5 comments about New England Forests Through Time : Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas.

1. Major overlook. The Indians did not cut down many trees, but changed the forest ecology dramatically by burning out the underbrush once or twice a year in massive fires, so that they could move and hunt more freely (and move silently). This omission spoils the understanding of forest life by injecting a modern political angle of environmentalism that would be better left out.



2. This book is the result of a three-way collaboration between a scientist, a philanthropist and artist dedicated to producing a diorama depicting 300 years of New England's natural and cultural history.

   The work, started in the late 1920, captures the essence of the Harvard Forest approach to environmental science, in which a solid understanding of the landscape history provides a basis for interpretation and conservation of nature.

   Lifelike and detailed, the dioramas' historical and ecological approach remains relevant today as it becomes more apparent that changes in nature can only be assessed through long-term perspectives.




3. Many people do not realize that Harvard University has its own forest in New England. The forest has been a source of study for silviculture since its founding in 1907 for almost 100 years.

   In the late 1920s, Harvard professor Richard T. Fisher joined with a philanthropist, Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, and talented artisans in the studio of Guernsey and Pitman in Harvard Square to develop a remarkable series of dioramas to capture conservation issues for future generations of silviculture students to study. These dioramas are the basis for the text and illustrations in this book.

   New England was mostly ancient forest when the European settlers arrived. The small Native American population cleared only a modest portion of the forests, and used the game from the forests rather more than the timber. With immigration, New England rapidly became one big farm. So much for the original forests. Next, the New England farms were put out of business by richer, midwestern farms shipping their goods to the east. Within a few decades, new forests arose to cover the temporarily cleared and abandoned fields. With rapid growth in pines, a second wave of clearing occurred about a hundred years ago, leaving the forests to start to regrow again. The current hardwood-dominated forests are a result of this man-driven process. These experiences provide many lessons for understanding the impact that people have on forests, and for suggesting better practices for the future.

   In one sequence of seven dioramas depicting the same place over time, you can see the whole historical process take place. I found it fascinating. I recognized in each image places that I had visited in New England. Now I can connect each site to what it represents in terms of environmental circumstances. That is like learning to read nature in the way I can read a book to get a message.

   Today, we think ahead further (but probably not yet far enough) to consider the implications of our actions on future generations and other species. These dioramas show the importance of capturing the natural history of an area to begin to draw those lessons.

   Another set of dioramas were designed to exemplify the conservation issues in New England forests, including loss of old-growth forests, habitat needs for wildlife, natural losses due to hurricanes, erosion from cutting forests, imported pests that feed on forests, and the impact of natural fires and fighting forest fires.

   To me the most fascinating part was in the suggested good principles of forestry management. Each stage of forest growth and regrowth is displayed, along with what needs to be done for each stage. This reminded me of being asked about what to do by a client with very large holdings of forests in Maine a few years ago. If I had known about these dioramas, I could have given much more appropriate and valuable advice. I do feel quite a pang of regret at the missed opportunity, as a result.

   The final section of the book shows the detail of how the dioramas were created.

   The book also tells you about the history of the Harvard Forest and how to reach the Fisher Museum where the dioramas are displayed. I recommend the visit!

   The reference to Bullough's Pond in the title of this review is for the highly regarded book that slightly preceded this one, about the ecological history of a man-made pond in Newton, Massachusetts. If you have not yet read that fine work, you have a real treat ahead of you. Anyone who is interested in understanding the rhythms between humans and nature can learn much from these two books.

   Having read these two books, a new question occurs to me. At one time, forest fires were aggressively avoided in New England. The current view is that these are a natural process and should not be so aggressively countered. Where else do our views need to be shifted to reflect the long-term best interests of all?

   How should use of forests and water reserves be adjusted to reflect optimum benefits for the next ten generations? How would our use change if this question were stretched to cover twenty generations? Do we even know how to think about these questions? Do we have plans to be able to learn how?

   Overcome the presumption that only the here and now is important. What we do here and now is very important, but our decisions need to be much more independent of momentary needs and perspectives.




4. Perhaps microcosm is not quite the world, Forests Through Time offers a fascinating angle of insight into one aspect of the ecological development of New England. For a wider angle, one reads Bullough's Pond, and for the complete picture of the land in colonial times, Changes in the Land. This however is a fascinating view and well worth perusing.



5. Imagine yourself transported back in time to an ancient forest in central New England prior to settlement. As in a time lapsed movie, the ecosystem is transformed before your eyes into a subsistence farm surrounded by forest, to one dominated by prosperous farms with only remnant patches of forest dotting the land, to the forest reclaiming the abandoned farm landscape. This was part of an ubiquitous land use history that was replicated througout much of New England. The history is superbly depicted in Foster's and O'Keefe's "New England Forest Through Time: Insights from The Harvard Forest Dioramas". The narrative and photographs of the breath-taking dioramas capture the economic and natural forces that shaped the New England Landscape. The description and pictorials cover the abuses the land suffered from deforestation, overgrazing, and widespread clearcutting, and exacerbated by unnaturally high incidence of fire. The book expounds upon the different wildlife habitat associated with the changes that have occured as well as forest management techniques and current forestry issue. This book is an excellent tool for natural resource managers and educators as well as the layman who wants to know why there are apple trees, stone walls, cellar holes in the middle of the woods.

5 comments about A Field Guide to Sprawl.

1. The numerous color aerial photos in this book do a wonderful job of putting US development patterns into a whole new perspective. This isn't intended to be the end all be all of commentary about sprawl. For that, there are plenty of other great books that emphasize analysis and critique rather than a visual approach (A Better Way to Live is an example of a terrific book in the former category). This book is a great introduction to the different kinds of sprawl and what they look like. Sure, Dolores Hayden puts a fairly cynical touch on what commentary there is, but when you see the pictures of how developers have ruined our open spaces, you'll understand why. In short, a great little book that achieves its purpose very well.



2. Small coffee-table format picture book. There is a 10-page introduction, which is excellent, then 51 vocabulary terms. Each vocab term is 2 pages - one page is an aerial example picture, the facing page is text describing the term. The terms are mostly pejorative (slang) and are critical of certain types of development. This is not "new" stuff many of these terms and criticisms go back to the 1940s. While some of the terms are obvious (strip malls, McMansions) much of it is not obvious and opens a whole new way of seeing why certain things are laid out the way they are. More so, it helps to predict how future development will happen based on current development patterns. This book is a layman's guide to development criticism. Should be required reading for all who live in a developing community.



3. The book arrived ahead of schedule and was in great condition



4. The book is very simple and somewhat boring. I looked through the thing in less than an hour and now it's stuck in the closet. It does have some good aerial photos, but only a few. I was hoping the book would be a coffee table book for people to look through when they are over but it's now in the closet for who knows how long. It looks too much like an encyclopedia than a coffee table book in my opinion. The text isn't very well thought out either. Believe me, I'm an Urban Planner and so I'm interested in this stuff and have read a lot about sprawl, but this book just doesn't do it for me.



5. I agree with both the positive and negative reviews: I loved the pictures (as did the positive reviews)- they definitely gave me a better feel for concepts like "pods" that I am used to seeing from ground level. But I also think that some of Hayden's language was unclear, needlessly polemical, or both. For example, she writes that ducks (buildings that serve as advertisements) "are always out of context and do little to unify neighborhoods." But what does it mean for a building to be "out of context"? How does a cheese shop "unify a neighborhood", whether it is ugly or pretty? Also, Hayden's points sometimes have little to do with sprawl- for example, she has an entry on "Export Garbage" but she does not explain why she thinks suburbs generate more garbage than cities.
   
   But on balance I liked this book, mainly because she spends only a paragraph or two on each concept, so even the text entries I would have written differently did not take up a lot of my time.

No comments about Inside Out: Relating Garden to House.

3 comments about Courtyards: Intimate Outdoor Spaces.

1. This book was recommended as a guide to developing sculpture gardens and outdoor living spaces. It is not. The photographs appear to be very dated as are the subject courtyards. It is a dull, unispired book.



2. Douglas Keister's Courtyards: Intimate Outdoor Spaces takes a rare look at the function, definition and purpose of a courtyard surveying courtyards around the world which grace both home and public establishment. Courtyards can be adapted to both large and small spaces, vary in greenery, stonework, and lighting, and are perfect additions for homeowners seeking to remodel with style. Turn a backyard into a courtyard setting or consider many options through the phone color exhibition of photographer Keister, paired with text which considers design options and successful examples.



3. The author has definitely done his homework. We are in the process of creating a courtyard in our back yard after having added a sunroom this past season. Our theme has been "New Orleans" for the sunroom ... even though we live in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have visited New Orleans many times and consider it our "home away from home". There are courtyards from New Orleans featured in this book - but many from other places as well. Whatever you are looking for in courtyard ideas, you will find it here.

2 comments about Modern Landscape Architecture: A Critical Review.

1. This book is a rare find since it is a collection of articles which help explain the origins of the Modern Garden . Through it you can trace the formation of midcentury design . Through it you can learn what Modernist garden designers were reacting to in traditional garden design and architecture , and discover how influential Landscape Architects like Thomas Church and James C.Rose used this new "freedom". The book is witty and the viewpoints are diverse. It should be required reading if you are training as a garden designer or a Landscape Architect in part because it a corrective to the usual the usual theoretical approaches .



2. The editor, Marc Treib, said in the introduction that ideas in the field of landscape architecture is 15 years behind architecture(and architure is behind art for another 15 years). But for the history of modernism, landscape architecture seemed to be behind architecture for several decades. Finally, landscape architecture has its own history.This book can be read along with "Invisible Gardens" (MIT Press, 1994)written by art critics Melaine Simo and landscape architect Peter Walker.That would makes a general picture of what modernism in landscape architecture is like.

   But what happened after modernism? For those who really interested in the subject of modernism/postmodernism in landscape architecture, i suggest them to read essays in Landscape Journal, e.g "Cubist space, Volumetric space, and Landscape Architecture" by Patrick M. Condon(spring, 1988),who called for a transition of design paradigms of landscape architecture in the late 20th century ; or "Form, Meaning, and Expression in Landscape Architecture" by Laurie Olin, who had criticized some important classical, modern and contemporary landscape architectural works. That would makes a more comprehensive and in-depth exploration in the changing ideas of landscape architecture. It's kind of pity that "a critical review" is just an anthology of pappers in one single symposium(and some historical documents) that some important concepts like Condon's were elimated. So a more coherent and critical history of modern(even 20th century) landscape architecture is still expectative.

2 comments about How to Make a Living as a Working Actor in LA.

1. Ordered this book last year and finally decided to give it a review. It had alot of really good tips and helpful hints for newcomers to the hollywood acting scene. Now all I have to do is move to LA!!



2. I finished reading this book in one day and it was fantastic. It is written as if you got to sit down with the author and ask him questions. I loved it and I read a lot of books that are so boring you have to force yourself to try and find any relevent information. If your looking for a book that will show you how to make some money acting while you pursue your dreams of becoming a big star, then this one is for you. It won't tell you how to become a big star, but it will tell you how to make a decent living being in movies, and commercial while your trying to book a feature role. Just the information on casting websites is worth the book. There is three websites which he list that he says he uses to book auditions, and they are great. I've spent lots of money on bogus auditioning sites in the past, I wish I would have had this book a long time ago. This was a great purchase that I'm glad I made. A great book.

4 comments about Trellises and Arbors.

1. Really pretty pictures, nice recommendations of possible plants to grow up the trellises, etc., but unless your a master carpenter, or able to use pictures, you'll never build any of them!! There's no diagrams or plans in the entire book!!



2. I really enjoyed this book, being my first Sunset guide to gardening. With all of the excellent photos and drawings it gives you plenty of ideas for building outdoor structures. Granted, it is a short book and you won't be an expert after reading it, but it gives you plenty of information to get started with building beautiful garden trellises and arbors.



3. this book is basically a pretty overview of ideas. i expected to see more information on how to construct arbors and or trellises. there were also too many pages devoted to climbing plants for the arbors.



4. I've enjoyed countless hours curled up with my well-worn copy of "Trellises and Arbors." It's clearly written with numerous photos and drawings that show the details of construction. It even discusses choices of fasteners, woods, and alternative building materials. It also includes tables to calculate the materials you'll need to use. This book has encouraged me (a construction novice) to begin work on a grape arbor in my back yard.

No comments about Morpho-Ecologies: Towards Heterogeneous Space In Architecture Design.

1 comments about Understanding Ordinary Landscapes.

1. This small book, with a simple title, Understanding Ordinary Landscapes, is a huge resource in the area of cultural landscape, and our connections through culture to nature. The initial attraction was the fun and entertaining sound of the title- understanding ordinary landscapes. Something for recreational travel reading? It was not to be. Months later I have yet to reconcile more than a few of the classical issues, dilemmas, enigmas, and debates in this seemingly simple subject area of our relationship to the world we live in.

   Understanding Ordinary Landscapes is a collection of contemporary cultural landscape essays and is a theoretical basis for comprehending the mysteries of perception of the landscape, the environment, and furthering the culture versus nature discourse. It brings critical analysis, and an annotated bibliography to the relatively new area of landscape architectural theory. A must for professionals and anyone interested in the landscape.

   Copyright 1998 Robert Hotten

4 comments about The New Traditional Garden : A Practical Guide to Creating and Restoring Authentic American Gardens for Homes of All Ages.

1. The New Traditional Garden is unlike most books in my garden library. It begins with a wonderful history of gardening for the first settlers and includes much garden history. The book is enjoyable and inspiring as suggested by the other reviewers. But I also found it to be a bit disorganized in its attempt to present a different side of gardening. For example, each chapter includes a subject such a Unity, or Practicality with some interesting discourse relating yesterday's gardens and lifestyle to today's. There is a Historic garden featured, certain plant culture is discussed and a How-to and perhaps a driveway makeover etc. are thrown in for good measure. I would rather have seen more flow to the book's organization, but the author is a publisher of a magazine and perhaps this format, back and forth between subjects, keeps a reader interested. Also I understand the author's viewpoints in the chapter on Stewardship. What better place to state your opinions and call others to take political action than in your own book? But this is not something that I look for in a guide to traditional gardening. As with every gardening book that I have, there are favorite sections which I refer to again and again, and other sections which are of no use to me. Overall, this book is different and takes a "new" look at the "old" things of gardening. It has earned a spot on my crowded book shelf. I especially plan to refer to the extensive Historic plant compendium when I expand my garden (again) this fall.



2. I picked up a copy of The New Traditional Garden and was delighfully surprised. Instead of a typical modern gardening book with the same old options of plants and landscaping styles, Michael Weishan explores gardening within an historical context which gives the reader a new perspective on what a garden could and should be. Being a child of the 50's I had never considered what the gardens of our forefathers and mothers had meant to them, nor had I understood the value of taking the environment of the garden into account, including the structures on the property, and creating a unified, holistic, and rich presentation. I especially enjoyed the examples of what not to do (and found I had done quite of few of those!) I also found that it was hard to read the book for any length of time without becoming so inspired that I wanted to get out the gardening tools and set to work immediately. Thank you Mr. Weishan for shedding a whole new light on gardening and gardens!



3. Weishan has created an astounding book for anyone interested in traditional gardening styles, old house gardens, or anyone who simply wants to improve the design of their garden. Extremely well-written and researched, this book is a pleasure to read even for the gardening novice. Truly one of the best gardening books of the decade.



4. Finally we have a difinitive work on the traditional American garden. This book returns to the beauty and practicality of the early American garden and tells you how to create it. While you get the information on all the aspects that go into this creation you are not overloaded with a lot of unnecessary planting instructions. I was very impressed with the great multitude of pictures and references and the vast amount of knowledge they contained. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to the new and the old gardener and to anyone that has an interest in things that grow for both food and beauty.