5 comments about The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention.

1. This book is comprehensive guide for Eames works. If you want to know overall works from archtecture design to furniture by Eams, this is recommended. However, if you want to see especially Eames design furnitures, this is not for you.



2. An interesting couple who remained highly creative through the span of their careers. I first discovered their work as a child when I saw their brilliant film "Powers of 10". I intend on picking up more books of their work. Great reference for designers and architects.



3. Charles and Ray Eames were not only creative artistic talents, they were also commercial geniuses (just like George Nelson was). These two talents provided the secret for success that would reward them throughout their life. This book gives a good view about the creative talent of Charles and Ray Eames had.
   But I would also suggest to purchase the book "Eames Design" by John Neuhart which I also thought was wonderful. If you like modern design I also suggest to visit the wonderful online archive about George Nelson at WWW.GEORGENELSON.ORG and if you like 1960's design also check the museum archive from Verner Panton at WWW.VERNERPANTON.COM



4. Words don't do justice to the work & imagination of Ray & Charles Eames! This is a beautiful book covering the creative minds of two of the best modern furniture designers. Filled with great pictures, & very complete text of their design & the many other things they created besides furniture.The Eames' are my biased favorite, if you love modern 50's furniture,fabric, & art you must have this book.They worked for the infamous Herman Miller company, who has reissued many of the Eames furniture pieces available again today.As creator of the modern molded fiberglass chair, & molded plywood, the Museaum Of Modern Art has Charles' chairs as Art, which they are & comfortable too!More than comparable to their Danish counterparts,this couple brought us sleek,smooth lined furniture that will take us into the space age for at least another fifty years!(check out A.I.-incredible backgrounds of modern furniture!)



5. This is a wonderful addition to any coffee table! I learned so much about this creative couple that I never knew before. The pictures are A+ & very well done. If you are a fan of Eames furniture, you cannot live without this book!!

No comments about Building Type Basics for Office Buildings (Building Type Basics Series).

4 comments about Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design.

1. This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

   This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques. There are lots of other good books that do though.

   I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.




2. Finally! A book on sustainable architecture that shows quality buildings designed by Architects. All too often, these books show buildings that are not well designed, and detailed, and the quality of construction is lacking. I was very pleased to see well known architects, as well as lesser known architects' work detailed in this beautiful book. This book is wonderful to look at and it also has excellent, well written descriptions of each project.
   It's a great read, and it is now in my personal library. I also bought one for the office.



3. In the course of designing our new house, my family and I were looking for inspiration. This book gave us plenty of ideas and opened up new possibilities as to materials we could use that would be kinder to the environment that traditionally built homes.

   The photographs are beautiful, and it was interesting to read what each of the book's homeowners had to say about constructing their houses. I had always thought that homes built of rammed earth or bales of straw were boring-looking, but this book proves the materials can be used to make great-looking houses.




4. I received this much-anticipated book today. True to description, it contains beautiful photos (one page was misprinted with a wide pink streak across the photo) and text from architects, owners, etc. What it doesn't have much of is anything more than brief or shallow explanations of HOW sustainable living takes place -- minimal floor plans (meaning only for a few of the homes reviewed.

   For one clear example, Lake/Flato architects built a truly innovative vacation house, with the living area surrounded - wrapped really - in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house. Only a floor plan can reveal their creative arrangement of the rooms. The house is featured in this book, but no indication of the remarkable new layout - maximum living in minimal space. (Look for the Contemporary Architecture series for Lake/Flato architects for more information.)

   Broad but shallow is a good summary for this pretty, but not nearly as informative as I had hoped, book.

No comments about AutoCAD for Interior Design and Space Planning 2009.

No comments about Indie Publishing: How to Design and Publish Your Own Book (Design Brief).

3 comments about Process Control: Modeling, Design and Simulation (Prentice Hall International Series in the Physical and Chemical Engineering Sciences).

1. 
   This book successfully teaches how to analyze dynamic chemical processes and develop automatic control strategies to operate them safely and economically. Rather than simply present theory topics and develop analytical solutions, this textbook uses "interactive learning" through computer-based simulation exercises, employing for this the very popular "Matlab" engineering software package, and the "Simulink" block-diagram simulation environment. Introductions to both "Matlab" and "Simulink" are included in the book.
   
   Each chapter of the book is followed by a series of "learning modules" that serve several purposes: some focus on software tools, while others focus on particular control problems.
   
   An introduction to process control and instrumentation is presented in chapter 1. The development and use of models is very important in control systems engineering, and fundamentals models are developed in chapter 2, including the steady-state solution and linearization to form steady-state models. Chapter 3 focuses on the dynamic behavior of linear systems, starting with state space models and then covering transfer function-based models in detail. Chapter 4 covers the development of empirical models, including continuous and discrete transfer function models.
   
   Chapter 5 provides a detailed introduction to feedback control, developing the basics of feedback systems, PID controllers, and methods of analyzing closed-loop stability. Chapter 6 presents methods for controller tuning. Frequency response analysis techniques, important for determining control system robustness, are presented in chapter 7.
   
   Model-based control leads to improved control loop performance, and one of the clearest model-based techniques (Internal Model Control o IMC) is presented in chapter 8. The PID controller remains the most widely used controller in industry, so chapter 9 is very valuable since it shows how to convert internal model controllers to classical feedback PID controllers.
   
   Chapter 10 develops two widely used control strategies: Cascade and feed-forward control. Chapter 11 presents auto-tuning and gain scheduling, two methods used to deal with poor performance due to changing operating conditions and poor tuned control loops. The phenomenon of reset windup and the development of anti-reset windup strategies are also presented in this chapter.
   
   Chapter 12 presents the split-range, selective, and override control strategies, which are used when we need the control loop to be able of switching between manipulated inputs or select from several measured outputs. Chapter 13 deals with the effect of control loops interactions, while the design of multivariable controllers is developed in chapter 14.
   
   Chapter 15 presents the challenging tasks encountered when developing Plant-wide optimization and control schemes. Chapter 16 presents the most widely applied advanced control strategy: Model Predictive Control (MPC).
   
   Even though the book is designed for Chemical Engineering students, I truly believe that this text would also be suitable for industrial practitioners and students in mechanical, nuclear, industrial, and electrical engineering. I am an Industrial Practitioner of Process Measurement & Control who has been working in the Process Industries for more than 16 years as an Automation, Instrumentation, Process Safety and Process Control Engineer. My academic background is in electrical and electronics engineering (I am an Electronic Engineer), not in chemical engineering as might be the case of the usual reader of this book, but working in the Oil & Gas Industry all this time, I have been dealing with Chemical-Process Control issues in a day-to-day basics. I found this book to be a very useful reference and refresher to gain a better understanding of Modern Process Control Applications.
   
   If you are a practitioner of Process Control you may want to consider also "Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Fourth Edition, Volume Two: Process Control and optimization" by Bela Liptak, for its practical and comprehensive coverage of Process Control.



2. This book presents its idea very clearly and it's an easy read! I would say it's a must have for all process engineers!



3. This book is awful. It has terrible explanations and few examples. The math is very unclear.
   
   If you are an instructor, please use a different book.

3 comments about Pipe Drafting and Design, Second Edition.

1. At first glance this book seems impressive - good illustrations, easy to read and seemingly well organised. The problem is that it purely focuses on using the Pro-Pipe software and doesn't mention any other software (like CADToolsonline, Hercule Design etc).
   
   If you are going to use Pro-Pipe then it is worth buying but otherwise stay clear.



2. This book is clear, easy to read and well laid out. It does an excellent job of introducing pipe drafting to a person with a general drafting background. However, very little of the book has anything to do with the 'how' of piping design. All it does is explain in simple, concise terms why the items in a piping facitily are put together the way they are. In summary, if you looking for a good book on piping drafting, look no further. If, on the other hand, your focus is piping design, then you need to look elsewhere.



3. I am currently in college taking pipe drafting courses. We use this book as our textbook along with the accompaning workbook. I find it to be very knowlegable and informative as well as well written. It explains step by step how to draw your pipes manually, using auto cad and pro-pipe as well. Illistrations are very good also. My husband has been a welder for 22 years, and now he is also taking this course with me, and agrees with my opinion. This teaches you the basics of piping it is not an indepth book on the subject. but for beginners it is outstanding I would highly recommend it to any one interested in the subject...Kathy Noland

1 comments about The Professional Practice of Architectural Detailing.

1. This book has some valuable information in it regarding architectural drawings. It is somewhat lacking in the fact that it is a bit dated and does not include much information about computer aided design, but this can be overlooked.

No comments about AutoCAD 2005 for Interior Design and Space Planning Using AutoCAD(R) 2005.

1 comments about Josef Muller-Brockmann: Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design.

1. A good introduction to Muller-Brockmanns work, the book takes us from his very early works to later exhibitions and poster design. It even mentions 'Grid Systems', which I am a firm disciple of. Graphic Design is a subject of which to have strong oppionions and Lars Muller has just that. I enjoyed his comments in the preface which were valid and sound. All in all an important walk through past design, which should stay contemparay for times to come.