5 comments about Painting Flowers A to Z with Sherry C. Nelson, MDA.

1. This book is one to have if you are interested in learning to paint flowers. The detail is just what you need to get started on any art project which has flowers. The painting techniques will help with other things you want to paint, not just flowers!! Excellent book! :)



2. A wonderful painting book, great step by step instructions, easy to follow, a book I would constantly refer to for instruction. I have Four books from this lady and each one is a tresure I highly reccomend all of her painting books they are very detailed easy to follow books with lots of pictures as that is what I need.



3. I love this book, it is very clear with lots of details too!



4. This book is excellent for a beginning painter like me who wants to paint stunning, life-like flowers. The illustrations are beautiful, the step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and the results make you want to paint the next flower, and the next.... I find the color range to be excellent; of the 50 flowers taught, 18 are pinks, purples, and blues, 16 are red and/or yellow, 6 are predominantly white, and the rest, like pansies, foxgloves, and daisies, are multiple colored.
   
   The instructions not only give the colors needed for each project, but also how to mix that particular shade. With this help, I am learning to mix the colors I see and need for my own compositions. The line drawings are easy to work with and mean I can concentrate on painting, instead of struggling with getting the shape of the flower just right.
   
   All in all, if what you really want to learn is to paint something beautiful, this is the book you need.



5. The book's presentation is excellent (good quality photos), well-organized (material, techniques, clear explanations) and it gets to the point, that is the actual painting, fairly rapidly. No time wasted on painters' nitty gritty debates. Her advice for best-quality-you-can-afford material is no non sense and convincing.
   The book includes 50 projects, all presented in the same way: a photo reference, a black line drawing of the flower which you may photocopy, and a series of steps to follow to get the result.
   But be warned: she uses mostly reds and yellows (6 of each) in all of the 50 flowers in spite of the fact that the pictures are in different other colors (for example: the magnolia photo presents the white and pink variety, while the painting exercise gets you to do it all in white). The same with peonies & tulips which are invariably tought in yellows and reds. That was the reason I returned the book.
   Was it out of concern for the quantity & pricey material ? No way of knowing, but just getting 1 pink and 1 blue doesn't provide enough variety to learn how to manipulate various colors. And it does get boring after 3 such exercises. Sure, you could substitute other colors if you're advanced enough.
   The lack of emphasis or encouragement to draw your own flowers displeased me. Just rush to that photocopier. So you're frozen in placement and don't get a chance to ''feel'' your scene (this is a drawer's criticism).
   Despite a few downsides, it remains a concise collection of exercises, simple enough for beginners, kept to a minimum of steps, therefore not overwhelming at all.

5 comments about The Natural Plaster Book: Earth, Lime, and Gypsum Plasters for Natural Homes (Natural Building Series).

1. I just finished building my strawbale home -- and am very grateful for this book. I have nothing but great things to say about it. This book picks up where others leave off. An absolute must if you plan on using natural materials on your home. One must understand that working with natural materials is hardly a science-- and a fair amount of experementing must be done to get satisfactory results. But the effort will be worth it! Get this book-- you won't be sorry. FYI-- I used an earthen plaster (clay,manure,sand) on the interior and exterior, and finished the interior with an alis and the exterior with a lime plaster and lime wash-- beautiful results!



2. In reading this book you'll find descriptions of the various types of building materials, not just straw bales, these plasters are used on (it is not really a build yourself a house book) and a pretty good overview of the types of plasters themselves.
   I'm not done reading it but don't find enough information to consider it a complete how to guide, more of a starter book. You get some recipes for pigments/ plasters but not much detail about applying the stuff. I've found nothing about measuring the walls to determine just how much material you'll need and I don't think it really tells thickness, just how many coats to apply (not really detailed about that).
   There's an extensive resource guide at the end of the book, you'll need it if you're actually going to build a house of some sort. If you are collecting a set of books on building and finishing a home this one is all right as a starter book. You'll learn just enough to know whether or not this is something you want to be getting yourself into.



3. Not worth the money as a technical reference or how-to book. Otherwise a pleasant read with some inpired pics and a very general overview of the process. Speaks, for the most part, to strawbale contruction as if strawbales are some naturally occurring thing harvested from the wild when are in fact a product of energy intensive industrial agriculture. Fails to provide important technical details such as estimating for coverage, application on masonry, frame and other 'natural' structures, guidelines for plaster preparation. If you already have building experience and skills there are far better reference books available to actually base work upon.



4. Is 'natural plaster home' a euphemism for 'mud hut'?
   
   The following gives a sense of the mood conveyed by the authors:
   
   "Mud Plasters are fun to work with!
   
   Earthen plasters are easy to work with and fun to mix and apply. 'Once you've put your hands in that mud mix you don't feel like doing any other type of plaster'... For adults, working with earthen plaster seems like kid's play, for children it is play!"
   
   At one point, we are advised that 'natural plasters' are low energy building material. The energy required can be measured in terms of granola bars.
   
   I'm sorry: work is work. But, this curious enthusiasm for returning to nature is just a frill. The book has a lot of useful details on foundations, walls, and finish materials. It never gets past the introductory level, but all the key points are covered. Additionally, there is good coverage of design issues, with particular emphasis on avoiding water damage. Finishing walls is given 3 chapters: natural finishes, lime finishes, and gypsum finishes.
   
   I was a bit disappointed in the lack of interest in power-tools, but getting one's hands muddy seems like too much fun to the authors. Additionally, more details on chemistry would have been helpful. At a certain level, I suspect this book is a good introductory lesson for volunteers assembling at a worksite with at least one master builder on hand. Working with mud may be fun, but it takes a large crew to get the whole house, barn or commune done in a single building season.



5. This book was late in coming, but the wait was well worth it! There's nothing like this book on the market today...not even close!

   I especially like how thorough this book is. I really appreciated the clear and detailed explanations of all aspects of plastering -- from the design of homes (so they will be suitable for natural plasters) to wall preparation to testing, mixing, and applying plasters.

   The authors skillfully walk the reader through all of the steps required to plaster a natural home, anticipating mistakes you might make -- and telling you how to avoid them. Although the book focuses on plastering strawbale buildings, there's lots of good advice for plastering numerous other natural homes.

   This book attempts to develop a deep understanding of plasters. To do so, the authors begin by describing the components of plasters -- and what each one does. Knowing that subsoils are different at each building site, the authors give general guidelines for making plasters. They tell you how to test your soils and potential plaster mixes. No, you won't find recipes for plasters...that would be fruitless due to the variability of subsoils. But you will find some examples you can start with and good, solid explanations of the steps you have to take to make plasters using the dirt you have at your site!

   I was also very impressed by the extensive coverage of finish plasters and alises as well as the detailed resource guide and the excellent photos and drawings, although some were a bit small. Sometimes the text seemed a bit repetitive, but in retrospect that helped me memorize the details.

3 comments about The Barefoot Architect.

1. This is the first English translation of The Barefoot Architect (TBA), which was originally written in Spanish in Mexico in 1982. Obviously written with a Third-World audience in mind, TBA nevertheless has a multitude of useful ideas that could be incorporated into North American buildings. At first glance this handbook's 697 pages are intimidating, but fear not - this tome is extremely user-friendly, as it employs only simple drawings and brief text to convey a wealth of handy ideas for laymen/owner builders and professional contractors alike. The only exception to that last statement is that TBA has a rather skimpy index.
   
   TBA starts off with a thoughtful design overview which shows how to situate your house, say, to take advantage of the prevailing winds, solar orientation, terrain, and vegetation on your building site. Subsequent chapters cover considerations and methods for building in deserts, jungles, and temperate zones. Granted, not many Norte Americanos will want to build their homes with bamboo, thatch or handmade adobe bricks, but there are plenty of examples of materials and construction techniques that I wouldn't hesitate to use where I live in Northwest Wyoming.
   
   The use of modern insulating, siding, and roofing materials that would be familiar and available to Americans is little discussed. Remember that the primary audience for this handbook resides not in North America/First World, but in the southern hemisphere, where most citizens don't have our economic wherewithal. I would not use a lot of TBA's suggestions in the building of my primary residence, but for outbuildings, walls, gardens, get-away cabins, etc., I would use this book in a heartbeat for my construction bible. Thoreau would have loved it. Perhaps in a post-peak oil world, TBA will become a must-have resource for those of us who have to live more simply and take advantage of the building materials close at hand. Most discussions in TBA readily stimulate one to think of practical uses for the natural resources that surround us all.



2. After my wife and I had finished writing The Straw Bale House and were beginning work in Mexico on a number of projects, we came across this book during our travels. We loved it so much we set out trying to find out where we could get more copies. The search took us to a bookstore in Mexico City where we bought several cases to bring back to the States. They were so popular with friends that we gave away/sold all of them in almost no time at all. It's just a marvelous little book with simple but very clear illustrations. Quite truthfully I'm totally amazed that Lloyd Khan the publisher came across this book and decided to print it in English. But then again, that's what makes Lloyd the entertaining publisher that he is.



3. I'm in the process of re-building the kitchen, bathroom, foundation and an addition to our home. Picking up this book to peruse made my imagination wander and provided tremendous insight into not only how to go about these significant changes but also provided new ways based upon sensible and older techniques. There are so many ideas, drawings and explanations that even if you thought you had everything at hand and knew just what you were going to do, this could very much make your work better. I very much recommend this thick and interesting book.

4 comments about Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

1. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, an essay in architecture, takes readers on a historical tour of the third U.S. president's cherished home near Charlottesville, Virginia, through well-written text and gorgeous, full-color photography. The book includes floor plans and photographs of Jefferson's original architectual elevations, as well as drawings of the finished building that we are most familiar with today. It describes Jefferson as art collector and plantation life on Monticello's farms, and it explores the four seasons in Monticello's gardens. Published in 2002 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.



2. This work successfully links the many unique qualities of Thomas Jefferson's personality to the unique qualities of the home that he designed and spent most of his life building and rebuilding. All of the intriguing features of this home are covered.
   Anyone interested in this remarkable man and his home who is unable to visit Monticello in person should strongly consider this work.



3. This is a highly informative, well documented book covering all aspects of the design and building of Thomas Jefferson's home, plus insights into why things were done the way they were done, through Jefferson's own notes, sketches and correspondence. Plus,the photographs are exquisite.



4. One of the clichés about Monticello is that few houses do so good a job revealing the personality of its builder. But clichés get to be such generally because there's truth to them, and that's definitely the case here. If Thomas Jefferson was one of the most interesting figures in American history (and I think that's unquestionably true), then Monticello may well be one of America's most interesting houses. And for this colorful book produced by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, we are guided through the house and grounds by people who know their stuff.

   Specifically, the chapters of this title are written by Monticello's director of restoration, the curator, the director of gardens and grounds, and other experts associated with the Foundation. Large, colorful photos are accompanied by informed commentary and all the requisite history, as well as documentation of the decades of restoration work it has taken to get the house and grounds to its current condition. A book doesn't make up for a visit in person -- if anything, I wished for more photos of the interior, especially of the book room and "cabinet." But for a general overview of the house, grounds, and collection, and an insight into the man himself, this book is hard to beat. I recommend it as a souvenir, as well as a nice companion to a Jefferson biography.

5 comments about Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice.

1. This book is a great reference for the first time log home buyer. Many links to take you down other paths. Robbin outlines a few things that many new buyers should look out for in a compact way. There are also several nice photgraphs that will add to your idea database. The floor plans in the back of the book are great general floor plans to start and modify in your own way. I nearly used the entire book to plan my cabin project. Many thanks to Robbin for a great reference.



2. This book is a nice little overview of small log homes. It's not meant to be a "how to" manual, or provide detailed information. It's just a starter for those dreaming of building a log home.
   
   Some of the positives are that the book itself is high-quality, the photos are very good for the most part, and it does provide enough information to help determine if a log home really is for you. Some of the negatives for me are the photos are unrelated (there will be photos of the exterior of two log homes, followed by a photo of a kitchen, followed by a photo of a porch, followed by a photo of another kitchen . . . interspersed with text that may or may not have anything to do with the photos shown); I would have preferred groups of photos of one home at a time so I could understand the house better. And the plans and elevations at the back of the book are "stand-alones" for the most part; they are unrelated to the photos shown earlier in the book. It would have been nice to have plans and photos of homes actually built.
   
   It's a nice "starter" book, so I gave it four stars. For me personally, I would have given it three stars for its usefulness.



3. I'm trying to design some sort of floorplan for my future log home and I thought this might give me some ideas....it's not that great. In fact I'm disappointed from what I thought it would be and should have taken more of the reviews to heart. It basically goes over building a log home...ok - well I thought it would be focused more on its title: Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice. The advice it gives is probably stuff you've already heard before...and the plans are just more of the generic ones you see from all the log home manufacturers.



4. The pictures are beautiful, and there are a few floorplans at the back. The text however is useless, unless you need to be told that putting in lots of options will raise the price, create the floorplan based on your family's interests and that you shouldn't spend more than you can afford. It really isn't anything more than you could get with a 10 minutes trip to the website of a log home manufacturer, except that it has much less info!

   It tells you, for example, that you should make careful and deliberate use of all the space by planning it carefully, but does not show examples of good planning, give you thought provoking questions to ask yourself, or anything that could help you do it.

   The book mentions that there are 2 types of log cabins, names them and gives a few uncaptioned photographs, without even one word to tell you what the advantages of one over the other might be.

   It tells you that a complicated roof is more expensive than an uncomplicated one. Did you need to be told? It does not tell you what the choices are in roof styles, the advantages and weather reasons you might want one more than the other, dispite the cost, and it certainly does not tell you what the price differences are (even an approx % difference would have been a start).

   It does not suggest anything useful and should only be bought by someone who is on their way to the log home manufacturer in their area so that they can point to the pictures in the book and facilitate the teaching the company will then have to provide. This is for a person buying a finished, installed product, not building a home.

   I was very disappointed and would never have bought this book if I had seen it in a bookstore. It is meant for someone who buys magazines exclusively for the pictures and does not read the articles. This will not help you build a house.




5. A good, usable well-illustrated book for the everyday person..the middle class "dreamer". Not focused on millionare showplaces, but homes for the average family, homes under 2500 sq ft. Cozy photos and a nice selection of floor plans. A good working tool if you are considering a log home in your future.

5 comments about Pregnancy Sucks: What to Do When Your Miracle Makes You Miserable.

1. Expecting parents are always worried about the changes and what to expect. This book is funny and informative. It doesn't cover everything but it's still worth picking up. It's a great gift (I've given it a few times) or just a book to add to your collection. I aloso recomend the version written for men.



2. I haven't read this book, nor do I plan to. After two pregnancy losses in the last year, (five months apart, at 20 weeks, and 13 weeks), I would actually prefer being pregnant and miserable. To all you women out there who are pregnant and miserable: I actually envy you. Good Luck to you lucky women out there, and when you hold that baby in your arms for the first time, you will find that everything you're going through is completely worth it!!



3. When I first read this book, I laughed at the first two pages. Then I just ended up feeling sorry for the author's daughter--who will one day read this and learn just how much her mother hated being pregnant with her. Then I was just shocked at how outdated it was. She has such a bitter attitude towards pregnancy, it makes you wonder why she didn't just adopt instead.
   
   On top of that, her information is outdated and one-sided. Aside from interviewing doctors, it seems like she didn't put much research or thought into her pregnancy. Never do we get the entire picture of all our choices when it comes to medical care, labor, and labor pain management. Foods that are healthy (ex- pasteurized soft cheeses) are completely banned in this book.
   
   Parts of pregnancy suck, but it doesn't have to suck that bad. In fact, many of the "unavoidable torture" the author talks about can totally be worked around while keeping mom and baby healthy (and in some cases, safer) than what she suggests.



4. I purchased this book based on the witty title and other reviews. I have been disappointed with the content, but that's probably because I have experienced an uneventful pregnancy. I found that I could not relate to the seemingly unending trials the author endured throughout her pregnancy. I do give the author credit for her funny moments and frank manner in her story telling. They gave me a chuckle every now and then. Overall, I found that the What to Expect series and The Modern Girl's Guide to Motherhood were much more informative and helpful.



5. I agree with most of the other reviewers - this book tells it like it is without being terribly crude or rude. There are some things mentioned that not every doctor will agree with (the risks of soft cheese, microwaves, hair dye, etc). However, early in the book, Kimes informs readers that doctors are different, just as all women are different. I enjoyed the empathy/sympathy about the fright of bleeding during pregnancy - especially if you've already had one (or more) miscarraige. I bought this book before my 1st miscarriage and just skimmed the part about bleeding and the fear of miscarriage. Then I had one and got pregnant again within 2 months. That pregnancy also ended in miscarriage. When I got pregnant the 3rd time, I read the section about bleeding during pregnancy being normal, but terribly scary for those who've suffered miscarraige. It reassured me that all women have some fear of miscarriage, but once you've been there, done that, your fear is greatly magnified! I'm in my 18th week now and still enjoying the book!

5 comments about Siteless: 1001 Building Forms.

1. I would recommend this book to anybody who sometimes struggles with coming up with new ideas or often gets stuck in the design process.. I often flick through this book for inspiration or ideas. The forms inside do not necessarily need to be replicated, but can often lead to developments in your own ideas.
   
   A really helpful, small book that should be kept in any architecture students backpack



2. To claim this book just adds to the general tendency of contemporary architecture seeking the immediately shocking, superficial and easily publishable is perhaps a sign of precisely this tendency: people losing the ability to dwell on things long enough for their imagination to come out.
   
   Once applied on actual architecture these concepts would need to be closely linked to program, scale and site to be interesting. However in the initial program-, scale- and siteless condition they are presented in this book, they evoke intense imagination in me. The sketches being hand drawn also adds to this.
   
   You can be impatient and flip through it in five minutes, or you can focus your attention and find the potential and depth these forms have.
   
   Anyway, diverging criticism and provocation is usually a sign of quality.



3. I am not an architect but I am fascinated by the multiple varieties of shapes in this book. I can literally dive into this imaginative world.
   The architectural context seems to give the work some kind of
   justification, which is not needed. It is a fine piece of art all by
   itself.
   It makes a good present as well, as the price is very reasonable, and can be a source of inspiration not only for architects but also for artists (I personally intend to offer it to a friend who is a wood sculptor). I think this book is an appealing work for all kinds of creative people.



4. This is a book that reflects the disease that afflicts modern architecture these days. Out of "boredom" with the field we are given a bunch of random meaningless forms which proudly state they have no relationship to site, community, or humanity. How clever. Even the genesis of form based on nature would be more interesting than this visual equivalent of navel gazing. Maybe this reflects the utter detachment from the real world that current modernist architects have attained. In an age where we, the human beings, could certainly use better visions for the built environment, we are offered some idle, ego-driven, abstract puttering. Anyone who needs this book as form-giver, shouldn't be practicing architecture, or attempting to learn it.



5. It's a very interesting little pamphlet, and amusing to flip to any page and see what's there.
   That being said, the forms don't communicate that much, and it requires an iron attention span to "read" for more than about 5 minutes.

4 comments about Site Planning - 3rd Edition.

1. I'm amazed that people didn't like this book more... I am also a Land Arch student who had it as an assigned book that was rarely actually assigned. I was thumbing through it in hopes of generating ideas for another class and was amazed at the amount of usable information it contained. Perhaps it is better digested in chunks instead of the whole. I found it great as a reference book.



2. Being a new student of a landscape architecture program, this was a required textbook for one of my classes. After reading between the lines and through the wordiness of the book, I finally understood the point the author was making and found the point interesting. It took a couple of times to finally understand what he was saying, but it was interesting once I understood it. It was on the dry side.



3. The book is much weaker than Lynch's classical piece "The Image of the City". Text sometimes gets dull and too dry, like in many of reference books. In fact, the "referential" quality of "Site Planning" is the only positive feature of the book. When authors pursue the singular goal to create a comprehensive textbook, the liveness of arguments suffers a lot. The book becomes rather a dull close-minded disengaged preaching that requires a lot of effort on the side of a reader to understand and utilize it.



4. It was the best book I have ever read. I recommend to people who are involved, or want to be involved in the field of landscape architecture.

5 comments about Helen Van Wyks Favorite Color Recipes.

1. I find this book very helpfull in learning how to mix colors. She talks about the color tones, hues, complimentery colors. Why she uses what color where. It gets you thinking about color and how to use it in your painting.



2. My wife and I lived in Rockport when Miss Van Wyk was still painting. We have the first version of her color recipes book in its original three ring binder form. Her book offers the beginning painter great suggestions and solutions on many typical color mixing problems. Thanks Helen.



3. I love this book. It's been very helpful for times when I just can't seem to mix the color I'm looking for. I look in this book and it always has good information.
   
   Even though I have a BFA many things that would have been helpful in the real world, just weren't taught. This book fills in a lot of blanks.



4. Helen is a great teacher. I have taken art classes and learned 1/10th of what I learned by reading her book. I am colorblind and people argue with me about it because of my ability to use the right colors. I only wish she was still here so she could produce even more information etc.



5. An excellent book that covered many subjects of painting, and how to use particular colours successfully for that area, I found this very helpful and informative.

2 comments about Tadao Ando: 1941 (Taschen Basic Architecture).

1. this books introduce lots of important works of Tadao Ando
   good print quality, nice pictures with reasonable price



2. This is the first Taschen Basic Architecture volume about a living architect. The earlier Taschen volumes have been about the Modernist masters such as Mies, Le Corbusier, Loos, Wright, Kahn and Neutra. If there is any living architect who can measure up to this Pantheon of Greats, it is Pritzker Prize winner, Tadao Ando.
   
   Like the other volumes in this series, there is a short biographical essay, followed by short chapters that focus on key works. The German Publishing Company Taschen publishes some of the best architectural books. Their books are always of the highest quality and reasonably priced. At Ten Dollars, it is hard to imagine a better introduction to the works of one of the most important architects of the Twentieth Century. Highly recommended.