5 comments about Geodesic Math and How to Use It.

1. I don't like to spend money on information that I can get for free. I found plenty of free information about geodesics on the web, but not enough.
   
   I'm glad I spent the cash. This book filled in all the gaps.
   
   It is not for people with weak math skills.
   
   The book seems confusing at first, but if you keep reading and studying you will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of geodesics than you can imagine.
   
   This book is a "must have" for anyone who wants to build their own dome, or just learn more about geodesics.
   
   And yes, it's worth learning the math skills to understand this book.



2. To paraphrase Barbara Mandrell, geodesic domes were green when green wasn't cool. I read this book in college and was sorely tempted to steal it out of the university library because it had gone out of print and was just not available new or used anywhere else. I kicked myself later for not yielding to temptation when I went to check it out again and realized that someone else stole it before me! Seriously, give Kenner his rightful due, this is a classic in its field. What is my test for saying so? It has been thirty years since the book's first printing and has yet to see its equal. And there have been many many contenders. I could not recommend any one book higher for hobbyist or even professional reference to geodesic calculation and the practical design of geodesic domes. Though Hugh is no longer with us, five years gone as I am writing this, but the effects of his powerful intellect live on and continue to infect others with his inquisitive spirit by way of such seminal work.



3. Seemed over-technical at 1st, but after about a year has been my reference book on geodesics & making all kinds of geodesic domes... It lists chord factors (lengths of segments before applying radius of dome) on tables to 7 decimals for various domes @ the end of the book if you don't want do calculate w/formulas provided. If your familiar with trigonometry, it will let you jump around chapters that are of more interest.
   
   This book was originally copyrighted in 1976, but not edited for this 2nd paperback 2003 Edition (glossy color cover). The author, Hugh Kenner (1923-2003), has compiled a very thorough book. Very well written & explained in orderly fashion with excellent general layout & (especially for the time) detailed diagrams plus cross page-references. IMO there is very little that I would change except for replacing current diagrams with modern CAD generated illustrations, that's about it.
   
   Has 172 pages with several blank pages for notes (I note in the wide margins instead) & is 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches. Not a small book but not a big bulky one either. Makes for a lot of information handy to store just about anywhere...
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   I found many formulas & shortcuts throughout the book. From Chapter 12 I plotted a 16 frequency (# of divisions making total # of triangles) icosahedron (the typical geodesic polyhedron shape) dome with 3880 chords or "struts". Even made them into arcs for a perfectly round sphere. Chapter 12 has "Using the Tables" with a simple symmetric triangle xyz-grid on a spreadsheet. Each chord calculated does not rely on another chord's result, so chance of error is greatly reduced. Chapter 14 "Truncations" has "Truncation by Rotation", which saves time on calculating the rest of the chords in dome, or moving chords by their symmetry.
   
   This "still nicely" bound book after a lot of use covers tension & tensegrities, subdivisions, great circles, symmetry & breakdowns, choosing a polyhedron, spherical coordinate system, ellipses & superellipses, truncations, space frames & many kinds of angles - plus charts & other resources @ the end.
   
   A free program on the web called Windome is useful to 8 decimals, but lacks input parameters like radius... So I use it to verify chord factors. From 2-16v involving about 12,240 chords plotting all verified (to 15 digits) on 1st try. Besides spreadsheets, formulas can be used in programming like "The R Project", formulas & programs are also written for old Hewlett-Packard HP-35, 21 & 45 series calculators & programs filed with the HP-65 library (circa mid-1970's). I guess it also goes to show Hewlett-Packard has a history in the PC & hardware programming business...
   
   One thing - spherical coordinate symbols for Theta & Phi are switched, though referenced in correct order (check Mathworld). Easy to correct, just read "Phi symbol" as Theta & "Theta symbol" as Phi - references & formulas will be in order. This book was written in mid-1970's, guess more? people then used this as convention.
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   There are many good free sources on the web for geodesic domes & math plotting through Cartesian x,y,z and/or spherical Theta, Phi coordinates using basic trigonometry. This book cost me $13.57 shipped free brand new & is WELL worth it, even after searching the web...
   
   
   A final word of caution on building materials for domes in general: if you use wood make sure you take extra fireproofing precautions, unless it's a temporary frame. 2 domes here in town (on same lot) burnt down before fire department got to them - and they were right down the street! The intense heat from both fires left nothing except the slab & melted everything.
   
   So, when they start to burn there is very little time to exit the structure. As energy efficient as they are, the same design allows for a very efficient combustion, especially with wood stud frames & panels. Other problems arise as well with ventilating interior wood frames to help prevent condensation.
   
   There are many other materials that will not burn that could make up the panels (like from American Ingenuity, Inc.), or even a monolithic concrete pour over a temporary plastic covered geodesic wood frame. Another method that doesn't use geodesics is a "monolithic shotcreted airform dome" (from a company called Monolithic Dome Institute).



4. The subject very well presented and in a way that is easy to understand. Gives the underlying math to be able to use our modern computers setting on our desk tops to go far beyond what one person could do 25 years ago.



5. Well, the time has come for the pirates to take a hike. UC Press is reprinting this book. The information I have indicates both hard and softcover bindings...It will be available this year (2003).

   Geodesic Math and How To Use It is an extremely well written book, and with the NASA papers, forms the "canon of applied geodesic math." It is a great book, well written and useful.

5 comments about American Gargoyles: Spirits in Stone.

1. I bought this as a gift for someone and now I wish I would have also bought myself a copy! The pics are great, as is all the information regarding gargoyles. Only drawback for me, I thought it was going to be bigger, it's no bigger than maybe 10x10 or so.



2. This book is one of the best books I got from amazon. I got the two books Holy Terror's and American Gargolyes... it was a great deal. The book is loaded with pictures of gargoyles from across america and desrcibes what type of gargoyle and where it is located in america. The photographs are beautiful and descriptive through out the book. If you gargoyles get the two books for the price of one. Highly Recommended!!!!



3. I was a little skeptical when I first picked up "American Gargoyles: Spirits in Stone" but a friend had reccomended it so I decided to read it. Boy, am I glad I did! If I hadn't I would have missed out on the wonderful details, breathtaking pictures and an all around fascinating history of American Gargoyles. The pictures are well shot, and I have to admit, were the first thing that caught my eye. But, when I sat down to read the text the author shared all these captivating little details about the gargoyles which I loved! The author tells you the story behind a particular gargoyle and if there is anything special you should look for when you see it. This book was so fascinating that I was inspired to take a trip to some of the sights mentioned in the book and check out the gargoyles for myself. I reccomend this book to all readers, it appeals to all audiences.



4. Gargoyles have gotten to be very popular recently, and any gargoyle fan ought to get the book _American Gargoyles: Spirits in Stone_ (Clarkson Potter) by Darlene Trew Crist, with photographs by Robert Llewellyn, because American gargoyles are fun. It wasn't the original job of gargoyles to be fun. One of the explanations of how gargoyles got into their exalted positions in churches is that they were placed there to entice pagans to come and worship at Christian locales. Those who ran the churches thought that pagan symbols, and scary ones at that, were a good marketing ploy. Perhaps we American moderns are simply amused by carvings of fearsome dragons, but there are plenty of gargoyles shown here that are deliberately humorous caricatures.

   The pictures are a treat. This is not a big, coffee-table book, but there are scores of pictures from many American sacred, commercial, and academic buildings. Though American gargoyles reflect the traditions of Europe, many are truly American. The University of Pennsylvania, for instance, has a strictly medieval style of quadrangle, complete with gargoyles, but one of them is a football player. At Washington National Cathedral, there is a gargoyle showing a crooked politician; he has horns, a big belly, a cigar, and a pocket full of dollar bills. There are a pair of gargoyles there which were given by a grandmother in thanks for her two grandsons. One is angelic and one is demonic, and she never said which is which; the grandsons are now grown up and still don't know. A weeping sea turtle is there as a statement of environmental protection. Out of the mouth of a monstrous duck stares a tourist with a camera, a payback from the carver who was the subject of thousands of pictures as he worked.

   _American Gargoyles_ could have been a lot bigger, but Crist has included a reading list for those who want to see more. It is a good-looking and informative book.




5. Having read this book, I have a new outlook on American Gargoyles which truely are spirits in stone. This book is very educational, picturesque,informative, well written and I simply love it!

2 comments about Best Castles - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales: The Essential Guide for Visiting and Enjoying.

1. Gorgeous photos, nice descriptions, but too short & not detailed enough. It would also have helped to have had captions under the photos; I frequently couldn't tell what I was looking at. I also wished it were longer. Overall a worthwhile book if a little on the shallow side.



2. I am a big fan of ruined castles. I like ancient, crumbling old buildings from times long past. There are many such castles in the British Isles, but there are also many more "modern" castles, built hundreds of years after the medieval period, filled with sumptuous carpets and luxurious wall coverings and such. I can see the allure of these castles for some people, but they do not hold the same wonder for me, and when I am paying a lot of money to visit a foreign country, I want to optimize my experience as much as possible.
   
   This book is wonderful because it lets me do just that. Many guidebooks (I use the Let's Go and Rough Guides) do not differentiate between different kinds of castles, and offer a brief description of each one. It's hard to know what you're getting into before you actually arrive. With this book, you can get a preview of each castle, so you're never surprised. I mentioned my personal love of ruins, but this book is great for any taste, or just the curious.
   
   The information on each structure is sparse, and much attention is paid to the glorious full color photographs. I never got the impression this book was trying to be the authority on castle information however, and I think it succeeds admirably at its chosen task. It is a good supplemental guidebook if you're interested in the topic.

3 comments about Green Roof: A Case Study: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates' Design For the Headquarters of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

1. This book is perfect for readers who already know that green roofs are good for our planet, but are looking for technical information on how to build one. Product and plant guidelines and the construction process are marvelously detailed. It's also generous with photos and diagrams. This particular green roof demonstrates that they can be more than just sedum in planters on a flat roof--green roofs can be a building amenity and enhance the viewshed for nearby buildings as well. The book is very well written. It should be noted that the author is a German landscape architect and Germany leads the world in green roof design. An excellent resource for developers, real estate executives, building owners, and designers.



2. Exceptional text, supplemented with beautiful and informative graphics and diagrams. Very good book for anyone interested in Greenroofs.



3. This case study is primarily geared towards the client's requirements and satisfaction, rather than basic green roof benefits. For example, there is more emphasis put on employee/ human use of the roof over the traditional benefits that roof greening putatively confers. Although there are some interesting techniques employed, like the grating over the sedum plantings, it is quite clear that roof greening is still for the elite rather than us common folk. Considering this, the concept of roof greening still has a long way to go before it will become a truly 'sustainable' practice in North America. The ASLA intended this project to showcase their involvement in this arena, but we would all be better served if they would test/employ techniques that were affordable to the masses rather than the wealthy elite.

5 comments about Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers (Handbook).

1. The book came within a couple days and was fairly priced and new.



2. I've read several other of the reviews, and feel the need to add a little to the conversation.
   
   This book will not make you into an engineer if you don't have the foundation knowledge required. It is a desk reference, useful mainly for a quick review, of principles outside your primary area of engineering practice, when you need a quick refresher.
   
   I am a degreed and licensed Civil Engineer, but I am primarily a Construction Engineer. I use this book to get myself back upto speed on topics that I haven't dealt with in a while, and to do field checks on designs I'm trying to build before I call the Design Engineer. I've got several hundred text books, and years worth of journals, and technical reports available in my office. They don't fit in my breifcase and travel to the field well. The handbook does.
   
   I wouldn't rely on the knowledge contained in this book alone, to execute a design for any complex or critical project. I doubt that any competent professional would, or should.
   
   All said, it is worth every penny you spend on it.



3. I found it most complete reference for civil engineers ,I always carry this book in my travels ,I found it complete in this fields: safety and health concerns, and the most current codes changes including ACI, AISC, ASTM,
   and you find powerfull data in covers systems design, community and regional planning, the latest design methods for buildings, airports, highways, tunnels and bridges. It includes sections
   
   what do you want else ,buy it and carry all knowlege you can have.



4. The fifth edition update mainly reflects changes in code requirements for structural engineering. Other sections seem barely changed from the fourth edition. The water resources chapter has several misprinted tables. Use the corresponding tables out of the fourth edition.

   Generalle well-written and easy to follow. Useful as a supplemental study reference for the Civil PE Exam.

   Could use a good bibliography.




5. I'm a senior in CE this year and I have been using the 2nd edition of this book (1976) more or less daily as I work on my senior design projects. Not really in depth on any one subject, but its great if you just need to look up a formula or technique that you forgot from some class. I plan to ask for the new edition as a graduation present.

5 comments about Metric Handbook, Third Edition.

1. I am an Architect dealing with planning and early stages of projects. This book is concise, clear and comprehensive and I don't know what I would do without it. I had a well-used and dog-eared copy from the original edition of 1979 and have just updated to the current edition. The information is easy to find, not over-detailed and still seems to be under the control of one person. Highly recommended and good value.



2. A valuable and a must have book...but print and paper quality is not worth...it is very much like as if phocopied and binded...
   Yagmur TOPRAKLI



3. I'm a graduate design architect, and i've been looking for a design standards reference. I came across this book, i've never heard about it before, as i was more familiar with Time Saver. But i was surprised by how good this book is and how sufficient the information contained is for all stages of design.
   The Time Saver Book might be more comprehensive in some aspects and may also have more examples of different building types. But the price of this book is very good compared to the time saver, which costs much more. I definitely recommend this book...



4. this cd cost 250 dollars, it is a plug-in program for autocad. it creats a new toolbar for autocad users to find images. However, i find this toolbar is NOT frinedly to use and it is hard to find images, and this software can't work in autocad 2000, it just can work with the outdate autocad (r13,R14). Further, this software not ever cover different size of common doors and windows. EDITOR, your CAD-library is not powerful enough. I personally believe this software is only worth 50 dollars.



5. I have been told that there was a review that said that there were errors in the book. This is certainly so, I should know, I am the editor! No reference book as comprehensive as this will ever be perfect. However, if you, the customer, finds one of these, please tell me. My e-mail address is David_Adler@compuserve.com. Thank you.

5 comments about The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich.

1. Delano and Aldrich were remarkable architects whose achievements include the Dutch Reformed Church in Brookville, LI Oheka, the largest home in the country, Willard Straight Hall at Cornell and other buildings too numerous to mention which you probably count amont your favorites whether or not you know about architecture. The photos and text of this book show their range and informs about the kindly and sophisticated personalities of the men.



2. While I agree this is the best available source right now on Delano and Aldrich, the book has some major problems. I especially do not like the fact that you need to search three different parts of the book for photographs and images of any particular project: color photos grouped at the start of the book, then small images alongside the main text, and then larger black and white photographs grouped at the end of the book.



3. I wish all books on noted architects where this good. Mr. Sterns preface at the beginning of the book is astute. This book is a perfect combination of archival and current photos and the history of the buildings are well researched and thorough. The color photos are vivid and well executed and the archival photos are well chosen. So many of these books just give you archival photos and are not researched as well as one would hope. This book is a blueprint for how these type of books should be presented. This beautiful book is well worth the money and at these prices that's high praise indeed.



4. I highly recommend this definitive work on architects Delano & Aldrich. The book is amazingly well-researched and well-written as well as beautifully illustrated with both historic and contemporary photographs. It's a must for the library of anyone interested in architecture!



5. I have been interested in the work of Delano and Aldrich for a number of years, and this book provides the best information I have been able to get so far.

   The descriptions are deep and serious. I also liked the great pictures. The impact of their work is historic to say the least.

   This is a must read.

1 comments about Paulo Mendes da Rocha: Fifty Years 1957-2007.

1. Paulo Mendes da Rocha
   This is a book of ideas. Opening each chapter, text written by the architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha present the themes that show up time and again throughout his work: territory, technique and the city. The projects illustrate each of these selected subjects, making up a veritable visual narrative. Likewise, brief descriptions transcend the mere classificatory sequence of the projects and complement the narrative.
   The first of the texts, "The Americas, architecture and nature," deals with the relationship between architecture and territory. According to Paulo Mendes da Rocha, territory orients the architectural project, while the project humanizes nature. One example of this acting on space is his project for the Library of Alexandria, in Egypt. In it, the architect ventures beyond the limits of the piece of land set aside for the library's structure, aiming to incorporate the Kings Peninsula into the project and proposing to install the library's gardens there -- as if the possibility of the building and its gardens were already contained within the very landscape. In other works, Paulo Mendes goes so far as to conceal his building in order to establish a subtle dialogue with the city already built around it, as in his project for the Rio de Janeiro Public Library, an underground construction, or for the Beaubourg, a complex array of enclosures that accompanies the design of medieval Paris' alleyways.
   In the Americas, however, the adventure of the occupation of territory has its peculiarities. The new continent, still under construction, demands new horizons for design as well, an original and clever spatiality. This original character appears in Paulo Mendes da Rocha's plans for the recuperation of Vitória Bay, in the state of Espirito Santo, and in the feats achieved with the Elevated Reservoir in Urania and in the City of Tietê, both in the state of Sao Paulo. The new design proposed by the architect is founded in a critical revision of colonialism, and represents the hand of man in strategically chosen points in nature.
   In "The genealogy of imagination," Paulo Mendes highlights man's attempt to make viable his own existence by exploring the transforming power of technique.
   His enchantment with the capacity of human engineering is what made him marvel, as a child, at the construction in the Port of Vitória, and what drives him in the conception of such projects as the gymnasium at the Paulistano Athletic Club -- a concrete ring supported by six pillars from whose upper extremes extend the steel cables that hold up the central metal covering.
   One of the most beautiful contributions of Paulo Mendes da Rocha's work lies in its striving for resources that are technically perfect for the consolidation of spaces. This constant exploration can be verified in both his large and small projects, as is the case with Brazil's pavilion at the Osaka 70 Expo in Japan, in which the articulation of the structure is especially projected to resist seismic shocks, or with the retractable metal staircase in the Forma store, which serves both as access to the upper floor and as the piece with which the building is shut. The architect's meticulous dedication in his search for a synthesis of a design and form as beautiful as they are technically impeccable serves as an homage to human genius and its drive to find solutions to life's puzzles.
   Paulo Mendes da Rocha believes that architecture must not be seen as a finished object that sits static on the landscape, nor the city as an assemblage of self-referencing monuments. This tendency to venerate the past results in the praise of representation over realization. As he understands it, architecture is a modifier of space and of landscape. It meets both social and aesthetic human needs. Paulo Mendes sees history as it relates to the future.
   This posture is explicit in "The city for all," the third and final part of the book, in which we find his projects for the Bela Vista Grotto Park, the Poupatempo Public Service Center in Sao Paulo's Itaquera district, and the "Zezinho Magalhaes Prado" CECAP Housing Project in Guarulhos, a complex whose prefabrication principle inspired the Gerassi House. The city must build a structure that is supportive of life and takes its myriad dimensions into account: habitation, commerce, services, transportation, leisure and work.
   The project which closes this book is Paulo Mendes' proposal for the recuperation of the Bay of Montevideo, the fruit of an international architecture seminar organized for Uruguayan students. Closing this narrative in the context of a classroom is symbolic, as, in addition to his admirable mastery of design and technique, Paulo Mendes da Rocha dedicates himself daily to the task of educating. Not just students, but also small and major clients, friends and colleagues -- all of us, in short, still have much to learn from his impassioned discourses. Many of his works sprang up sustained by the enthusiasm of his words. We bring some of them together here.

2 comments about Craftsman Style.

1. This book is perfect for the person who wants to know more about the Arts and Crafts Movement from a historical perspective and who also wants to see wonderful examples of this architectural style. It is also particularly helpful in training the eye to select accessories for your own home that follow the Craftsman tradition. The photography is just beautiful.
   
   Billie Weinstein
   La Crescenta, California



2. I'm in the middle of converting my house into a neo-Craftsman style house (http://hillsdalehouse.blogspot.com). I'm trying really hard to recreate all those wonderful details that you can seemingly only find in the circa 1914 originals. So, whenever a new book with Craftsman in the title (especially picture books) comes out, I'm quick to sneak a peek. So, I jumped all over this book (actually, I got it from the library). Here are my thoughts:
   
   If you are looking for a nice coffee table book with very pretty pictures of turn-of-the-century Arts & Craft houses, then look no further. This book has some wonderful stuff from houses featured in other similar books, plus many many houses I have never seen before. But, if you are looking for a book about Craftsman Style houses, you have found the wrong book.
   
   Yes, there are some houses that are what most people would call Craftsman. These include the usual Craftsman Farms house, some Green and Green, and the obligatory Bungalows of Pasadena. But, most of the houses in the book are not Craftsman at all, that is if you subscribe the notion that Craftsman houses are houses that were either featured in Gustav Stickley's original Craftsman magazine, or were obviously inspired by one of them. Instead, you'll find some beautiful pictures with a more William Morris type definition of Arts and Crafts. First off, you'll actually find pictures of William Morris' own house (never seen that before!). You will also find wonderful pictures of very gothic looking houses. You'll see marvelous neo-medieval houses. You'll find terrific Tudor revivals. But, you won't find many Craftsman Style houses, which is fine, except for the title of this book. Yes, Stickley and his followers were very much inspired by Morris, and it is fair to say that all things Craftsman are part of the Arts and Crafts movement. But, it is incorrect to say that all things Arts and Craft are Craftsman.
   
   The pictures are wonderful, the text is insightful, but the title is wrong. Oops.

3 comments about The English Manor House: From the Archives of Country Life.

1. You have to hand it to the Brits, they really know how to build a house. These archieval photos from Country Life are wonderful, they are crisp and the houses profiled vary from style to style. It's a fantastic book to have you are looking for ideas in home design, either exterior of interior, these are some of the best archieval images I have seen on this subject. If you have any interest in Country homes in the English tradition, then I believe you will be pleased with this purchase.



2. A beautiful coffee table book with lots of photographs of manor houses and their interiors. A bit dissapointing that all the photographs were in black & white and of the interiors most were just of the entrance hall. Note that the book in on English Manor Houses and not Stately Homes.



3. "From the archives of Country Life" almost says it all. Jeremy Musson does a wonderful job of applying fresh commentary to these outstanding photographs of some of England's most beautiful manor architecture. This book and others "from the archives..." are required reading and study for anyone wanting to understand the development of the romantic picturesque archtiectural essays of late 19th and early 20th centuries in the UK and US.