3 comments about Simply Safari.

1. This book is sooo absolutely amazing. I looked through this book & was in AWE with how B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-l-y put together it is!
   
   There are gorgeous photographs of 26 lodges of the southern African states from: Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia & Zimbabwe! You will enjoy looking & reading through this book time after time.
   
   The wonderful picture's in this book will inspire you if your are decorating or wanting to decorate in African Safari, British Colonial or just wanting to add a splash of Safari to your life. Obviously there are items that you cannot get easily in America, but some of idea's in this book can be found @ Cost-Plus World Market or Pier1 Imports!
   
   I ordered this book along with "Safari Chic" & although both books are wonderful, "Simply Safari" is my personal favorite!! It is a large book, ALMOST: 10x13" & has 192 pages (including addresses & index in case you decide to visit these lodges).
   
   I think you'll be super happy with this book ... I am!



2. This is a book that captures the beauty of elegance in the wilderness. The photographs are impressive and, together with intelligently written text, successfully convey the ambiance of those lodges and tent camps shown.



3. I loved the first half of this book. It's filled with dreamy mosquito netted fantasy rooms and is a real delight to look at. The second half,in general, seemed to feature more contrived sort of interiors, a little bit too over the top for me. Overall a really pretty book full of lovely pictures and a totally different world. A must for anyone with rustic/tribal/colonial sort of tendencies. I must admit I haven't read a great deal of the text yet so I can't comment on that, but it's the pictures that make this sort of book worthwhile and there are plenty of those.

4 comments about Green Architecture (Architecture & Design).

1. Lots of ideas,concepts,inspirations at 1/10 the price. Well worth the money towards architectural environmental consciousness.
   However the discussion remains as an introduction without too much depth into project details



2. At first glance this seems like an excellent introduction to green architecture. James Wines has assembled an impressive collection of photographs of some of the eco-architecture that has been built over the past 30 years. But, a closer examination reveals numerous holes in the narrative. Wines has put together a grab bag of ideas that held my attention but left me scratching my head as to why he left so many important architects out of his survey, and included some of rather dubious distinction.

   Wines holds Frank Lloyd Wright paramount in his pantheon of ecologically-minded architects, alluding to his concepts of "The Natural House" and "Organic Architecture," as virtually the only texts written on eco-architecture at the height of the Modern movement. Wines likes Wright more for his aesthetic vision of ecologically sensitive architecture than for any great technological innovations in the field of eco-architecture. Wines laments the fact that eco-architecture is driven too much by the latest technology, and not enough by aesthetic concerns.

   He brushes over the Modern movement, which did offer a number of technological innovations, such as Buckminister Fuller's Dymaxion House and geodesic dome, and did explore traditional patterns in design, as in the work of Aldo Van Eyck, who was a contributing editor for Shelter. Wines wrote off Le Corbusier, ignoring the architect's later work, which was very site specific.

   However, the most glaring omissions are contemporary architects like Ralph Erskine, Glenn Murcutt, Samuel Mockbee, and Ken Yeang who have all given a great deal of consideration to environmentally responsive architecture. You certainly can't call them "eco-freaks," as their work has been readily accepted by the mainstream architectural community.

   But, Wines does offer a number of engaging examples from which to draw from, including his own work with SITE. Perhaps the most interesting examples are the "prophetic visions" such as an Ozone-maker by Jeffrey Miles, seemingly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, and Michael Sorkin's "Shroom," which has a wonderful kinetic quality like that of Kiesler's "Endless House." Great photos and illustrations, but read this book with grain of salt.




3. This book questions the way architecture affects the environment, and encourages architects to ask the (W)right questions themselves to help remedy their destructive ways. I am disappointed that certain architects where left out of this book, for example there was one photo of a Malcolm Wells house, but no essay was done on him!? An essay on earthships would have fit into this book nicely also. I could go on, and on about all the Green Architects that where left out, maybe the author will include more with a new version 10 years from now. You need to be careful that you question all that the author tells you. For example the author seems convinced that Christians are bent on destruction because of their belief that the earth was made for them, therefore they have the right to destroy it, but in reality the Christian's point of view is just the opposite in that the earth was made for them so therefore it is their duty to protect it. What's with the photo taken in B.C. Canada, I never knew there where palm trees in Canada!? I bought this book for some of it's photos of unusual looking buildings, but have discovered there is allot more to the book than photo's. Read it, enjoy it, question it, question yourself.



4. Our basic way of thinking and living must change in order for the human species to survive and evolve on a sustainable planet. We already possess the knowledge and the technology to rebuild paradise on earth. We now need a growing, global conciousness and the wisdom necessary to move forward.

   This book gives an excellent historical and philosophical account on the shifts of human settlements and explains the imperative necessity of a change in attitude towards our built environment and its intrinsic relationship with its natural context.

   Many examples and a variety of projects, attitudes, perspectives, and approaches to the environmental problems back Mr. Wines view that there is no alternative, that a green architecture must become a basic constant and not remain a mere superficial trend.

1 comments about The Houses of Greenwich Village.

1. I was raised in, and lived most of my adult life in, New York's Greenwich Village. I purchased this book thinking that I might see some of the many homes I knew, both famous and infamous, as well as the streets of that neighborhood. -- Well, if that's what you hope for, too, then move on.... This book looks like ANY recent copy of Architectural Digest, showing ANY rich & well-to-do home in ANY city or town. Nothing about this picture book looks like Greenwich Village. It's strickly a high-end type of generic furniture catalog. A real waste of cash.

No comments about The Not So Big House: Home by Design (Susanka).

5 comments about Bucky Works : Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today.

1. I've been interested in the ideas and work of Buckminster Fuller for a long time but whenever I've tried to read his books I can't get through them, they're too dense for me. J. Baldwin has a clear and concise writing style which he enhances with illustrative photographs. His book really shows the practical applications of Bucky's work. I highly recommend this book to anyone.



2. I bought tis book several years ago based on a recommendation as a good intro th Buckys work. This book is a gem for all of those who are inclined to engineering and design, not only because of the explanations and ilustrations, but also as testimonial to the thought of the great genius.
   
   Im still amazed that Bucky's thought have not been embraced by us modern citizens.
   
   I am trying to introduce a revolutionary solar coating here in Venezuela [..], I think of the aluminum domes built in Ghana that used natural convection for cooling, and people thoight they were in fact to cold!!! sustainable development has been around longer than we thought, are we ever going to strat smelling the coffee???



3. Inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller, "Bucky," died in l983 at age 88. He is known the world over for his invention of the geodesic dome. The author of this book knew him for 31 years.
   
   Bucky, as he was known to everyone, (except his wife of 66 years) was not a college graduate, yet he received 47 honorary degrees during his lifetime. His influence on architectural and product designing was--and still is--tremendous.
   
   This book is of interest not only as a tribute to his inventiveness, but for detailing why many of his concepts, to this day, have not been accepted. The full-page cartoon on page 20 is a classic example of his frustration. It depicts an automobile being made on the driveway of a home. Bucky argued for years how ridiculous it is that we build houses 'from scratch' on a house lot. If we built cars that way, as the cartoon shows, they would cost $300,000! It should be noted that the American Institute of Architects (AIA), in 1928, passed a resolution "...on record as inherently opposed to any peas-in-a-pod-line reproducible designs." Others, sewer system builders, carpenters, electricians, etc., indicated they too would oppose home-building innovations.
   
   One reason the geodesic dome concept succeeded was that the military did not need to consult zoning and codes when it needed a transportable light weight and super strong structure for a mountain top or an Arctic location.
   
   You will be amazed at how much his 1934 car designs resemble today's vans. Equally amazing is his "traveling cartridge," a small car transportable by air or rail. No need to rent a car. It could even be used as a sleeping unit.
   
   His "Triton City" was designed as a floating city (100,000 people) for Tokyo Bay. You see variations of this idea almost every year and it is invariably presented as a new idea. His "Fly's Eye" dome is now under commercial development and you may be seeing into the future when scanning this section of the book.
   
   An example of the tremendous respect for Fuller's concepts can be seen in the naming of the 60-atom carbon molecule discovered in the early 1970s. It is called "buckminsterfullerene" and is often referred to as "Buckyball." Its soccer-ball-pentagon-hexagon pattern very much relates to Fuller's icosahedron-based constructions.
   
   Fuller maintained that the entire universe, from atoms to galaxies, "is make made up of islands of compression in a continuous sea of tension." This "tensegrity" concept may even apply to biological cells according to a recent (1993) paper by Dr. Ingber.
   
   As the author often notes, Fuller--as a person and as a designer--had his faults. However his accomplishments and his influence on others far outshine his failures. Many inventors can relate to the problems due to being "before your time" and to the difficulty of displacing the "established way" of doing something.
   
   This book is crammed with photos, many never before published. Buy it, enjoy it. Donate it to your local school library. There is a whole new generation out there that can be inspired by it.



4. Buckminster Fuller has fascinated me since my teens because of his borderline science-fictional ideas and his quest to use technology to provide for 100% of humanity -- which unfortunately is a moving target during an era of population growth. Baldwin's book doesn't quite satisfy my curiosity about the current state of Fuller's posthumous work, since he gives me the impression that it's stuck somewhere back in the post-Hippie 1970's. I certainly hope that the field has advanced further along than the dumbed-down "Whole Earth Catalogs" version which celebrated geodesic model kits and "sustainable" (i.e., voluntarily hardship-inducing) technologies.

   What I would like to see in a proper review of Fuller's legacy includes (a) mathematicians' assessment of his synergetic geometry, which is more radically anti-Euclidean than non-Euclidean in that it rejects the whole Greek paradigm of "abstraction" from physical objects; (b) economists' assessment of his argument that with proper resource use and rational design decisions we really could take care of 100% of humanity; (c) a discussion of why, if Fuller's goal is indeed practical, after 250 years of industrial and technological progress we've devolved from objectively useful work -- making and moving stuff on farms, in mines and in factories -- into to a situation where we hold absurd, time-wasting and nonproductive "jobs" in "services" (which sociologist Daniel Bell characterized as postindustrial "games between persons"), while billions of other humans don't even have the basics for a materially decent life; (d) and why this goal isn't on the agenda of any major politician or other world-recognized and respected figure.

   In other words, I find implicit in Fuller's work the question, "When do we declare victory in the Industrial Revolution, and go on our long-overdue vacation that futurists used to call 'The Postindustrial Leisure Society'?" Although Baldwin supplied me with some useful information on "Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today," it wasn't quite what I wanted.




5. I haven't actually read this book but JB is my professor and a fascinating human. Everyday of class is a treat to listen to his life experiences and stories. He was a student of Fuller and clearly understands his theories and has furthered them in ways that would make Bucky proud.

5 comments about Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten.

1. Very interesting although the pictures are small and in most cases you only get a photo of the 'front gate'. I learned a lot. Overall, very good.



2. The images in this book are very poor quality and often VERY small. I was very disappointed, photos are in black and white only, and they look as though they were merely scanned, and not well scanned. Often all that passes for a picture of a "movie star" home is a picture of a bunch of trees (hiding the home completely). If the authors cannot provide a glimpse of a home beyond just the dense vegitation in front of it, then they have failed in their effort.



3. This book is a guilty pleasure, really a fun read. I appreciated that every entry came with a requisite image. Granted most of the entries are star's from yesteryear, many of which i dont have a clue about, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book nonetheless. If you have any interest in this sort of thing, then I highly recommend it.



4. If you love Hollywood, architecture or are just curious about what kind of homes the movie stars live in, you will find this book fascinating. It includes over 350 entries - from silent greats (Garbo, Valentino) to modern day stars (Brad Pitt & Jennifer Anniston) - although the majority of the entries are the classic stars of yester-year. Each entry includes the address, a brief sentence or two about their career and fame followed by a paragraph about the house itself and a black and white photo. The photos are usually good although there are some that are very small and others in which you can only see a fence or a driveway. The captions note that some of the stars only lived in the houses for a few years. You might be surprised at how modest a lot of the homes are! An appendix gives "movie star homes by region" and "theme tours." If you are taking a trip to Hollywood, you will definately want to take this book with you, and it is a fun book to browse even if you are not going there.



5. This is a very good book. I enjoyed all of the photos and interesting information about many different movie stars throughout different time periods. Overall this is a great book that is very fun to read.

No comments about Solutions for a Modern City: Arup in Beijing.

No comments about Building Type Basics for Transit Facilities (Building Type Basics).

4 comments about Artisan Crafted Timber Frame Homes.

1. We've been thinking about building a post and beam house and this book was an amazing resource. Page after page of beautiful color photos and lots of floor plans. I never knew you could do so much with timber framing. If you're thinking of building a post and beam house or just want some great design ideas don't miss this one.



2. I have been planning on building a timber frame home for several years. I have gathered lots of information over the years and I found this book to be the perfect read for anyone planning to build a timber frame home. It contains photos of hundreds of timber frame homes, along with floor plans for many. The articles are well written and informative. Artisan Crafted Timber Frame Homes really gave me lots of very useful ideas on design, both interior and exterior. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who might be planning on building a timber frame home.



3. Artisan Crafted Timber Frame Homes has been a wonderful tool in helping me plan the ideal living space. Not only does it have a plethora of floor plans already drawn up, but it really helps me think about design in such a way that I can feel comfortable dreaming up my own personal floor plans. For an obsessive planner like myself, it's great to have a tool like this on my book shelf.
   
   Beyond the basic design of homes, the book has some amazing inspirational photographs which offer a lot of interior design ideas. Since a timber frame home is so unique it's very beneficial to see how others are decorating and lighting their timber frame treasures. A delight to read, even for myself, who is still a ways away from building her dream home. It never hurts to get inspired!



4. Over twenty timber frame homes are displayed, inside and out, in a photography guide which considers various options in timber frame construction and design. Examples aren't just your usual home rooms either: they include such but also pack in examples of pool houses, offices, barns, and how to incorporate the post/beam look of timber frame construction into an existing home. An outstanding idea guide results, perfect for architectural libraries and general-interest holdings alike.

No comments about Sir John Vanbrugh: Storyteller in Stone (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).