4 comments about Dutch Colonial Homes in America.

1. This book provides an overview of a number of houses built by the Dutch colonist and their descendants in the former colony New Netherland. Beautiful photo's and an extensive historical description of eacht house and its area.



2. This is one of may favorite books featuring authentic Dutch colonials.
   
   The pictures are wonderful as well as the text.
   I had no idea as to the contribution the Dutch had not only in architecture but to the development of the country.
   
   There are many distinctions in their details. There are also many commonalities. I've been able to sort through and incorporate some simple but memorable treatments in one of my projects thanks to this book.
   
   It's a great reference for ideas as well as history and I turn to it often as of late.



3. This book contains some of the best visuals I have seen in quite a long time. The useage of lateral light to bring out texture, color, and ambience is striking. The authors have succedded in isolating commonplace daily scenes found in everything from common humble surroundings to the grandest settings. All scenes are presented equally well, and ,most important, in a new manner- Thus allowing the contemporary viewer to more than glimpse into the past. The visuals are accompainied with an informative, very readable text to greatly aid the reader in interpretation of the scenes depicted. Well done!



4. The material culture of the Dutch in America has always been misunderstood, mis-interrupted, and ignored. Now a book which gives visual evidence of the major contributions of the Dutch in the New World- how this culture in large part contributed to the newly emerging American culture and society.
   This is a must read for anyone interested in early American history as well as the colonial era.

4 comments about San Diego Then and Now.

1. When I received the book I ordered in Jan 2007 I was disappointed to find pages missing and holes in some pages. I complained to Bookarama but they never responded. I then complained to amazon and that got a response from Bookarama offering a refund. I returned the book in July 2007 and have not received any response from them. I guess I must complain to amazon again to see if they can get their dealer to provide a refund for a damaged book.



2. This is one of two San Diego photo books I purchased for my husbands birthday. Absolutly beautiful! The black and white photography really captures some of the details that are lost in color photos.



3. This book lacks color and detail. The real San Diego book was done by photographer George Ross Jezek. This is a knockoff of his ideas. Shame on you



4. It's facinating to see the way the city has changed, the author has some good history and trivia throughout the pages as well.
   
   If you are from San Diego or have ever lived here, this makes a great coffee table book.

5 comments about Ugly As Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces and How We Can Change Them Back Again (Forthright Edition).

1. A priest-friend once confided that if he were appointed as parish priest of a particular parish he would enter its church for the first time on a bulldozer to the cheers of the long suffering parishioners. The parish in question had built one of those modern churches with which we're all too familiar.
   
   The title of this book says it all about prevailing trends in modern church architecture, rather directly but not without subtlety. For it is Rose's conviction that such buildings are not only aesthetically abhorrent, but that they are also theological distortions - sinful in the same way that sin is a privation of a due good.
   
   Rose offers a typical tour of both a traditional and a modern church, which provide a sound catechesis on Catholic architecture, liturgy and faith. He identifies the origins of the modern departure from the traditional principles of Catholic architecture (which he identifies in his first chapter), and `names and shames' those largely responsible for the protestantisation of Catholic churches. A six-step plan for recovery is offered, and some encouraging examples of re-reordering are given. The book is thoroughly illustrated, though one cannot but shudder at photographs of jackhammers destroying a high altar.
   
   This book has been a long time coming. Would that it were published twenty or thirty years ago. Now that it is available, there is no excuse for perpetuating the pretence that such buildings as have been inflicted upon the Catholic faithful in the past few decades are pleasing to either God or man. If you dare, give your parish priest or your bishop a copy.
   
   Ugly As Sin belongs on your shelf beside Thomas Day's masterful exposé of the woeful state of Catholic Church music Why Catholics Can't Sing, and it awaits the company of a much-needed book asserting the true, the good and the beautiful in the face of the polyester and the pathetic in the realm of church vesture. With such books in print, the recovery of the sacred in our worship cannot but be one step closer.



2. Rose is simply excellent. Most modern churches look like the exact same buildings I go to for business conferences. Will my children dispatch their encounter with God and His sacraments with reverence when it looks just like where they will likely work during the week? Why get up and go to Mass at all?
   
   Even a pagan would appreciate Rose's criticisms, for you could probably substitute the words "church" for "temple" and still have a comprehensible document. But Rose's chief criticism is what the goals of a Christian Church are and how architecture should assist and inspire towards those goals.
   
   So what is going on today? Well, Church architecture is "Cr*p-tastic" as David Letterman would say. Fully polluted with Bauhaus, meaninglessness, abstraction, and the ever-present demonic zeitgeist of "in the spirit of Vatican II," we've got churches where we might as well be served hotdogs and snow cones. As a "Roamin' Catholic" because of business travel, I often look around for the "1/2 price" table from the GAP in most vestibules, given the architecture. Lord knows where they put the Lord, usually tucked away in a forgotten box in a side "chapel" which is (and I have *never* found an example to the contrary) even *more*hideous* than the church it self, if you can imagine such a thing were possible. Rose walks us through why this all happened, and it is sickening work to read.
   
   Buy a copy for your Bishop today. And the next time the Diocese starts to raise money for a parish plant in some newly constructed suburb, be sure that you get the names of all involved and send this book as a gift before the first sketch.



3. In this book, Rose tackles the continuing de-emphasis of Catholicism within the liberal ranks of the Catholic Church. With photographs, Rose cannot be challenged in his assertion that in the past four decades, liberal bishops and priests have deliberately constructed edifices devoid of inspiration. Take the example of Holy Spirit Church in Montgomery, Alabama, built in 2001...A horrendous example of precisely what Rose exposes. Here is another of those bare-bones stone science labs, astounding in its total absence of the aura of spiriuality, to which all Catholic church architecture should aspire. Small wonder, then, that in the Sanctuary of this albatross, there is no room for something as "bothersome" as the tabernacle holding the Blessed Sacrament, as space MUST be given over to the choir, so they can sit in mock-concelebratory position and sing their Methodist ditties. The heartening news is that this architectural madness is slowly dying of its own worthlessness. Rome, alarmed at these church designs, and with a keen eye toward all manner of abuses in the Church as it exists in America, has issued a growing number of texts regarding elements of church architecture and interior setting. A new generation of more orthodox priests, along with a growing number of parishioners who have tired of this silliness, have become more vocal and there are plans for new churches which return to the architecture designed to inspire, to enhance solemnity and to be treasured as truly Catholic. We didn't get in this overnight, and we won't get out of it overnight. But, with perserverance, we can ensure that future generations will have churches which are truly Catholic.



4. 
   This is an important book for a number of reasons:
   
   1. It can be counted among that group of books that signaled that something has gone terribly wrong with the post-Vatican II renewal. In 2006 we (thankfully) are finally seeing true reform. The seminaries are being reformed, the priesthood is being cleaned up, our Catholic Universities are being called to return to their roots, we have a new catechism and the faithful are finally being taught the faith, and many of the new churches and shrines being built are eschewing the modernist trends of the last 50 years and returning to design that is timeless and a faithful representation of the Faith. Indeed, we are seeing more and more Churches being restored (as opposed to renovated)- a sign that the changes imposed during the 70's and 80's were theologically and aesthetically wrong. This book is important because it was possibly the first to tackle the issue head on and call a spade a spade . . . a sin a sin.
   
   2. From this work, and others like it, a movement has emerged of Church architects to defend and advance the Tradition of architecture. An organization was launched called the Instituted for Sacred Architecture (www.sacredarchitecture.org) and it publishes a journal and highlights best practice and critiques poorly designed new church buildings. Another website grew out of the book: www.dellachiesa.com - which too is about traditional sacred architecture.
   
   3. The word is getting out. The laity is no longer sitting back and doing what they are told by psudo-experts who toute themselves as authoritative interpreters of Vatican II and then dismantle the tabernacle, move the altar and form the pews in a circle around the "family meal". Thankfully, the lay person can now say STOP! And have the supporting evidence to defend what is beautiful and sacred.
   
   We are beginning to see the emergence of what Dr. Paul Vitz, PhD called a "Transmodernist" movement which is marked by a transcending of the modernist doctrines (which the Church has declared heresy) and recovering an authentic experience (and theology) of the Sacred.
   
   Mr. Rose's book is important because it has signaled the fall of the old regime and the restoration of the sacred in Architecture. This is an excellet book for learning why this happened and why it was wrong. It is a hopeful book because it points out the direction of where things are headed for the Church which is marked by the John Paul II Generation!
   
   Thank you Mr. Rose.
   
   PS: If you look at the negative Amazon reviews of this book, they claim Mr. Rose is biased. But if you look at their other reviews, you can quickly surmise who carries the bias. The reality is that a minority of people have invested their identity and professional ethos on the kinds of buildings Mr. Rose legitimately tears apart and exposes to the light of common sense. That is why you will read ugly posts that tear apart Mr. Rose and his book. If you can't win based on ideas, you have to attack the bearer of the ideas himself.



5. This book is, quite frankly, trash. Someone needs to read the Bible. Are the examples carefully chosen to show ugly buildings? Yes, of course. But the theology of architecture is both biased, and sinful. Zero stars?

1 comments about Traditional Furniture Projects (Best of Fine Woodworking).

1. This book provides a list and description of 24 projects, compiled from various authors and craftsmen taken from the pages of Fine Woodworking over a period of several years. The "plans" lack any uniformity. Some have dimensions of projects listed, while others don't. Some have a parts list, while others list nothing. Do not expect exploded views and measurements, tool requirements, parts lists, assembly sequence, or anything that I would consider as actual "plans." This book is more a few photos and drawings with a narrative of how they constructed their items. The reader is expected to have a detailed working knowledge of furniture construction to understand the terms used and how to properly make certain cuts, a knowldge of joinery, etc. Again, this is not the novice woodworker.

1 comments about Herzog & De Meuron: Prada Aoyama Tokyo.

1. I am generally happy about the book, except when I am buying a 100 dollars book I will expect more from it, in particular in this situation, the back of book has a lot of scratches... certainly it won't affect the content whatsoever, but this is a book designed and made to be pure white with shinny silver pattern. That is the only drawback.

No comments about Architecture and Modernity: A Critique.

5 comments about Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory.

1. Judith Dupre's book is a keeper, a volume to be read and treasured for generations. It's for those with a relative who fought in World War II, and those who have visited Gettysburg, seen the Liberty Bell and marveled at Mount Rushmore.
   Ms. Dupre infuses major historical events with glowing new life. She fills her pages with interesting facts and profound truths, explaining, for instance, why the triumphant Indian Americans were not commemorated in the first 120 years after the Little Bighorn Battle in Montana. Other battles -- from Gettysburg, World War II, Korea -- yield important cemeteries. Ms. Dupre's presentations range from the familiar (Statue of Liberty) to the unfathomable (Saint-Gaudens's monument to Clover Adams in Washington's Rock Creek Cemetery.) In a book that easily stirs emotions her description of New York City prisoners burying the unclaimed bodies of convicts at Hart Island ("the marginalized are interred by the marginalized with dignity") is especially poignant.
   The book will be valued by those with connections to these sacred sites, but it belongs in the collections of all who are tuned into American history.



2. Bravo! MUCH MORE than a "coffee table" book! Dupré's thoroughly researched and cogently presented text outshines the fascinating graphics. "Monuments" taught me more than I had intended to learn about the subject, and made me realize memorials talk about history in an unique way. I would recommend this book to any and all readers, especially those interested in getting a new and intriguing take on presidential and military history.



3. What impressed me of this work is how well it was researched. It has many side stories. Names and dates are carefully reported. The linkages to similar memorials or concepts are included in shaded boxes as ancillary threads. Was also impressed on the timeline, that reveals how the event that is memorialized eventually came into fruition of an actual memorial.
   
   My only criticism is not clarifying the geographical location of the monument (it assumes the reader knows where it is).
   
   The bonus is including ample space on the mass-conscious inpromptu memorials, such as leaving teddy bears, flowers, notes on the side of a tragedy or catastrophic event. I would add to that the silent and passive solitary memorials left by people along roadsides, memorializing a traffic accident. Or even the placement of a geocache, a box in the woods containing a logbook, such as the one in Western Pennsylvania in remembrance of two teenagers killed ["In Memory Of Clairenda and Loretta" GCQHZP]
   
   On the discussion of people mourning by leaving items at places such as the Vietnam Memorial, Oklahoma City, Columbine, the author however missed to mention that the same people that visit such memorials can actually take an object that is laying there. The items left are considered as abbandoned property by the National Park Service for 30 days, and only thereafter picked up and inventorized into the national museum system. In the meantime, the same item can be picked up by visitors, and the memorial acts as an exchange place. ... very much like a geocache.



4. This fascinating and unusual book is beautifully produced- it would make an excellent gift. It's a kind of treasury of richly detailed visits to a wide variety of different kinds of monuments. Dupre describes each one historically, evoking the powerful emotions behind the monument or memorial so that the original need can be felt and understood. The book gives us access to the people who created these monuments, and for whom they were created. Scholarly and also profoundly intuitive, Judith Dupre understands that a monument is by definition a labor of love, and has given us one.



5. Judith's books are always enjoyable but there is something especially wonderful about this one. It isn't just history or architecture, she finds the heart of why we remember, the purpose of these places. The histories are told with sensitivity and care, and the dozens of people that inhabit the book are portrayed colorfully and with close observation of their humanity, something usual lacking in ordinary history books. Having been to Manzanar several times and wandered over its acres myself, her narrative touched me and brought alive the people and the time.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in the human side of history.

No comments about American Collection Ranch Style: 200 New House Plans (The American Collection) (The American Collection) (The American Collection).

1 comments about Air Conditioning and Refrigeration.

1. This book smacks of being done by researchers, not experts in the field. It is very outdated. It does not feature modern refrigerants, tools, or service techniques. While some of the information will always be applicable to the field, the information is researched, borrowed...not from the authors' experience in the field. My father was teaching me in the late 1960's. Had he given me this book I would have thought it useful but a bit old fashioned. You can tell the authors do not practice in the field or the shop or they would have realized their information was from the refrigeration dinasaur age!

No comments about Scheduling Construction Projects: Principles and Practices.