5 comments about Builder's Guide to Stucco, Lath & Plaster.

1. I had a basic understanding of stucco and was looking for more in depth info. I didn't see many newer books out there on stucco. I found this book very helpful. Covers materials, techniques, and gives references/history. Great illustrations.



2. This book is probable good for an architec, but for the regular guy,like my self,is too confusin. What sold me to buy this book, was the front cover,the nice pictures in color that has,I thought, I was going to find more of this inside the book, what a disappointment.This book lacks clear pictures in color,and the details that has are to small,I had a hard time trying to understand what it was,besides the pictures look like were taken last century, not to clear.I work in construction,and I do
   stucco sometimes,but I would like to learn other techniques as well. What I would like see in the internet is to be able to go troughout the pages of a book, and see what is inside,before buying it.



3. I mis-interpreted the title and editorial review of this book - I thought it covered stucco AND interior (gypsum) plaster. Well the entire book covers what I refer to as stucco - or portland cement plaster, used on exteriors. I still enjoyed browsing through it for the general information provided - but I guess I'll still have to rely on my circa 1953 plastering book to help me with gypsum plaster materials and methods. And I'm not sure it's worth the price, even if I did want to stucco...



4. Written by expert civil and mechanical engineer Max Schwartz, Builder's Guide to Stucco Lath & Plaster is an in-depth manual especially for field professionals to plaster base (lath) and stucco's use as a versatile exterior finish. Chapters cover mixing and application basics, decorative plaster work, assorted properties of plaster from structural to thermal, cost estimating, typical causes and remedies of plaster failure, and more. Step-by-step instructions, black-and-white illustrations, and a CD-ROM filled with files in Adobe Acrobat format round out this all-purpose, user-friendly guide enthusiastically recommended as reference and "how-to" resource.



5. Is it ironic that I just laid this book down so that I could write this review? I am rereading the chapter on finish as I prepare to apply several hundred pounds of finish tomorrow morning. I would highly recommend this book to any plasterer. I looked for the most comprehensive book I could find on plaster and I finally found it!

1 comments about Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture.

1. I bought it to be stimulated with erotic patterns like the ones you see on the cover and a few pictures shown here, and I got more than what I asked for. I get dizzy going through this book. I think it would ease my confusion if the book were organized in the order other than the names of artists/designers/architects. As for the ornaments in architecture, it seems to be short of rigor to read it as a continuation on the line of discussion. However, being introduced to artists/designers I did not know about was something I needed, and the captions in the back of the book are quite good. I would recommend it if you were interested in it as a reference catalogue for these reasons.

3 comments about Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide.

1. Robert Greens book showed me how the higher Management in a company does think.We do have different workflows in Europe, but at the end of the day to save money is what counts for all of us.The book is a good source of knowledge, specially for Users that are becoming CAD Managers.
   I like the idea that the book is not only written for Autodesk Users.
   Users of other CAD Systems will find the Book interesting as well.



2. This is a must read for anyone involved with CADD Management. The author has real world experience and is shared well in the book.



3. This is a great book for CAD Managment, and for users who inspire to be leaders in the CAD field. Even though this book does not directly speak on specific CAD functions it covers a broader look at the task that a CAD Manager/Coordinator must know in order to be succesful in leading other CAD users, and helps you get a better understanding of the business side that we as technical people overlook a lot. If you are a manager or a user that would like to be better at your job or to advance to a better position, I would advise you to read this book.

2 comments about High-rise Manual.

1. This is a great book for anyone interested in high rises because it includes information on every topic required. The book tackles various subjects such as development, management, site, soils, structural design, facade, building systems and fire protection. in general, it is a great resource book and i highly recommend it!



2. This book features great technical information and is very thorough. I was hoping for a few more floor plans showing the design of cores and their relation to floor plates. Nevertheless, very useful to have.

No comments about Mastering AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009.

1 comments about Turkish Designs (Agile Rabbit Editions).

1. I bought this book/CD-ROM intending to use the patterns in my graphic design work. I had assumed (wrongly) that these images would be permission-free. After receiving the book I learned that use of Agile Rabbit Editions' graphics in a professional capacity requires permission from the publisher. I have found this permission process takes several days--a major problem when working under a short deadline. Depending on the usage, there may also be a fee in addition to the initial cost of the book. If you want a ready-to-use copyright-free graphic resource, then you're better off sticking with the books put out by Dover Publishing.

5 comments about The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs (Edn Series for Design Engineers).

1. I read through this book on a whim a while ago when I started getting into reconfigurable computing, and since then have gone up the 'food chain' so to speak. This book isn't that bad, in fact for total neophytes to FPGAs and EDA in general, it's a fairly lightweight but pretty comprehensive introduction.
   
   It includes a fairly basic overview of the FPGA architectures, HDLs, C/C++/SystemC design flows, a brief description of simulation and verification, and other random tidbits here and there. Almost no math required, just a high level introduction and overview.
   
   That said, it probably is best targeted towards business / marketing types who don't want to be total idiots to their engineering staffs. Also undergraduates or new engineers who want a light introduction to the FPGA industry and design process might benefit.
   
   Anyone obviously who is already a design engineer or whatever won't find much use here. Then again I would question why someone with lots of experience would read a book titled "Design Warrior's Guide." Shouldn't you guys be reading the latest papers from DAC or ICCAD?
   
   For a more technical overview of EDA in general, a good series is the EDA for IC Design series. But it's probably too technical for the audience this book is targeting.



2. This book contains little if any practical information with respect to real world FPGA design.



3. I bought this book because I needed it for my class. But this book was not that useful as it covers justs the general aspects of the FPGA which you can easily find on the internet. Most of the chapter was not at all worthy to read it.



4. This is a terrific book!
   
   I received this book at a seminar on logic synthesis for FPGAs. I found the book absolutely delightful to read, enjoyed the timelines in the margins, and the excellent readability of the text. Also, I implemented a couple of the book's suggestions in my current FPGA device. The debug signal mux for example. I had been recompiling the design each time I needed to examine a different section of the logic. However, by implementing a four-port debug mux, I was able to test various sections of the device without running the recompile sequence each time. This is something I really should have thought of myself, so I appreciate the book's describing this approach as it is saving me a lot of time, wasted effort, and frustration.



5. I am an EE with no previous FPGA experience. Some of the reviews here made me think this book might be a good stepping stone. Completely wrong. The title of the book is misleading, in my opinion. For the engineer wanting to get started using FPGAs this book is utterly without merit. Why did I give it any stars then? Well, I'm assuming that the nebulously defined 'wide audience' the book was really written for is non-technical managers who need enough of an understanding of common acronyms and terminology to impress their even-less-technical bosses, accounting, and HR people and to be able to relay communications without garbling the message too badly. The author devotes a tremendous amount of space to making sure you know how to pronounce the relevant acronyms like 'FPGA', 'SRAM', etc. The author also sedulously avoids any 'brass tacks' kind of information in an effort to keep his book from becoming obsolete too soon. In my opinion this strategy is like making something useless to begin with, so it won't *become* useless later. Having read this book (it's a fast read: low information density, much repetition, large margins (for acronym pronunciation and largely irrelevant history trivia), and big print.) I think a manager needing a survey of FPGAs and especially terminology might find this useful. To anyone wanting to actually implement something in an FPGA look somewhere else.

2 comments about Treehouses: Living a Dream.

1. I bought some books on tree houses cause I want to build one. This was no help. Nice pictures (and ideas, maybe), tough.
   If you want to look pictures and dream, buy the book. Otherwise don't.



2. There are an awful lot of 'pretty house' books out there. Some of them offering quite unusual house designs. But nothing I've ever seen compares with the designs in this book. ==I've seen houses built on poles because they are located in a flood plain. Of course the Swiss Family Robinson and the Ewoks of StarWars fame lived in tree houses. I had one as a kid, and when my daughter came along, she had one (she could pull up the ladder and keep her brother out).
   
   In this book however professional architects from all over Europe, Tasmania, and the U.S have been used to design houses that live up in trees. The houses are mostly not the entire living structure but are offices, retreats, studios, and some of the most exciting entertainment areas imaginable. The results are unbelievably striking.
   
   The integration of the advanced design with the natural look of the trees gives a feeling of working together that I wouldn't have expected. This is true if the tree house is ultra modern, traditional, or some that I guess I'd just call unconventional. A surprising book.

1 comments about Signage Design Manual.

1. This is a preliminary review, based on a first reading only. But I got so excited that I couldn't wait to tell everybody in the field of wayfinding that this book is a 'must have' one! The book of Edo -lavishly and beautifully illustrated by Edo's wife Huda (a specialist in Arabic typography)- gives a complete overview of the discipline of signage, not only essential for designer but especially for clients and the facility managers among them. It shows the importance of good preparation and not to run to a sign designer and ask for more or/and larger and colorful signs. The book is too thick to read at once, but one must keep it close to all ones other reference 'bibles'.

3 comments about Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities.

1. This is a great book for both those people who are interested in learning about or those people who are already familiar with environmentally friendly "green" building pratices used in sustainable architecture. Studio at Large specifically chronicles the achievements of the UW BASIC Initiative program that Sergio Palleroni and his colleagues created in 1995. It is fascinating and moving to see the impact this work has on the local and global levels in society.



2. Prof. Sergio Palleroni teaches the "art-and-science" of "architecture" the old fashion way--with leadership and passion! He's not affraid of rolling up his sleeves, soiling his booth and spending his summer vacations whith his students (the future leaders): teachong design, scheduling and building sustainable communities in the "developing countries."



3. Its good to see that the rural studios work is not unique but rather part of a movement, with other brilliant examples such as the work documented in this book. Beautifully illustrated. Probably the most in depth discussion I've read on the methods and challenges of work among the poor and underserved.
   A great contribution to architectures claim to relevance.