5 comments about Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape.

1. For me, this book brought a new level of fun to driving around. Another take on the many things that 'make civilized life possible.'



2. This engrossing book leads the reader on a tour of industrial features that one would encounter on both a cross-country or cross-town trip. After reading this book, you will find yourself---as I did---pointing out industrial installations and explaining their use to friends and family.
   
   The glossy, full-color pictures are the most striking feature of this large book. They superbly complement the already excellent, clear, and well-organized text. I was also particularly impressed by the further reading listed at the back of the book. It is organized by chapter and ranked from "Kids" to "Geeks". It filled my stack of reading for several weeks after I finished Infrastructure.
   
   My only criticism of the book echoes the author's apology in the preface: there are many technologies and industries necessarily absent from the book. I can only hope that the author will produce further books of similar quality in the future.



3. If you go for a walk and start actually looking around, you'll see a lot of things that most of us don't really understand -- power lines, sewer systems, the mysterious blue telephone junction boxes. This book explains why and what these things are -- think of it as a Nature Guide for the human-made environment. Do you have Sibley's Guide? Well, you should have one of these, too. My only quibble -- the pages are below standard quality for a hardback book. But never you mind -- don't be picky, like me! Get this book!



4. A proviso that must be made is that this is a very-USA-centric book. No disrespect intended as it is a beautifully photographed and relatively detailed (plus references for a lot more information) tome. Just something to keep in mind as the world is not (yet?) flat in infrastructure.
   
   I like to think of myself as pretty knowledgeable, but I learned quite a bit in each chapter. I can imagine a similar book for Infrastructure 1925 (or so). Would be fun to see what has been lost (trains/streetcars/twice-daily-mail delivery) and gained (more obvious).



5. I've been looking for a book like this for quite a while. I've always been interested about how technology is part of the infrastructure of our everyday lives. Particularly as it relates to electricity and telecommunications. While all of the novels and technical books I read eventually make their way to either my bookshelves or a box, I can easily see this book as something that will permanently become part of my coffee table. I look forward to reading (and re-reading) the various sections. I've found the book to be sufficiently technical, yet simultaneously casual in tone. Considering the subject matter, a very easy, informative and entertaining read. Highly recommended.

No comments about The Brown Decades: A Study of the Arts in America, 1865-1895 (Dover Books on Art, Art History).

5 comments about The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls.

1. I was excited to get this book, being from New England I was looking forward to having a stone wall book focused in that area. Unfortunately I was immediately let down when I received it. When I turned the pages I quickly noticed that there wasn't a single photo in the book! In my mind this is almost a crime, it would be like purchasing a book on sunsets and finding out there were only scattered black and white illustrations inside.
   Also, the most knowledge filled tidbits of information are quotes the author uses from other stone masons. I recommend their works instead; Charles McRaven's Stone Primer , and John Vivian's Building Stone Walls (a good mix of photos and illustrations, all in B&W, but less expensive than most.)



2. I surprisingly enjoyed this book. I purchased a few other stone wall books with the intention of building my own wall. I originally did not buy this book because other reviewers indicated not any pictures & a few drawings (this is true). But it is a easy read & tells of the pleasure of building in addition to techniques.



3. The Granite Kiss is an endearing look at the practical and esthetic aspects of creating and repairing stone walls. The book has an artistic quality with its extra wide pages with pen and ink drawings of walls under construction or old walls still standing. There are no photos.
   
   There is a feeling of working alongside the author while he idly rambles about the task at hand and jobs he has completed in his career. I especially enjoyed his nicknames for the various rock shapes likely to be found in any imperfect rockpile and the relationships the shapes may have to each other in a completed wall. All in all, stone wall building is a task of patience and persistance - which the author relays in topics such as: spreading the "good" rocks out; working with rocks that are not perfect blocklike shapes, time management; and what is likely to stand the test of time.
   
   This is a book to get you into the slow and methodical, but contemplative mood for learning and practicing this dying art.



4. Of the half-dozen books I bought in preparation for recycling some of the old stonewalls up through the woods on our farm into a new retaining wall, this is my clear favorite. It is more detailed than John Vivian's Building Stone Walls, particularly when it comes to retaining walls. Because it is not as glossy and illustrated as Haywards' Stone in the Garden or David Reed's Stonescaping (which are, by the way, both excellent in their own right), I'm not as wary about taking it out to the project with me.

   The text is clear and concise, and includes a healthy dose of stone philosophy and the index is detailed enough to help the do-it-yourselfer find what he needs, but short enough so that he can find what he wants, even if he does not know the proper name for it.

   However, the main reason I like this book so much is Gardner's assurance that anyone who puts his mind to it -- which includes me -- can build a stone wall. While his respect for old stone walls and the art of building them is obvious, he also has a healthy dose of practicality. "The notion that all, or even most, of the old stone-work we see around New England is the result of concentrated applicaion of arcane skill," he write, " is demonstrably false." Once that sacred cow was out of the way, my confidence level went up and anything seemed possible.

   The black & white drawings that illustrate the text are clear and very helpful.




5. This is a wonderful book...it's about stone walls, and about building stone walls, and all the things stone walls have meant and done for 350 years, and what it feels like to live and work in a place where just past the urban sprawl every one of those 350 years blends with this one (and if you look out the corner of your eye there're older times than that hiding in the shadows.)

   It's not a homeowner howto, though it's got everything you can learn from a book. It's a book for masons who love their craft, New Englanders who love their home place, and anyone who likes good work. Whatever that means to you.

3 comments about Mexican Details.

1. I brought this book because of the reviews but once I got it, I realized besides the pretty pictures, there is no content to speak of. The book tells you nothing substantial about Mexican material culture or interior design. It is a fluff publication - nothing more.



2. I have just bought a house in Mexico, and find this book most inspirational for my remodelling work and for any future building! Super authentic ideas.



3. I have checked out as many interior design books on Mexican style as I could find and being a researcher by profession that was a lot. This is my favorite--the colors of the rooms are warm and vibrant and exactly what I had envisaged in my mind's eye. I loved each page and would recommend buying this if you had to pick just one on this subject.

5 comments about Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture.

1. Beranek is one of the grand old men of the classical music acoustical design world. This book is a wonderful reference guide to the major concert halls of the world, with pictures, technical information, floor and seating plans, and detailed information about the acoustic design. It covers America, Europe, Japan, and a few famous halls in Oceania and Latin America. In addition, there are cogent essays summarizing the state of technical thinking in the design of good-sounding halls for classical music. If you need information about the size, sound, and history of one of the major concert halls in the world, this is the book. BTW, it is a beautiful and elegantly made book, with heavy glossy paper, etc.



2. That's a very good book! A complete book, specially if you want to know about concert hall. All plans are in scale



3. The author of this book greets us with an endearing smile on the back flap of the dust cover, and has every reason to. Imagine spending a significant part of your life touring concert halls and opera houses all over the world, sitting in on concerts (often changing seats in the course of the program), in order to assess the acoustic properties of the venue at hand. Fortunately, dr. Beranek has been kind enough to lay down his findings in this scholarly yet enchanting book. It offers invaluable insights into the workings of acoustics and the many factors that determine a hall's aural properties. It does so by elucidating the general principles of acoustics, and by addressing topics like building materials, hall shapes, balconies, etc., separately. But the bulk of the book is taken up by a kind of gazetteer describing in detail 100 concert halls and opera houses from around the world. Each of the descriptions includes data on all significant hall properties, as well as plans, cross sections, and (black and white) photographs looking from the auditorium towards the stage and vice versa. Yet you need not fear a dry, scientific inventory; on the contrary: the writing is never anything less than engaging, and the author never forgets that in the end it is all about the joys of music, which he clearly savours himself. The text is strewn with anecdotal quotations from conductors, players and reviewers alike - the author is acutely aware that a hall's reputation rests as much on the writings of critics and the overall audience experience as it does on quantifiable acoustical qualities. For those who like hit parades, yes, there is a top 20, though dr. Beranek is too much of a scientist to present it without heaps of caveats (though it is clear throughout the book that Boston Symphony Hall is his acoustic Walhalla).
   Of course, a book like this can never be quite complete, and though I encountered the two halls I'd expected to see from my own country (the Amsterdam Concertgebouw again featuring as one of the world's top three), I was inevitably slightly disappointed to see my own town's hall disregarded, even though it is generally acknowledged to surpass the Concertgebouw when it comes to classical and early romantic repertoire. In a more general sense, the question is how random the selection was. You will find all the great halls you would expect in a survey like this (though Russia is conspicuously absent), but like me many readers are bound to be aware of hidden gems undiscovered (or at least unaddressed) by Beranek. London and Japan seem to be disproportionately represented (no less than 9 Tokyo halls are listed!), nor did I find all the US entries equally compelling (one wonders also why all countries are listed alphabetically, but after the US?). It should be noted, too, that the images serve to give a general impression of a hall, but are mostly of moderate quality, and sometimes quite bad. Finally, and then I'll stop complaining and resume the praise, opera houses are very much underrepresented and almost seem like an afterthought; they might as well have been left out, the focus is clearly on symphonic concert spaces.
   None of this detracts in any significant way from the wonders of this unique book, which is, by the way, beautifully produced, featuring smooth, glossy paper. Whether an acoustic scientist, a regular concert goer or an architecture buff, this book will be fascinating reading for you. It may, indeed, even help you select the best available seat when you're booking a ticket in a hall you've never visited before (avoid those three back rows on the Boston Symphony Hall middle balcony!).



4. FYI - I just wrote a review of the book and it got lost in cyber space. So this is my abreviated second attempt.
   
   1- This is more thorough than Auditoria by Forsyth. It is focused soley on acoustics of the spaces, not the architecture.
   2- There are 18 to 21 acoustic metrics reported for each of the halls.
   3- The last sections on acoustics of concert halls and opera halls is up to date and discusses key concepts & criteria in realtion to existing facilities.
   
   The appendices are wonderful. Appendix #2 lists additional acoutical data that is availble on the concert halls reviewed in earlier chapters. Typically this additional data inlcudes RT by octave, and may include ITDG, G (strength) & IACC.



5. This is a classic reference for students and practitioners working in the field. It is the most complete compendium available of acoustical and architectural data on concert and opera halls throughout the world. Each building is meticulously detailed with photographs, line drawings and technical data.

2 comments about Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940.

1. Americans have always looked west to reinvent themselves. This trend has been constant from the nation's inception throughout the twentieth-century. With this migration came growth in population and urbanization. In Magic Lands Author John M. Findlay argues that planned communities arose to offer alternatives to this unrelenting urbanization. To support his argument he presents four case studies of planned communities: California's Disneyland and Silicon Valley, Arizona's Sun City retirement community and grounds for the Seattle World's Fair. These "magic lands" were sources of recreation, inspiration and optimism for the rest of the country.
   
   Magic Lands begins with a look at the West's rapid growth at mid-century. Findlay credits the military spending of World War II and a post-war boom driven by the G.I. Bill for increasing populations and changing landscapes. New industries-such as Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley and Boeing in Seattle-aided this growth by driving the west to new economic heights. With new jobs came an increase in demand for housing and shopping plazas. The result was the "horizontal" urban community, one which sprawled outside of the urban center creating sprawl. Reacting to this eastern-style growth, westerners escaped to planned communities for amusement and alternatives to urban lifestyles.
   
   These alternative visions presented in Magic Lands vary drastically. Walt Disney envisioned Disneyland both as family entertainment and as his example as "the city of tomorrow". Stanford built an industrial center that relied on the surrounding natural geography and climate to draw its workforce. Conversely, Sun City severely altered its surroundings to provide an "ideal" active retirement community. And Seattle converted a run down neighborhood to house it's 1962 world's fair. In each case study, Findlay explores how these areas transformed their adjacent communities geographically, economically and culturally.
   
   But how these Magic Lands were constructed varied drastically. Disneyland was built under the close supervision of Walt Disney, who envisioned his planned community as an example for the entire country, but Stanford's Industrial Park (i.e. Silicon Valley) never had a master plan-simply a goal of building a high tech industrial center. In the case of Sun City, a drive for profit and little else led to the construction of this rich and green retirement community in the Arizona desert. Seattle's World Fair aimed to revitalize its downtown district-and failed. But in each case, the results of these communities influenced national ideas on architecture and urban landscapes.
   
   While Magic Lands does offer a compelling look at these four planned communities, their similarities are tenuous at best. Comparisons of Disneyland to the Seattle World's Fair are sometimes a stretch, while Sun City shares little in common with Seattle. These are vastly different and unique communities. More compelling is Findlay's final chapter that shows the impacts of these communities today in places like Irving and Los Angeles. These planned communities had vast cultural and environmental impacts, and these topics could be covered more in depth. Regardless, Magic Lands will both appeal to and inform those interested in urban development and the growth of the American West.



2. Findlay has written an excellent book in urban history. He weaves theory into his narrative effortlessly with few exceptions. Those rare exceptions occur when he heavy-handedly repeats his message, but they are easily overlooked. He also masterfully uses the photographs to enhance his argument, though one wishes that he had included comparative maps to make the micro-communities "legible" to the reader. His argument was convincing overall and left one wishing that he could have treated just a couple more important western landmarks. His most important contribution is to help the reader understand how western cities evolved from eastern, nuclear conception of a city to a model akin to the solar system.

4 comments about Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape (Universe Architecture Series).

1. This book is beautifully photographed and shows a range of Olmsted's work, from Central Park and other parks, to Biltmore and other homes. It even includes photos of Olmsteds own garden. Highly recommended!



2. Really a nice book on the work of the singular Frederick Law Olmsted. The book has well presented images and the text is highly informative. Olmsted was a pioneer in the field of landscape architecture and people in this profession today own him a huge debt of gratitude, as do we all, because he popularized the idea of the great urban neighborhood of the automobile age with it's windening streets and statigically planted trees and shrubs. Olmsted really understood the concept of vista's and how people interact with nature, all you need to do is walk through his Central Park in New York, or one the neighborhood designs he influenced, like Beverly Hills, River Oaks, Grosse Pointe, or Highland Park, these are some of the most saught after neighborhoods in America. His influence is shown in the park designs of Hermann Park in Houston, Audubon Park and City Park in New Orleans, and Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco, just to name of a few, his importance to the field of landscape architecture cannot be overstated. This book does a fine job of illustrating this and I highly recommend it.



3. Frederick Law Olmstead (1822 - 1903) ranks among the most important landscape architects of his time, and indeed of history. His most famous accomplishment was his design and execution of the multifaceted magnificence of New York City's Central Park, presented here in this fine book with many of the details that today go unnoticed.
   
   Charles Beveridge has written extensively about Olmstead but here his knowledge of Olmstead's genius is enhanced by numerous drawings and maps of layout as well as the beautiful photography by Paul Rocheleau. The entire volume is edited and designed by David Larkin in a manner that not only brings out the scholarly aspects of this book but lays out the various areas in both Central Park and in some of the other Olmstead works (Brooklyn's Prospect Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Biltmore Estate among others) in a fashion that makes this a true art book.
   
   There may be many reasons to place this book in the library, but one that is certain to appeal to everyone is the importance of the myriad details of the great Central Park presented here with more majesty than in any other volume. Recommended. Grady Harp, May 06



4. I have been a great fan of Olmstead's design and outlook. This book provides a wonderful overview of his style, his vision and his ideas about how to create beauty out of the natural enivironment. Architects will benefit from his approach to design and construction and his ideas should be a model for those of us new to the field.

1 comments about Colcord--Home.

1. As an Interior Designer I have purchased many books on architecture and design. This book is not just standard coffee table fare, nor merely a book about an architectural genre or persona. Bret Parsons has humanized the architect himself, and personalized the stories of those who have resided within the "Colcord Homes". Architectural books can often be too dry or littered with too many pictures. With authority, knowledge and style Bret has accomplished the impossible. As a child growing up in the Midwest I longed for a "Leave it to Beaver House". Little did I know that the real father of that home was Gerard Colcord.

No comments about Smart Growth in a Changing World.

2 comments about GIS for Landscape Architects.

1. describe los tipos de proyectos con respectoa a la utilizaciopn del SIG como herramienta para diseñar paisajes



2. While somewhat biased towards ESRI software, this book still managed to capture the essence of what real LAs are doing with GIS. What it lacks in technical detail, it more than makes up for with its very nice graphics and maps.