5 comments about The Most Beautiful House in the World.

1. This book is like a conversation with an architect and as conversations sometimes go, Rybczynski goes on many rabbit trail, some interesting, some tedious.
   
   And then he will land upon a nugget of real value to someone interested in designing a house. Things like, "A building has to be simple enough to grasp and remember," and "Determining the shape of the roof is the most important decision the designer of a building must make," and a classic rule to remember, "reduce the size of elements as the eye moves up the facade."
   
   The book was written to tell the story of Rybczynski's barn-cum-home and that is mildly interesting. The real interest is in the information he gives the reader about building and designing in general.
   
   If you are interested in just the facts of architecture, buy a text book. If you are looking for a conversation about architecture you will enjoy this book.



2. this refers to the 1989 Penguin Edition-
   
   Asa mechanical engineer in my late thirties I started to know what architecture was all about and its relation to design. It turns out that its not easy to have a comprehensive introduction to the theme. Fortunately, Through Amazon and its reviews and suggested I bought this wonderful book and I was captivated, not only by the perspective it gives on the architecs work, but also on the insight about design it provides.



3. This book by the author of "Home: A Short History of an Idea" (1986) is a more subjective and less disciplined examination of that same topic. Professor Rybczynski uses his experience as an immigrant trying to "fit in" as a lens for looking at what in means to build ones own home. The skeleton of this story is the author's own decision to build a shed to which he can retreat on weekends (for more on weekends, read the author's "Waiting for the Weekend," 1991) and build a boat he can sail away in. At some point the shed becomes more of a barn and then, when he finally abandons his plan to build a boat, it becomes a permanent home for himself and his wife. For me, the book is less about architecture, the act or craft of building, and more about morphing and the undpredictable ways life unfolds. Taken in that vein, Rybczynski's story can be appreciated as a spiritual journey with many sidetrips and gentle awakenings. He is self-critical, but not self-deprecating. And he infuses his tale with enough humor to keep the reader interested without taxing credibility. I especially enjoyed his description of his wife, Shirley, who does some morphing of her own. At the beginning (when the couple was building a mere boathouse), she is little more than an extra pair of hands; when the couple decides to make the structure they have been building into their home, Shirley suddenly becomes a full-fledged "client," full of opinions and demands.
   
   Although, Rybczynski describes several impressive architect conceived and built houses (such as Wright's Fallingwater and Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth house), it is the houses built by their owners that he most celebrates--Mark Twain's home in Hartford, Connecticutt, Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford, Robert Lewis Stevenson's Vailima in Samoa, artists Carl and Karin Larsson's much documented Lilla Hyttnas in Sundborn, Sweden, and Carl Jung's home in Bollingen, Switzerland. "It is no coincidence," writes Rybczynski, "that Stevenson, Scott, Clemens, Larsson, Castrejon, and I were less than forty years old when we built our homes.... The process of building, for all of us, was a process of installing ourselves in a place, of establishing a spot where it would be safe to dream. We had to be old enough to recognize the particularity--and limits--of our dreams, but not too old to believe in them....My house had begun with the dream of a boat. The dream had run aground--I was now rooted in place." (pp. 190, 193)



4. I have to agree with another reviewer this book has little to do with home building and is much adieu about nothing. In the end I was a little digusted at what got built....but then again what is beautiful?
   
   I am a fan of the author and this is my 3rd read by him. I do have to warn potential readers that sometimes this book rambles on about topics most readers would have VERY little interest in. On the flip side the book does contain passages that are highly entertaining. Its about 50/50
   
   This is a book that comes in and out of focus, a style of writing I believe the author enjoys. I guess in order to get books out in the marketplace as often as Witold does he must resort to digressing on just about any topic that pops into his mind.
   
   With that said, he is an intellect...he's well traveled and leads what I believe to be a pretty interesting life.
   
   This is an average book, I was expecting a bit more about home building and a bit less esoteric rhetoric. But then again, nothing churns out books better than rambling away.



5. This book did not come close to meeting my expectations. Of the 200 pages in this book, scarcely 30 actually pertain to the author's house building experience. It appears "the Most Beautiful House" subject was merely a excuse to ramble from one topic to another. One minute he is talking about animal sacrifices & liver divining, the next he is discussing the verb "to habit". I was sorely disappointed and struggle to find any redeeming quality in this work. Readers be warned that this book is a motley crew of diatribes on topics having little to do with The Most Beautiful House in the World.

No comments about A New Theory of Urban Design (Center for Environmental Structure Series, Vol 6).

2 comments about Gazebos & Other Outdoor Structures.

1. This book served its purpose well, which was to give us some ideas on what types of gazebos are available, and what setting may be the best for our property. We have 12 acres on a stream, as well as a pond, and are trying to decide if we want to place the gazebo overlooking the stream, by the pond, or closer to the house.



2. The book is full of great ideas and designs for gazebos and other outdoor structures suitable for the back yard and the cottage. For the novice carpenter it details lumber lists, tools required, definitions, and building techniques combining colour and graphics and photos to get the information across.

No comments about Foundations and Concrete Work (Best of Fine Homebuilding).

No comments about Industrial Design: Materials and Manufacturing Guide.

1 comments about Architecture in China.

1. The overall view of the book is considered to be an excellence book.
   There are a few projects that need to have drawing documentation and in my preferences drawings could be bigger but they are readable.
   The photographs in this book are excellent representation of the essence of the projects under the study cases. Perhaps the narratives could include deeper conclusions of the architect's ideas-to explain the arrival of their conclusions.
   I would really appreciate if all drawings were black w/ grey scale.

No comments about Audel HVAC Fundamentals, Heating Systems, Furnaces and Boilers,.

No comments about Asian Bar and Restaurant Design.

No comments about 1000x European Architecture.

2 comments about Mechanical and Electrical Systems in Construction and Architecture (4th Edition).

1. Great book to learn Enviroment Systems. Gave me an A in the course. Easy to read, and follow. Filled with much needed charts, tables, and pictures. I recommend for this subject



2. This book was written by my old professor at wentworth institute of technology. Although he only gave me a B in the class i have to say the book was written very well ;). It is designed to give the reader important information of construction management in a very basic way. If you are a beginner in the construction business you can not go wrong with this book.