2 comments about Private Rio.

1. The architecture depicted in this book looks nothing like the example on the cover. It's more of a colonial feel , instead of the contemporary tropical that I hoped for.



2. Private Rio is an extraordinary visual jaunt through private homes. If you're interested in interior design for a tropical climate, this is for you. The photos are lush, and the text and the history behind each house is quite detailed.
   
   Pick it up for historical information, visual delight or just something pretty for your coffee table. You will not be disappointed.

No comments about Living in China (Taschen's Lifestyle).

4 comments about The Pocket Renovator: Kitchens, Bathrooms, and Home Renovation.

1. Written by a mother and daughter team, this like their earlier book, The Pocket Decorator, was born out of necessity. Leslie was totally remodeling her condo and wanted to know and use the correct terms when talking with the various craftsman.
   
   Designed for anyone remodeling, renovating or building, this book is a tremendous resource. The terms are listed alphabetically to allow easy access.
   
   I loved their tips for "smooth sailing" when working with construction people. Their suggestion is to work as a team as much as possible with architect, builder and designer. They suggest you learn the symbols used on a design plan so you understand what is being done and where.
   
   Not only do we learn a term, each has an illustration-and when relevant, we can read about its history and how the word was derived.
   
   Do you know the different between undermounted and drop-in sinks? I do now. Each has a different look and demands certain know-how when being installed. What do you know about toilet heights, shapes and flush/water efficiency?
   
   The chapters cover construction issues like cabinetry and built-in furniture, interior layouts, kitchen, baths and vital systems like heating, cooling, etc.
   
   The authors also added four newly important areas: green design, safe and healthy home, financing and real estate transactions.
   
   I found the safe and healthy house interesting as it covered the toxic things in our homes like lead, carbon monoxide, asbestos, mold and radon, as well as smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.
   
   This writing team is very thorough. If it isn't in this book, I wonder if the average homeowner really needs it.
   
   The Pocket Renovator would make a great gift for yourself and anyone who is buying their first home, building a new one or remodeling/renovating. Carry the book with you in case someone uses an unfamiliar building term.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: With The Pocket Renovator, you will have the answer at your fingertips.



2. First off, do not buy this book if you are looking for a how to book. This guide is not intended to show you how to complete a project. It is intended to show you, the average homeowner, with little or no construction experience what materials and techniques are available to do projects around the home. The authors cover a broad range of subjects, but not in depth. This book will enable you to communicate more effectively with your architect, builder or home improvement contractor.They cover alot in 200 pages, however there is so much to know in this field, that you could spend 200 pages alone on one subject such as fireplace techniques. However, for its intended purpose I rate it 5 stars.



3. An extremely useful reference guide for navigating the jargon of renovation and construction. A visual dictionary, the book helps you figure out what it is you're looking for by matching illustrations with terminology. Now, when your contractor asks whether you want your new sink to be drop-in or undermount, you'll understand what he means. The entries frequently contain useful guidance points and tips, though that's not the primary point of this book. I really enjoyed the Pocket Decorator, this team's previous book, and am glad to see they've pulled off another success.



4. This is a wonderful resource to have on hand when experiencing all aspects of a home renovation. To be able to speak the same language as your contractor is priceless, and to understand what he is talking about makes all of the difference. Built-ins, cabinetry, bathroom and kitchen projects, etc. are all addressed in this handy book. The book includes all sorts of vocabulary previously foreign to me, and is written in a refreshing, accesible style. Would be a great gift too.

No comments about Space Planning for Commercial and Residential Interiors.

1 comments about Art Nouveau.

1. Gorgeous images of this inspiring era of art have been captured and presented in this must have book. Set out in a chronological order of styles, influences and principle movers and shakers of the period, you can easily use this as a resource book or just to show off on the coffee table. The quality of research for this book is top class!

5 comments about Home Design from the Inside Out: Feng Shui, Color Therapy and Self-Awareness.

1. This is a wonderful book to help you become self aware. There are exercises that you can do to help you determine who you really are & what you really like. There are a broad range of subjects covering this book such as Feng Shui, & Color Therapy. Awesome book!



2. I bought this book at a time I was interest in Feng Shui and found out that it really isn't about that afterall - and only one chapter is devoted to that falsehood (as she interprets it - I do believe in the true Chineese Feng Shui - not new age). The rest of the book is very informative for we decorators who believe that you should decorate your home for yourself and its occupants - not for the neighbor. One must be true to oneself and that is what Lennon hopes you aspire too. Peace!



3. Finally not just another book about what you should do with your looks or your life. For me, Home Design From the Inside Out made sense of everyday life. Not extravagent lifestyles, or impossible metaphysical demands, but real life, creative, processes which I can practice. Robin Lennon doesn't simplify or reduce these time honored ideas, but uniquely invisions them for how we live today. I highly recomend this book for artists and designers and for anyone looking to revitalize their life design.



4. If only there was truth in advertising -- then this book would be subtitled "How to sell the public just what it wants to hear." It's just another way to make a profit in New Age circles. This book is another pre-digested New Age primer passed off as the wisdom of Chinese thought. If you are credulous enough to buy and believe books like this, then you obviously aren't a trained artist, interior specialist, or mental health professional, and your idea of "Chinese culture" only goes as far as where you can get good take-out food.



5. Robin Lennon must be a very put-together woman! Her advice goes far beyond where to place furniture and which colors go well with others. After reading HOME DESIGN FROM THE INSIDE OUT I found the courage to throw away ancient artifacts from my youth and teenage years that should have gone in the trash long ago! I never thought a book about interior design would be so helpful in my personal life. I learned how to "create a home for my heart", and express my soul and creativity through my surroundings. Open ANY page, and you'll find yourself shaking your head "yes", she's right, I just needed some one to put it to me like that. It's only $14.95, and nearly 300 pages long! Forget that new CD and BUY THIS BOOK

No comments about Faces in Stone: Architectural Sculpture in New York City.

4 comments about Japan the Art of Living.

1. If you are looking for examples of the zen and minimalist aspects of Japanese style, then this is the wrong book for you.

   Pluses:
   Some of the pictures are interesting, and I liked many of the cultural aspects of the book.

   Minuses:
   Some of the pictures reminded me of the elaborate and glitzy decor of some Westernized Asian restaurants.

   Recommendation:
   If you are interested in all aspects of Japanese style, this book might interest you. Everyone else should avoid buying this book.




2. i have thouroughy enjoyed it thank u very much it really made my day to see that other people have the same in terests as me n my colleagues



3. Regardless if you want to have a Japanese Tea Room, a Japanese touch, or just like looking at great photographs of Interior Design, you should buy this book.

   I normally don't like books which take elements from one Style, in this case Japanese, and then adapt it for Western use, but here it works very well, thanks to superb and tasteful examples. The authors are also very up-front about it, as the sub-title which does not appear on the cover is "A Sourcebook of Japanese Style for the Western Home".

   In hundreds of excellent photographs we are shown in sections with such titles as: "Light and Space", "Traditional Furniture" and "Japanese Textiles" just how easy it is to give rooms and areas of your home a Japanese touch or feel. I personally like the Style very much because it is subdued, almost austere, yet elegant, and makes much use of natural materials. The book is full of really clever examples of what one can do with space, and the best part is, that for the most part it can be done without great expense. The list of sources of where to buy materials at the end of the book is unfortunately out of date. The copy of the book I have was published in 1990, but many sources should be readily available on the Internet.

   Along with the excellent book "Japanese Style" by Suzanne Slesin, et.al. (at the time of writing out of print), "Japan: The Art of Living" is all you'll need to go Japanese. And lastly before I forget, the price is right.




4. As a an architecture student and in an architecture firm working guy I found this book very helpfull. I like japanese architecture and this book has taught me a way to design interiors in japanese-western way.

1 comments about Ultimate Lighting Design (Ultimate).

1. This large, profusely illustrated, multi lingual book illustrated the lighting projects of Herve Descottes and his company L'Observatoire International. These projects are largely for commercial building such as concert halls, churches, theaters, art galleries and a few restaurants/lounges. But then to round it off, there are projects like the lighting of Columbus Circle in New York City and perhaps the most strange, the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.
   
   This book makes it clear that advanced and sophisticated lighting techniques are as an important a part in the basic design of a building as is the design of the structure itself. This is basically an idea book. Looking over these successful designs to see what was created using something as ephemeral as light. Something that we see, but which really isn't there.

4 comments about The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi.

1. its wonderful to read details regarding the birth of greek architecture, the birth of classicism. the heads above arches, those sorry warriors, beaten. the blood letting flutes, fat dripping thigh bones, guttae from the triglyphs if i remember correctly. no wonder classicism is so haunting - sometimes touching - the echinus shape on the capital of tuscan and doric is also the name for "hedgehog" - its gently sloping butt is the same and also for "little cake" as in the sloping crescendo of a risin cupcake's belly. humane architecture has its birth in death - modernism is only intellectual. a subjective dream of babel. in the study of words are clues to the strength of classical architecture.



2. I bought this book and finished it the day it arrived. I couldn't put it down. It reads like a detective story for architecture enthusiasts. Hersey begins this work by introducing a cluster of tropes that at first seem disparate items. As he develops his arguments (and there are many) he weaves a beautiful tapestry with these tropes. Hersey brings the roots of Greek architecture alive (literally). If he were a philosopher I would be tempted to compare him to Nietzsche in his ability to uncover the conceptual ruins of ancient art. I also recommend Hersey's other work, but this one is my favorite.



3. The book discusses the persistence of ideas and the ways that ancient belief systems can work their way right into our language and the way we perceive the world. This is certainly a major contribution to the philosophical literature architectural historians have produced.



4. A marvelous marriage of language and the language of Architecture. Finally, someone has had the courage and talent to take this thing back to the (bloody) beginning. I have read it a couple of times, and given it to about 6 friends.