1 comments about Designing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People.

1. For the price, this book is a great overview to designing greenways. I use this as a reference in my studies frequently--I am a student of Landscape Architecture and see this resource as highly valuable.

1 comments about Ecological Architecture: A Critical History.

1. this book is often historicaly incorrect, misinformed, but committed to ecologicaly damaging projects like the destruction of the ballona wetlands and the construction of soviet era apartment blocks in place of the natural environment. he characterizes an open storm drain as an riparian corridor for example.
   
   he thinks that mackentosh was a modernist, who was in fact influenced by lethaby, an anthropologist interested in the ancient symbols, and ignores frank wright entirely.

2 comments about Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan.

1. 
   I loved this book! Rarely have I read a book that combines the richness of Japanese architecture, history and culture with the personal experiences of an American correspondent who simultaneously adopted a Japanese son and eventually gained a 18th century Japanese farmhouse in the process. It is a lively and fascinating account of John Roderick's life over a 50 year period of living in this country that remains an enigma to most foreigners. This is a refreshing look at a bit of Japanese archecture and family life accompanied by a witty, candid, and entertaining writing style. I strongly recommend it!



2. Describing the loving restoration of an 18th century Japanese farmhouse by a well-known AP correspondent, this book also gives intriguing glimpses into Japanese culture of today and yesterday. John Roderick is careful to point out that he could not have accomplished the restoration without the Japanese family who "adopted" him. I found the book hard to put down, so skillfully is it constructed.

No comments about Home Plan Doctor: The Essential Companion for Anyone Buying a Home Design Plan.

5 comments about Looking Around: A Journey Through Architecture.

1. I am a big fan of architecture critic Witold Rybczynski. If you haven't read his books HOME, or WAITING FOR THE WEEKEND, or CITY LIFE, this book is a good way to get familiar with many of the themes he has addressed time and again over his long and prolific career (e.g., the place of houses in people's lives, living smaller, the role of architects, the legacy of modernism, the place and meaning of ornament, the intrusion of fashion into the world of architecture, and the importance of the Vitruvian values of commodity, firmness and beauty in identifying "good" architecture). Many of these pieces were previously published in magazines and journals. Some are more thoughtful, well-researched, and even polemical; others read like Sunday magazine fluff pieces (not too many of these, though). Like many of Rybczynski's books, there are no illustrations. If you're like me, you'll find youself going to the Internet often to get images of some of the buildings, places, and people he mentions. It slows down the reading, but is necessary, it seems, to get the full impact of what Rybczynski is saying.



2. Planning on building a house, I was especially interested in Rybczynski's thoughts and insights about homes and what they should look like. From the start I was captivated. Wanting to be sleek and modern, I thought an architect would quickly confirm my ideas. Instead, at the start of the book Rybczynski, with reasoning, brings the reader back to the traditional home and approves of it; and makes me want to build one... and live in a lovely little neighborhood.
   He moves beyond the house and Looking Around takes us into the cities and towns to look at public buildings like art museums. The history and progression that he packs into this book is very insightful.



3. This is an incredible book and I recommend it to anyone, whatever field you are in, you live in this world and may as well enjoy it.



4. Here is an unusual book: Witold Rybczynski takes us wandering through the professional byways of a subject usually reserved for a more intellectual readership, if such a thing exists. Why architecture is important and what makes it so is the subject matter here, brought to us by a very competent writer. Delightfully so, in fact, as Rybczynski has the storyteller's ability to weft and weave.

   The stories he has chosen here are a mixed bunch and we are asked to think about such diverse constructions as the American bungalow, the Grow Home and public buildings like the Canadian Centre for Architecture. He has stories to tell about all of them, the people who live in or use them and the odd trends which are sometimes responsible for a particular design. As he points out, although we use architecture every day of our lives and are clearly affected by it (whether we know it or not), we are more than prone to take it for granted. Should we not be more aware of what's around us, in general? This book offers up some thoughtful ideas on the subject.




5. This is an easy reader.

   I bought this book a long time ago, but never had the time to open it, then one day I was looking for a magazine to read in, you know, those intimate moments, and in the rush I grabed 'looking around'.

   Fact is: I couldn't stop reading it. Even tough I am not what you'd call a lay-man on architectural issues, Witold's book really made me see that's possible to write about architecture without being too academic or technical. I can say that I've learned a great deal, not only about architecture, but about life.

   my advice? buy it now!

1 comments about Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest.

1. Mary Colter was a woman ahead of her time --- an architect and interior designer when few women attempted it. She interwove rustic techniques, local materials and American Indian themes into buildings and designs well before that was accepted by others in her professions. Her rustic buildings at Grand Canyon National Park still survive to the delight of many visitors. Colter was at times a prefectionist, hard to get along with, a workaholic and extremely demanding of herself and her co-workers. Yet the author shows us her life and work with sympathy as well as depth. This book is well illustrated with color and black and white photos. Well researched. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It answered all my questions!

1 comments about LARE Review Section D Practice Problems: Design and Construction Documentation, 2nd ed..

1. These books are not particularly helpful for the 2008 tests, as far as giving an indication of what is actually covered. They are really only useful in providing an idea of how the questions are worded. Study Time Saver Standards and focus on stormwater management.

3 comments about Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism.

1. I really enjoyed the book besides the fact that it proved really helpful for all the papers I have had to write so far. The concepts are clear and the bibliography extensive so it is really a starter in other directions.



2. Matei Calinescu's _The Five Faces of Modernity_ is an impressive intellectual history of five concepts central to aesthetics (i.e. the theory and philosophy of art) in the past two centuries-- the concepts of 'modernism', 'the avant-garde', 'decadence', 'kitsch', and 'postmodernism'. After an introductory discussion on the concept of 'modernity' itself, each of these concepts, or 'faces of modernity' is discussed in detail. This discussion generally includes an account of the word's origins and changes in its usage, close readings of important texts that used these concepts in exemplary or revolutionary ways, and a critical analysis of the assumptions that underly the term's application to aesthetics. Throughout, Calinescu ranges quite broadly in his scope, drawing upon texts from throughout Europe and the Americas (both North and South).

   Calinescu's account is far too rich and complex to summarize here, but on the whole, the history of aesthetic thought he provides is based on solid research, compelling analysis, and insightful observation. In the process, he makes some astute, and rather surprising observations about how these aesthetic terms were initially used to describe politics or social thought, and only came to be applied to aesthetics later (this is especially true with 'avant-garde')-- yet, their aesthetic application is fundamentally shaped by their earlier social-political associations.

   Although this book is quite solid, I do feel that it has some shortcomings that can't be ignored. First and foremost among these is that Calinescu's bizarre characterization of Romanticism. The Romantics, he rightly noted, were crucial in the development of modern aesthetics-- and in the notions of modernism, the avant-garde, and decadence in particular. However, his account of Romanticism is one that I simply do not recognize-- basically reducing it (somewhat inaccurately, I would add) to "the relativization of beauty" and the abandonment of the notion of eternal, transcendent truths or ideals. Part of the problem here is that Calinescu limits his discussion of Romanticism to France, focussing on Chateaubriand, Stendahl, and Hugo. If he had discussed the major German Romantic thinkers or the British Romantic poets, this account of Romanticism (and the role he assigns to it in developing a concept of 'modernity') simply could not stand.

   The second main shortcoming of the book is that it focuses overwhelmingly on literary art. Painting and other forms of art are discussed a little bit in some of the chapters (particularly in the one on kitsch), but for the most part, Calinescu's book focuses on prose and poetry-- not on the visual arts (or still less on music). I think his account of some of these concepts (particularly 'modernism' and 'avant-garde') wuld have been greatly improved by considering them.

   Still, those criticisms are relatively minor-- this is a great book and an important one on this subject. Highly recommended to intellectual historians, art historians, and those who are interested in a good 'history of ideas' account of these five aesthetic concepts.




3. Calinescu succeeds in a very difficult department: definind five concepts that have become common places in criticism. Calinescu's reviews is insightful, comprehensive an very well documented. It offers an excellent introdution to the novices and a useful guide for investigating the concepts to the initiates. Calinescu is probably one of the finest critics in this topic and his book exceeds authors like Hobsbawn.

3 comments about Style on a Budget: Affordable Ideas for a Relaxed Home.

1. I was looking for a book with inspirational pictures of rooms that would be accessible, clever and plenty of fodder for thought. THIS book has at least two pictures of dirty old shoes plopped on dirty tile or stacked onto an utilitarian steel rack as an example of "style." Style to whom? I don't want to decorate with shoes.
   
   I have found books on decorating to be either stuck on some weird aesthetic -- like this book's fascination with putting everyday items on display in dirty or messy surroundings -- or to be too focused on architectural detail instead of the decorating itself. The reality is that my house is of new construction and looks frighteningly like other people's houses and it is almost devoid of the type of architectural detail lauded in such books. What am I supposed to do? Tear down a wall? That's not decorating to me, that's construction.
   
   Sometimes these books can redeem themselves by offering interesting commentary that can spark good ideas, but, not in this case.
   
   Do not waste your money unless you are interested in decorating with your worn out sneakers.



2. The book may appeal to someone with cheap tastes but for me to many of the examples were cluttered and to 'cute'. Or maybe I was simply looking for a book that had more style, or a book that would be more California or NYC friendly.
   
   The initial photographs on each new chapter pages whet my appetite and made me assume that what would follow would be more of the same, but alas I would turn the page and be met with more cheap style ideas, if one can even use the word style. The books cover suggests a book that has style and a zen mode, but is far from either for me. The majority of rooms in the photographs in the book are more cluttered and cute.



3. Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place
   
   It is my belief that this book would be most useful for those decorating a first apartment, a loft, a very small house, or a second home but certainly this book will spark anyone's imagination.
   
   The authors offer ideas won't bust a budget for fabrics, window treatments, storage, flooring and other materials for the home. They include suggestions for finding treasures in unlikely places and making do with inexpensive materials from places like Pottery Barn, Pier One Imports and flea markets. Resources such as these are included, and picture credits are given.

   All in all, Style on a Budget will not disappoint.

   (Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.Her second book, Harkening, has won three.)

2 comments about Aladdin "Built in a Day" House Catalog, 1917 (Dover Books on Architecture).

1. This is an 8 x 11, 117 page [Dover] reprint of Aladdin's 1917 Catalog. The print and architectural renderings (house sketches) are really very good.

   The back of the book has garages, hardware miscellany, colonnades, arches, built-ins, etc.

   The first dozen pages are company history and background, which I find completely fascinating.

   The catalog looks like most house catalogs of this era, with an angled, although primarily frontal view of the house, with floor plans, house description, etc.

   It's pretty interesting reading and most folks would enjoy perusing it. I have several Dover Publication reprints and always find them good additions to my ever growing historical architecture library.

   And if you're doing research on Sears Catalog homes, like me, this Aladdin book is an invaluable research tool because it really highlights the *similarities* between these different catalog homes.

   All catalog houses, it turns out, look surprisingly alike. Only vague nuances separate the Aladdins from the MWards houses and the Sears Houses. They all copied one another - changing a front entry or a bracketed eave or some other minimal change.

   The Aladdin 1917 Catalog is interesting and a good quality reprint.

   Rose




2. This is an 8 x 11, 117 page [Dover] reprint of Aladdin's 1917 Catalog. The print and architectural renderings (house sketches) are really very good.

   The back of the book has garages, hardware miscellany, colonnades, arches, built-ins, etc.

   The first dozen pages are company history and background, which I find completely fascinating.

   The catalog looks like most house catalogs of this era, with an angled, although primarily frontal view of the house, with floor plans, house description, etc.

   It's pretty interesting reading and most folks would enjoy perusing it. I have several Dover Publication reprints and always find them good additions to my ever growing historical architecture library.

   And if you're doing research on Sears Catalog homes, like me, this Aladdin book is an invaluable research tool because it really highlights the *similarities* between these different catalog homes.

   All catalog houses, it turns out, look surprisingly alike. Only vague nuances separate the Aladdins from the MWards houses and the Sears Houses. They all copied one another - changing a front entry or a bracketed eave or some other minimal change.

   The Aladdin 1917 Catalog is interesting and a good quality reprint.

   Rose