1 comments about Architectural Drafting: Procedures & Processes.

1. Architectural Drawing by hand is a fading art. In the age of computers and CAD, almost all architectural schools teach only CAD. As a professor of the American University of Mayonic Science and Technology, (www.aumscience.com) teaching building architecture of Sthapatya Veda an Vastu Science and Vaastu Science and Technology to architects, interior designers, and lay persons, I require my students to hand draw during their first design classes. This book has been one of several that are a saving grace because so few books still focus on hand drawing.
   
   The author has put forth simple, straightforward instructions and examples that will help anyone involved in learning architectural or interior design drawing. It is a required text for my classes.

5 comments about Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb.

1. I'm not sure what to think about this book. Sometimes I read it with joy. At other times I wonder why I bought it. Nice pics, little advice on building.



2. I found the drawings of treehouse construction principles helpful and potentially life saving. The photos were beautiful and inspirational. This isn't the only treehouse building book I will own, but it was a good one to start out with.



3. Great Book, with lots of great pictures. Some technical stuff also. Another book that has a little bit on building tree houses is called "Shelters Shacks and Shanties by D.C. Beard. I love tree's myself but for you tree huggers complaining about a few nails, sheesh, your houses are full of lumber. Look in the walls at the studs, under the floors at the joists, kitchen cabinets, dining room table and chairs, bedroom furniture, etc. etc. so don't worry about a few nails in a tree eh, they love the iron in them anyhow!



4. This book is 90% inspiration and 10% technical information. I don't think that there is enough information for someone wanting to build their own treehouse, but if you already have one of those books, then this one is a good companion for inspirational purposes.



5. I was looking for something practical to help me design and build a tree house for my 5 year old. This is a great book if you want to consider "possibilities". It helped a little, as well in terms of providing conceptual designs. It was not as good in providing detailed plans on how to build a specific tree house. If you are an experienced builder you could probably take what they have here and develop your own blueprints. If you are a novice,and need detailed plans this book will not get you there.

5 comments about The Solar Electric House: Energy for the Environmentally-Responsive, Energy-Independent Home.

1. Ive had this book 4 years it was out of date then. I recently bought The Renewable Energy Handbook by kemp which is far more up todate. 8 years in Solar Electrics is a lifetime, the equipment shown and discussed is fit for a museum,sure its solar electricy for the indepedant home, as a model t ford is for cruising the motorway,save your money!



2. The book has all the basic knowledge about how the physics of solar energy works but the examples of solar arrays is out of date. There are many new products on the market which are not covered in this book.



3. This book was valid in its time but it has not been revised in so
   many years it is now history not technology. I returned it.



4. I am learning about solar energy and this book was written in a way that explained every detail clearly. I feel I could get my engineer's degree from reading this book.



5. I bought this book in 2005, almost 20 years after the first publication of the book. I went through a couple of emotional phases while reading the book. First I thought this was a great book: it has so many practical details and insights. When I got to the part on system controls and routing the power, I realized that this part is probably fairly weak because of the passage of time. Then when I looked at a few other more recent publications such as The Renewable Energy Handbook for Homeowners, by Kemp published in 2003, I realized that the present book is still a solid investment for someone interested in solar-electric. A lot of the basic information is still valid and it is more a case of prices changing and some of the technology being a bit easier to use. I like the fact that the book just concentrates on solar. There are no diversions or philosophical discussions on wind power or similar to confuse the situation. However, if you are a homeowner and want to look at all the alternatives, I suggest the newer book by Kemp, but that book is a bit thin on solar-electric so the present book is still needed. Kemp has many good ideas on insulation and conservation. In any case, the present book is down to earth practical stuff on solar: how it works and how you install. So to make a long story short I recommend the book as a buy.
   
   The book is written by Steven J. Strong an MA from Harvard and someone who has worked as a solar energy consultant before writing the book. He describes a number of his projects and they are scattered thoughout the book.
   
   The book has 10 chapters and it starts with how photovoltaic (PV) cells were developed and how they are manufactured. He explains how the atmosphere itself absorbs some light energy. He explains the eficiency of the PV cells, and how to position the cells to maximize power. Then he goes on to explain the manufacturing processes in detail.
   
   Chapter 2 covers the design of the system of cells, controls, and storage of the energy. Storage itself can be a simple idea such as pumping water into a holding tank from a well during the sunny hours, but usually it is more complicated and uses a battery system or returns the power to the grid for credit, if the house can be connected to the conventional supply system. He explains a lot of these details with references to geographic location, be it in Arizona, or New england, or on a mountain in Colorado.
   
   Chapeter 3 is a lesson on how to wire the modules and arrays together so you can get the right voltage and power combination.
   
   Chapter 4 covers batteries and power regulation. He has many pictures and tables showing availbale products. These of course must be updated with current products but it gives a starting point for the reader.
   
   Chapter 5 is very short and covers power inverters and attachment to the grid. An inverter converts DC voltage from the PV cells into AC for the appliances as in a conventional home. Also it is needed for connection to the grid to get power credits. Finally, he presents some options for power back up generation.
   
   Chapter 6 explains how to conserve energy and then how to match your requirements with the size of the solar system, i.e.: how to determine how much power you need.
   
   Chapter 7 and 8 describe how to design a system connected to the grid, or to design a system completely standing on its own. He gives examples with photographs of existing installations and this includes seasonal variations in power generation.
   
   The last two chapter 9 and 10 are on the actual installion of the components along with maintenance tips.
   
   The book contains many photographs, charts, lists of suppliers for parts, and it has many example calculations on how the power is produced, stored, and what it costs. A lot of this information can be updated by the reader using the web.
   
   This book is now a bit dated and the reader will have to update the information when buying parts, but overall it is still surprisingly good. 5 stars.

5 comments about Old Penn Station.

1. I bought this book for my 5 year old son, so that I could read to him while he looked at the pictures. Unusual in that a children's book deplicts an event of destruction by short sighted people, that took place 40 years ago. I walked up into Penn Station after debarking a LIRR train in 1958 when I was 5 years old. Seeing the huge skylight, I new I had arrived at someplace special. My 5 year old son recently did the same, however it is nothing more than a underground catacomb today, and you cannot recapture the excitement of old Penn Station.



2. William Low masterfully uses mixed media (oil and digital) to illuminate the grandeur of New York's bygone Pennsylvania Station of the early 20th century. Most readers will never have been there in that time, but reading and EXPERIENCING this book will place the reader there. The visuals are so evocative that they invite the creative will of the other four senses to play along. Part of the book's power is that the real thing can no longer be witnessed. But this book makes a wonderful alternative. Small historical inaccuracies (the statues' are carved from marble, not granite) are moot in comparison to the overall effect the book will leave on your imagination.



3. I agree with Shawson, this is a child's introduction to Penn Station. Not much text and there is an error in the discussion of the Penn Station statuary. The statuary was carved out of marble, not pink granite as the author states.



4. This is a mere child's book. Never thought that was what I was ordering. Looked at description on line. Never got impression that this was a kid's book.



5. Finally a book that dosn't dumb it down for kids. We received it 2 weeks ago and we still love exploring it again again. It seems there is always something new we find in the illistrations.

3 comments about Architecture Exam Review: Structural Topics, Sixth Edition (Architecture Exam Review).

1. I think this book is excellent. It is written for the engineer kind of thinker. Somebody with mathmatical difficulties may find Kaplan/ALS material more helpful.



2. Disappointingly, this book is full of formula errors. This book must be used in conjunction with a formal Structural Analysis book in order to check and or correct 40% of the formulas given. This book does give you a broad over view of Structural Systems, but do not rely on it to be correct. My firm has both this book and the study series by Kaplan, suffice it to say Kaplan's Structural series is a much better study guide and so far I have found no formula errata. My Structural Engineer Colleagues can not believe That this book by Steven E. O'Hara and David Kent Ballast ever made it through any type of pre-production review with this many errors.



3. A good location to find many different subjects to the topic. Each chapter has sample exam questions for review. A good resource but not the ONLY resource you should use if you are taking the Architectural Registration Exam.

5 comments about The Small Adobe House.

1. This is a great additional to our book collection and is a must have for anyone who is designing their house with the "Santa Fe" look. The pictures are just wonderful!



2. This is a beautiful book. It is an excellent addition to my library of Adobe house books. I will be building an adobe house in the next couple of years and this book is a great reference.



3. Great book showing some fantastic homes. Lots of great ideas for when I move west and get an adobe. If you have an interest in this type and style home this is a good book to have in your library.



4. In comparison to other books available about adobe houses, the content of this book offers little range and depth. Other choices were less superficial.



5. Robert Reck's photography is beautiful (as always). It was a wonderful surprise to see MY OWN Santa Fe work in the book!

   The book gives a great feel for the beauty of the Adobe Home and the time tested vernacular of the details.

No comments about Morocco: Courtyards and Gardens.

No comments about The Study of Architectural Design.

5 comments about The Abrams Guide to American House Styles.

1. If you are just getting interested in the topic of house styles, this book is an excellent introduction. The color pictures are a great help versus black and white pictures or even sketches. If nothing else, this is a great starter book!



2. This book is a good guide to house identification as well as a pleasure to look it. The photographs are beautifully done, and in full color which I think is important for noticing details that help one identify a house. The text is helpful in explaining historical information, and there are quick reference charts for each house type that condense the major features of that type. Sometimes the distinction between early, middle, and late Georgian is hard determine, and I didn't find it very helpful there, but other than that it is a great guide and a nice coffee table book as well since the pics are so fabulous.



3. The color pictures are all new and the subjects very well chosen, and paging through this book is enjoyable. The concise text reviews the usual classifications in the usual ways, its academic tone partly redeemed by occasional wit.
   
   He renames Richardson Romanesque as Richardsonian, Federal as Late Georgian, and says Queen Anne originated from Arts and Crafts rather than medieval styles, although I think there's a little of each. Like most authors, he discusses the white flat-roofed Modern examples as though they were the next in line to follow the Tudors and Colonial Revivals, despite the fact that they never amounted to more than an insignificant fraction of houses built, then continues with the Post Modern and Deconstructivist styles, pure "magazine architecture", marking an era in which architects begin to serve a new and powerful patron of the arts, the media.
   
   But the countless postwar ranches and split-levels are never mentioned. Trying to keep it highbrow, I guess.
   
   He returns to ordinary houses at the very end, to jump on the mock-the-McMansions bandwagon, using as examples, ironically, some of the prettiest houses in the book.
   
   A few nits to pick:
   
   * Medieval homes had steep roofs because they used thatch, not due to the narrow London streets.
   
   * Le Corbusier's "machines for living" quote actually was intended to extoll creature comforts, not stark Modernism.
   
   * The Arts and Crafts post-and-beam masterpiece, the Gamble House, is ordinary stud construction where it doesn't show.
   
   * Beams are always horizontal, as are clapboards.
   
   * It was Louis Sullivan who said architecture was set back 50 years by a late 19th Century exhibition, not some academic.
   
   Still like the James C. Massey book, available used. But you may like this one for its pictures.



4. Despite the unfavorable comments in "A VERY POOR EFFORT," I decided to buy this book and try it for myself. I'm so glad I did. This reviewer seems to be confused about this book. Of all the books on the subject, this is the only one that's written by a Pulitzer-nominated architectural historian, comprised of all-color photos, inclusive of the late-20th and 21st cent styles, designed like an art book, and packaged in a compact/portable format for taking it on the road. These 5 features are completely NEW to this genre! The unhappy reviewer's other point of criticism (that there are too many trees on the property of some of the photographed houses) is simply absurd. How can a photographer remove trees and foliage from a house's property before photographing the house? These houses are important examples, not slouches. The book states clearly that each picture was taken from public property. Should the photographer have given each house a fresh coat of paint, too, before he photographed it? Such a criticism is illogical. For my dollar, this is the best book in the genre and thus should be given a fair evaluation. I'm glad I bought it. As a realtor, I need this kind of book, and this one's the easiest to use of all of them.



5. In the United States, there is a very rich history of producing field guides to American Domestic Architecture. So it was into this already crowded field that "The Abrams Guide to American House Styles" was published in 2004. In my opinion, if you are going to introduce a new book into an established field, you need to do something new.
   
   This Guide has two features that are unique. First, all of the photos are in color. This is the first Guide that I have seen that has done this. I really enjoyed seeing the photos of the earliest American homes. Second, unlike most field guides, this Guide continues to the current day. I thought that adding examples of McMansions was a very nice touch. Most other field guides stop somewhere around 1950.
   
   Field Guides can be divided into photo books and line drawing books. I prefer line drawing books because they help the reader concentrate on the architectural features that combine to make a style. I think photo books are less effective because they are too specific. Instead of concentrating on the stylistic details, the photos make the reader concentrate on a specific house. The other reason I do not like photo books is that photos are inherently distracting. Instead of concentrating on the architectural features, the eye is drawn to foilage, electrical poles, cars and people walking in front of the building.
   
   The Abrams' Guides does a good job of cutting out most of the distractions but where if fails miserably is in the trees around the house. A good 10-15% of the images are ruined by trees getting in the way of the photographer. Either they block the full image or their shadow obscure key details. I can accept a few trees around a house but to have so many photos ruined is unacceptable. It as though the editors did not have enough photos and they were forced to accept poor quality photos to fill out the book. If you want to see a field guide with beautiful color photographs of houses, see Robin Langley Sommer's "The American House".
   
   If your tastes run to photos, purchase "A Field Guide to American Houses" by Virginia McAlester. If you prefer line drawings like I do, check out, "The Visual Dictionary of American Architecture" or Lester Walker's "American Homes".
   
   Looking at old homes and determining their sytles is a great hobby. The Abram's Guide is a very poor introduction to this rewarding past time.

5 comments about Child Care Design Guide.

1. This book was a great addition to the work that I do and the designing of a child care center. The author catches the essence of what is needed to consider when starting from scratch.
   Great find! Great resource!!



2. Worth every dime!!! Anita Rui Olds has incredible insight into creating environments that are reflective of children and their interests. She believes that a child care setting should have "spirit." Included are Reggio-type environmental solutions that create a sense of wonder with an architecturally aesthetic sensibility. Lots of great ideas packed into this book. Only regret is that the pictures are too small and not in color. Would have been worth extra [$$] to have an expanded edition.



3. This is a terrific and necessary resource for anyone involved with the design or renovation of a child care setting. The author has clearly and concisely poured into the book her considerable knowledge and understanding of child care facilities, her passionate beliefs, and her attention to the details of good design. Her knowledge of child development is evident in all of her ideas.



4. This must be the best book that exist about designing Child Care Center. It covers everything, but the most important is the focus the autor made on the children. This book is a must for every architect or people interested in design of this kind of buildings, specially if he/she is really interested in children well being.
   The only but is that for the quality of its content, this book deserves a better paper and color pictures. (a 0 star here for MacGrow-Hill).
   Probably this book is call to change the way a day care is seen today.



5. Preeminent authority on design for child care, Anita Rui Olds consummated a lifetime of deep concern and research into the needs of children with the publication of this magnum opus. Lavish use of illustrations--photos, sketches, floor plans, and examples--and attractive layout support Ms. Olds's incisive text to create a remarkably accessible book. Many hundreds of child care professionals and architects who have studied under Ms. Olds will recognize and welcome this work as the summation of the concepts that placed the author at the forefront of her field.

   More and more children are in institutional care and, "in search of a model," day care typically happens in society's "leftover" spaces, church basements, warehouses, and places intended for adults. This book will help anyone committed to doing better for our children to "see that young children are raised in nurturing, spirited settings that honor their precious young souls." (from the introduction)

   The book's only drawback is technical as the reproduction of photographs is of disappointing quality.

   Tragically, Anita Olds did not live to see this book published. We can be thankful that she left it for us, full of her passion for children. In its use we will honor her spirit as we effect her designs.