1 comments about The Production of Houses (Center for Environmental Structure Series).

1. If, after reading Christopher Alexander's earlier books, you were wondering if he ever actually built a house in the real world, here's your answer. Yes, he did. Yes, the people owning the houses love the results. Yes, they feel the special connection with their homes that is the hallmark of Alexander's ideas. No, the powers that be, who agreed to temporarily suspend building codes for his project, were not happy with the results. Why? Because they look funny, and because he built five homes instead of five hundred. Well, if they'd read his other books, they would not have been surprised. Our intrepid hero is quite unsparing of himself - you can see his delight as his ideas work, and his horror when they don't.

   I believe that Christopher Alexander is dead on in saying that the system he created is a better way to build homes, indeed a far superior way to do so. However, I can't say the official reaction to this project is encouraging. After the first five homes were built, the bureaucrats came in, stopped the project and sent our intrepid hero packing. You can tell from the ending of the book that this reaction spooked Alexander, and I can't blame him. A revolutionary system of construction, he says, antagonizes pretty much everyone. But it will triumph, he proclaims!

   It looks like it didn't, but I see increasing awareness of his ideas in more recent architectural books, so hopefully all is not lost. Despite the ultimate outcome, this is a brilliant book from an inspired thinker. You probably want to start with The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language before tackling this one, but if you liked his earlier works, this is an excellent, real-world counterpoint.

5 comments about Ansel Adams at 100.

1. Thank you for everything except the weak packaging, Most of the new books received are now in a state just good for a second hand shop !



2. A number of years ago, I was perambulating through the local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Annie Leibovitz' book Women, which had just been released, was on display. A pair of college-aged girls (i.e., part of the target audience for the book) passed by and one commented to the other: "Oh, this looks interesting," and reached for the book. The other said, "I don't know, like, the only photographer I like is Ansel Adams." As the first girl thumbed through the book, the second reached for a volume of Adams' photos, as though to protest having to see another photographer's work.
   
   I do not relate this anecdote in order to make a direct comparison between Ansel Adams and Annie Leibovitz. Their work really cannot be compared, as they are representative of two widely divergent genres. What I am getting at is this: The Ansel Adams mystique is overpowering enough to bypass not only reason, but also a cursory glance at other photographers.
   
   Now, among photographers and art enthusiasts "in the know," this would not be an issue. However, for the general public, an almost impenetrable barrier -- rather much akin to the Berlin Wall -- has been erected. Take a poll of the American public. Ask them to name a well-known photographer. When about 90 per-cent of respondents instantly reply "Ansel Adams," wait just a moment. Then ask: "Can you name another?"
   
   That "deer-in --the-headlights" expression that will suddenly come over their faces arises out of fear and embarrassment at being unable to recall the name of any other photographer out there.
   
   It is as though Ansel Adams has sotto voce been billed as "the only photographer who ever lived." My mind returns to the bookstore incident and the pathetic attempt at debate the closed-minded girl tried to initiate. But, how can one debate, when one is totally unaware that there is another side out there? Or, if when made aware, ignores the evidence of her senses and acts as though there is no other side?
   
   This essay is painful for me to write because when I first seriously pursued photography almost 20 years ago, I was deeply inspired by Adams' photographs. Moonrise, Hernandez to me is nothing if not sublime. It is true that -- to those touched by Adams' muse -- his photographs have the power to inspire, to move, to affect deeply.
   
   It is because his images are so powerful that, for the novice or the dilettante, they can preclude the desire to look behind the horizons of Monument Valley or Yosemite. In fact, it is not a stretch to say that Adams' most ardent devotees comprise a cult following. Their monomania for the guy is akin to that of 1960s objectivists, followers of the philosopher Ayn Rand. Both Adams and Rand share a highly charged, stylised and absolutist way of viewing reality.
   
   The Adams mystique is no accident: Since early on in his career, Adams hired a high-rolling public relations firm to market him as the greatest master of photography. Further, he held a deep and abiding personal resentment for photographers whose work he disliked or those he felt were nudging onto his territory.
   
   Consider the strange case of pictorialist William Mortensen: For the f/64 Group, spearheaded by Adams and Museum of Modern Art curators Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, it was not enough merely to disagree philosophically with Mortensen. Granted, the pictorialist school had pretty much run its course, and purists in the mold of Adams and Edward Weston did indeed usher in an exciting new era in photography.
   
   Had they respectfully disagreed, it would have been unlikely that Mortensen would have been forgotten and ignored so during his own lifetime and after his death, for he was something more than just another painterly salon photographer: Mortensen's compositions were steeped in Gothic and Romantic traditions, his subject matter often whimsical, often bizarre, his style a strange combination of Lorenzo de Bernini, Edgar Allan Poe, Man Ray, Salvador Dali and Maxfield Parrish.
   
   In his essay, "Beyond Recall," photographer A.D. Coleman -- who is quite sympathetic to the Adams aesthetic -- presents a scathing indictment of Adams and the Newhalls, and their active campaign to completely shut out Mortensen from the elite artistic inner circles. Adams in particular launched a smear campaign to destroy Mortensen's reputation. He couldn't even bring himself to call him by his rightful name; in conversation, Adams called Mortensen "the Anti-Christ." Mortensen died a broken man.
   
   Even after Mortensen's death, Adams tried to prevent Mortensen's work from being archived at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona. Fortunately for posterity, curator James Enyeart (who, though a friend of Adams) remained objective, and was instrumental in finding a permanent home for Mortensen's artistic legacy.
   
   Because of Adams' spiteful behaviour, little remains of Mortensen's artistic output: Most of his negatives are missing, whereabouts unknown. He also left few notes or letters. No conclusions can be drawn, but it can be strongly inferred that by the time he died, Mortensen felt so irrelevant to the history of photography that he never bothered to leave much behind.
   
   This almost total annihilation of the career and reputation of another photographic artist was carried out ruthlessly and consciously by a man revered by his followers as "Saint Ansel."
   
   Let me go out on a limb here: Ansel Adams is dead. His work stands among the greats. But, he has become a caricature of himself in death as hangers-on exaggerate his importance by turning him into a sort of a demigod. Yet, this was done with his consent and wholehearted approval.
   
   Strangely, Adams once penned the following:
   
   In the past photography has been largely plagued by imitation, apology, and pompous defensiveness. The "salonist" continues the sham of the turn of the century. The photo-journalists (some, not all!) are "non-art" people, turning to the factual experiences of life as their anchor to reality. The advanced subjectivists reject the world and develop inner awareness -- of their inner beings....But there are, fortunately, a growing number of men and women who practice photography at a fully adult level.
   
   Having winnowed down what defines "photography at a fully adult level" to a select few photographers who avoid such implied juvenile genres as pictorialism ("Salonists" need not apply) and photojournalism (most, not some successful enough to need Adams' cherished imprimatur!), Adams yet has enough gall to write:
   
   The art of photography is the art of "seeing."....People are afraid to admit they "see" something all on their own. They are constantly making comparisons. This is a phenomenon of the Virtuoso Age; the few extraordinary craftsmen -- and sometimes creative artists -- stand clear and aloof, terrorizing the lesser gifted but nevertheless highly expressive individual. We need a return to the spirit of the madrigals, of the communal participation and joy of creating beauty in every form. True, "the perfect is the enemy of the good"; complete perfection can lead to total extinction. But the good has to be good.
   
   That is on paper. In practice, we've already witnessed how Adams terrorized "the lesser gifted but highly expressive individual." But, let us do some "reading between the lines" here, for Adams is hardly making the case for artistic individualism; Far from it, he is making a pitch for artistic leveling.
   
   Despite making the claim that "Most great photographers violate `pictorial rules,'" Adams prescribed a wholly regimented process of "pre-visualization," which -- when coupled with the pretzel-logic of "zone system" exposure -- actually makes for technically stunning, but aesthetically anemic, prints. (Can you imagine Robert Frank having shot The Americans employing the zone system?)
   
   Both Adams and Weston the Elder created this rigid and stifling atmosphere for "keeping the tradition alive" with their Yosemite workshops. The workshop circuit is the Amway multi-level-marketing-pyramid of the art world. Unimaginative sycophants can learn how to photograph nature and employ the secrets of the Zone system in the kind of "communal participation" only the well-heeled can afford. These "madrigals" create carbon copies of Adams' masterpieces under the tutelage of Adams' aesthetic heirs.
   
   The singular quality that strikes the viewer about Adams' work is simplicity; take a long look at Clearing Winter Storm. Adams' work at least had soul. "A return to the spirit of the madrigals, of the communal participation" instead becomes conformity, fawning and outright imitation, when people submerge all individuality in order to become the "next" Ansel Adams.
   
   But, even that cannot be done: Of all the work I've seen of John Sexton, Jeff Nixon, Patrick Jablonski, Jeffrey Conley or Alan Ross at www.anseladams.com, all of it is technically marvelous. But, their work doesn't have that intangible genuineness (and in what Adams did, I don't question his sincerity to his subject matter). To me, they are just going through the motions. It is as though they "are afraid to admit they `see' something all on their own," to borrow a phrase.
   
   The difference between Adams and his progeny is the same difference between spring water fresh from the well and distilled water; the former may have some minerals, and even the taste of rust and sulfur, but you know you're drinking something whole, despite its impurities. The latter is so pure that it's flavourless, without any character whatever. The perfect may be the enemy of the good, but at least the money's good.
   
   By deifying Adams, his followers are actually making mockery of him in death, promoting the corpse of his work like Lenin's Tomb as envisioned by Charles Addams. By turning him into an icon, they have proscribed future iconoclasms.
   
   The Ansel Adams centenary came and went recently with all the attendant hoopla and fanfare one would expect from his acolytes and disciples: PBS aired a hagiography, museums and galleries recycled his prints in commemorative exhibitions and Bulfinch released Ansel Adams at 100, a ridiculously oversized book, ceremoniously ensconced in its own protective linen slipcase. Strangely, the Sierra Club -- his old ecological haunt -- was silent about this excessive slaughter of precious trees.
   
   Curiously, this very next year we now find ourselves at the tail end of the Walker Evans centennial. As he lived his life, so is Evans being celebrated in his death: Rather quietly. No media blitz. But there is a retrospective exhibit at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, curated by Alex Harris, who photographed the seminal work on Northern New Mexico life, Red, White and Blue, God Bless You.
   
   Then again, take a look at those photographers (Harris included) who were influenced by Evans. From Diane Arbus, Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander, to Louis Faurer, Garry Winogrand and Wim Wenders, you will find a rather diverse lot who took Evans as a starting point and branched off in their own, unique, directions.
   
   Because Evans was sui generis, and an individualist to boot, his "followers" were only such in the loosest sense of the term. Evans encouraged not proficient mimicry of his work, but kept an eye out for refined taste and an independent streak.
   
   Consider even the work of William Christianberry, the one photographer who went out and mounted his tripod in the same rough hewn Alabama soil visited by Evans almost 40 years before: Christianberry's work is strictly homage; an almost purely social document, Christianberry made no pretence of overwhelming profundity, whether under the spell of Zone or Zen.
   
   I wish that aspiring photographers' introduction to Ansel Adams be similar to that of a Japanese photography assistant I once employed. She had seen little of Adams' work prior my lending her Ansel Adams in Color. Her words regarding it were "he takes pleasant photographs of pretty subjects in nature." I later introduced her to Adams' black-and-white "greatest hits" that Little, Brown, also published. Her assessment: "His compositions are generally conventional, but not novel. But, with a red filter while shooting and many darkroom methods and formulas, he uses technique to bring drama to his prints."
   
   Ditto. It was refreshing to hear this opinion of Adams, because my friend did not have the yoke of artistic correctness hanging about her neck to remind her to speak of Adams in reverent, hushed, tones. To her, he simply a very good artist and great technician. He ranks somewhat higher in my own estimation as a great artist and a peerless technician.
   
   If understanding art in general, and photography in particular, is about seeing, then my friend saw -- unaided -- something in Ansel Adams' photography that eludes the eyes of so many here in the New World. What she saw was context.
   
   She saw Ansel Adams' work for what it was, no more, no less. And, unaware of the bulk of legend built up around him during his own lifetime -- and especially since his passing -- my friend was more able than most to assess him objectively. Further, she was able to place Adams' work within its own genre, just as valid as and just as distinct from other genres. She considered his photographs at no more or less "fully adult level" of photography than Weegee, William Mortensen, Shoji Ueda, or Walker Evans. That is, she was "fully adult" enough not to buy into the alluring trap of buying wholesale into one school of thought at the expense of all others. Hers was a more sophisticated, eclectic, view that eschewed the easy dogmatism of the likes of Ansel Adams and his more rabid successors. I'm sure that if she met him today, she'd see him not as "Saint Ansel," but just plain "Mr. Adams."
   
   This, I think, is the proper perspective necessary for an honest appraisal of Ansel Adams' oeuvre.



3. This is a really beautiful book; everything from the cloth-lined box, the
   paper, the printwork is a pleasure to hold and to view. It is hefty, well
   made and feels like a book one should open with gloved hands, so as not
   to spoil it.
   
   John Szarkowski has written a short, but fine introduction to the life and
   work of Ansel Adams, which I enjoyed much.
   
   There are some 115 plates of photographs, some are quite small, as the
   plates are scaled to the original size, many cover the full large format
   page.
   
   I am of two minds whether the small prints are better as they are, or
   whether I would have enjoyed them more, blown up to the maximum size
   allowed by the page.
   
   I have seen most of these photos before, as I became aware of Adams's
   photos in the eighties, and have obtained some other books of his.
   Nevertheless, I do not regret having added this volume to my library.
   The prints are better quality than the ones I already have.



4. Hardcover - 3 stars
   Softcover - 5 stars
   
   I am a little dissapointed in the hardcover version. Some prints seem vague and a few with ink offset problems. Overall, the prints look quite low in contrast. I've seen AA's original prints, including the exact AA at 100 exhibit, and find the low contrast hard to accept. If you are interested in this book, the softcover version is a lot better, almost flawless - a true must-have for AA fans. Yes the print size is smaller than those in the hardcover, but the price is also smaller. It's interesting to notice that the softcover is printed in Germany while the hardcover I saw is in the US.



5. Ansel Adams at 100 by John Szarkowski is a beautiful collection of Adam's finest work. The first fifth of this 191 page book contains a bibliography about Ansel Adams. I was able to read about the trials and tribulations of Adams' family issues, life, and his discovery of his passion for photography. It was in this book that I found out where Adams' passion began - Yosemite National Park. Though, after viewing the book, the audience would probably acknowledge that Adams had a secret love for Yosemite by the plentiful photographs of the historical national park.
   
   This book reminds me of the beauty in nature. Adams took the simplest objects, "grass and water" and makes it into a work of art. The lighting, contrast, and angles makes simple objects shine. Also, the different photograph on each page harmonizes one another. I like the way Szarkowski strategically placed certain photographs together to enhance the effectiveness of the book. Furthermore, the quality of the photographs is remarkable. The photographs are amazingly crisp and each page appears to possess the quality of an original photograph. This is a great book for anyone who appreciates the beauty of nature.

1 comments about Memory Folding (Memory Makers).

1. Excellent. Have had a great time making many items in the book as I scrapbook my travels. Thanks

5 comments about Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr..

1. Don't look at this with the eye of a photo critic or you may miss the magic. This is an intimate glimpse into the life of Sammy, his family, friends, and acquaintances as only someone "on the inside" can capture.
   
   A wonderful book!



2. an amazing collection of photos that serve as a historical and entertaining view of the times he lived through.



3. Few have personified the phrase "self-made man" as did legendary entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990). The world remembers Davis for his varied and extraordinary accomplishments as an actor, singer, musician, dancer, and comedian.
   
   But hardly anyone outside his circle of friends and family has been familiar with his photography--until now. With this hefty book, interspersed with reminisces by longtime friend Burt Boyar (who co-wrote Davis's autobiographies Yes I Can and Why Me?), his old fans and a new generation can revel in hundreds of images that reveal yet another significant facet of Davis's far-reaching talents.
   
   Though Photo lacks the singular thematic focus of books published by such photographer-celebrities as Dennis Hopper and Gerry Spence, that's no drawback for this posthumously published volume. Rather, it pulls the reader into the exciting world of nightclubs, casinos, and Beverly Hills homes in which Davis moved, mostly from the late 1940s through early '70s. A voracious shutterbug, he took his photography seriously: his compositions are strikingly iconic, employing sophisticated use of line and form. Yet, his pictures are mostly snapshots--in the best sense of the word: they capture their subjects spontaneously, and his joie de vivre suffuses his work. Think of it as a highly stylized family album packed with candid portraits of "Rat Pack" pals Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Shirley MacLaine, as well as other famous friends like Nat "King" Cole, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Sidney Poitier, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Lewis, and Bill Cosby.
   
   Among the more touching aspects of this book are the portraits of his actual family: his parents, his second wife May Britt and their children, and his third wife (and widow) Altovise Gore Davis. The most poignant are the many shots of actress Kim Novak, the first great love of Davis's life, who was forced by Columbia Pictures studio chief Harry Cohn to break off their relationship (interracial relationships were strictly taboo in 1950s Hollywood, not to mention in society generally).
   
   One photograph, despite its matter-of-fact framing, is particularly chilling. Through the window of a passenger train en route to Miami, Davis snapped a picture of an elderly white gentleman on a station platform holding a cigarette, standing before a pair of double doors over which the foreboding phrase "WHITE WAITING ROOM" is painted. Davis's photographic abilities and inclinations were such that we see a mostly glamorous world through his eye. Thus, when we arrive at this jarring image, it's impossible not to apprehend it from his point-of-view--and also not to feel the sense of injustice that he must have experienced in the Jim Crow South as he clicked the shutter.
   
   As Davis's show business career took off, many venues--even north of the Mason-Dixon Line--were happy to let blacks perform onstage; but the same headliner artists weren't even permitted to drink at the bar, use a dressing room, or occupy one of their hotel rooms. Photographs from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, and portraits of politician friends Senator Robert Kennedy and President Richard Nixon, give silent witness to Davis's largely forgotten achievements as an outspoken civil rights advocate.
   
   Photo is a coffee-table book that won't spend much time on the coffee table if your houseguests are anything like mine. Because of a car crash in 1954, Sammy Davis, Jr., was left with only one eye. But what an eye this cat had!



4. This book is so fun. It has so many candid great photo's, really intresting history on Sammy Davis Jr. and his relationship's. I really enjoyed this book. Great coffee table book.



5. I originally picked up this book as a curiosity and found its links to a bygone era utterly fascinating. The subject matter, i.e., rat pack photos were wonderful but the photographic mastery of Davis Jr. is, I think, equally as stunning. A look into Davis Jr.'s remarkable life is given by him in the way, like other great photographers, he insightfully choses to document and communicate with his subjects through the lens. Again, like many great photographers, the images are powerful and soft, crisp and dazzling. More talent revealed from a man who had more in his baby finger than most of us have coursing through our entire bodies.
   Bravo. Well done.

5 comments about Above New York.

1. Let me first say I love New York, it is quite simply the most energetic, vibrant, alive place on earth. This book does the city such a service, it is spectacular and photographs just amazing. Mr. Cameron is such a singular talent and he does it hanging out of a helicopter. This book really captures the city and lets the viewer see the hidden New York, that very few see. I love the photos of Central Park, you have no idea what an oasis it is until you see it from high above. Some photos are in summer some are in winter and you get to see the city in all its various incarnations. Mr. Cameron also includes some vintage photos to let the viewer see how much the city has changed. I only wish that Mr. Careron had been able to photograph my city of Houston, she would have welcomed him with opened arms. I highly recommend this book, you won't be disappointed.



2. I haven't found any picture book of Manhattan that's as sharp, descriptive and beautiful as this one. Unfortunately, it is a bit outdated--for those seeking a realistic portrayal--because of new construction and destruction in New York City.



3. Robert Cameron's "Above New York: A Collection of Historical and Original Aerial Photographs of New York City" sets itself apart from other similar books. In no particular order:

   a) the photos are unbelieveably crisp and the printing is of top-notch quality;
   b) don't ask me how, but Mr. Cameron makes the city look like a place where human beings actually live and work, rather than making the cityscape look like an architectural diorama;
   c) other boroughs are represented! New York is not just Manhattan, as so many other books would have you think.

   The contrast of the modern skyline with the older photographs is very effective, as others have mentioned. But what is also appealing is the changes of the skyline between the time these photos were taken (ca. 1988) and today, as we New Yorkers would notice. The images of the World Trade Center are poignant, but I'm glad that the publishers did not update the book, in order to remove them. As time takes its healing course, we can look back fondly on those buildings--still with pain, but now with some acceptance. "Above New York: A Collection of Historical and Original Aerial Photographs of New York City" remains a glorious collection that has yet to be eclipsed in quality.

   Rocco Dormarunno
   author of The Five Points




4. This is the best photographic book I have ever seen. Its pictures of The Big Apple are magnificent! Comparative pictures taken in years past, many in the 1920s, show how sections of the city have changed. Whether one is a fan of New York and who isn't, you will enjoy this book. It makes me want all the other "Above" books now.



5. This book is really great. I recommend it to anyone who loves NY!

5 comments about Digital Photography Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools.

1. Weaknesses: A surprisingly large percentage of the hacks require you to spend money on devices or software. To take best advantage of this book you should own an SLR camera, Photoshop, and a camera phone. Some of the advice, such as fill flash, is drawn from standard photographic techniques that you could get from any book.
   
   Strengths: Here and there one can find useful techniques. For example, he has good ideas on eliminating red eye. Some of the recommended items are inexpensive and worth looking into. The book also does a good job of telling the advantages and disadvantages of the devices and software he recommends.



2. I was very pleasantly surprised to finally get a book on digital photography that was page after page, completely full of all new ideas! The title says it all. In this book you will find various work arounds, short cuts and generally smarter way of doing things. Lots of insiders tips that the pros know, but the rest of us plebs don't.
   
   This is one book you will come back to again and again. Extremely useful!
   
   Enjoy



3. Digital Photography Hacks is a part of O'reilly's hacks series, which provide tricks and solutions for different fields. This book gives you tips and tricks when dealing with your digital camera.
   
   I read this book after reading Digital Photography Guide for the same writer, Direck. So, I found myself comparing between the two books and found the Digital Photography Hacks is an extension for the Digital Photography Guide. These tips and tricks complete your knowledge with some useful methods to create professional photos using tools and things around you.
   
   If you know your camera well, you will find this book very useful and open your mind for new tricks to produce professional photos. However, if you were a beginner in digital photography I would prefer to start with Direck's Digital Photography Guide.



4. I am an amateur photographer and I did learn a number of useful things from this book. However, I am rating it a 3, primarily because it contains few information on what I really bought this book for: to take better photos using my digital camera. I got the Digital Photography Pocket Guide, 2nd Edition by the same author at the same time as this book, and that one taught me more about how to take better digital photos.
   
   There are really cool and useful stuff written in this book like eliminating bars from animal cages and using pantyhose to get some special effects; good suggestions on using tripods and flashes. These are what makes this book worthwhile.
   
   But then, this book also contains lots of "tips" that I do not find very useful. Perhaps it is because it lacks focus and it doesn't consider what most readers already have. Whether this book is geared towards the novice photographer or someone who has a point-and-shoot or an SLR is unclear. Most "hacks" suggested by computer books will assume you only have the main software and may suggest you download few additional ones that are mostly free. This book has a number of tips that need additional equipment costing more than $100. I wanted to try out taking portraits using two external flashes as this book suggested, only to find out that the two external flashes can cost me $500!
   
   Furthermore, there are a few suggestions that although useful, I find to be inappropriately labeled as an industrial-strength hack. Yes, an iPod can be used to store your photos. Even if there may be iPod owners who may have missed that, I don't own an iPod and I surely know it can store photos already even before this book told me so. It is cool that you can take photos and use your camera phone to communicate in a foreign country, but again, this info did nothing to make me a better photographer



5. Be prepared, this book has no real theme. It is a hodgepodge of interesting stuff. The photoshop section is very good, which is surprising, as that is not the focus of the book. However, I learned a good deal from that section. Some of this stuff most people will never use, but it definately gets you thinking. My favorite was using the camera as a scanner, when you don't have one handy.

1 comments about Dream Homes Florida (Dream Homes).

1. I live a short distance from many of the homes that are profiled in this book and hope to use some of what I saw in my dream home. Very professional and glossy images (about 5 per home). The book appears to be a portfolio for the builders that are profiled within and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The only thing that is missing from this great book are the floor plans to these magnificent homes. This did not take away from the rating, because these homes are totally customized to their owners and do not have the cookie cutter look that many mansions in Central Florida have. The builders that are profiled state often how they like the challenge of designing a home that the owner will enjoy for a lifetime.

1 comments about 1000 Nudes: A History of Erotic Photography from 1839-1939.

1. While we are no longer scandalized by the nude body, we have too much allowed our sophistication to turn to boredom. With this collection we can trace the aesthetics of nudity and see its genres and developments. Here the standards of beauty, posture, and placement become clear as historical consequences. We see too the elements of technology as they influence the stance and audience. That this collection is cheap and fairly well reproduced, if in a small format, makes this book even more laudable and a boon to all who buy it.

4 comments about Ozark Wildflowers.

1. I purchased this book as a compation to Wildflowers of Arkansas by Carl Hunter. I especially like the way this book is arranged; by the color of the flowers. This makes speedy field identification of flowers possible. I also like the quality of the photographs.



2. Found this book to be pretty good. Missing some of the flowers that I have found but handles most and the pictures and descriptions are good for someone who just wants to know what this flowers is.



3. I have quite a number of books in my library pertaining to this subject. As an amateur photographer who specializes in flowers, I found this book invaluable for identification purposes as well as general, reliable knowledge of the subject plant being photographed. I carry this one with me in the field. The photographs are of very high quality, the book is well organized and, as far as I can tell, quite accurate in it's written descriptions. Through using this work and a couple of others, I have yet to run across a flowering plant here in Southern Missouri I was unable to identify. Recommend this one highly for those interested in the outdoors in general and flowering plants in particular. Wish we had more guides available of this quality



4. This attractive field guide describes 355 of the most frequently encountered wildflowers in the Ozarks, with photos for each. The Ozark region, shown in a map at the beginning of the book, covers approximately half of Missouri, the northern portion of Arkansas, and the northeast corner of Oklahoma, plus small areas in Kansas and Illinois.

   The book is organized by color, and within each color group, the flowers are listed in order of approximate bloom time. In addition to the large photos, which are attractive and excellent for identification purposes, each entry provides a description of the physical characteristics of the plant, its habitat and range, and additional comments. The additional comments often include mention of similiar species to further aid in identification, and uses of the plant - by both humans and wildlife. Scientific names are up-to-date, and any previously used names are given.

   I highly recommend this wildflower guide for use in the Ozark region and nearby areas.

No comments about Jackie Warner's Workout 2009 Calendar.