5 comments about Golf Course Architecture: Evolutions in Design, Construction, and Restoration Technology.

1. Starts off very well with the hope that it will get more technical but instead becomes more theoretical in areas such as aesthetics and fine art, areas which the author seems to not have a background in. ie, his discussion of perception, symmetry and balance etc. If you can skip the middle chapters its not bad but again I had hoped for more technical insights. Perhaps I needed a book on golf course construction. I just assumed from architecture courses that construction issues and recommendations as well as more detail of layout relative to game play would be discussed.



2. This is one of five best technical books I ever found. As a beginner in golf course design, I found in this book all I needed to realize my projects.



3. This is a fascinating book for any golf enthusiast or historian, as well as an essential practical resource for anyone actively involved in golf course design, construction and maintenance.

   The design process progresses from the green to the individual hole to the entire course. Detailed technical information is well integrated with aesthetic and theoretical concepts making the entire book interesting & readable.

   The book is packed with color photos of individual holes to illustrate design concepts, sites under construction and wonderful historical documents. The technical drawings & plans are well done and very useful.

   This book is a great example of making a technical manual a joy to read. Any golfer who appreciates the background of the course he or she is playing on will love it.




4. This book is filled with wonderful pictures from cover to cover. An incredible collection of the worlds most famous golf courses and designers.



5. Simply an outstanding look at the fascinating process of taking a piece of land and sculpting a chapmionship layout. A step-by-step process that details the many intricacies and disciplines involved in creating a golf course. Any golfer will more fully appreciate the not only what they see on a course, but also what they "don't" see. The photos and illustrations are plentiful and precise in leading one through each phase of construction. Must reading for an serious student of the game. Kevin Burke

4 comments about Rendering with mental ray® (mental ray® Handbooks).

1. I did not get the CD to work either.
   Mental Ray is one of the best renderers available.
   But it is nearly impossible to get any technical help from the Mental Ray company.
   So this book is all you got.
   Is it a great manual, or a great book?
   Not really.
   It is all right.
   If you are seriously using Mental Ray, you really should have it.



2. we are the students of 3d animation of Maya7.We had purchased the book named as "Rendering with
   
   mental ray, vol-1 " by T.Driemeyer(Third edition) whose ISBN no. is 3211228756 and we got
   a CD along with this book containing reference files (.mi) format and "Mental Ray" demo version
   
   software.Our, problem is we are not able to open the ".mi" files in Maya7 or anyother version of
   
   maya.The "Mental Ray" software is not working in "Windows XP" platform as it gives the error
   
   "file ray3rc is not found".
   Hence, i am writing the mail please kindly send us way to deal or solution of
   
   the above mentioned problem.It will be better for us that those ".mi" can open with Maya 7
   
   version.
   PROBLEMS:
   
   1) Workability of mental ray software (given with the book) in "windows XP"
   
   platform
   
   2) Workability of ".mi" files in Maya 7 inteface.



3. The description of this book is not, as another reviewer mentioned, misleading. It doesn't mention 3ds Max, Maya, or Lightwave. The important thing to note here is that Mental Ray is first and foremost a standalone rendering package. The fact that today's major 3D applications import and make accessible a subset of it's functionality seems to be the cause of a lot of confusion. This is not a 3ds Max book, or a Maya book. If you're looking to find out what buttons to push or what steps to take to use certain features of Mental Ray in your favorite 3D package, this book is NOT for you. There's plenty of information floating around for free on the internet that can answer those questions.
   
   This book, and it's companion "Programming Mental Ray" is for those needing to tap into the full power of the Standalone Mental Ray renderer.



4. The description of this book is totally misleading. It only discusses how to use mental ray through the running of scripts and programming language. It dicusses absolutely nothing as far as the manner in which mental ray is used in 3ds max. Does not explain mental ray through the use of traditional menus and the render dialogue box in 3ds max. No mention of what good settings are for GI values or lighting values. The entire book centers around entering information manually in script form rather than going through how mental ray works in 3ds max through the render dialogue box. The only reason this book gets 2 stars is that it does have a good glossary of terms. Of course, those terms can be retrieved from the standard 3ds max help menu. I am a very experienced 3ds max user and was simply looking to learn some more advanced features of mental ray, and I was extremely disappointed in the book, especially for $85.

3 comments about Technician's Guide To Programmable Controllers.

1. This book is intended for the beginner, it has so may misprints and errors in it makes a hard subject for the beginner to an impossible one to understand! This 4th edition has many of the same misprints in it from the first edition! I would never recommend this book to anyone!



2. I used this book with great success in the course, Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers, which I developed for a leading aircraft manufacturer. This book was recommended reading prior to attending other PLC courses offered in my training business.



3. I used this book to train industrial electricians and recommended it in the PLC course I designed at Coyne American Institute in Chicago in 1989. They still use the book along with a lab manual and Allen Bradley PLC's in the electrical maintenance course. I reviewed other books and felt this one was the right choice for the length of course, training level and content. It is clearly written with hardware and instruction set examples from various PLC manufacturers, troubleshooting, number systems, start-up hints and some useful general computer information. Also included is a chapter on understanding MS-DOS commands-very handy for people (a lot of them around) with no computer background except a point-and-click once in a while. The soft cover format, number of pages (372) and size make it easy to carry and throw in a brief case. If you are learning PLC's for the first time, this is a good place to start. If I was going to add anything to it for the next edition, I would include things like data highway, serial communications, remote displays and PID loop. Maybe a little more about programming details involving analog I/O would be nice.

3 comments about Autocad Release 14 for Dummies Quick Reference.

1. This is not for Dummies or Beginners. It's a pretty comprehensive list of commands and their use. AutoCAD is too powerful a program to condense down to something this small and have it explain everything on a Beginner's level. I guess I didn't expect it to be for Beginners, and since I'm a power user, that really made me happy with the book. Some of the commands in here aren't very well documented any where else that I have found. I've moved on to the next version of ACAD now, so I'm willing to part with it (see used listings) but I'll be looking for the Dummies book for the next version now.



2. Our architecture instructor advised us of this book to get started in CAD design. Recommend this to new students who wish to dig into the program. Covers fundamental basics to R14 as well as provide a solid foundation to build from. Book does great job of addressing difficult areas such as plotting, layering, and scaling functions.



3. If you do not have sufficient AutoCAD R14 training beforehand, this book is very difficult to access and/or find information. The book needs more graphic representations which show the results-especially the dimension commands. Finally, the pundits in parenthesis were annoying.

1 comments about Structural Design: A Practical Guide for Architects.

1. i'm an architecture student...n taking structures for one of my classes, i found this book immensely helpful, especially, when the teacher's not that great!!!!!!

1 comments about Building Type Basics for Senior Living (Building Type Basics).

1. This book is a quality overview covering most facets of long term care facility development. As with any broad coverage, there will be information that does not apply to your project, and areas that you will need other sources to complete the picture. But the authors of this book know their stuff.
   
   Written by architects and planners for same; but accessible to the lay reader. A good tool for those interested in developing long term care facilities and senior-oriented communities.

No comments about Apartment Buildings: Plans Atlas.

2 comments about The Illustrated AutoCAD 2005 Quick Reference Guide (Illustrated AutoCAD Quick Reference).

1. This is a very handy and great reference for AutoCAD user. Each command is described in details complete with all its possible options. You can also trace back which command was added in which version of AutoCAD. Some very rare but interesting command like "overkill" can also be discovered in the book. It is also priced reasonably. Serious AutoCAD user should own this book. Why not 5 stars then? Because Autodesk come out with a new version of the software every year nowdays mean you have to buy a new edition of the book every year also.



2. Quick shipping, book in excellent condition. Thanks!

No comments about Technical Drawing 101 with AutoCAD.

No comments about Simplified Building Design for Wind and Earthquake Forces (Parker/Ambrose Series of Simplified Design Guides).