5 comments about The Landscape of Man: Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to the Present Day.

1. My professor introduced this book to us when I took a History of Landscape Architecture course in University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It was only available in hard cover at that time and was very expensive ($98.00). I did not buy the hard cover version and waited many years later and bought the soft cover version at a great price. It has many powerful images to illustrate the gardens and architecture in many different cultures. It'll show you how brilliant human beings can be.
   
   What is a "Landscape of Man"?
   
   "To qualify as a `landscape of man,' an environment must be deliberately shaped at a specific time." "Art is a continuous process..." Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe and his wife Susan wrote, "All design therefore derives from impressions of the past, conscious or subconscious, and in the modern collective landscape, from historic gardens and parks and silhouettes which were created for totally different social reasons..."
   
   "The Landscape of Man: Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to the Present Day" includes 28 sections and they are separated into two parts, Part One is "From Prehistory to the end of the Seventeenth Century." It covers landscape from pre-history to 1700 AD and includes 17 sections covering Origins, the Central Civilization (Western Asia to the Muslim Conquest, Islam in Western Asia, the Western Expansion of Islam: Spain, the Eastern Expansion of Islam: Mughul India), the Eastern Civilization (Ancient India, China, Japan, Pre-Columbian America) and the Western Civilization (Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages in Europe, Italy: the Renaissance, France: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Spain, Germany, England, the Netherlands: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries). The text for each section follows a standard format of Environment, Social History, Philosophy, Expression, Architecture and Landscape. Case studies have striking black-and-white photos, paintings and plans and a brief description.
   
   Part Two of the book is "The Evolution of Modern Landscape." It covers landscape from 1700 AD to present and includes 11 sections covering the Eighteenth Century (Western Classicism, the Chinese School, the English School), the Nineteenth Century (the European Mainland, the British Isles, the United States of America), and the Twentieth Century (Europe, The Americas, the Western Hemisphere: the New World, the Eastern Hemisphere: the Old World), and Worlds Trends in Landscape Design. The text follows a standard format of Environment, History, Social, Economics, Philosophy and Expression for each Century and then a standard format of the Home, Landscape, Comments and case studies for each section.
   
   "The Landscape of Man: Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to the Present Day" has 408 pages, 746 illustrations and 6 maps. It is a great book for architects, landscape architects and urban planners!
   
   Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated," LEED AP, AIA



2. The book is great, easy to understand and great images.



3. Beautiful gardens and parks don't simply settle themselves on sites. They are planned, developed and planted by caring human beings. Those of us who are amateur gardeners and landscapers are influenced by the great public gardens and parks of the world. And the public gardens and parks didn't just appear out of thin air. All of what we find beautiful was influenced by something older or from somewhere else. And this wonderful book takes us back in time and on the highways and byways to times and places where man first came upon natural scenes and imagined the possibility of recreating at least the impression of what his eye beheld.
   
   This beautiful volume with its fine black and white photographs and drawings makes everything seem simple. It takes us down two main roads, the formal and informal. What could be more basic? Yet over half a century or more of shaping the land around half a dozen houses and reading dozens of books, some very useful and beautiful, I do not recall seeing an explanation of how these two main roads came to be trod. But in The Landscape of Man, it is all here from the beginning, from the time when farmers gathered on the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates gazed upon the fields spreading before them and other such early independent beginnings.
   
   We are the descendants of those who sought beauty and consolation in gardens large and small in the great civilizations of the past. Each of these, over great time frames, came to influence and cross pollinate with one another. And the Jellicoes trace all of these rivulets and streams from their headwaters down to the well established gardens of the world to which we are heirs. The writing is simple and direct, the photos illuminate their points, and their site drawings are clear and useful.
   
   This is a book for gardeners to enjoy over the winter so that they may dream about how they might shape their little spaces and understand a little more of the shoulders on which we all stand as we place our first trees and shrubs in the bare ground before us. It is a great book, and I recommend it not just for professionals but for those whose gardens lie far in the future. It is the best book I have ever come across in explaining the history and possibilities of landscaping.
   
   I have owned my copy for years. Hundreds of sentences are highlighted and notes fill the margins. I should have reviewed this fine work many years ago.



4. This book as a classic. It is not only for those who want to study our changing perceptions of our landscape and our moves to define it over the past few millennia, but also to architects who build 'buildings'. This tome takes us through man's history, and outlines our aesthetic evolution with our landscape as a changing canvas that represent our different social conditions. A must-have if you are a student, an architect, or just a person who wants to see how we became what we are!



5. The original edition, hardcover with beautiful dust jacket, was printed in 1975 in England. It is one of my favorite all-time photo books, since in includes shots of Borobudur, the Ziggurat, the Red Fort in Delhi, Angkor Wat, Ctesiphon in Iraq - lots of photos hard to find even on the net. History all the way to the opera house in Sydney. A most fascinating book. Large: 9 1/4 x 11 3/4, 383 pages, a sound minimal text with each plate numbered and easily referenced - to me this is one of the great books. Everyone who has travelled, or who wants to travel, will enjoy this tremendously. (Many of the areas shown are difficult and often dangerous to visit, now.) Try it. You'll like it.

1 comments about Basic Elements of Landscape Architectural Design.

1. This text is a good beginning one for landscape architectural studies- the first chapter on earthwork is not the latest technology, but valuable nonetheless to understand how it was done before GIS and more sophisticated equipment and methods.

5 comments about Landscapes for Small Spaces: Japanese Courtyard Gardens.

1. This is a beautiful book. I'm giving it 5 stars even though I was actually hoping for a little more reading material and insight - the imagery is wonderful.



2. Wonderful book with great photos and examples, some from different angles which are very useful to understand the actual lay out of these great Japanese gardens. Could use more in dept explanation of technical characteristics, but non the less wonderful.



3. This book is not only a great picture book, but it also provides wonderful descriptions of the Japanese gardens featured - succinct and informative. If you like landscaping with the Japanese feel, you'll enjoy this book.



4. The book is excellent but the dust cover was torn obviously before despatch as the packaging was good.
   The disappointment was that there was no method of complaint other than returning the product. From Australia to USA not practible.



5. I've been through a lot of Japanese gardening books, and many of been a little repetitive, covering the basic design elements and what not. Mizuno has put together a great "Intermediate" read once you've had enough of the basics. The pictures are some of the best available of authentic Japanese gardens, and the captions are short and to the point but with just enough plant identifications to be useful to someone in their planning stage.
   
   Perhaps the best feature of this book is the introductory discussion on the "Omoteya style" town home (traditional Japanese merchant class town home). The text suggest there is a conservation movement to this vanishing style of Japanese home that mirrors the affection American's are beginning to culture towards the Bungalow. As the Omoteya styled homes share similar dimensions with the American city lot (diagrams are provided with the text), this book is a fabulous resource to urban dwellers looking to incorporate the Japanese garden concept to their grassy postage stamp.

5 comments about Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America.

1. It's a daunting, harrowing, yet strangely compelling photographic helicopter ride through the vast industrial and suburban backyards of the American landscape. Packed with informative, beautifully conceived graphs that collate reams of data, this book will fascinate those who fiercely love our brash and imperfect cities, and who retain hope for their ecological and transformational redemption in the coming century.



2. This book has a marevlous collection of aerial photographs of sprawling urban areas, but not much else. The use of GIS (geographic information systems) to buttress the author's diffuse and confusing argument is intriguing, but the statistical maps seem to be designed more for visual impact than for conveying significant information. The text of the book is filled with needlessly arcane terminology and logic, and comes to no real conclusions. This is a book by a person who is fascinated by contemporary urban dynamics of land use, but who has no ideas about it that are not purely aesthetic. That is, he finds the process of wasteful consumption of land fascinating and awe inspiriring...beyond that, zilch.



3. Why write a book then design it so it is painful to read? That's the first clue to the detached amorality of the author's premise: you can't beat them, you don't even want to beat them, so join them. Consumerism, the religion of the 20th and 21st centuries, is a given so I don't need to mention it, in fact, I'm going to celebrate it. And since I have a prestigious spot on the faculty of a prestigious institution of higher learning and I take great pictures, my bankrupt theories will have weight.
   
   This book is a good survey of the real world but buy it for the pictures, buy it for a look into the mindset of current corporatist acceptance, buy it for examples of unchecked capitalism's disrespect of simple human and aesthetic dignity. Don't buy it for background on how it came to be.
   
   NB: the "geospatially derived maps, charts, and graphs" are unreadable.



4. This book is a natural extension of the direction Alan Berger took in his first book Reclaiming the American West. While in his first book he examined the "leftover" space, of human industrial development in the American West in his new book he examines the range of wasted spaces which are created by current urban development patterns. Although specifically about the American urban landscape, his work can be at least loosely applied anywhere where sprawl or horizontal urbanity has become the norm. A key aim of his book is to go beyond the partisan debate of pro-or anti sprawl activists. Instead, Berger sets out to initiate a conversation and to develop a vocabulary through which this phenomenon of "inevitable" horizontal development can be understood and critiqued. However, this is arguably one weakness of the book. Although he develops a wonderful analysis of the phenomenon, his acceptance of it's inevitably, especially in the face of the efforts of many to change the game, can come off as defeatist. Yet, his focus on the liminal nature of the typologies he outlines does open up many fascinating areas of discussion. For inspiration he draws on everything from William Gibson's Neuromancer to Lars Lerups' concept of Stim & Dross. Ultimately, his approach is hopeful though. He concludes that because of the large scale nature of the problem, any solution must draw on abilities and knowledge of all the design disciplines from landscape architecture to urban planning. Berger suggests a paradigm shift, asking "designers to consider working in the margins rather than at the center."



5. DROSSCAPE: WASTING LAND IN URBAN AMERICA is a top pick not just for architects and building designers, but for any homeowners or buyer who would understand waste landscapes and how they are handled. Landscape architects must learn to accommodate them - and homeowners need to learn about them. DROSSCAPE is for both, offering a radical new method of thinking about landscape and its problems. Ten cities are analyzed through aerial photography, maps and charts with an eye to surveying human needs, design challenges, and social issues alike.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

4 comments about WEB Design: E-Commerce (Icons).

1. While you obviously cannot copy the web site of another, the smart person closely examines what others are doing to look for the newest and coolest advertising features. For many companies, their web presence is the principal point of contact and the site must be eye-catching, informative and change over time. This book examines the web presence of seven companies:
   
   *) O'Neill
   *) Victoria's Secret
   *) Sony ImageStation
   *) IKEA
   *) Agent Provocateur
   *) Esprit
   *) Canyon bikes
   
   Each examination includes several high quality color images of pages on the site as well as a brief description of what the company does and some of how they do it. The descriptions are in English, French and German.
   The remainder of the book is a set of two-page spreads of images of web sites the editor considers significant. If you are interested in the online styles some companies are using to present themselves to the world, then this book will help satisfy that interest.



2. A lightweight read with good insight and info on how the pro's create websites. Less of a how-to book than a detailed portfolio of interesting case studies including each firms design philosophy for their projects with tools used to build it and in some cases the number of hours it took to complete. (A real eye opener!) Worth the purchase price.



3. Very good book. After reading this, you'll know a lot more about web design. Graphics and text OK, not that small. Brief, easy to read, holds your attention.



4. I rate this a two because instead of learning how to design write and what works best for users, this book tends to just have very high end sites from large companies that look very cool. It does not delve into success rates, consumer behavior, or any of the details that should be mentioned when the topic of Ecommerce design comes up.

5 comments about Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.

1. Los Angeles. There were a few years there when Los Angles was the center of the world. 1965-1985, give or take a few years. Oh yes, even the Brits were raving. David Hockney had declared LA the best place to paint ("Splash") and Reyner Banham declared LA the city of tomorrow. Things were cooking and I was there. Then things started to go wrong. Spielberg and the boys from USC took over Hollywood and turned the city from a culture center into an amusement park. The pollution started to get too dangerous to laugh at. The gangs took over much of the fringe. There was Rodney King, O.J., riots, earthquakes, fires, gang warfare. All in all, the city was destroyed. Who knows what Banham might make of the place now. This is a great little book.



2. The book was exactly what I wanted for a Christmas present and at a good price.



3. Even though Banham's book was written in the early '70's, it remains a cogent view of a metropolis that has changed yet remained the same. It is a place, yes a real place, that is defined by geography and the various cultures of its inhabitants to a unique degree. Architecture is but a backdrop to Banham's larger point about the inter-relationship of people to the natural and built environments. The perspective of 35 years only sharpens the observations made by the insightful author.



4. Outstanding book about Los Angeles, a must-read for anyone interested in history, architecture, and culture.It reads like poetry.



5. Reyner Banham's writing is intelligent and entertaining. He has taken LA to heart and reveals how its "four ecologies" have affected its contemporary appearance and character. You'll not only learn how LA's architecture came to be as it is, but learn a great deal about the history and personality of the city as well. I read this book to get to know LA better. I couldn't have picked a better one.

5 comments about Environmental Land Use Planning and Management.

1. this is a useful book for environmental planners and people who are concerned with environmental planning. its full coverage of environmental issues can help to understand these problem well.



2. Not exactly what I was expecting, but will be used for desk reference.



3. A refreshingly different perspective on the environment, how planners and water resources engineers relate to it, and land development.
   
   A must have just because.



4. When I was to order a book on Environmental Land Use Planning and Management, there were plenty on Amazon.com! Then I found, Butlers notes on this book, which leads me to purchase.
   This book is a great one in this topic. For almost all environmental planning questions that you can find an answer in it. The book is rich in literature survey and is clearly written by a teacher; as the material is highly digested and understandable. I think, only a "Master" Can Explain things with simple words.
   Of course, with this much explanations on the enviromental landuse planning and management, you should not expect the details of several methodologis, But for sure you can find a reference to find your answer when details are necessities.



5. There is little doubt that this book is the result of decades of experience, research, and teaching on the part of its author. John Randolph has compiled a fantastic resource that is the first place I turn when thinking about, writing about, or doing research on land use planning and its impacts on the natural environment. The book provides a foundational understanding of ecosystems, landscape ecology, soil characteristics, hydrological systems, habitat, and more and then clearly explains how land use choices impact the natural world. Through numerous real world examples, easy to follow exercises, and in depth exploration of his topics, Randolph also guides us toward more responsible land use choices. The dozens of full color maps and pictures further enhance the quality of this informative text. It is a pleasure to read and promises to serve as one of the top references on this subject for years to come.

5 comments about Timberframe: The Art and Craft of the Post-and-Beam Home.

1. I had a great time working on the Guilford, CT home called "on the rocks" in this book. The stress skin panels, now referred most commonly to as SIPS ~ structurally insulated panels ~ are a great technology for efficiency and waste reduction. The boook shows good pictures, some seem a bit dated though.



2. This book is full of stunning photographs of timber frame homes, accompanied by engaging text both technical and philosophical. The book is divided into locations, such as prairie, mountain, and coastal homes. Not a guide to building, this is more like the ultimate coffee-table book.

   I don't know one thing about architecture or homebuilding, but I enjoyed this book for its striking photos of awesome homes.




3. If you love beams, and more beams, lots of braces, and complex joints; then this book is for you.

   If you prefer a more minimalist approach I'd suggest: "The Timber-Frame Home, Design, Construction, Finishing" by the same author. In that book this author wrote: "...frame design should simplify and reduce whenever possible, The best frames are those with the most economical use of timbers and the least-complicated joinery." I was disappointed that this book ignored that concept.

   Most of the houses in this book are above 3500 sq feet with roughly a third at 5000 and up. If you want to see the extremes to which timberframing can be taken, this is the book for you.




4. This colorful survey of the post and beam home examines a construction method which dates to the Middle Ages, and is the first to explore the design potentials of the form. 400 color photos, drawings and floor plans provide excellent architectural reference and design insights in this contemporary exploration of timberframe potentials. Visually powerful and highly recommended.



5. This great book starts off with a short history of timberframes and then showcases dozens of great timberframe homes. The homes cover all styles and price ranges and the picture quality is superb. This is a must buy for all timberframe home lovers!

5 comments about Structural Packaging.

1. I am in love with this book, it is complete in every sense. It provides examples of outstanding packaging, those of which display the layout of form, the graphics and even how some of them are made through a few procedures! It is every packaging fans ideal to possess. I might add that the cover is quite unique and that the interior design is impecable and very well designed. A delight!



2. This book is great! The moment I opened the book, I wanted to create packaging for everything in my room. The only down fall is that even though they provide the CD with all the templates, there is little to no description on how to complete certain projects. Most of the packaging is self explanatory, but there are others which (involve rope) I found very difficult to accomplish because no instructions were given. Very inspiring book, but it lacks instructional content.



3. I get many idea of design from this book. It's useful for me so I think for everyone too.



4. This is one of the best deals out there for designers and art directors. Mr. Garrofé encourages the buyer to use all of the designs to make your own new packages. The templates are pretty good, although some may need some tweeking here and there, but that doesn't matter compared to the hidden benefit: These vector-based templates and dielines are "ready-to-ROBO" for those who are familiar with the new CNC cutting machines normally marketed to scrapbook moms and sign shops. I am extremely pleased with the ability to take artwork, insert it into one of the templates, print with special register marks, then diecut automatically with Graphtec's Craft ROBO machines--literally in less than fifteen minutes! I'll also mention that the photography and layout are first-rate, and compete with any of the top design how-to books without any templates! Garrofé even discusses his firm's design "commandments" that many designers need to heed.



5. This book is amazing for graphic designers, package designers, and design students. The CD that comes with the book has helpful templates, which the packages shown were made from. The ideas and concepts this book displays are amazing. In the field of design, there is a lot that can be learned from this book by viewing these packages. I would recommend this book.

5 comments about Hollow City: The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism.

1. alas, this is not an outdated book. sf has only become more homogenized since its publication (a topic that is crucial to the book, and covered very well in terms of past creative types who've inhabited sf).
   
   the book's overview of sf history is fascinating, and well-presented. solnit did a thoughful, unbiased job of evaluating the housing crisis in sf and its effect on the creative energy of the city. her metaphors are apt, and overarching points are salient.
   
   a highly recommended read to anyone who cares about san francisco history, or who has bemoaned the exodus of its artistic inhabitants.



2. I was outraged when I read this book... but not in the way you would think.
   
   Published in 2002, this book is already quite dated. Now that it is 2006 and the dotcom boom has become the dotcom bust, this author's hysteria over gentrification and urban renewal in San Francisco-- all blamed on the dotcom phenomenon, mind you-- has been proven to be unfounded. In fact, in relative terms rents are more affordable now than they were back in 2002.
   
   Where to start? This book is simply a long list of gripes and sour grapes about how San Francisco has gotten too expensive for spoiled "bohemians" to live in because they don't want to work. Perhaps most galling is how Solnit puts urban "artists" at the top of her self-righteous hierarchy of those who "deserve" to live in the City. Urban professionals are likened to "dirty old men" who follow around the innocent "schoolgirls" who supposedly are the artists.
   
   The crux of the problem is that in her myopic, NIMBY-istic viewpoint, Solnit fails to acknowledge the fact that space in San Francisco has ALWAYS been severely limited. The city itself is only about 49 square miles and it has ALWAYS been expensive... it has always gone through change, sometimes rapid. Manhattan is the center of a worldclass, GREAT city. How does she think all of those tall skyscrapers got there? When Solnit mourns the loss of an unused, empty lot to development, I have to laugh.
   
   You will find that the author considers herself a "radical" and associates with the originator of "Critical Mass", a regular, planned, and deliberate snarling of local traffic by disgruntled people on bikes. She also is in league with a local carmudgeon in the Mission who, over perceived "gentrification" in the neighborhood, put up fliers encouraging others to vandalize expensive cars on the street.
   
   With an attitude like this, it's not hard to dislike such people as these who arrogantly call themselves "radicals" and "bohemians". All the while they are complaining about the high cost of living in SF (join the club!), they petulantly claim that to get a REAL job would compromise their ideals.
   
   Give me a break.
   
   The author also makes the extremely simplistic assumption that all "true" artists are by nature poor or "downwardly mobile".
   
   I have news for the author-- San Francisco is-- and always has been-- made up mainly of hardworking people. This city was built upon that industriousness, ingenuity, and enterprise. Art has its place, but none of it would be possible without those taxpayers who HAVE JOBS. As a property tax paying citizen of the city I love, I resent her and her ilk assuming that it is their right to inexpensive or free rent in one of the most desirable places to live IN THE WORLD.
   
   The thing that amazes me is the fact she can't see that it has ALWAYS been that way... for decades and decades. I had to laugh at the idea that this book actually mentioned a parody of how, in the height of anti-gentrification hysteria, the last Mexican would soon move out of the Mission.
   
   Guess that was a wrong guess, eh?
   
   Finally, as if it were a suprise, the author in her closing acknowledgments thanks, among a number of other parties, both Critical Mass and "the bar at Place Pigalle" where some of the work for the book apparently took place. I wonder if it ever felt vaguely hypocritical to the author to be condemning urban development and trumpeting the plight of the poor over $8 glasses of Belgian ale?
   
   Extremists on either side are self-absorbed, self-righteous, and unrealistic in the extreme. I strongly disagree with everything George Bush stands for, but at least he doesn't have the gall and arrogance to assume such an air of superiority over the rest of us, especially those of us who actually work for a living. I only agree with the author over one point: idiots who drive big SUVs in the narrow streets of San Francisco are idiots. Other than that, I plan to continue enjoying San Francisco as a San Franciscan who does their fair share to keep this city vibrant, alive, and relevant. Let others stew in their own sour grapes.



3. This book has an interesting subject and lovely photography. I am sympathetic to the plight of gentrification. However, the tone of this feels as though she were a professional complainer. Neighborhoods change, that is a fact of life. The residents who were displaced in this book were undoubtedly not the same residents from the time it was built. You get the sense that the author feels like everything about every neighborhood is worth saving. It isn't. I'm not going to cry about a neighborhood with less crime. And what solutions are offered? Should one never try to improve a distressed neighborhood, so that no one ever has to move? What sort of building *should* be allowed in a city? Ms. Solnit has some very valid points in this book, but she comes off as anti-change and not really offering anything close to a solution, other than fossilizing San Francisco in the "good old days", whenever that was for her.



4. The historical journey Solnit takes through the reoccurring demise of San Francisco's bohemian culture only leads to sob stories in the end and does little for her cause. Remember, these now run-down neighborhoods and homes were expensive and new when first built 100 years ago. Yes, it's horrible that in our time the materially rich are pushing the spiritually rich out of the city, but the book only shows that artists will one day come back again. It may not be the same as when we first came, but that's life - nothing stays the same.



5. Although Rebecca Solnit writes with a deliberate and sometimes myopic agenda, her style is extraordinarily effective in evoking sympathy. It is elegaic in nature and the entire book reads as a eulogy, a fact reinforced by the shuttered structures and funeral processions presented in Schwatzenberg's photo essays. The digressions into such realms as the origins of Bohemia don't seem irrelevant or excessive but merely an extension of the beauty of the writing and presentation.

   Although the issue has become less pressing with the collapse of the fervor of the internet economy, it should be noted the type of mass evictions in favour of live/work lofts is still a common occurrence in San Francisco, and that housing is still beyond the means of many ordinary San Franciscans. Despite the less fervent pace of gentrification, those in the funeral procession presented in the opening pages will not be returning to their homes; the character of their neighbourhood will not be restored.

   The work is a mild success. Although somewhat obsolescent, it is still relevant, whether because of its still necessary impressions on the hearts of those who read it, or as a presentation of a historical phenomenon. But furthermore, as a literary work, and as a visual work, it is beautiful both in its prose and photography.