5 comments about Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction: Materials, Finishes, and Details.

1. I am building a new house and wanted some detailed information on materials that would assist in all the choices I will be making. This book is so much better than the infomation you find that is intended for consumers, which is very lacking in details and substance. For example, you will find good information on the different types of construction for kitchen cabinets. This is of great assistance when having to choose a cabinet manufacturer. Instead of blindly comparing cabinets you can actually understand the quality you are getting. I would recommend this book to builders, homeowners who will build or renovate, and architects.
   You are much better off spending on this book than most of the home maganzines, with the exception of Fine Homebuilding which is the best I have found for real infomation.



2. It's exactly what the title promises without the useless filler of many books. I recommend it.



3. Steven Bliss has done a fabulous job culling material from many references which are found on nearly everyone's bookshelf! Bliss puts all the information into an easily understood and clearly illustrated medium. I particularly appreciate the product comparisons for various materials. This book is a must have for every residential architect!



4. this is a really excellent book. It is one of those books that every craftsman or serious DIYer should have. I promise u this book is worth every penny. Its got every answer to every question you have. Buy it right now. You will thank me.



5. I think this is an excellent book! The material is very thoroughly researched and well presented with many illustrations. I was very please to discover that it even includes a chapter on kitchen and bath design. I would highly recommend this anyone involved in residential construction; carpenters, contractors, designers, architects and homeowners.
   
   Christopher Kiley
   (carpenter, woodworker and architect)

1 comments about The American Vignola: A Guide to the Making of Classical Architecture (The Classical America Series in Art and Architecture).

1. This book is a must have for any serious student of classical
   architecture in America! Beautifully detailed illustrations
   throughout.

3 comments about Capturing Light in Watercolor.

1. i devoured this book with the same pleasure i'd get from reading a beautiful children's book. the illustrations -- step by step images of simandle paintings in process -- are beautiful to look at. the stories -- how to put together a painting, from first sketches to last touches of detail -- are simple and engaging. simandle's approaches to brushwork (including the palette knife), mixing colors, preserving white and developing visual rhythms are well worth learning. a very fine guide for the intermediate painter looking for more poetry in their watercolor technique ... one of my favorite watercolor books.



2. I am a Swedish girl who bought this book by chance and it turned out to be just what I was looking for. A wonderful book, a "must" for everyone who like bright, light, sparcling and fresh watercolor paintings. M Simandle teaches you really how to capture light and how important it is to use, as she calls it, "broken color" - many, many fragments of bright pigment, sparkling and contrasting with the white of the paper. A book that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.



3. I found Marilyn's unique approach and palette knife techinique a real find in the world of watercolor instruction books. The beautifully designed step by step latouts and gorgeous subject matter really hit the spot for the starving artist in all of us. Each lesson makes everyone an editor so we can go on to design and illustrate our own personal world in watercolor. I love this book!! (like you didn't notice)

5 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright Field Guide: Includes All United States and International Sites (Frank Lloyd Wright).

1. Excellent book! The easiest place to find out where Wright's gems can be found. Very brief descriptions, and (like any book such as this) sometimes out of date, but the most complete book like it I've seen.



2. The real value of this book is the detailed locational information, GPS coordinates, and information on how one can see the structures without tresspassing. If you are looking for historical info or pretty pictures, this isn't the book. But if you want to see as many of Wright's buildings as possible when traveling this book is the one to have so you don't waste your time travelling to places where the structures are completely off limits. Fantastic.



3. I bought this for my dad who's building a prarie-style home and is the biggest FLW fan I've ever met. He loved it and said that he'd never seen anything like it. He's planning a future business trip around seeing some of the houses listed in this guide. I was surprised at what a hit it was.



4. A friend recently used this book as guide to search out homes in the mid-west and found it to be accurate and very helpful. A must have for all Wright enthusiasts.



5. This is not your typical Wright book filled with beautiful pictures for your coffee table. This is a Field Guide for the Wright aficionado who wants to see the buildings "in the flesh." It is meant to be kept in the glove compartment of your car or as a permanent part of your luggage. Maybe you should get one for both places. The star ratings indicate not only the quality of the design but also how well you can see the house from the street without treading on private property. In other words... it helps you decide if the trip to this site is worth your time and effort. The photos are generally of what you can see from the street, so that you will know you are in the Wright place! The descriptions that accompany each site are not just about the building, but usually more about the owners and their occupations and connections to other Wright clients or interesting people. You will not be able to find this historical information elsewhere. Other sites that will be of interest to the purchasers of this book are ones associated with Wright, like the Auditorium by Adler & Sullivan in downtown Chicago and some buildings that were built after Mr. Wright's death based on archived drawings. When the second edition comes out it should have a spiral binding.

5 comments about Getting Started in Airbrush.

1. its a good book for when your getting started.
   easy to understand straight forward over all
   very good



2. Being a complete beginner with airbrushes I found this book a little too advanced for me. I have been looking for a publication that gives the basic items and exercises to start using this art form. The airbrush I purchased seems to want to paint in 25cm strips and I don't know how to adjust anything on it. This publication didn't help in that respect or what to use and how to obtain the paint or ink or whatever and how and what to use to thin certain paint products. Probably a good book when you have been able to master the basics of the airbrush.



3. I was rather disappointed by this book. It has about 5 or six pages of text , doesn't go into enough detail about paints, where to get them, whether to dilute them, and how much, and other things. Most of the book was more like a portfolio of "Look, I did this & this & this" not enough pictures of the steps in creating the drawings.



4. As a beginner I feel I almost wasted my money. It actually doesn't tell tou "HOW" to do things, it tells you "DO" this and "DO" that, "DRAW" a line hear... It doesn't explain why they use light colors first in some projects, darker tones first in others (so how do I procede??). Though half of the book is addressed to T-shirt airbrushing, no instructions are given on how to prepare cotton for your paintjob, how to heat-fix the colors...
   No instructions at all are given on the most important aspect of double-action airbrushing: dosing the trigger for air and/or color. You always read "draw", "smooth" here, "shade" this. My credit card account shaded... HOW TOs books are supposed to tell you HOW TO DO things, not just tell "ok, now DO this and DO that". Im really aggravated... but it's just a book.
   I will PRACTICE the airbrush and look for another guide.



5. Excellent graphics. Great quality in the physical aspect of the book and the colored graphics contianed in it. But, it definitely does not help the beginner much. It jumps steps and the photographs do not help to decipher what the author is trying to explain. Not for the NOVICE

1 comments about Design Drawing 2000 Edition.

1. This book offers a complete and informativeview on design drawing. It is perfect for the aspiring *or veteran* architect and/or interior designer. Thorough explanations of perspective and light and tone have helped me in painting and printmaking as well. This text covers multiple point perspectives, interior perspectives, tonal interest and light, and drawing textures, figures, and composition. Very helpful and informative. A good buy!

5 comments about New Classicism: The Rebirth of Traditional Architecture.

1. As an architectural (and photo) enthusiast, I ordered this book and was immediately and severely dissapointed. The photos throughout the book don't showcase architecture very well, nor do they highlight "new classicism" in my opinion. The worst thing is the quality of the photos and printing. I returned this book immediately and would not recommend it, not even for a coffee table book.



2. I love the fact that we're in something of a classical revival in American architecture. We desperately need exposure to these traditions after 60 years of northern European-derived, cheap, pseudo-modernistic schlock. Most of the architects featured in this volume are at the leading edge of the classical revivial in the United States and Great Britain, but the book is really not put together well at all. The photography, critical to a book like this, is good is some places and horrible in others. The text is dull as dirt, despite the noble intentions of the author, and one can't help but think that a few of the author's favorites are in here that, otherwise, would not really meet the standards of a study like this. There's a pretty strong line between fine classical design and overblown tastelessness. To me, classicism is about refinement and delicacy of detail and proportion. This book and some of the entries included within lack those qualities.
   
   I'd like to see more new classicism, but this book should only be considered a "first draft." I know Elizabeth Dowling can do better.



3. That somebody be the author of this architectural publication is inspirational! I bought a copy through [...] and am very pleased that I did.Besides the interesting photographs, there is also very interesting reading about the subject.It's a pity that here in South Africa we don't get to see much of this type of work as it is very appropriate for Democratic Societies, even today!



4. This is a really good book, with vivid, crisp images and interesting and informative text, the other review on this page really has little to do with this book and more to do with the subject, of which they have a very strong opinion..fine..but to give this book two stars is just plain obtuse, i mean granted these present day architects may not be mckim, mead, and white, or carrere and hastings, or Trumbaur..but christ, does that mean their work should not be given a fair assessment, I really think that review is very infair to this book, take on present day high end residential architects fine, but this is suppose to be a review of this book book, not a diatribe on the state of high end residential architects..good grief, we all can agree, that Quinlin Terry, nomatter how good he is, is no Horace Trumbaur or Stanford White, anyway back to the book, lord, i gave it five stars, just to bring it up a notch to four..i think it's really a strong four star. I especially appreciated the images of that massive mansion built by harrison designs out of atlanta, that house looks like something out of the guilding age it is simply spectacular in everyway, the images of it alone are worth the price of this book. All the big names in grand residential architecture are present, i especially appreciated the section on Quinlin Terry, I love his work. Overall, i highly recommend this book to anyone with a love for grand residential architecture, you won't be disappointed, just don't expect to ever see work like that of Traumbaur or Delano and Aldrich, all the great masons are long gone, and nobody is going to spend the kind of time and money it would take to build another Whitmarsh or Biltmore, those days are washed up on the shores of history.



5. My issue isn't so much with this physical book itself - the pictures are big and colorful, although often blurry for some reason - as much as it is with the architecture. Palladian windows and columns are classical elements, and building with brick and stone are classical materials, but architecture is all proportion. With the exception of the Julian Bicknell work, this book is largely haphazard attempts at making new buildings look old by throwing a lot of money at them. What is missing is the understanding of proportion - not just in the Palladian sense - but in the sense of the early 20th century American architects - Lindeberg, Delano & Aldrich, Trumbauer, Mellor, Meigs & Howe, Pope, Platt, and later Adler, etc. And you can throw Lutyens in the U.K. in there as well. Anyway, I guess I would say - you're not likely to learn much from this book, and that if you are interested in the houses that inspired this "new" Classicism, just stick with the aforementioned work.

No comments about On Architecture (Thinking in Action).

1 comments about Legoretta + Legoretta: New Buildings & Projects.

1. this is defenitly a good book for your collection. quality of the paper and the photogrphs are really high. it has covered more of their letest project than repeating old ones.

4 comments about The Bauhaus Ideal: Then and Now: An Illustrated Guide to Modernist Design and Its Legacy.

1. Great book; found it very useful for a presentation on Bauhaus.



2. Today's design students are overloaded with too many skills and ideas to absorb. Unfortunately, as students race into the future, it seems that subjects like Design History are the first to suffer. This book addresses that problem. You could think of it as the 'cliff notes' of Modernism. It's concise, fun to read, and beautifully illustrated. You can read it in one sitting. It connects Modernist ideas across design, art and architecture from the Bauhaus until now. Along the way, Smock pokes fun at some of the more pretensious characters and positions of Modernism. Most of all, he puts the ideas and forms of Modernism in context for our time. The author clearly has a deep appreciation for his subject, and argues that we still have much to learn from the spirit and optimism of Modernism. For students, this book should help to inspire new interest in what Modernism was/is all about. It suggests that rather than seeing a dusty footnote in history, maybe it's something we should pick up, polish, and re-examine. As an intro, this book should inspire further study for young designers.



3. Sprinkled liberally with the author's own pencil sketches of famous architects, buildings and other design icons, "The Bauhaus Ideal" is a small book chock full of unique perspectives on the history of design. It is pitched at the lay reader or college student - even someone with no interest whatsoever in Bauhaus or architecture would find this an absorbing read, which is why I think it would do very well in an intro liberal arts course for college freshmen hoping to pick up some ideas about modern art and architecture before they branch off onto the irreversible "med school" or "law school" track. It reads rather like the notebooks of da Vinci because of the deft pencil sketches; it also reminds me of John Ruskin's manifesto, "The Stones of Venice". Smock would very conversationally talk about an architect or a building, then throw in a little sketch - the effect is like dropping in on a professor who really knows his stuff but is cool enough to not beat you over the head with it. Smock is good enough to be a professional illustrator. In a few lead strokes he would capture the spirit of a real person's face, or the bare branches of winter. For the non-lay reader, the architect, or "those in the know", this book reaffirms one's thoughts about the giants in the architecture world and asks provoking questions about why things are what they are. All in all, a real treat and worth the price.



4. 
   
   This is the book for people who are interested in design (i.e. buy things)
   but don't read design magazines. Thought-provoking and funny.