captured me. It gives valuable insight on the vison of disneys world and on how this vision becomes tangible.

   Not only it talks abou the history of the themeparks but it shows the sketches, maps, plans of different parts and attractions of the disney world. An amazing resource full of phantasy and a joy to watch. The photographs and illustrations are very well chosen and it is a plasure to flip through this pages every once in a while. A very inspiring book, showing that often it is enough to dream it and then it becomes reality.The most peculiar shapes and interior spaces are built to be reality.

   I highly recommend it.




4. Many books on Disney's art and achitecture try to convey its appeal primarily through the visual. Other books, particularly those that whole-heartedly criticize Disney, try to ignore the appeal of Disney altogether. This book attempts to integrate the visual evidence (photos, concept art) with academic writing on Disney (Karal Ann Marling, Erika Doss, Greil Marcus, etc.). Together, these aspects make for a solid inquiry as to the appeal of Disney's architecture.

   The book was written to supplement an art exhibit of the same name and, in many ways, feels a bit incomplete without its exhibition, partly because the book tries to cover a lot of territory in its two hundred or so pages. And a lot of the book's pages are used for the essays. But the essays also provide the readers with another "way of seeing" the imagineers' works, something that other books of this type tend to forgoe for more pictures. The essays are irreplaceable for this book--and many are useful for re-examining other books' materials as well (Try it!).

   Particularly useful for the Disney enthusiast is the criticism of Disney criticism by Greil Marcus. He astutely summarizes much of the current criticism of Disney: "All [the works mentioned earlier in the essay] have their moments of interest and all devolve quickly into a kind of critical voice that can perhaps best be called spite. This is not a good posture from which to practice criticism--an angry defensiveness, a fear that somehow one's faculties or tools of analysis are not up to the job disguised as contempt for the job itself...." What Marcus calls for is a real attempt to understand Disney for what it is and for how it affects people/American culture, something too few critics have done without falling into an either all-good or all-evil knee-jerk reaction. Worse, many critics make no attempt to experience Disney before making up their minds. This essay is an excellent reminder to those critics and a call to action.

   The other essays are interesting and useful, as well. The interview with Frank Gehry seems a bit brief, and perhaps Karal Ann Marling takes too much center stage in the interview (as with the entire book). Still, this book opens the door for an appreciative examination of Disney and one that embraces Disney by attempting a "thick description" of its materiality and appeal. This book will not provide an exhaustive look at Disney's theme parks but it will offer the interested reader materials with which to look at Disney's parks in a new way.




5. It's too bad that so many people who reviewed the book here didn't seem to understand what they were buying and then were disappointed. It's a great book! I was particularly enthralled by the chapters by Greil Marcus and Erika Doss -- but who wouldn't be? Their work always combines the everyday and the academic in such fluid and fun ways. It's clear from the reviews that the folks who rated this 1 or 2 stars simply didn't understand what they were looking at!

4 comments about Everyday Engineering: What Engineers See.

1. THis is a good book that emphasizes the profound impact of engineering on our daily lives. The book contains little texts but for those of us in engineering the pictures speak for them selves.



2. When I bought this book, I thought I'll be receive a lot of shared experiences from the author on how engineers see everyday interactions and situations. I didn't expect to see something familiar to Jane Fulton Suri - Thoughtless Acts?: Observations on Intuitive Design. On the contrary, Jane's book was an appetiser to me. But, to have another book that's similar in its style, I was hungry for a main course. I felt that this book wasn't worth as depicted. Tom Kelley, please help make this book better ...



3. "Thinking like an engineer" is a great idea for a book for designers, especially one that could encourage and develop methods of collaboration or cross-fertilization. This silly book--more of a pamphlet, really--is an utterly trivial effort. It's designer vanity publishing at its worst, a short pretty picture book for IDEO's clients to flip through in the reception area while waiting for the meeting.
   
   The problem is that "broken things" look equally broken to everyone. An engineer might see a problem as a stress or tensile failure, or too much weight applied to a surface, or a failed gasket. A designer might see failures of clarity, accessibility, or aesthetic appeal. But a picture of a rusty pipe is pretty much just that, and it's not instructive on its own. (By the way, use Amazon's "Search inside the book" feature to read the entire book using its clever index, which reproduces every image at thumbnail size with a helpful caption.)
   
   And if you want even more pictures of broken things, try the "thisisbroken" tag on [...] for an endless stream of them.



4. I was hoping for something insightful and educational. It turns out to be a picture book of design flaws that were never designed; rusty pipes, leaky faucets, etc. The text does not redeem, in any kind of instructional manner, what is essentially a foto album. With IDEO credited as an author, I was expecting much more insight into the design process.