1 comments about Greece Style: Exteriors, Interiors, Details (Icons S.).

1. Marvelous pictures with some helpful hint on technique painting and achieving the looks presented in the pictures. I would have liked more information on where to obtain some of the accent items. If you like photo journal books, you will enjoy this publication.

No comments about Finnish Sauna: Design and Construction.

2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Stained Glass & Lightscreens.

1. I actually DID read this lovely book accentuated by wonderful pictures....just be aware that it is NOT a book of stained glass patterns although the pictures will surely provide ample ideas for you to adapt. It'll be difficult NOT to get excited about doing some 'lightscreen' projects around your home or office where you DO want want to see outside, unobstructed light and scenery with either full panels or partial panels. Am I glad I bought this book?...You bet!



2. This book has a fairly decent amount of photos of FLLW's glass designs, and the quality of the photos is decent also. I haven't read much of the book since I'm mainly interested in the photographs of his windows. There's not a lot of quality books out there for his stained glass (unless you want to spend $... on the Glass Art book), so this is a worthwhile introductory purchase.

5 comments about Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure.

1. In its early years, air travel was a thrill for the rich. Today, it is boring, necessary and commonplace. Through well-written stories and narrative history, this easy read gives a history of air travel from the perspective of the architectural structures that support it. As our understanding of air travel has changed, airport architecture has changed as well. There is now more glass and more security, painfully long passageways, more roadway than runway and, of course, acres of parking. One thing has not changed: the airport has always been a portal to somewhere else. Airports are the waiting rooms of adventure and freedom. Naked Airport gives insight into the challenge of making these waiting rooms less purgatorial.
   
   I share the opinion of the other reviewer who says that the last part of the book is not as strong as the first. For example, there is no discussion of important recent developments such e-ticket kiosks and wireless networks. Even with this shortcoming, I still recommend this one.



2. As an Architect, I found Mr. Gordon's book to be a very accessible read. This is not a coffee table book with glossy photographs and difficult to comprehend architectural theory. Instead he gives a very clear overview of the development of the airport building type, much like The Architecture of Diplomacy by Jane Loeffler does. He uses simple and tasteful photographs and graphics pared with a well written history. I would give this book a high mark and recommend it for both architects and non-architect. Thank you, Alastair Gordon for a nicely written book.
   
   Gregory Knoop
   Oudens + Knoop Architects



3. Alastair Gordon is at his best describing airport construction from the mid-1930s WPA era through the early 1960s. At one point, in fact, he says, "It would be nice to imagine a brief period, a golden moment, somewhere between say 1958 and 1963 ... when advanced technology and American-style marketing produced a perfect, jet-setting age of travel." Instead of devoting energy to a new preservationist movement for airports built during that period (for example, Saarinen's TWA terminal at JFK), Gordon bathes in reverie from this point of the book all the way to the end.
   
   We are doomed to anonymous, repetitive styles in airports, he says, and promptly contradicts this assertion with descriptions of attempts to humanize airports constructed or refitted within the past five years. I can understand him being in love with airports of the late 50s and early 60s, since I am too. But this should not preclude his being fair with the newest efforts to make airports wonderful today. And some of these efforts are really impressive.
   
   Be fair, Alastair! We keep flying; new passenger planes are more comfortable and more efficient (like the 777). Airports are improving, too. Don't lose your sense of wonder and leave your readers dehydrated...the best is yet to come.



4. Even for the most expert traveler, the Naked Airport will shed light on many facets of airports domestically and abroad. For instance, did you know that there are over 200 old bank safes in the landfill at Newark (EWR)? The history is layed out cronologically, but woven with social, political, economic and business history, such that it is any interesting narrative rather than a dry recitation of facts.



5. Through the pages of Naked Airport, Alastair Gordon examines the history of the world's most diverse structures. Going well beyond the architecture, this book explores airports in their historical and cultural context, defining well known edifices by identifying their place in the 20th century timeline.
   
   I really enjoyed this book. Through a vivid and compelling narrative, Gordon manages to transport the reader to key points in time. Imagine attending the dedication of the New York Municipal Airport on October 15, 1939, where three skywriting planes circle overhead spelling out the words "NAME IT LA GUARDIA AIRPORT." The audience bursts into applause. Or picture being one of the first New York passengers in the early 1970s to walk through an electromagnetic gateway, a newly installed anti-terrorist device.
   
   Naked Airport is perhaps the most comprehensive statement on airport architecture, history and culture to date. It is a must-read for history buffs and casual readers alike.

4 comments about Zoltan Szabo's Color-by-Color Guide to Watercolor.

1. A must have for your collection,,,,I am a Zoltan Szabo fan and love everything he has printed, straightforward, easy to understand and this Colour to colour guide book to Watercolour is the tops!!!!



2. This book cannot replace the Michael Wilcox's Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green in terms of basic completeness, clarity, and universal applicability. It's more of an idiosyncratic look at how one artist makes use of his paint choices. You will come away seeing how Szabo does it, but its applicability in a *general" way is severely limited. That being said, the book is a great instruction book. Every painting (one every 2 pages) has step by step instruction and the ideas he has for using only 5 pigments max per painting are excellent.



3. I have the hard cover edition. This is an excellent color book for learning and reviewing watercolor pigments & paints. This book illistrates how to use these pigments and paints in various watercolor works of art. The properties of each color are thoroughly explained with printed samples of the color and the complementary color shown. Also the other colors that work well with each pigment are shown, along with a sample of a successful work of art containing these colors. I'm very glad to add this to my library of watercolor books.



4. In learning the characteristics of watercolor, this is a book I return to again and again. The author has classified each basic color as to its' transparency, its' complement, and executes a painting with that palette, and much more!

2 comments about 100 Houses for 100 Architects (Special Edition).

1. This book is not as bad as the previous reviewer makes it out to be. It presents a wide selection of architects houses, from William Morris in the Nineteenth Century to Francine Houben at the end of the Twentieth. The documentation of every house is quite decent and gives a good understanding of the spaces, with a good textual explanation, and the photographs are of great quality. Some houses have probably rarely appeared in print, as for instance those of Fernando Tavora, Christian Norberg-Schulz, and Jose Antonio Coderch. Besides, the book gives a great idea about these architects' conception of the 'home', as for instance in Coderch's case, who conceived his house in a vernacular mode quite different from the architecture he is known for.



2. There's nothing terrible about the book. But it is so easily beat out by other architecture books (including others by Taschen publishing) that there's no reason to get this book or waste your time reading much about it.

5 comments about Creative Photo Cropping for Scrapbooks (Memory Makers).

1. I have been an avid scrapbooker for years and have yet to find a book that uses the pictures as the true page focal point instead of adding embellishments.... until I saw this book! There is page after page of unique ideas for cropping pictures that will guarantee that your pages will stand out from all the others.



2. Ever hear of *SHEAR-CROPPERS* ? "Creative P.C. (Photo Cropping) for Scrapbooks" is a book crammed with examples of "creative cropping" - - including new twists & challenges. My favorites are weaving, vertical panoramas and kaleidoscope mats.
   
   Patterns can be imitated or cleverly adapted for using your own treasured photographs. The fun is in trying out all of the different effects. Only in a "How-To" book would so many fill consecutive pages, but finished products can also be framed as gifts, &/or placed as decorative accents in homes.
   
   The book is obviously not the work of one individual - - many have worked together to demonstrate ideas for cropping in distinctive ways that will liven the pages of scrapbooks. It is all part of a thriving industry whose many enthusiasts love to learn & share new techniques. Even in the very small (15,071) Indiana county where Reviewer mcHAIKU lives, there are two shops and one 'commercial' individual in the largest town (population: 826)!
   This shows that you can get help anywhere to produce *BLUE RIBBON scrapbooks* - - and especially by using books such as "Creative Photo Cropping." (mcHaiku: 8.2.07)



3. This book is well worth the price. It offers many unique ideas. It has the basics for your beginner scrapbookers, but is full of challenge ideas for apprentice or even seasoned scrapbookers!



4. An excellent book for all levels of scrapbookers, but especially so for those who are just beginning. Well done.



5. I have looked and wasted so much money buying scrapbooking books here and there for these tiny bits of "goodness" in them. When this book arrived I realized I finally found a true inspiration book - no fluff, no fillers, no really basic-how-to-scrapbook instructions. Everytime I open this book I become entralled with the examples....(Ooohhh, I NEED to do that next time...WAAYY TOO COOL!).
   
   If you are a beginning scrapbooker - this book is not for you. The methods of cutting or cropping are better left to those who've gained experience with cropping photos and using a paper trimmer. A better book for you would be Scrapbooking for Dummies (covers a wide variety of basics) or a class.
   
   However, if you treat your paper trimmer like a third arm and are quite comfortable with it - you've got to get this book! Well worth the price even at full retail!

1 comments about From a Cause to a Style: Modernist Architecture's Encounter with the American City.

1. Nathan Glazer's book, "From A Cause To A Style" is a must read if you want to know where modern architecture has gone, especially in the residential field. In very clear terms and with excellent examples, the reader learns to some degree just how dumbed down we have become regarding architecture and the arts. The Star architects now do museums and entertainment palaces. They do not do housing like they used to primarily because the public has rejected what they did. Glazer sets this all down with both clarity and precision and if you would understand why the developer demolished the perfectly adequate house next door and built a house capable of becoming a fancy servants quarters for the Queen of England, this is whare you find that out. Every architect should own and read this book.

1 comments about Plain Modern: The Architecture of Brian MacKay-Lyons (New Voices in Architecture).

1. So much architecture these days is known primarily because it is the same general thing repeated endlessly. Sort of like the houses made of ticky-tacky in Daly City. Then once in a while you find a book like this one which features a series of buildings, that truly stand out.
   
   Located mostly in Nova Scotia, the architecture of Mr. MacKay-Lyons stands out as truly distinctive. Mostly of small rather inexpensive residences that are very difficult to make dramatic, here are examples of beautiful buildings. Further, most of them are small, and that means inexpensive. As he puts it, they do not have the big debt philosophy. You live in a tarpaper shack until you can afford siding.
   
   Besides houses, there are various commercial builings included from a dramatic theater, a Canadian embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, office buildings and university buildings.
   
   Finally, for several years he has hosted a gathering of interested people in building a structure on land he owns just to explore the limits of what can be done. These projects, called Ghost, are illustrated to give form to some of their ideas.
   
   Splendid book.

2 comments about London Style: Streets, Interiors, Details (Icon (Taschen)).

1. Artsy black & white pics show London street scenes in the first (small) section. Then the large sections of excellent color photography illustrate a variety of interiors, then decorating details.
   
   Most of the space is given to the pictorial, as befits a book on how things look; what little trilingual (English-French-German) text exists is poetically descriptive.
   
   Styles represented tend toward the spare and eclectic - we're not talking about conspicuous consumption or Martha wannabes here - probably "urban bohemian" is the general trend. Architectural details are proudly and blatantly incorporated into the overall scheme of things... It's a work well worth inclusion in your library



2. This book is an excellent viewbook if you want to get a taste of contemporary London interiors. It has very modern, a bit more classic and very simple interiors as well. There is very little text in the book, but the photos are all full page and very well made, high quality. A fun book to flip through and get inspiration from!