5 comments about The Art of Exterior Painting: A Step-By-Step Guide to Choosing Colors and Painting Your Home.

1. Obviously, since this book is printed by Benjamin Moore Paints, there will be a certain amount of self-advertising following it's advice on choosing the proper paints and equipment (like the recipies on the back of soup cans).
   However, this book was a good primer (pardon the pun) for anyone who is compentant enough to paint the insides of a house, and is just starting to tackle the outside of their home.
   I found it chock full of useful advice, but lacking in enough procedural details to be called a "step-by-step" guide.
   It'll say things like "Strip and sand the exterior trim before priming" and I'll say things like "HOW?!?"



2. I have purchased several guides for painting houses in the "home improvements" category. They were fine for learning about painting a house, but I'm hiring painter, so I don't really need that information. What I need is help choosing the right color. Obviously I don't want to make a mistake. I already know that I want a yellow house. But none of the colors I have tested look right. They are all too bright or dark even though they look pale on the paint chips. When I saw this book, I noticed the phrase "choosing paint colors" right in the title, so I assumed it was the answer. But, I felt every bit as stuck at the paint store as I did before reading the book. My expectation was that I wouldn't have to start going through paint chips anymore, but the information in the book wasn't specific enough to be useful to me. The book did not meet my expectations.



3. I thought this book would give me photographs of painted houses and their paint colors. Instead it gave detailed information on the paint process itself with scant few houses where the whole house shows. Its mostly pretty photos like the rooftop of a house with a weatherwane on it, or a window with a window box of flowers under it. Where are the painted houses? I can't figure out what color to paint my house using this book.



4. I bought the book because I needed help figuring out what color to paint my house, but it really didn't help me. The book looks good, but what I need is help choosing colors. I returned it.



5. Painting a house or even thinking about it is no fun. I visited a Benjamin Moore Paint Store and browsed through the store's only copy of the book, The Art of Exterior Painting. The book is very well written with the basics of house painting described in detail and with color photos describing problems, solutions and ultimate results. The book impressed me so much I went home and ordered it via Amazon for my own reference as I plan to paint my house. An excellent PRIMER!

2 comments about Designing Small Parks: A Manual for Addressing Social and Ecological Concerns.

1. This book was listed as one of the top 10 books in Planning in 2006 by Planetizen and is a very useful manual. It's fun to read, inclusive, informative, and well-researched.



2. I am on a review committee for a local park, and got this hoping it would help. Unfortunately it is more of a text book that attempts to cover all bases without really advocating or advising on how to acheive good park design.

1 comments about Design and Construction of Wood Framed Buildings.

1. This is a great book. I highly recommend it to anyone involved with light frame construction. It is clear, concise, the examples are very easy to follow. You do not need to be an engineer to use this book. This is a great book for engineers, architects and contractors alike.

No comments about Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing.

No comments about Dynamic Daylight Architecture: Basics, Systems, Projects.

2 comments about Marshall Field's (A Building Book).

1. This book is a must have for all who miss Chicago's one and only Marshall Field's, and or hate Macy's.



2. This is a SMALL book with SMALL print. I should have paid closer attention when I ordered it. I wish there had been more vintage pictures. Of course, I love to read anything about the late great Marshall Fields department store of which I have so many happy memories from childhood. There will never be anything else like it and I'm glad I can remember it so well. Shame on Macy's!!

No comments about Roadside Crosses in Contemporary Memorial Culture.

1 comments about 21st Century House.

1. Jonathan Bell's book, 21st Century House offers up a focus on the home as a symbol of change and innovation, packing in hundreds of color photos of house interiors to prove his point. These photos don't limit themselves to the U.S. either, but cover homes around the world, with architectural writer Jonathan Bell choosing homes which reflect the latest design trends whether urban or rural. Affordable houses are the focus, too: a refreshing perspective in a sea of architecture books featuring mansions.

4 comments about Temples of Ancient Egypt.

1. I read this book from two perspectives: 1) being an architect & 2) being a serious Egyptophile studying & teaching about Egypt for years. It is a highly scholarly work containing academic information of Egypt that may seem out of context to the casual reader, for example: knowing the transliteration script of hieroglyphs and having previous knowledge of Egyptian deities. As cumbersome as this may be to some, it is an engaging series of essays.
   
   This work describes the human elements of ritual and the physical world the ancients created to define their place in the cosmos. Architecture defines a culture. Each of the authors admit, however, that there is so much symbolism within any given society, so much diversity and connotation, that a completely accurate portrait of any building is impossible. But their extensive and informed analysis is enlightening.
   
   The beauty of this book is that it tells the tale of rituals, offerings and links to the divine as we have always known it, and practice it, in our own individual and collective subconscious, and how the Egyptians were the first to develop these systems. The role of these buildings is set in the backdrop of the culture they came from, the significance of temple architecture to the creation myths of Egypt and how the concept and practice of worship have come full circle into our own world today.
   
   This book is an eye-opener I wish existed back in college. The previous writings of Mircea Iliade, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and even Joseph Campbell on the subject of Egyptian symbolism are dated by comparison to this work. A great book on the nature of ancient spirituality, piety and concepts of the divine. A must read for any serious Egyptophile (probably mandatory reading now for all budding Egyptologists!).



2. This is a collection of five essays by scholars which cover the types of Egyptian temples and the rituals associated with them from the Old Kindgom to the Roman period. The level to which the essays are engaging for the average reader varies for individual contributions, though they all contain some interesting ideas. Some of the writers spend a lot of time in detailed descriptions of the layout of temples, which some readers may not find so interesting, but two of the essays in particular contain quite insightful arguments relating to the role of Egyptian temples, their relation to the social and economic hierarchy and the purpose of the rituals associated with them. A picture emerges from the essays of an interdependent religious, political and social order that is nigh on impossible to describe using a modern conceptual framework. Some of the writers skillfully delineate what concepts such as ` royal ka', `maat', chaos etc. may have meant to the people who conceived them. Egyptian religion was a representation of the physical environment that gave birth to it - the power of the cycles of the inundation of the Nile and of the daily rising and setting of the life-giving sun. These cyclical renewals were mirrored in the rituals of the temples and associated festivals and the Pharaoh played a central role in ensuring that the cycles were not interrupted. It is difficult to give star rating. Some of the essays would rate five stars and others three.



3. This thought-provoking book is comprised of comprehensive essays written by various established scholars. Amongst the topics covered are religion, creation, kingship and the netherworld. The book consists of fascinating surveys of the Ancient Egyptian temples. Byron Shafer gives an overview of temples and rituals; Dieter Arnold explains the evolution of the pyramids through the Middle Kingdom; Gerhard Haeny explained the temples of the Ramessid Period; Lanny Bell describes the Luxor Temple (the monument most visited by tourists); and Ragnbild Finnestad writes on Ptolemaic and Roman temples. A recommended book for the interested.



4. Shafer, et al have compiled a very well written and extremely in-depth examination of the meaning and importance of temples in ancient Egypt. All the sections were fascinating but I especially found Lanny Bell's treatment of Luxor temple (derived from his many years of work there), Gerhard Haeny's section on Mansions of Millions of Years, and Finnestad's chapter on Ptolemaic temples (really a discussion of the context of this period of temples) to be especially engaging. All of these added greatly to my understanding of the topics they addressed. I would recommend this to any serious Egyptophile with the caveat that it is all written largely in scholarly terms. They don't entirely assume prior knowledge but without some foundation in Egyptological literature, readers might find this interesting but a bit thick.

2 comments about Dream Homes Colorado (Dream Homes).

1. With a plethora of building sites offering truly spectacular settings, as well as a busy metropolitian area, relatively low building costs, and resort areas to attract the rich and famous, Colorado offers a collection of 'Dream Homes' unlikely to be found anywhere else in the world. In putting this book the authors could choose from the best of the best and they did. Both the houses and the background settings are spectacular. There's something about a huge mansion, sitting by a lake, with snow capped mountains in the background that creates a picture worth remembering.
   
   Of course the houses are outstanding in their own right. Most of the houses, especially those remote from the city of Denver, carry a western motif, there's something about being in the west that calls for big wooden beams, log cabin construction, and wrought iron inside. Still, as you would expect, there is room for other architectural style, whatever the customer wants: tudor, French, modern - anything goes. The one common characteristic is that these homes all fill every aspect of being a dream home.



2. Dream Homes of Colorado is a "Must Have" Coffee Table Book.
   It is truly one of the finest compilations of magnificent photography of the finest examples of the achitectural, design, and building talents used to produce the most outstanding homes in the State of Colorado. It showcases where almost everyone would live, if only they could.