2 comments about The Complete Greek Temples.

1. Really helpful book for classical archaeologists, also very good for those who would like to travel around Greece and see Greek Temples



2. This book should all you need to know in a easy to read format. The illustration are great, the text provides details with out being dry. All in all worth the money if you need a good level of detail.

5 comments about The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter.

1. Alpern continues with the format used in his "New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments", which serves the subject matter well. This new volume is also a worthwhile extension of the earlier work for those interested in New York apartment buildings, with very little overlap. However, considering the fairly high price of this book, it would have been nice to see included current photos of at least some of the apartment buildings as they appear today. This would also have provided another level of the always fascinating "then and now" element already included in the book, where illustrations were included depicting what some of the apartment buildings replaced. This was an excellent opportunity missed, perhaps, to provide an amazing encapsulation of the ever-changing and yet at the same time remarkably un-changing landscape of New York City, without detracting from the intended subject of the book. Overall, though, a very agreeable and interesting reference work.



2. An exquisite book! There are stories about each apartment house and how it came to be. I found the two architects, Candela and Carpenter, to be very interesting characters. The homes they designed are ahead of their time. The floor plans are fascinating. The book also shows, by the floor plans, how people lived and what their needs were. The authors even quote costs of building and tell of the people who lived there. If you like real estate you will find this fascinating.



3. Let me first say that I loved the period black and white photos of the buildings, I also appreciated the fact that all of the buildings mentioned came with requisite photos, that is a must in book of this sort. I really didn't know that much about these buildings nor the architects so this book gave me a real education, I came away more knowledged and very impressed. The attention to detail the architects employed in these buildings is amazing and the fact that so many are still extant is a tribute to the artistry and talent that went into designing and building them and obviously contempory wealthy apartment seekers appreciate these attributes or else we all know these buildings would have been pulled down long ago, just like so many of the Gilded Age mansions they replaced. This publishing house puts out such finely crafted books and this one does not disappoint, I highly recommend it.



4. Candela and Carpenter were two of New York's most noted architects of the inter-war era, specializing in luxury apartment buildings. Architectural historian Andrew Alpern has assembled a reference text of their buildings, organized in geographic sequence. In this book, a typical building has two pages dedicated to it. One page consists of a floor plan, and the facing page has a photo or rendering of the exterior, combined with a one-to-six sentence description. Also, there are several brief essays at the beginning of the book.

   I enjoyed this volume, which Alpern has directed at a very narrow segment of readers, but it's not for everyone. This is a volume for architectural enthusiasts who are intrigued by room arrangements. Others might be better served by a book broader in scope (including some by this same author).




5. Alpern has written several books about New York apartment buildings and this is his best. This time he focuses exclusively on the genius of two ground-breaking designers, James Carpenter and Rosario Candela. If you are not adept at reading floor plans (of which there are many), it might not be immediately obvious what defines the genius of these two architects. It is the innovation of their layouts and the graciousness of their spaces that made apartment house living so desireable, allowing for the migration from town house to apartment building. Regardless, everyone will still enjoy the exterior and interior views of these great New York buildings and get a sense of how the rich really live. Alpern raises our awareness of the apartment house type in the City to a higher level, just as others had focused on the greatness of NYC's commercial structures.
   Each building is described in detail and there is some chatty material about who lived where, who bought what, and maybe a little more of that would have added fun to the book. There is a chronology of all the buildings and I would have liked to have seen thumbnail pictures of the buildings next to the timeline, since the book is organized geographically. It is otherwise an excellent and elegant study of the complete apartment house works of these two great designers.

1 comments about Investigate, Ask, Tell, Sense, Build: 3xn Architects.

1. As an architecture student about to graduate May of 2008, I find this kind of publication great to see what the rest of the world is doing. i especially enjoy the Danish style of model making. If you are a fan of the guys formerly of PLOT you will like this book. I got to visit the office of Henning/Larsen a few years ago and was impressed by the work they were doing then so seeing the work Larsen is doing now is cool.

5 comments about Building Doors & Gates: Instructions, Techniques and over 100 Designs.

1. A good basic book. A bit dated. Would benefit from an update in techniques. Readers might enjoy the options of new joinery methods incorporated into door building.



2. I think that the reviews of this book are indicative of a typical problem of books of this type. The publishers take a book on a certain aspect of woodworking and pad it out with a lot of superfluous "basic woodworking" type filler, making it appear to the casual observer as if it is a detailed "how to" book. Buried within this padded and filled book is a good overview of English style gates and doors, with descriptions and general construction notes. So, if that is what you're looking for, you'll like the book. But you do need to have the required carpentry skills before you approach the text. As is so often the case in the woodworking press, the authors were undermined by the clueless publisher.



3. I bought this book because I need to make a new, exterior door for an old house in my hobby woodshop. Allthough the book has many drawings of more architectural nature, it doesn't really show the technical details for the guy that has to build the door, so to me the book was somewhat disappointing.



4. If you want to learn how to build doors, as the title suggests, do not buy this book. You will be sorely disappointed, and guaranteed that this book will not aid you in building a door. If on the other hand, you are simply looking for some black and white sketches of various types of doors, then this could be the book for you.
   
   A complete waste of money.
   
   Jeff



5. I have been looking for a source for quite some time for directions for building "board and batten" doors and was glad to finally find this book. Not only did I find the particular door I was looking for but there were lots of illustrations for many different types of doors many of which are historical reproductions.
   
   I highly recommend this book.
   
   Stephanie Lish

4 comments about Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure, and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church.

1. This is one of the most thorough books about the Hagia Sophia church ever printed. However, it lacked a few important things. First, it would be better as a hardcover. Second, it could have used some 3d renderings of what Justinian's church looked like before the Ottoman conquest. Finally, ALL the pictures are in BLACK AND WHITE! Still a good buy, but do your best to get it at a deal.



2. Exaustively researched, excruciatingly detailed, and competently illustrated, this is still the best book I know on the subject, although an update to include color illustrations would much improve it. However, the paperback binding is sadly inadequate--my copy fell apart when I opened it...



3. I am writing about the Hagia Sophia, and this book is very helpful for information.



4. A bit technical at times but very interesting overall. Excellent photos and elevations. Plus shows how the Church was originally appointed for Orthodox/Catholic Christian sacred use. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

5 comments about Bridges: A History of the World's Most Famous and Important Spans.

1. I had a copy of this book in 2000 and lent it to a friend, but could not remember who. I found it when visiting the USA for the first time. It is simply the most magical and beautiful book in my collection, and from the front cover picture on the Internet, purchasers cannot see that it opens out and spans very very wide, just like a bridge in itself. I missed this book terribly, it is one of my treasures, so I was delighted recently to find that I could still buy it on Amazon. It will never be lent out again! I love the black and white photographs of all the world's most interesting bridges. Anyone would learn a great deal from it, and architects and surveyors would find it fascinating.



2. Every day we traverse bridges in our daily lives, scarcely to give them thought. Dupre pulls back the veil and brings highlight to these engineering feats. From the simple to the revolutionary, we are brought on a tour of bridges through time, and around the globe. The superlatives are here: the longest suspension bridge, highest, oldest. But it's not a book about the superlative; it's about what moves us forward in our quest for technology, and for our ability to move across space in a timely manner. It highlights those bridges that mean something to us: where the Romans said "let's make a permanent way of moving water." Where politics came into play and tried to prevent bridges that we can't imagine not being there like the Golden Gate Bridge. Bridges become important to history such as the ones over the Rhine during the World War. And sometimes when we make mistakes and things don't work out like we planned - the most spectacular example being the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that lasted all of 4 months.

   But as she shows in her book "Skyscrapers," there is an intertwining of form and function, and where man built up in buildings, he builds out via bridges. The book's design even emphasizes - where Skyscrapers was an extremely tall and thin book, Bridges goes for width, to try and bring the spans into the range of the printed page. Yet so often, the task is not possible, and even on the wide pages the bridge disappears into the distance.

   The book looks at the engineering involved, but does not dwell on it. Rather it celebrates how the improvement of engineering practices have been able to move man forward. A veritable love poem to something that we often take too much for granted.




3. "Bridges" was the first of the uniquely-designed, well-written books by Judith Dupre' that I discovered. "Skyscrapers" then became a 'must-have' and now I'm eagerly awaiting publication of her "Churches" - these books contain marvelous black and white photo collections of subjects around the world, with a succinct and intriguing text about each. They invite repeated perusals, and I keep them, in their handsome jackets, where I can see and enjoy them again and again. Often, when I have a few moments, I like to reflect on the historical descriptions of these wonderous man-made miracles and re-study the photos. Of special interest may be the structures which one in fact has seen, perhaps many times. The books are well-indexed and provided with suggestions for further reading.



4. I was a little disappointed in this book in that it really doesn't get into much detail about any of the bridges which are discussed. It's more of a "coffe table" book without out much informative depth. Nothing to really sink your teeth into. However, if you're not already familiar with any of the bridges covered in the book, or you're not a nut for bridges, then this book is a great introduction to a few of the most beautiful bridges to be seen. One neat thing that I did really like is that it is a very wide book which allows you a little better perspective of the true size of some of the bridges - you get long pictures instead of little ones of each bridge. That was kind of cool! My 5 yr old son loves "reading" this book to me!



5. As a history of the world's most famous & important spans this wide, wide book is a spectacular hit! Lots of details, fascinating photos & information. A must for those folks in your life who think bridges are the coolest!

1 comments about Wine & Design (Designpockets).

1. This is a small book, only slightly larger than a pocket book. While the book is full of pictures, the text is disappointing. All text is written in five different languages. In trying to meet the needs of so many, the book has fallen short in delving in the subject with any depth what so ever.

2 comments about Immaterial/Ultramaterial: Architecture, Design, and Materials (Millennium Matters).

1. Toshiko Mori has sadly fallen into the trap of confusing the practice of architecture with merely writing about it. This once-talented architect has now become a parody of herself, a self-important academic smugly satisfied with the sound of her own rhetoric. As for the book, it documents new materials and systems. But the presentation is dry, more in the form of an industrial catalog, and lacks any substantive commentary on architecture itself. And I can't help wondering how many trees might have been saved if Mori and her clique edited out the repetitive and cliched use of words like "challenging", "distorting", "alienating" etc. Architectura and materials evolve; the first use of them, however experimental, is not always good. Like Mori's work, it is stylish, but not classic. Faddish, but not timeless. Pass this one up before it becomes embarrassing to have it on your bookshelf.



2. some very interesting projects by Harvard Design School students. projects are critically approached, its not just eye candy. seem to be on the cutting edge of this kind of exploration. and some interesting interviews of practioners

3 comments about Managing the Construction Process: Estimating, Scheduling, and Project Control (3rd Edition).

1. This book is very helpful and applicable to the real world. It goes through good examples to get a grasp of the development process.



2. Required reading for a construction management course.



3. The book was shrink wrapped but it was damaged. Not sure if it was the fault of the publisher or the seller but in either case I expected a better product.

2 comments about American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community.

1. This is a wonderful book, full of perfectly realized images and interesting text. For whatever reason synogogues in the U.S. often are designed in quite daring styles. It is intriguing to observe how each congregation says a bit about themselves in the building style they chose for their synagogue. I expecially like the spectacular Temple Emanuel in New York City, it is simple breathtaking, though I liked something about all of these buildings. I highly recommend this book; for someone not that familiar with the Jewish faith or synagogues in general it is quite enlightening.



2. I am architecture student doing my thesis project on the development of a synagogue. I knew little about Judaism and having few Jewish people in my community, I have only visited one synagogue in my life. This book was even more than I hoped for, in that it allowed me to view, for the first time, some of the beautiful architecture that celebrates this wonderful religion. The many pictures work well with the descriptive text and allow many to truly experience a setting that I would not normally have to the opportunity to do.
   Another key thing that makes this a five star rating is that you get this book for almost half its original price.