2 comments about Draw Family & Friends! (Discover Drawing Series).

1. Lee Hammond is the best I have ever seen (in book form). She goes into such detail to teach you how draw everything from eyes to noses to hair. She tells you what paper to use, what pencils, and how important it is to use good products. She is super! I believe that I now have every one of her books, with the exception of the animal ones, which I will get in the future! I HIGHLY recommend this book!



2. Another great Lee Hammond art book! If you have always wanted to do lifelike drawings from family photos, get this book and get started! If you are timid about your drawing, Lee's books will encourage you tremendously. A great place to start with your graphite portraits!

No comments about Building with Vision : Optimizing and Finding Alternatives to Wood (Wood Reduction Trilogy).

No comments about Neon World.

No comments about Five Minutes City. Architecture and (Im)mobility Forum & Workshop Rotterdam.

No comments about Tracing Eisenman: Peter Eisenman Complete Works.

No comments about Instant Asia: Fast Forward through the Architecture of a Changing Continent.

2 comments about Hongkong Bank : The Building of Norman Foster's Masterpiece.

1. This fantastic book is almost impossible to put down. It follows the tale of the Bank from initial studies, through the invited international competition, design development, bidding, and construction. The challenges of building the "most expensive building ever built" in the middle of South-East Asia involved manufacturing and engineering feats usually reserved for aerospace of military efforts. The book really describes how the design concept responded to the realities of the program and the construction procedures and how Foster's office and others staged the monumental task of getting the building completed. Everyone involved claimed that it was the project they had been training for their entire career.



2. Possibly the greatest work of art by the famous British Architect Sir Norman Foster, this review takes you step by step through the entire process of design, planning, and construction. At it's time the most expensive building on earth, Williams' book is a tour-de-force and should be a must read for every budding young architect. Seek it out and buy one now if you can (I bought 5 copies to give to my friends)

2 comments about Climate Considerations in Building and Urban Design.

1. In "Climate Considerations in Building and Urban Design" based on the natural factors and environmental capacities, there are very useful techniques in terms of thermal comfort achievement and energy saving. Passive solar systems including greenhouse, solar chimney, thermal roofs and wall, with simple and clear explanation are presented in this book. This is recommended basic book and perfect reference for all students that they are studying in thermal comfort and passive solar systems in architecture.
   Finally for those that like to know how to use the natural possibilities to achieve thermal comfort in building, Givoni presents a clear reference with good figures and brief explanation.



2. ..that will complement Givoni's Passive Low Energy Cooling of Buildings; the MIT Solar Heat Technologies Series; Brown and DeKay's Sun, Wind & Light; Hyde and Woods' Climate Responsive Design; and Lechner's Heating, Cooling, Lighting on the sustainable design bookshelf. I rate the book four stars rather than five because of its less than careful editing: absolute temperature = F + 459.67 (no mention of Rankine, p. 113), absolute temperature = 492 + F (no reference to the freezing point of water, p. 112), 1" = 5 cm (p. 162-165), dt = finite temperature difference (p. 90), dT = finite temperature difference = "heat island intensity" (p. 281), superscripts written as multipliers (p. 281), to list just a few potential stumbling blocks for students.

4 comments about Greetings With Love: The Book of Valentines (Architecture).

1. This beautiful book inspired me to gather and organize decades of greeting cards at various locations in my
   house, perhaps for a collectible scrapbooking project or for art ideas.



2. This is the most complete book on Valentines Day I have seen. Filled with interesting facts, over 200 (not 20) vintage Valentines, the history of Valentines Day, fun crafts for kids, recipes andmore. A must have book. AAAA+++++++



3. Greetings With Love: The Book Of Valentines will hold year-round attraction for any interested in greeting card art, collectability, or history. The focus here is on antique valentines, with chapters surveying the earliest valentine in history to modern times. Over 20 vintage valentines from mechanical cupids to lace productions are detailed in a history which traces the changing trends of the day. Beautiful color photos of antique productions make for a bright, highly recommended coverage.



4. If you love Valentines you need this book! It's the best!

3 comments about Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of United States (distributed)).

1. Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of United States (distributed))
   The index to Franklin Toker's book, "Buildings of Pittsburgh" omits the names of all the architects, whether famous or minor. Presumably this was an oversight, but as a result the book is virtually useless as a reference work. This is a disastrous start for the new management of the Society of Architectural Historians' Buildings of the United States series.



2. Nicely done. Toker always does a bang up job!
   I would recommend to others.



3. Franklin Toker takes the reader through the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh to discuss buildings of note. Each chapter begins with a page or two to discuss the neighborhood's historical context, followed by descriptions and comments about its noteworthy buildings - about forty buildings in the chapter dedicated to downtown, for example. There is approximately one b&w photo per page, and each chapter has one or more simple maps. Toker seems equally interested in recent architecture as well as historic architecture, giving as much attention to a remarkable 2003 building as to a 1900 building. The chapter on downtown accounts for only one-fifth of the book, with the remainder covering outlying neighborhoods within Allegheny County. As with any book of this type, there is an assumption that the reader has some familiarity with the area already.
   
   Pittsburgh certainly provides an architectural historian with a lot to work with. The city reached its apogee at about 1900, when robber barons such as Carnegie and Frick competed to see who could build the grandest office towers, providing commissions to the leading architects of the day. The city's nadir, at least as far as urban planning is concerned, was in the 1960s, when two of its most important business districts, Allegheny and East Liberty, were destroyed through clumsy urban renewal projects that turned vibrant neighborhoods into desolate zones of urban decay.
   
   I can't help but compare this to Toker's earlier, 1995 book, "Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait." The 1995 book covers far more buildings, pointing out the architectural merit of minor downtown storefronts that most Pittsburghers would never notice. I prefer the detailed treatment of the 1995 book with its microscopic examination of downtown architecture, but some readers may have felt the detail of the 1995 book to be overwhelming. Also, some of the buildings in the 1995 book are no longer standing, and some of the buildings in the 2007 book didn't exist in 1995.