No comments about Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes: The Upper San Pedro River Basin In Arizona And Sonora.

No comments about Manuel de Sola-Morales: A Matter of Things.

5 comments about The Old Way of Seeing: How Architecture Lost Its Magic - And How to Get It Back.

1. The first several pages of this book were good, and showed
   comparisons of old and new buildings, and reinforced his premise
   that missing regulating lines and the lack of attention to the
   arrangement of elements are responsible for much of the
   decline in architectural quality.
   
   However, much of the rest of the book devolves into a disjointed
   grabbag of architectural topics, along with comparisons of how
   the human face or maple trees match the golden section with very
   little concrete in the way of design guidance or examples.
   
   I'm sure Hale is a good architect, and I would hire him in an instant,
   (especially after my architect put windows randomly all over our house
   and didn't understand why I didn't want 4 styles of windows),
   but this book is poorly organized, doesn't make his point properly,
   and wanders far off topic.



2. I have six shelves filled with books on architecture, design, urban planning, and proportion, including several books by Christopher Alexander, Andres Duany, Jim Kunstler, Philip Langdon, Peter Katz, and Jane Holz Kay. This one's my favorite. It's the most accessible and useful. What differentiates it is that it provides abundant photos, with lines overlaying them, that very clearly illustrate the author's point. His writing style is easy and generous. It's been a while since I read it, but I'm pretty sure Hale does not advocate brutal Le Corbusier-inspired design. He might have used one picture to illustrate that these ancient principles can also be used in modern architecture.
   
   Hale focuses on illustrating things like the proportion of individual windows and how their proportion and placement do or do not harmonize with the side of the house they're on. I believe the principles Hale explains perfectly complement those that Andres Duany writes about. The biggest difference is that Duany focuses on design issues at the larger scale of street widths, building heights, and walking distances. I think if Duany added design harmony at the building level, one very coherent, unified theory would be the result.
   
   One take-away of this book for me is this: You're looking at a house or building and something about it pleases you, but you can't put your finger on exactly what. He clearly illustrates what those things are for you, which satisfies your logical left brain. On the other hand, he strongly encourages designers to use their intuitive right brain, which instinctively knows what proportions and details are pleasing in a building. In the end, you design with the right brain by letting it loose to play with form, and then you can fine tune using the regulating lines the left brain loves so much.
   
   Far from advocating the "architect as auteur," Hale reminds us that almost no old houses were built using architects. Ordinary people, like farmers, built things of great beauty just by using the wise right brain to "eyeball" things like proportion, balance, harmony, and placement.



3. I purchased this book on the recommendation of a woodworking magazine writer I have come to respect. Though the book is on architecture I can see how many of the principles apply to furniture making as well. I understand what this author is saying, but sometimes thought that his geometric "hidden" relationships were somewhat stretched. I think I could probably do the same thing with any building if I looked at it long enough. It sometimes felt like a real tough read for me (it certainly helped me go to sleep many nights). Given this book appears out of print and he hefty price I paid for it, I would certainly look elsewhere if you are coming from the same direction I came from on the purchase. An understanding of the golden ratio, shadow lines and looking at some classic pieces (shaker, federal, etc.) will probably yield equal or better benefit to your own furniture design making. Though out of my league, I would stretch to say the same exact thing to an architect.



4. This book is quite good and contains some surprising revelations on why buildings look the way they do. It's an excellent book but can be vague in some areas as the author attempts to convey some very theoretical concepts.



5. Jonathan Hale's book so truly reveals the source of the hidden 'feel' in older buildings as also described by Christopher Alexander in 'A Timeless Way of Building', and which also draws parallels to other aspects of life.

   Hale cites the turning point in society away from the honoring our human 'intuition' to the honoring of 'rational' or 'calculating' thinking which so drastically altered the 'feel' and look of architecture, and he puts this date around 1830. Alexis de Tocqueville also described the 'calculating' way of thinking in America which he encountered after that time..and who is also cited by Hale.

   Truly worth the read, and it will probably change not only the way you look at buildings from now on, but also the way 'calculating' thinking dominates so many aspects of life now. I personally find when I get back into situations where the people and their decisions operate more from the basis of intuition, I feel a lot more human and natural, and no longer feel obliged to say the 'accepted' things which so many of us find ourselves saying, but not really believing. Hale's book has helped me understand why this is, and made me feel more comfortable with being natural and intuitive.

No comments about City Spaces - Tourist Places: Urban Tourism Precincts.

No comments about The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960.

No comments about Spaces of Global Cultures: Architecture, Urbanism, Identity (Architext Series).

No comments about The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life.

No comments about Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism.

No comments about Skyline: The Narcissistic City (Cultural Memory in the Present).

1 comments about Positive Impact Forestry: A Sustainable Approach To Managing Woodlands.

1. McEvoy (Sen. Jeffords only wrote the foreward) presents an excellent introduction to the topic of sustainable forestry management. There are numerous external references for other sources on specific topics and sample contracts for woodlands owners. McEvoy's very easy and enjoyable writing style make the read quick and interesting. I am ordering his other book on the more technical side of contracting, taxes and estate planning.