5 comments about The Alhambra (Wonders of the World).

1. Page one, paragraph one has two glaring errors. First, there are indeed figurative paintings in the Alhambra. They are painted on leather decorating the ceilings of the recesses in the Hall of Kings. Second, Columbus did not present his plan to cross the Atlantic to Ferdinand and Isabella at the Alhambra but at Santa Fe, their encampment several miles outside of Granada.
   I didn't bother to read further. This book promised to be worthless.



2. The book gives a good overview of the history of Alhambra palace and Islamic Spain. Some minor translation problems as the author try to root some of the names of the various rooms in the palace to its Arabic origin. Nonetheless, the book is well written, and is an excellent source for beginners on the Alhambra palace.



3. The good: debunks some of the myths, gives a good background to some of the names and how the appearance was radically altered by perceptions of what people thought (and what they wanted to think) represented Moorish architecture.
   
   The bad: He spends so much time explaining why this or that is not true that we almost learn about the Alhambra by what it is not. He never really gets has a together, narrative history here, which makes it difficult to get a 'grasp' on the place by just reading this book alone.
   
   Also He unfairly criticizes Irving's Tales of The Alhambra (apparently Washington Irving was at once dull, but too imaginative, prejudiced against Moors but sympathetic to Bobadil, cheering for the Spanish yet anti-Catholic - and yes Irwin contradicts himself on the same page!) while (strangely) praising movies like the 7th Voyage of Sindbad (which was filmed there). Shows a lack of understanding or depth about Orientalist Art, which doesn't stop him from talking about it.
   
   The guide he suggested to buy, available at the site and in Granada, is far better- (unfortunately not available in the US) its published by Ediciones Edilux, called "in focus' in English and available online if you google it.



4. Visiting the Alhambra is a once in a lifetime, must do event. See it first from the plaza adjacent to the little church of St. Nicholas across the valley. And when you do finally go in to the Alhambra, bring this guide.
   
   It's the sort of guide one might have had when visiting this place two hundred years ago--more Baedeker than Lonely Planet. It emphasizes the wonder of the place rather than entrance prices and opening times. Written in a narrative style that plays up the history of this magnificent palace, it is a joy to read both before and during one's visit. In fact, a careful reading of the book prior to visiting the Alhambra is bound to enhance the visit tremendously (as, after all, the Alhambra is so popular you'll be limited to a 15 to 30-minute window to make your entrance into the most stunning part of the complex, the Nasrid palace.) For that reason you'll want to know ahead of time what you'll be looking at, because once you're inside the rooms and courtyards go by in a blur--a gorgeous procession of delicate columns and sparkling fountains. If you're trying to read your guidebook for the first time in the midst of it all, you'll miss most of it. Once you are inside, you're much better off just using the book for a quick consultation as you enter each new room, gallery, or alcove.
   
   Irwin's 'Alhambra' tells you what you really need to know about this place (one of Europe's most magnificent palaces) including the unfortunate fact that much of what you will see (or are seeing) has been recreated; the presumed use of each area of the palace is at best an educated guess (and at worst, a shot in the dark). Even some of the carved inscriptions are misleading (assuming you can read medieval Arabic). As Irwin notes: "...Contreras, who knew no Arabic, rearranged them [the inscriptions] in such a way that it is no longer possible to make sense of them" (p. 47, hardbound). Regardless, there is beauty in this truth, and this book has it in spades. Your standard tourist guidebook will not confront you with such sincerity (although you'll need it for the basics mentioned above: entrance prices, opening times, etc., as Irwin is not concerned with those).
   
   The hardbound version of Irwin's 'The Alhambra' makes a great keepsake to remind you of your visit, and you can put it on your shelf next to the copy of Washington Irvings' 'Tales of the Alhambra' you picked up in the gift shop. Bottom line--if you are going to visit the Alhambra, do it right: bring this book, and read it ahead of time.



5. This little book is packed with the author's detailed opinions about the history of this marvel. It's good reading to prepare one for a visit, but it left me wondering if the legends that the author debunks may not be a prophecy of what tomorrow's scholars may think of this work.

2 comments about Easy Cottage Style.

1. At first read,I wished I'd just gotten this book from my local library. It seemed unlikely to be a book I would refer to for inspiration and ideas. Some of the interiors were downright dingy and depressing (the kitchen from all scraps and found materials just looked like you'd expect it to look-cold, uninviting and plain ghastly). The cover picture is the most fetching / captivating photo of the entire book.(I considered returning this book weighing cost of shipping back vs. money already spent and decided on keeping).I have since reread it and have to admit the author has some gem interior decorating insights--who new pink/rose walls could be a warm neutral? I like the emphasis on using old and found/recycled materials. If you are a fan of the Shabby Chic series this book may greatly appeal to you, and unlike the author of the Shabby series, this author is much more humble and does not feature or focus primarily on her home, business and associates. Underwhelming but with some valuable interior decorating insight



2. I was surprised that this book was more "country" than "cottage". However, getting past that - I found that there were great pictures with good descriptions and decorating advice and they pointed out why they did things. There was nothing fussy and their ideas could be done with a good eye, some book guidance and a low budget. With this book you don't have to be a designer. You can do it yourself and have fun without worrying about the cost. The homes (not cottages) shown are to die for! And, this book brings out skills used to enhance their little quirks. Unlike some other books in this class, the text matches and explains the pictures without running over the page so you are not continually flapping forward and back.

1 comments about Adolf Loos: Works and Projects.

1. in september 07, i returned to new england from a trip to austria and the czech republic in search of works by josef hoffmann and adolf loos. i was delighted to receive this book on my return. it's one of the best publications on adolf loos. loos in my opinion is much stronger than the "decorative" hoffmann. this book should be on every architect's shelf. plans, great photos and some text worth reading. if you need to compare, the best book on josef hoffmann is eduard f. seklar's monograph.

3 comments about Professional Planting Design: An Architectural and Horticultural Approach for Creating Mixed Bed Plantings.

1. In this singular book, anyone interested in teaching planting design will find a comprehensive guide. My students are required to buy this book and use it throughout their class in Advanced Planting Design. Its full of challenging exercises and analytical guidelines. Thank you Scott Scarfone for producing this clear, comprehensive text.
   Louise Schiller, ASLA



2. Pro: copius details about design principles. Con: lack of color photos -- too many black and white photos



3. In almost every landscape architect's office, you can find two kinds of people: the designers who layout the design and do the color renderings and presentation drawings, and the horticulturists who select the plants. This book will give you a good understanding of both the design and horticultural aspects of planting design, especially the latter.
   
   It is also a very practical book. It'll leave you something useful that you can actually apply in your daily landscape practice after you read it.
   
   Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated." LEED AP, AIA

3 comments about Indian Art (Oxford History of Art).

1. I purchased this book for my own enjoyment and to supplement the required readings for my Asian Art class. It is a visual delight, inspiring, and highly informative as well.



2. This is a necessary corrective to previous, stale surveys of Indian art. It gives full attention to the whole range of art and architecture and also stresses the strong contribution of Islamic, tribal, and women's art. This is the standard volume at this time.



3. Although Partha Mitter has written a much better book "Much Maligned Monsters", this book is a total flop. It is hackneyed and bending backwards to be politically correct. For example, a major portion of the book is devoted to Islamic Art (712-1757), but the Islamic kings did not even get properly established in India for 400 years after the putative beginning of this period. Mitter's understanding of the earliest art is less then exemplary and his choices from the most recent period are idiosyncratic. I was greatly disappointed in this book.

2 comments about Building with Bamboo: A Handbook.

1. If you plan to build structures with bamboo, this book is a must. It is the only one I have found that has construction details.



2. Technology is great, but sometimes building methods of native people are "better" than our scientific methods. From an engineering standpoint it was a great book but as a book for someone curious about many ways of building things I was a little disappointed.

5 comments about Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow the News.

1. Tuned Out aims to analyze why the under-40 population in America today don't follow the news. The author, David T.Z. Mindich, has clearly done his research with many surveys and reports cited. He talks to many young people, but seems to focus mainly on teens and those in their early twenties. Although the title claims fault with the 30-40 year old population, they are largely ignored.
   
   Mindich does however argue a very good point. Young adults today would much rather watch entertainment news over local, national, or political news. With the internet available almost everywhere, and our country's "I want it now" attitude, people can pick and choose what they do and do not want to read. At the beginning of television, there were only a couple channels to pick from. The news was one of few choices. Today, with hundreds of channels available, there is always something else on that young people can choose over the news. In our celebrity obsessed culture, the latest Britney Spears stunt or which starlet is pregnant is more interesting to readers. Several years ago there were only a couple tabloids, mainly People and US Weekly. The genre has largely expanded with newsstands packed with choices. The younger population seems to feel that they can relate easier to these types of stories as opposed to which political candidate is gunning for higher taxes. Preferring to be blissfully ignorant, they have complete trust in what is going on in the government. Some even might contend that its something they'll deal with when they're older; that its their parents issue.
   
   Mindich offers some solutions to integrating the news into young peoples' daily lives. One resolution is to establish a type of kid's news. Another is to devote less time on the airwaves to scandals. While he has very valid arguments, most of the information is nothing new. This issue has been continuing for many years. Maybe even since Vietnam have young people not pursued interest and involvement in current issues. In my opinion, the news cannot be forced upon anyone, there needs to be a shift where the younger population really wants to be informed.



2. Tuned Out is exactly that. This book proves that it is out of touch with American youth and their outlook on our country. Tuned Out makes many brass assumptions about the newest generation of Americans and the technological society in which we live. Through these assumptions, the author, David T. Z. Mindich, clearly shows his ignorance regarding the subject.
   The author attempts to argue that due to the decreases in the number of people who read newspapers and watch broadcast television, Americans are now less informed about politics. This observation is inaccurate in its attempt to define the relationship between American youth and politics. While it is true that less Americans are reading newspapers and watching broadcast television, this is the result of advancements in technology and not the apathy of individuals. These advancements in technology, such as the Internet and portable media devices, let Americans access important information without having to pick up a newspaper or turn on a television.
   American youth are just as informed, if not more informed, than previous generations of citizens. While new technologies do make information more customizable for the user, they do not breed a society that is indifferent to politics. Generations of the author's beloved past showed how apathetic they were to politics in this nation. Many were ill informed and would vote for candidates based solely on their political party, paying no attention to the candidate's philosophy and character. Today's Americans are kept up to date on important issues through the use of advanced technologies and are free to choose candidates who best fit their "customizable" beliefs.
   Overall the author is outdated and indifferent to modern American society. He completely misses the point of the advancements made in technology and how they affect individuals. The author states his belief that American youth are apathetic towards politics, and that they will bring about the destruction of democracy. The truth is that only real threat to democracy is the type of ignorance that is displayed by the author.



3. The author speaks wistfully of when most people watched network news. But when the three networks news programs had that power, they abused it. Two decades ago Peter Jennings gave an interview in which he said that his job was not merely to present the news but also to interpret it.
   
   What if you don't like the way a newscaster is interpreting the news, yet many millions watch that newscaster?
   
   Nowadays nightly network news audiences have dropped to the point where it doesn't matter how a network news anchor interprets the news, because the audiences are small.
   
   The author mentions favorably how Walter Cronkite had a big impact when he announced that the US was in a quagmire in Vietnam. But that was an opinion, not news.
   
   The author is correct that the country is worse off for people not following the news. But the country is better off for the demise of those dinosaurs, the half hour network news broadcast and the weekly newsmagazine.



4. With all that is going on in the world right now, it's stunning to think how many people are out of touch with day to day news. The newspaper is now nothing more than the front page, maybe an eye-catching headline and the more importantly the horoscope and ads for groceries or cars, maybe the sports schedule or boxscore. TV news is reduced to glitz, glamour, Hollywood dirt, Washington scandal and the dog caught down a drain. At no time in world history has there been so much readily available media to the masses, sometimes unwillingly pumped into your subconscious by airports, banks and post offices on blaring televisions that have no off switch.. and this book eloquently examines why more watch less. To find out why so many have so often decided to watch or read so little news, Mindich hit the road; his journey is related as a classroom of the mind, challenging assumptions and explaining indifference. No one in the business of journalism - and lest no one be fooled, it is a business, a very profitable business for those who control it - and no one who is raising a child in this 21st century should miss a chance to learn why Americans under 40 are 'tuning out.' I heartily recommend educators who want their students to be informed about the world around them, to find a copy for their classroom.



5. I bet the author didn't even study youth surfing the web.
   If he had, he might have realized that today's youth are *highly* literate (not illiterate). They are also increasingly critical.
   
   That is precisely *why* they are abandoning Network News. They know that it can't be trusted for the really important stuff, unless they're willing to drink the swill that is "spin".
   
   The new generation does not need to be "inspired". What needs to happen is for the older generation to realize that the web surfing habits of the youth are both social and educational, in that they increase global knowledge by facilitating social interation unbound by geography.
   
   20 years ago you learned about Vietnam by reading the paper.
   Now kids just logon to MSN/ICQ/AOL, find someone living in Vietnam, and initiate a chat.
   
   Does reading the paper *truly* provide a better indicator of what daily life is like in Vietnam?

1 comments about Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities.

1. This is an excellent resource for physical planning in relationship to environmental sustainability. If you buy this book , buy also Skinny streets and green neighborhoods.

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 Kengo Kuma.

1. a wonderful book for the lay person and the Architect. Kenga's incredible structures are stunningly intelligent and beautiful written about by Lugi Aline. Kenga Kuma is a phenomenal writer aswell as a genius thinker. i carried a larger bag for two weeks so I could paw through this book constantly...not a great idea..it has dog eared a little.