4 comments about Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog.

1. I consider this book to be a good VMM Reference.
   
   Please don't mistake this to be a complete SystemVerilog Bible. This is Verification Methodology Manual (VMM), and after reading this book, it's not a bad idea to think if this methodology is the right one for your project.
   
   This book outlines several "rules", "recommendations", "suggestions" and "alternatives" in using VMM for your project. I found these to be useful to a certain extent. Although the examples weren't quite informative. For starters I would also suggest reading general book on object oriented programming along with this book.
   
   
   ************* BUYING THIS BOOK? READ THIS: ***************
   
   Before you buy this book, check if you/your office has Synopsys VCS installed (Along with Documentation). If you happen to have complete VCS installed, you would get this book (pdf version) for FREE along with the VCS documentation. I came to know about this after buying this book. Any ways, it is good to have a hard copy.
   
   Also, I found it useful to have other SystemVerilog books along with this one. It makes life easy to understand a (new) language and (new) methodology.
   
   ************************
   



2. This is a very good book. However, as a newcomer to VMM, I initially got more out of "A Pragmatic Approach to VMM Adoption" by Cohen, Venkataramanan and Kumari. I use both books extensively. Since reading "A Pragmatic Approach", Bergeron's book is much more understandable and useful.



3. The book starts off fairly well through the first three chapters. Then all of a sudden it makes a huge leap and it becomes very difficult to follow. There are a lot of very advanced topics that require a lot of object oriented programming experience to understand. On my second reading I saw that even Janick says that he does not expect you to understand VMM on the first reading.
   
   A class based methodology is a complex topic and the VMM book does not do much to make it any easier. If you are a C++ (or something similar) guru, then you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, save your money and download the white papers from the web.



4. I got this book at work to learn about VMM and the use of it.
   It covers high level concepts and recommendations on developing a successful verification environment. It does not teach you the syntax or the basics of System Verilog. Beside teaching you these high level concepts, it covers in detail the use of the VMM base classes offered with Synopsys' VCS tools.
   The book has code example in each topic covered which will make it easier to understand.
   The topics covered include, but not limited to, Verification planning, assertions, testbench infrastructure, stimulus/response and coverage.
   If you are using VMM in your development, then this book is definitely the manual that goes with it.
   A must have for a successful verification engineer working with VMM. (6 out of 5 stars)

No comments about Engineering Analysis with ANSYS Software.

1 comments about AutoCAD Architecture 2008.

1. Great Book! The best one I've tried so far. Very useful and easy to read and understand.

No comments about Simulation: Presentation Technique and Cognitive Method (Context Architecture).

2 comments about The AutoCADET's Guide to Visual LISP.

1. Unlike many technical and programming books, the author of this book shows his love and dedication to programming, and sets down the ground rules with a little bit of history to help understand exactly what it is that you are doing. This book is so full of good information, you almost have to read it one paragraph at a time, yet it is so intriguing that it's hard to put down.



2. I found Bill Kramer's book to be very helpful in really understanding how the lisp language for AutoCad works. I would not say it is for the absolute beginner. It does not contain tons of non-useful, simple code to use as a tutorial. It does, however, contain a lot of truly useful functions and detailed explanations on how the code actually works. From the very start, it discusses how to use AutoCad's Visual Lisp Integrated Design Environment, one of the best tools for helping programmers write functions. This is something other books, inexplicably, leave till the end. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is one of the better books out there.

No comments about Harnessing AutoCAD 2009.

1 comments about Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function.

1. Transfixed by a dedication to a range of theatricality that has been answered in their ascension--to a built maturity--by appropriating our physiology into their architecture: the blush, the heartbeat, the ciliary function . . . the gasp. We as the readers and the users have been subsumed into their theatre as actors as well!

5 comments about Courtyards: Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight.

1. This book surpassed all my expectations. I was looking for a book full of photographs of Spanish courtyards, to assist me with constructing my own "patio" at home. I was delighted when I found not only loads of beautiful photographs, but also incredible detail about how to construct a courtyard, which direction it should face, keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer, how courtyard entrances work, thermal sailing, what to plant, and more! I have really enjoyed using this book to plan my own private oasis. I would have loved to have seen more colour photographs (many are black and white, but most are colour), and it would have been ideal if courtyard construction in the southern hemisphere had also been considered (I live in southern Australia, where the climate is very similar to southern Spain), but these minor issues did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book.



2. "Courtyards: Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight" begins with a brief history of courtyards including itemized accounts of such topics as placement within a building, orientation, exposure, and the promotion of temperature conditions within a courtyard.
   
   Over 50 full-color photographs from Spain and Latin America supplement the second section. Temperature charts, solar diagrams, and other key technical data accompany these images.
   
   Finally an extensive section of planning and design guidelines highlighting factors for consideration such as daytime/nighttime temperature ranges, zoning regulations, proportions, and proposals for driveways and use of rainwater.
   
   Architects, landscape architects, and building designers will find useful information for creating or renovating any courtyard. Students will also find this an inclusive reference. This is not a title of tremendous value to the casual reader.



3. I got this book several years ago on an inter-library loan from NDSU. It's a great book. The only problem is that it's relatively expensive -- $60 or so.
   
   I'm not an architect, but over ten years ago I built a geodesic dome on an Indian Reservation with the permission of the local district. Assuming you can afford it, where and how you live is the most important spiritual element of your life.
   
   Professor Reynolds approaches his subject with this sort of wonderment. Someday, I hope to build again using some of his ideas as a base. I've never met him, though I would certainly like to sometime. And, I don't know any of these other reviewers who, like me, seem to be very swayed by his writing. (The only reason I mention this is because of one reviewer who felt that there was a certain intellectual dishonesty in the sameness of the praise for this book.) If you're interested in creating harmonious personal space, then you should fork over the $60 or get it from your local library like I did.



4. Were all the reviews written by the author? Give me a break! The fact that every review sounds the same will keep me from ever purchasing this book. In that case, I guess all the reviews helped!



5. Courtyards is a terrific book, the result of 20+ years of loving research. Oregon Professor John Reynolds is crazy for courtyards and it certainly shows.
   A courtyard is a space surrounded by a building, often surrounded by a house. There are all manner of courtyards, large, small, huge, quiet, loud. Some are open and others are terribly private. But all good courtyards have things in common. In the landscapes most of us in the US are used to, we have a house and the gardens are on the outside and we see them before we see the house. In a sense these landscapes serve mostly as dressing to enhance the outward look of the house. But a fine courtyard garden is different. It is smack in the middle of the house and the house surrounds it. It is not wide open to the world, but instead is a place to get away from it all, a place to be outside, but not to be out in the open. The best courtyards are open to the sky, have water, vines, a multitude of interesting flowers, trees, potted plants. A large number of the very finest courtyard plants are discussed in detail in this excellent book. I was struck by how interesting the numerous photos and designs were. Profusely illustrated, each one serves a definitive purpose. I was struck too, by how many different things go into the making of a well thought out courtyard. What is involved so that it will be warm in the winter and cool in the hot summer. What is involved so that it becomes a place where people want to be. I took many notes as I read this large book and some day I plan to build a house of my own design, and in the middle of it, I'm going to have a courtyard. And in this courtyard, I'll have all the things needed, the ingredients so carefully detailed here, that make the right courtyard a magical place. I'd recommend this book for anyone who ever plans to build their own home, for all landscape designers, for all architects, for anyone with a serious interest in horticulture and design. An excellent book.

5 comments about Building Architectural Models.

1. If you want some tips on gluing together plastic kits for a toy railroad, this is the book for you, especially if you are not too particular about the looks of the finished product. Not for experienced modelers, this book is geared toward grade schoolers and their teachers.



2. This book is the worst depiction of model-making I have yet seen. I lost money sending it back but I'd be embarrassed to have it in my library. Should carry a warning label: `written by authors having only a passing interest in the subject'.



3. I agree one star is way to gracious. I wished I had read the reviews rather than be exciting about finding a new "building structures" book and just ordering.
   The books starts out saying its for high school and college architectural modelers. It should say it's for no more than 5th graders. They use foam core for many of the models. I was ready to see the authors use milk cartons! Its that bad. They try to pass off a stone facade with aquarium gravel!?! Are you kidding me! Plus some of the structures shown in the book are falling apart! Pul-eaze!
   There is better info on scratch building structures for free online at some model railroad websites and forums such as http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=25
   So don't waste your money. Or if your insistent, send me the $15 and I'll send you my copy. I only looked thru it once.



4. Total of waste of time and money.... Nothing of value in this magazine whatsoever. They pumped it full of color photos of basic structures and offered no instruction of any value. I opened it, scanned the contents and Threw it in the trash.
   
   This rag gets 0 stars.



5. Dont waste your money, even a grade school art teacher would be disappointed. The publisher should have never allowed the title to include the term architects.

2 comments about Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005.

1. As a student in college we get autocad as a course.
   I dediced to buy this book in order to go further and deeper into the subject.
   This book is huge in size! George Omura offers guidance step by step, explaining most details; (i was pleased with the guidance, had little difficulties understanding even the more advanced topics)
   
   This book is ideal for those wishing to get acquainted to autocad to a fairly advanced level. It offers a very thorough overall knowledge of autocad, suitable to the novice who just started out, climbing up the ladder. The books is composed in a similar way, explaining the basics in the beginning and gradually covering the more advanced topics. Important to mention, is the well organised appearance of the book, containing indexed words, allowing the reader to quickly look up topics by key-words!
   
   For those wishing to go all the way, they probably will need to buy an extra book for advanced items such as advanced customisation and 3D but i am sure Omura can teach even some of the experts out there, as he clearly knows his thing.
   
   It might be fair to say that i was a bit dissapointed to find not more covered about the 3D aspects of Autocad, but i realised later that Omura wrote a seperate book dedicated to explaining autocad's 3D abibilites in detail, which is understandable, knowing that this book alone is over 1000 pages!
   
   I give this book 5 stars, finding the previous 3 stars given, a wrong representation of an excellent book.



2. The book doesn't go deep into customizing AutoCAD, but gives a complete brief overview for general purpose AutoCAD usage.