4 comments about Rustic Revisited: Innovative Design for Cabin, Camp, and Lodge.

1. Pictures were well done but I wish someone that writes in this genre, would do a book on cabins and retreats that the average person could own. Most of these books cater to the wealthy rich folks and show lodges that most of us will never see let alone own.
   Give me a book that can help me arrange a rustic decor, Just a couple of those out there. A book on the average fishing and hunting cabin like the ones I remember from childhood would be a dream!



2. Many design ideas can be obtained from this book if you are remodeling or building a cabin.



3. This book portrays a vast amount of information on lodge-camp- and cabin style.
   
   Ann O'Leary identifies the historical as well as specific decorating details necessary to achieve these fabulous lodge and camp looks. This is a very in-depth, extensively well researched and beautifully written book! Well done!



4. What a great book! I bought it to give as a gift and ended up keeping it for myself. It's filled with beautiful photos of rustic style in all its forms: including Adirondack camps, lake houses in Wisconsin, Western lodges and Southern cottages just to name a few. I got many good ideas from it, and will be buying more copies to give to friends. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Tiki Modern.

1. A MUST HAVE for anyone interested in the atomic/tiki/moderism era. Lots of information and historical photos all in one book. I also recommend another book by this same author (Sven Kirsten)entitled, The Book of Tiki. You will not be disappointed!



2. We have several tiki books and this one is fantastic. Very good quality. Lots of information and wonderful pictures. We have some of the author's other books and they are equally good.



3. This book is absolutely AMAZING! The pictures are wonderful...colorful, big and vivid. There's pictures on EVERY PAGE...serious material here! Descriptions and the wonderful little tid-bits are executed nicely. Nothing was done as an 'afterthought'. There are even a few vintage items I was going to bid on at one time mentioned in this book...now I seriously regret it because of their rarity!!
   
   If you're a tiki fan, new to tiki or just love art and Polynesian influenced pieces, this is a book you must buy. Pick it up..because once you do, you won't want to put it back down.



4. More beautiful images of a (sadly) bygone era, accompanied by well researched captions in multiple languages.
   
   With that said...the main purpose of this book was to highlight a particular type of trashy looking furniture made by the Witco Company.
   
   The Witco style can be extremely tacky looking to the point where I laughed out loud many times at how trailer trashy it was. Think: matching orange shag rug. This went far beyond the kitschy coolness of the tiki era. It's nauseating.
   
   Witco's look was so repetitive it would be a bore except it was like a car wreck, you kept turning the page to see what other ridiculous item one could make out a dark stained log of wood and a chainsaw. It's like the guy who discovered he could make things with popsicle sticks and never stopped. Eventually he had a popsicle car.
   
   The cover of the book, is a piece of art. The linen fabric of the hardback is tasteful and is enjoyable to hold. There is still enough non-Witco stuff here to keep the reader satisfied with the book.
   
   All in all it was clearly a labor of love, and for that and most of the book, I give it an encouraging 5 star recommendation. Thank you Sven - waiting for your next project.



5. I haven't seen a more engaging and easy to read book on Tiki than 'Tiki Modern'. It is full of vintage photographs that help readers integate the worlds of modern and primitive art. This book leaves you wanting more on the subject of Tiki while wondering "Where can I get a piece of Tiki to add to my home or personal art collection?"

5 comments about Rooms to Inspire: Decorating With America's Best Designers.

1. This should be retitled "Rooms to Expire" - the looks presented therein will date faster than your milk carton in the fridge. Lotsa pretentious photos and vapid dialogue. I bought this a while ago and I honestly can't remember anything in it. . . a precursor to the longevity of these "fashionable" interiors perhaps? Someone please channel Billy Baldwin. . . . .
   Stylemaven



2. I bought this book expecting to get some ideas on how to decorate my modest house. I love magazines like Country Living and Country Home where their decorating ideas are practical and easy to replicate. This book is best suited for someone who has a lot of cash to throw around. Too rich for my blood!! It would be nice to be able to preview a few random pages of the books before purchasing. That would be most helpful for decorating books as you cannot always go by the cover. If you have similar tastes to mine, check out all books published by Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens.



3. Have seen most of the spaces in magazines. If you like shabby chic, this is the book for you.



4. This book is a feast for the eyes. I purchased it initially because I love Kelly Wearstler's decorating and it features one of her homes, but the whole book is amazing & full of wonderful interior decorators, from traditional with a twist to modern & minimalist. A great addition to any coffee table collection.



5. The title of Annie Kelly's new book is spot-on -- the rooms featured here truly are inspirational. Although many of the interiors have been published previously in magazines or books, the images here offer a fresh perspective.
   
   For example, 12 pages are devoted to Kelly Wearstler's Hillcrest estate. The pictures show a slightly different view than what was published in Wearstler's second book, Domicilium Decoratus, and Annie Kelly provides detailed analysis of the residence.
   
   Other designers included in Rooms to Inspire, but not mentioned in the publisher's description, are Miles Redd, Lynn von Kersting, Suzanne Rheinstein and Steven Gambrel. For me, one of the most inspirational homes featured is the author's -- Annie Kelly is a decorator and design journalist.

5 comments about The Hawaiian House Now.

1. This book is beautifully produced, with a nice variety of types of homes presented.



2. I got this book so I could get some decorating ideas for my own house here in California. I found the book to be helpful in what I needed it for. It shows good interior design ideas for houses in Hawaii that could easily by used in other parts of the world. I love the Hawaiian styles and I am working on recreating them in my home.



3. This book transported me back to those years when I grew up in Hawaii and was exposed through friends and parties to so many of these kind of houses. I see Hawaii house decor being such an accumulation of all that is good about Hawaii - reflection of its spirit and early settlers and Hawaiian aspect. I live in New Zealand and decorate ALL my houses with a strong Hawaii/South Pacific/New Zealand flavor - this book has given me such inspiration for my next house. If you grew up in Hawaii or love the spirit of Hawaii this book is a must. I was thrilled when I received the book and as I am about to start a new adventure with a house I am going to incorporate so much of what I see and read in "The Hawaiian House Now" - It is not just a book with nice photos it is a book with some great information on all that is Hawaii.



4. I enjoyed this book very much. It was well written, well researched and contained a wealth of beautiful photographs. The author captured the beauty of simplicity. The Hawaiian House is a wonderful coffee table book.



5. Whether your style is contemporary, traditional, or eclectic this book has something for everyone. I've gone through it again and again, and each time I've seen something new or gotten an idea for something I can do in my own home.

No comments about Histories of the Immediate Present: Inventing Architectural Modernism (Writing Architecture).

5 comments about Learning from Las Vegas - Revised Edition: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form.

1. I admire and respect Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown for their great career and contribution to architecture, which has yet to be fully assessed. The depth of their thinking, the vigilant efforts to achieve their aesthetic vision, their desire to overcome modernist dogma, which had mutated into marginalized elite uncivic abstraction, falsely denying vibrant areas of life...how can one argue with the importance and value of such work?
   
   Let me try.
   
   To me, this book represents one of the most interesting turning points of an architectural career, very similar to Rem Koolhaas' essay on Bigness in S,M,L,XL.
   
   Both texts are attempting to give themselves an elite artist's alibi for co-opting the corporate machinery's unself-conscious production. Here, both artists (VRSB and OMA)attempt to escape into pop art, just like their friend Andy Warhol, thumbing his nose at the self important abstract expressionists.
   
   There's just one problem with this; they are architects, not just artists.
   And this places them in significantly different political territory. Architects build in the public sphere, and therefore have a powerful civic impact. They enable some political forces, and, by physical default, suppress others. If they were artists, their voice is a singular one, an unsponsored comment, to be entertained or dismissed. Architecture cannot be waved away.
   
   So, being architects, is 'Learning from Las Vegas' and 'Bigness' an elite artist's manifesto, or a cynical architect's effort to solicit clients from the bloated and most lucrative areas of commerce? The ambiguity is disturbing, because ultimately it has proven out not to matter what their intention. Both Venturi and Rem Koolhaas have been most useful tools for the most egregious excesses of our runaway imperial corporate world.
   
   And this is a sad legacy for two brilliant architectural careers. No matter what their aesthetic accomplishments in the way of rarified architectural thought, the more brutal reality is that architects seeking fame cannot also speak truth to power. This gravely undermines their civic responsibilities.
   I am reminded of William Morris' quote, a sad retrospective look at his career, saying that ultimately, his work "only served the swinish luxuries of the rich." A bitter realization for a socialist, one who chose to retreat into archaic craft, instead of trendy pop.
   
   Pop architecture is not a game. It is an insidious symptom of the polarization of wealth, a symptom that Venturi and Koolhaas cheerfully enable, both with their particular form of dissociating irony. They can play with it as a theory, but it has wrought disastrous consequences in the physical and political landscape. Same thing happened to Frank Gehry, another symptomatic starchitectural monster, who apparently doesn't need to theorize. Hard to say when the deal went down exactly. I just don't know.



2. this book is extremely condensed into a multitude of thumbnails or panoramas and text that never fails to reiterate its point. i mean, these two architects really understand the idea of symbols, suggestions, and sheds but after a dozen pages on one idea, you already get the point.
   
   the images are really helpful in exemplifying the amount of criticism for or against the city ("idea") of las vegas.



3. This is a quite unusual and offbeat treatise on architectural theory, as applied to the world's greatest architectural monstrosity - Las Vegas. This analysis from the early 1970s is obviously outdated because Las Vegas hadn't yet become the monument to megalomania and excess that it is today, but it was already well on its way. The authors analyze Vegas' unique usages of space, lighting, placement, transportation, and building design for the purposes of communication and promotion. Strange chapter titles give a clue to the left-field analysis in store, and the authors have a clear sense of irony, underhandedly implying that Vegas presents the worst in architecture while they appear to be praising its uniqueness. Unfortunately the narrative gets bogged down in dense professor-speak terminology like "Brazilianoid" and "neo-Constructivist megastructures," along with a general overload of obtuse theory. Add to that the poor-quality and under-elaborated illustrations and you have a book that sacrifices insight and readability in favor of pedantic attempts to impress the authors' colleagues. [~doomsdayer520~]



4. Read this book to learn what you shouldn't do as an architect!

   This book follows Venturi's "Complexity and Contradiction", where you can learn how cynically to use casement windows in housing for the elderly where the elderly will happily put their plastic flowers in the windows, but *you* secretly know these are not really hormal casement windows, since they are out of scale (like fascist architecture's lack of scale?).

   This book will tell you about ducks and decorated sheds, but it will tell you nothing about building spaces which nourish creative human community. Try Louis Kahn (e.g., John Lobell's lovely little book "Between Silence and Light"). My postmodernist teachers at Harvard said Kahn's writings were incomprehensible, which says more about them than about him.

   Read Lobell's book and learn why, e.g., a city might deserve to exist. Remember: Only *you* can get beyond postmodernism!




5. Robert Venturi's study of the Las Vegas signage phenomena and it's impact on "architecture" is brilliant in it's scope. While written almost twenty five years ago, this book gains more and more pertinence as we as a society progress further into a "reality" of symbols, reproductions and representations. These words and thoughts are basically essential to the understanding of any city anymore, not just Las Vegas. Where this book misses the mark though is in the execution, as shown in Venturi's work, of these ideas. The projects put forth seem to pale in comparison to the implications the text actually has. These notions of architecture are by far some of the most relevant and important in modern theory today, it is unfortunate that their full potential could not be realized in these projects.... but maybe that is for you and I to do.

2 comments about Lighting Design Basics.

1. If you are looking for a beginner lighting course, this books is just what you need. It goes through lighting applications per room/area, explains how to calculate foot candles, but if you want to read more about lighting plans, layouts, electrical requirements.....I would say - keep looking.
   
   This is a good quick resource with little technical detail.



2. This book is great for designers! It covers everything you need to know and has some great ways for doing calculations for lighting!

5 comments about Space: Japanese Design Solutions.

1. This book is fine in almost everything but the floor plans that are missing. It's small and compact which goes with the theme but a floor plan would have been a great addition in simplifying the readability of it. Most of all it would be great if I could learn how to do them instead and of only admiring these houses.



2. This book... I liked it so much I even use it as a gift! Extremely happy!



3. it would make a marvelous coffee table book, except it's half the size of one. or maybe it makes a wonderful table book precisely because it is so easy to pick up and skim. regardless, don't let that deter you from getting this book, as it is remarkable in its showcasing of the creativity that small spaces foster. as you read both the words and pictures throughout the book, you will find yourself thinking "wow that makes so much sense!" and "i want that house!" over and over.
   a fantastic book, it will inspire you to either move to japan, or take the book to your architect and commission a house on the spot.



4. That's right, folks! Not a one! However, that hasn't put me off this little book.
   
   I've enjoyed this one for it's nifty little nooks and crannies and the way that others can realise good living in small spaces.
   
   This is a VERY Japanese style book. I would not necessarily agree on layouts of the homes but once again, I say unto you, I buy books for inspiration and I haven't been disappointed.



5. Just love the simplicity f spaces in japan, old and modern.

5 comments about Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses From Santa Barbara to San Clemente.

1. This book is a stunning historical account of the rise of the Spanish Mission architectural style in California. The pictures are vibrant and beautiful and the commentary is interesting and appropriate, but limited in order to let the pictures speak for themselves. A lovely coffee-table book.



2. For design ideas, this book will cater to mostly high-end clients but lets face it; most people who do any real custom homes are high-end clients, regardless of the architectural style.
   
   The photographs are beautiful and the book covers a broad array of Spanish influenced interpretations. I would liked to have seen more examples of wrought iron work and additional close-up photos of some of the design details but overall, this is a fantastic book and an exceptional bargain at Amazon's price.



3. This book is a very useful handbook for any Architectural or interior designer, it contains a lot of ideas a lot of which (in my openion) are easy to be implemented and does not cost so much.
   
   Best Regards
   Tareq Azzam



4. Ideal for learning about the architecture and decortating styles of Spanish style homes. The photgraphs are beautiful. I will rely on this book when I design my new home.



5. Great book! The minute I opened it I knew it was going to be a thrilling trip to another time in California history. Beautiful pictures of grand homes, grounds, and other structures built with Spanish and Mexican influence. If you want just one book covering this subject, this would be the one to buy. Highly recommend.

5 comments about The Arcades Project.

1. The Arcades Project was Walter Benjamin's mammoth, lifelong project. The book is not complete, not because Benjamin did not finish it (which he didn't), but because the book is organized like a collage or montage, and these "art forms" are always works-in-progress. Benjamin tried to document life in XIX century Paris through the eyes of a historian/archeologist. Along with Simmel and Kracauer, Benjamin tried to make a sociological, micro-history of the habits, ideologies, and dreams of the main actors of Parisian life -politicians, leaders, revolutionaries, journalists, poets. What is more important, however, is Benjamin's conception of history that we can find in Chapter N of this book. Benjamin studied XIX century Paris from a unique perspective of history as a discontinuous chain of events. For Benjamin, there is no progress in history from A to B. B is not superior to A; both points are subsumed in the same history of domination and catastrophe. Still, what he tried to see in Paris were those events or actors that broke out from this sad universe: the Commune, the Utopians, the Rebels. Benjamin did this to discover the revolutionary potential of past societies that can be useful for the present. This book is so rich and long, that there is almost everything for anyone who is interested in cultural history, philosophy, and theology.



2. As the U.S. begins more and more to embrace a cultural, if not yet explicitly political fascism, it's particularly important to look at the response earlier generations made to fascism. Walter Benjamin is a good place for us to start now, and not just because of his fascinating life and tragic death (read about it in the apparatus to The Arcades Project). Benjamin is at his best in examining the allegoric and metaphoric qualities of commercial objects and trends. He tries to understand what products and displays mean. We now live in a culture of declaration rather than fact (WMD in Iraq, the morality of torture, the chorus of creationists on the school board...); even our public discourse works like declarative advertising copy, like propaganda.
   
   Walter Benjamin's interpretation of 19th century Parisian commerce gives us some tools with which to crack the contemporary code.
   
   Stylistically, The Arcades Project works brilliantly. The layering of quotations and themes evokes a dream world, which is part of Benjamin's point: capitalism lulls whole social bodies to sleep, like a narcotic, like an addiction, and provides a phantasmagoria complete enough to keep consensus reality in place. Benjamin's prose sparkles; ideas pop from the page. More good news: you can effectively read around in The Arcades Project; you don't have to read through it cover-to-cover to get the point.
   
   Finally, if you want to understand the impulses of those who are actively transforming the beautiful United States into styrofoam Walmartistan, I humbly suggest that the reader seek out Deleuze and Guattari's study Anti-Oedipus, which examines in detail the ways in which one can desire fascism (and desire in a fascist manner).



3. In the fifth of his "Theses on History" Benjamin mentions that "every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns threatens to disapear irretrievably." This work represents a significant way of not forgetting. It is fragmentary...but it reminds us that the texts we read are all fragmentary, and we assemble and contextualize them as we read them.



4. This book is a nihilistic, incoherent work, and I dare anyone who reads this review to argue to the contrary. Admiration for this book is humbuggery in action. The emperor has no clothes.



5. Herbert Muschamp, the NY Times architectural critic, has written an interesting article about Benjamin and his Paris project which appears in the Arts & Leisure section on January 16, 2000. While not strictly speaking a book review it nevertheless offers some observations as to the cultural importance of Benjamin's chef d'oevre. Another book on the Arcades Project is Susan Buck-Morss's 'The Dialectics of Seeing' (MIT 1989, 1991, 1997).