No comments about The Plumbing Apprentice Handbook.

No comments about Early homes of Rhode Island: From material originally published as the White pine series of architectural monographs, edited by Russell F. Whitehead and ... (Architectural treasures of early America).

1 comments about Quick Guide: Storage Sheds: Step-by-Step Construction Methods (Quick Guide).

1. This is one of the better books I've found for the novice builder. The plans are simple with materials list for different sizes. Nothing fancy with this book just downright practical. You won't get lost in lingo. If you've built items in the past and are intermediate in skill, this may be too simple. This is a great first book on construction.

3 comments about Alpine Interiors/Alpen Interieurs/Interieurs Des Alpes: Alpen Interieurs = Interieurs Des Alpes (Interiors (Taschen)).

1. This is an exquisite book. Such cosiness and wonderful living spaces, truly exhilirating. I don't have much time to write this review but I read through the book this Saturday morning and it's impact is priceless - I briefly and partially read person's view from Canada below and they say it perfectly.



2. This book takes you inside some of the most interesting and memorable homes in the Alpine region. Fully trilingual - everything in the book is presented in German and French, along with English - this book also has stunning color and black and white photographs on almost every page. Makes an excellent coffee table book. If you love interior design, and are curious about the Alpine way of living, this book is for you. What a shame that it is currently out of print.



3. As well as ALL the other books from TASCHEN's "Interiors" series, this book is simply magical. It offers a great trip in the Alpes and simply gives you the opportunity to visit the most beautiful houses -- from simple chalets to deluxe houses -- of the mountains. The printing is fabulous and the pictures are of pure quality. Beautiful!

1 comments about The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance.

1. Now six years into the 21st century we should demand a general book on the architecture of the Italian Renaissance, in English, worthy of our time. Unfortunately this is not it.
   We have had classic books that have endured over generations and now are in need of revision and update, making room for more recent scholarship to assert itself and supplant these revered but outdated tomes. Books by Jacob Burckhardt, Peter Murray and Heinrich Klotz have dominated the English speaking market from the late 19th century until today.
   This book by Thames and Hudson gives us little that is new and in fact almost mocks us with their contempt. For certain Prof. Frommel is knowledgeable and a master of his subject but this is not enough. My disappointment in fact is not directed so much at the author who has proven his worth (see contributions in "The Renaissance from Brunnelleschi to Michelangelo" published by T&H in 1994) but at the publishers. The promise of the cover photographs is not met inside the book, which has b/w photos throughout and insufficient drawings for a work on Architecture (and indeed no new ones).
   Let us be clear, to experience the full polychromatic display of the interior of a renaissance palace is something never to be forgotten. We must therefore have full colour photos of the more important interiors of the Renaissance. Recent books reproducing the original drawings of masters of the past have understood that to copy them large and in full colour is to transmit the true majesty of the creation (books on Bernini's architecture and Leonardo's drawings amongst others).
   Knowledge and scholarship are very important but publishing values are equally important. The bar must be raised. If the target audience is architects or architectural students then the books must have clear plans, sections, elevations, sketches and diagrams to illustrate the buildings (eg. why not incorporate some of Letarouilly,s drawings of Roman buildings). They must also be accompanied by the best photos (these should be colour photos wherever possible unless historic b/w photos better illustrate the point) of the whole or the part, sufficient to illustrate the point being made.
   I suspect that for a work worthy of this century we need to tell the story in 2-4 large volumes and directed at the architect. The publishers and authors must do more work if they expect us to purchase their work and provide us with new, expanded and uplifting scholarship worthy of the 21st century.
   For this project Konemann remain my publishers of choice as they have consistently proven that they can produce works of a very high standard at an affordable price, without dropping their standards.
   Obviously I cannot recommend this book to potential purchasers especially not at the price quoted. I await the production in English of the definitive contemporary text(s) on the Architecture of the Italian Renaissance.

4 comments about The Courthouses of Texas: A Guide.

1. This book is not bad as a simple guide, but it has no indepth history of the courthouses and the images look very amateurish, but every courthouse, no matter how small, has a requisite image, which is a plus and frankly is what makes this guide worth having. Every courthouse gets a small image, and a small blurb , and i do mean small, about it's style, history and who designed it. If you are really into courthouses, id recommend it i guess, but only if your a real fan. This pales in comparison to the book the Historic Texas Courthouses by Andrews..now that book is GREAT, with interesting text and beautiful images, that book I give five stars...uh whomever gave this review an unhelpful has either never seen this book or is a family member of the author..honestly, I challenge anybody to pick up this book and look at it and not totally agree, and worse yet, the images in this guide are not updated, the picture of the courthouse in Corpus Christi is still under construction, uh it was completed in the mid nineties..an DECADE ago..i mean the authors could not have traveled to Corpus and got an updated image, not doing so is just plain lazy, all this book has different than the first addition is a nicer cover, an update forward, that says nothing really enlightening and a higher price, i mean the images in this book are hardly professional anyway, so really they could have called some random person in Corpus with a dig camera to take the pic and email it them..scan it and put it in the book, it could not have been much more amatuerish than what is in here.



2. The second edition of Dr. Kelsey's guide book to Texas courthouses is a joy, either to carry on your next road trip or to use in browsing Texas's 254 county courthouses from home. Published in 2007 by Texas A&M University Press, the book retains Dr. Kelsey's "Personal Tour" section, but has updated photos, county population, and appendixes.
   
   I agree with "SchylarRex" that Michale Andrews' work, "Historic Texas Courthouses," is excellent. I have it too, and would not want to be without it.
   
   That said, however, I believe it's important to distinguish between the purposes served by "Historic Texas Courthouses" and "The Courthouses of Texas-A Guide." Andrews' book looks at 100 of state's the most architecturally significant historic courthouses. It measures approximately 11 inches by 10.75 inches in height and width. "The Courthouses of Texas" weighs in at 9 x 6 inches and is a handy size to throw in the back back and go. As has been already noted, each of the 254 Texas courthouses is represented.
   
   The Texas Historic Commission website says about the Kelsey and Dyal book: "This is the first resource to buy if you want to go 'courthouseing.'" http://www.texascourthousetrail.com/resources.htm
   
   I hope this helps clear up any confusion that may have inadvertantly resulted from the customer reviews. In my opinion, the two make excellent companions to each other.
   
   In my opinion, the color photos in "The Courthouses of Texas," though only about 2.5" x 3.5" in size, are clear, clean, and uncluttered.
   
   The alphabetical county listing makes finding any particular courthouse easy. The comments retain descriptions of courthouse styles, names of architects, and brief historical notes that you'd not likely pick up when just passing through town.
   
   It's also fun to track down a copy of Coursey Clark's 1962 classic "Courthouses of Texas" (in black and white) for comparison.
   
   On my wish list for third edition of Kelsey and Dyal's great guidebook, I'd suggest adding one feature from Clark's format--tiny outlines of the state and its many counties on each page with the particular county highlighted for easy geographical reference. With so many counties, just keeping up with their location is no easy feat!
   
   Elaine Ward



3. This book made me want to start my quest to visit ALL of the courthouses of Texas. This has become something of a burden to me now. Some of the most beautiful ones are quite remote. Be warned - when you see a really beautiful courthouse - you will want to see more.



4. an excellant book on so esoteric a subject. I found the majority of the information provided to be very useful. this book has assissted me on my travels to see these great buildings.

No comments about Retail Therapy: Store Design Today.

4 comments about High Fit Home: Designing Your Home for Health and Fitness.

1. I got this book to get inspiration for designing a home that would promote a healthy athletic lifestyle. It didn't give me what i wanted.
   The book has some nice photos of some nice homes, but they are not in anyway inspirational to a fit lifestyle. Nothing new, nothing great.



2. I got got! LOL!! I thought that there would be some real concepts in this book to inspire me. Negatrino on that one! "High Fit Home" Really....



3. If you want great, stunning photographs of what can be done to design a home to assure the physical fitness of those living in it, this book is a must buy. The heart of the book is the beautifully illustrated examples of homes that have been designed to be fitness friendly. The introduction and chapter 1 discussing the history of fitness and need for people to be more fit in modern society are standard stuff. The book concludes with helpful hints about what to do if you want to make your own home fitness friendly.
   
   That said, the examples of fitness friendly homes are obviously those built for the upper income tier of upper income groups. Knowing such home design and re-modeling was possible and being done on a limited basis, I was hoping the author would at least speculate on whether the innovations to make the American home fitness friendly would percolate down to become standard in all upper income and eventually middle income housing and even suggest what would be needed to make this happen.
   
   As more and more people work from home and lifestyles become ever more sedentary, we need more ways to make exercise possible, so more on what could be done to enhance the average, or even slightly above average, home to make it fitness friendly would have earned the book a fifth star in my review.



4. This is the kind of coffee table book that you actually read! It's not only gorgeous and inspiring to see --the pictures are amazing, but the back story on each very interesting. Super creative concept to combine architecture and health/fitness It's smart, organized, current, futuristic and historical. A must read/see for health-minded and architectural enthusiasts.

No comments about Housey Housey: A Pattern Book Of Ideal Homes.

No comments about Educational Environments No. 3 (Educational Environments).