No comments about Restaurant Design (Daab Design Book).

No comments about Harnessing AutoCAD 2008.

5 comments about Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream.

1. There are only two things to say about this book on Gruen the Mall Maker: 1) The writing must be overlooked, and 2) the substance of the book is crucial to understanding American cities and American culture as we know it today. It made me want to read more about architecture, city planning and economic trends as market forces redesigning neighborhoods, towns, cities and, ultimately, our country. It made me want to go back to school and get a degree in Urban Planning. It made me want to petition the school board to include the study of commerical design and the rise of malls in every high school American history class. It made me want to recommend it to all of my friends who live in cities, love cities, love their malls, live near malls and who shop at malls. The subject matter fascinated me; the writing - not so much so.



2. This is an excellent book about a single, fascinating individual and about American culture in the twentieth century. There is an irony here: Gruen was very idealistic about the mall's potential to improve society, but he didn't realize that, ultimately, his creation would cause the "malling of America." And he DID build the first mall...the first ENCLOSED mall (rather than an outdoor arcade), which was copied all over the country and is now the dominate type.



3. Mr. Gruen developed and expanded the concept, but no, he did not originate it - he and the automobile made it more successful and widespread, enriching us all.
   
   1956 the first mall? Er, no, not really: not by a century. Google "Arcade+Providence"

   The Arcade Building building by J.C. Bucklin & Russell Warren, 1827-1829
   
   The shopping arcade started here. While not called "shopping mall" the arcades were the start of having multiple shops under a single roof. The shopping mall is the same, with addition of parking and not usually urban but sub-urban or even rural.




4. My first true mall shopping was done in a Gruen mall, although I was quite unaware at the time of the fascinating story behind this complex man and his vision for America's public spaces.

   Thanks to this engaging work by Hardwick, I feel now feel enlightened as I prowl the mall that Gruen built. You don't need to be an architect or a social scientist to enjoy this book because the author makes the subject approachable for the inner shopper in everyone.




5. A great read and remarkable that no one has written about Gruen before now. if American retail and architecture is your thing, this is a must have. Hardwick captures Gruen in an objective light, in his time, for the reader to judge. can't wait for the next Hardwick bio.

5 comments about Harnessing Microstation V8 (MicroStation).

1. I'm not new to MicroStation; however I've never been formally trained either. Learning on the job with the aide of those around me helped me get up to speed fairly quickly since I was guided into using the commands that I immediately needed. But there has always been a thought in the back of my mind as to what I'm missing, so I purchased this book (along with several others), and I'm very happy that I did. It's a good reference guide and I've learned some things that I wasn't aware of and gained some better insight into the software. The only drawback is that being a book about a graphical software package there could be more screen shots to go along with the nice `meaty' descriptions.



2. as for my education dealling with microstation, i was self taught. the book, "harnessing microstation v8", what i have read so far was a great help to me, seeing that i only worked with microstation j. there newer things in v8 that the book shows. had the book for about 2 months now and i only got to read it for a week. the cadd manage has had it for the rest of the time and he been finding it very useful.



3. This book explains every commands in Microstation, has pictures of every dialog boxes there are and the exercises inside the CD will take you step by step through everything cover in the chapter. A very good book to learn at home by yourself. Recommend for AutoCAD or beginning user.



4. I am fairly familiar with AutoCAD but was pretty lost when it came to Microstation. I found this book very helpful to get me up to speed in Mictrostation. With the background I had in AutoCAD I quickly got through most of this book. I spent about 3 days in the book and feel pretty comfortable with the nuts and bolts of Microstation.



5. Looking to train our user base as part of our V8 migration, we conducted a quick study of the available published books on V8. Bentley's own supplied course material are fine as workbooks, but not much use otherwise and no doubt are gathering dust on many shelves the world over.

   Having compared _Harnessing MicroStation_ to _Inside MicroStation_ (by Frank Conforti) we eventually decided to purchase this book in bulk for our students.

   In spite of annoyances (like the awful typography and relative lack of reader-friendly illustrations) this is a book which is much more thorough in its treatment of Bentley's flagship new version, and will be of better long-term value to CAD professionals.

No comments about Architectural Quality Control.

No comments about Hospital and Healthcare Facility Design.

No comments about Reality Machines.

1 comments about Basics Modelbuilding (Basics).

1. Well, the title already says "basics" but I think it would be more accurate to say "very basics".

No comments about An Introduction to CATIA V5 Release 17.

No comments about Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project.