No comments about Sociopolis: Project for a City of the Future.

No comments about Designing for Alzheimer's Disease: Strategies for Creating Better Care Environments (Wiley Series in Healthcare and Senior Living Design).

1 comments about Sustainable Development (Routledge Introductions to Environment).

1. Usually Routledge prints high quality materials, but in this case I found Susan Baker's book 'Sustainable Development' to be an exception to the rule
   
   The book begins in good spirits with a theoretical overview of sustainable development, which includes its basic origins, history (e.g. Brundtland report), what sustainable development means, and basic definitions of common terms. However, the remaining sections of the book are less appealing for the reason that Baker needlessly mingles her prose with the kind of "socio-economic" jargon that causes our heads to spin. As an intro text, I would assume the concepts broached could be handled in a more introductory and down to earth fashion. Perhaps I am alone in this view, but whenever I witness such jargon laden prose, I interpret it as the mark of poor writing trying to masquerade as good writing. Moreover, to intentionally use acrolectic jargon when simpler terms could be used is just plain irritating--why? Because jargon obscures and veils meaning, and is being used simply to "talk-up" what the writer otherwise fears might sound banal and plain. Baker suffers from this tendency throughout and it makes for difficult (and ultimately mediocre) writing that obscures the importance and seriousness of its subject.
   
   This isn't to say, however, that we cannot learn from Baker's text. Surely we can, but my point is that she hasn't eased the transition and exchange of dialogue between the important concepts and the reader.
   
   Even though the lack of breadth and brevity with which things are presented leaves much to be desired, we shouldn't blame Baker for all the book's shortcomings. When I say this isn't Baker's fault I am being sincere, since a) this is a relatively new book and area of academic research, and b) she appears to have worked alone on the book without help from others. I assume that as further editions are printed, revisions and additions will be added in order to create a more complete work.
   
   So, can we blame Baker for not being completely right the first time around? Absolutely not, since she does do some things well (historical surveys, terminological overviews, and relevance to the present). But we still ought to be aware of certain irritating tendencies (jargon laden prose) and oversights (lack of breadth, if not depth) that commonly appear throughout the work.

No comments about Olympic Cities: Urban Planning, City Agendas and the World's Games, 1896 to the present (Planning, History and the Environment).

No comments about The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators.

2 comments about Elements of Planting Design.

1. This book covers ecology, process of planting design, the use of plants, and graphic presentations of planting plans. It also covers soils, climate and local requirements as well as color, forms and seasonal effects of plants. A good attempt to achieve the balance between technical issues and aesthetic considerations.



2. This book was great help in working on a planting design for a client. I got a few ideas just flipping through the pages. The plan graphics at the back of the book were also a good resource for ideas.

1 comments about Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area.

1. There is a recent, substantial review of this guidebook by Steven Finacom in the Berkeley Daily Planet, Weekday Edition, Oct.30-Nov.1, 2007. Some excerpts are:
   "A long-awaited, much-needed, and up-to-date guide to the great and representative buildings and architectural history of the Bay Area debuts this month."....
   "This guide is organized geographically by county, with individual cities, districts, and structures provided. The writers went into the field with notebook and camera as well as consulting an array of historical documents, surveys, and local experts." ....
   "Architecturally, the most prominent local communities such as San Francisco and Berkeley have been well covered by previous guides (including two written by Cerny) and published architectural histories. However, many smaller or less visible Bay Area towns, cities and neighborhoods have been overlooked.
   "This book, with more than 500 pages of text and over 2,000 individual entries, rectifies the imbalance and provides a regional perspective, addressing not just the older city centers but the suburbs, and profiling their major edifices and representative structures from cattle ranching days to Gold Rush to dot-com boom." ....
   "They [Cerny and her co-authors] brought a catholic sensibility to their writing and selection of projects, respectfully showing the whole panorama of Bay Area architectural history and urban development." ....
   "If you're at all interested in the architecture and history of the Bay Area, this will be an indispensable reference to own. I may, in fact, get two copies; one for home, and one that stays in the car, so that on trips through the Bay Area, quick answers to "what building is that?" can finally be found."

No comments about Urban Theory and the Urban Experience: Encountering the City.

No comments about The Tourist City.

No comments about Urban Ecology.