5 comments about A Visual Dictionary of Architecture.

1. Vision is better than a thousand words. This graphic book makes you very easy to understand the architectural vocabulary. Not only good for student but also good for architectural practicer.



2. My husband bought this book for me when I decided to go back to school to study architecture, and it has turned out to be sooooo helpful. I have used it in every course I've taken; it makes studying for tests so much easier. It has a fabulous index so you can find what you are looking for right away, and the illustrations and page layouts are great. This book is a must for any architecture student. I really can't recommend it highly enough.



3. As with other materials by Francis D.K.Ching, the illustrations are not only clear and precise but aesthetically pleasing. It is a pleasure to read through the material for a comprehensive understanding of architectural concepts, presented in an historical perspective which clarifies the how and why of modern day building technology. The Visual Dictionary of Architecture
   is an invaluable reference for the student and architectural practicioner as well.



4. This book is really good for architecture students. I do not use the book every day, but when I need it, it proves very usefull. All books from this author that I purchased are really good so far. This one has a lot of details drawings which are great.



5. Somewhere near the very beginning of my lecturing career, I showed a slide onscreen and was trying to point out a unique feature of a home. Gesturing toward the screen I said, "that thingie over the window..."
   
   I was mortified. What a dreadful mistake for a "professional" lecturer to make!! Since I planned to give many more lectures, I came home and bought this book from Amazon.
   
   When the parcel arrived, I quickly opened it and was delighted to find the easy-to-read drawings. Ching makes the most complex architectural graphics easy to see and understand. Using this book, I gave myself a crash course on "basic architectural terms" and since then, I've given 200 lectures and never used the word "THINGIE" again!!
   
   Rose
   author, California's Kit Homes
   and "The Houses That Sears Built"

2 comments about Stonescaping Idea Book (Taunton's Idea Book Series).

1. "Walks, pathways and steps play important roles around the exterior of the home. On a practical level, they offer a safe and comfortable means of approaching your house in all seasons and weather conditions. They also serve to connect your house with its surrounding landscape, providing a logical route to frequently used areas such as garages and outbuildings, or a more meandering route through gardens..." Andrew Wormer writes.
   
   He continues to discuss other aspects of stonescape, including paths, steps, sitting places, dinning places, outdoor rooms, garden paths and floors, poolside spaces, drystone walls, mortared walls, benches, sculptures, steams and waterfalls, entryways, driveways and transitions, and borders.
   
   "Stonescaping Idea Book" has six chapters: Paths & Steps, Terraces, Patios and Garden Spaces, Walls, Landscaping Features, Pools, Ponds and Fountains, and Finishing Touches.
   
   "Stonescaping Idea Book" has 144 pages and many beautiful and inspiring interior color photos. It is a must-have for stonescape lovers!



2. Lots of pictures, mortar and dry-stone, a little bit of everything. Makes you look at your yard with different eyes.

5 comments about In the Company of Stone.

1. Dan Snows stonework may be some of the best in the world. Of all the stonework I have seen over the years his stands of as the best of the best.
   This book illustrates much of Dans work demonstrating what is possible.
   Most of this work is dry laid stone which is an art in itself. For those who like work utilizing mortar I recommend Lew Frenches book. Buy this book if you love to view stonework that makes you say " WOW!"



2. Over a decade ago, Dan Snow repaired the hundred-year-old dry stone walls that wander across our property in Vermont. The tumbled stone had been evocative, but the symmetry of the reassembled walls has been an irresistible delight. I do not know Snow--he worked while we were away--but I have thanked him a million times for his art. In this book, he has somehow captured with words the sensory pleasure of organizing and reorganizing stones. The art of walling, as evidenced by Peter Mauss's photographs, and the skill of walling, as described by Snow, are compulsively fascinating, an adventure for the armchair dreamer.
   The text and illustrations blend carefully, and the color photographs sparkle. The reproduction of the black and white photographs varies in quality, alas. This is a charming book. An excellent companion book is Gordon Hayward's "Stone in the Garden."



3. If you love stones and stone work you'll appreciate the pictures but a book just can't manage to "show" the art involved in working with stone



4. This is not a "how-to" book - it's better than that. It's a "why" book. The author expresses in his understated manner the "why's" of working with stone and for anyone who feels about stone the way he does (and I do)it is a delight to read - and look at. This book is absolutely inspirational and a joy.



5. Being a native resident of Vermont this book is very precious to me. I lived on a dairy farm with dry stone walls that were very plain. Dan Snow made the process into an art form as well as for practical use. The back of the book gives locations of some of his work here in VT and NH and I look forward to seeing some of it next summer. This book is one that should sit on a coffee table to be picked up and scanned by your guests rather than sitting on a bookcase shelf. The book is not only about the work of Dan Snow but a showcase of the photos by Peter Mauss, in color as well as black & white. It is a book you will treasure.

No comments about Italian Villas and Their Gardens: The Original 1904 Edition.

5 comments about Ortho's All About Creating Japanese Gardens (Ortho's All About Gardening).

1. I bought serveral books about creating Japanese gardens. This book by far the best one that I had. I built a Japanese style Rock Garden so I don't have to mow my lawn. My back yard is built based on some of the pictures and tips I read from this book. The fun part is that you put in your hard work and built the garden you wanted which pays off when your guests give you thumb up. I spent about $5000 on the materials and hours of my own labor on the project. Now I can spent my weekend golfing instead of mowing my lawn. Ouch! My back still hurting from all the hardwork.



2. The book is easy to read and explains the whole concept of Japanese gardening. I learned with it and will be using it to plan my Japanese garden. Very pleased customer!



3. I've always wanted to have a Japanese Garden but never got around to doing it. I picked up this book at the library and, WOW, it has really inspired me! Not only am I now drafting up plans to turn a corner of my yard into a Japanese Garden but I showed it to a neighbor and he's thinking of making his backyard into something like the courtyard garden on page 20. I'll probably get a library of books on Japanese Gardening but this book will be the first one I'll buy.



4. I got this book from the library and was pleasantly surprised at the details and useful, practical advice on conceiving and executing a japanese garden. The book contains detailed instructions on how to lay out, build, select plans for, and maintain a Japanese-inspired garden. It talks about rocks, rock gardening, ponds, water plants and fish, paths, stepping stones, gates, and plants and plant selections. I found it really helpful in getting ideas to give to our landscape architect. I would recommend this book for anyone that is going to actually build (rather than just enjoy looking at pictures of) a japanese garden.



5. This book is one of the best I ever buy about gardening and landscaping. The pictures alone worth the price.
   They gives details to build your garden, makes pounds and falls and it seems so easy that I am starting my own right now.

   They also list the kind of trees and plants to uses.

   Buy this book with confidence.

5 comments about Backyard Idea Book: Outdoor Kitchens Fireplaces Sheds & Storage Play Spaces Pools & Spa (Idea Books).

1. The book clearly states that it is a 'Backyard Idea' book, not a how to or a design book. So for the 2 star review before, it is just plain silly. However, this is a great book if you like to sit back and dream ideas for your backyard. It has some ideas that may be out of reach financially for some, but it also has some budget tight ideas as well. And you can create a combo of both if you'd like! I love designing my own backyard landscapes and this book certainly adds to even more ideas. Recommended for those who sit in their yards dreaming what they can do to make them fun and relaxing.



2. This is a wonderful book with beautiful photos and great ideas. It is not a how to book, but it does inspire!



3. I'm satisfied. More than enough pictures with detailed analysis for each. There is nothing missing.



4. This book has excellent photo's of backyard ideas. It is a great book if you are just looking for ideas. I had expected a book with a little "how-to" mixed in.



5. I haven't finished reading it yet but so far love it. It has many photos along with a paragraph about why/how this works - the type of landscape and things to make sure you do/don't do. I am buying a copy for my sister for xmas.

5 comments about Tasha Tudor's Garden.

1. Tasha Tudor could grow anything, and this book shows her beautiful garden, really cozy. The photography is excellent. She could grow Peonies & Foxgloves, which I would love to grow in the heat of So. Calif. and can't. Her garden is informal, and what I imagine Eden might have been like. Her garden will be a memorial to her life and work as she passed away at 92 just recently. I highly recommend this if you love gardens and flowers.



2. I received this book several years ago as a birthday gift. It has beautiful pictures of Tasha Tudor's garden and flowers. I bought it this year for my friends 60th birthday gift. She loves it!



3. This is a wonderful book featuring the garden of children's book author and illustrator Tasha Tudor. Not a gardening how-to book but rather a photographic tour of the garden. It does show that a garden can be at its most charming when not rigidly landscaped but grown in a more naturalistic way. A must for all Tasha Tudor fans bookshelves.



4. I have loved Tasha Tudor's illustrations in books like "The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales", "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess" since childhood. I didn't know anything about Tasha Tudor as a person, and then one Christmas my mother gave me this book. Wow! Mrs. Tudor has lived a remarkable life and she is an amazing person. She has chosen to create a home for herself that seems to exist in a century past. Her son built a rustic house for her, and she has surrounded it with extensive farm buildings, cottage gardens, fruits, berries, chickens, goats and dogs. She dresses in layers of vintage clothing and eats off of china that has been in her family for generations. I just love this woman, and her lifestyle. This is a beautiful book.



5. I purchased this book years ago... at a bookstore and paid the full price. Had I known about Amazon.com....I could have saved money. Then I could have more books! I strongly recommend this book for all gardeners to add to their home library. Enjoy!

5 comments about In A Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms.

1. This book is an explosion of beautiful colours on every page! It is filled with beautiful photographs of Mexican outdoor living and the commentary is concise but clear, enabling the reader to copy the ideas found in the book. I intend to use the book to create my own Mexican/Spanish style courtyard.



2. I was very surprise whith the quality of the presentation and the beautiful pictures. Excellent!!



3. I love this book! The beautiful photographs give the reader great ideas on how to design and decorate.



4. I love the pictures and ideas presented, but after 2 days, the binding had pulled away from the pages!! I think that is flaw that needs fixing.



5. I chose this book to help give me some ideas as to how to " Mexicanise " my garden.
   So what with the yuccas, agaves & cacti i'm well on the way, just need to add more colour & fragrance to it.
   
   I also bought Mexicasa and Mexicolor.

3 comments about Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors, Second Edition.

1. This book is very lengthy and full of information, but unlike typical textbooks, it is not overly 'heady' nor boring... Each chapter is quite long (50 pages approx.) and the words are quite small, yet you can sit there for four hours straight and still be interested in what is on the next page!? The only thing that would make this book better would probably be color pictures (there are a good amount of informative pictures, yet they are all black and white). Great book for anyone in the construction industry...very interesting!



2. Time has changed. A few years ago, few people knew about sustainable design and construction, green buildings or LEED. Today, sustainable design and construction has gone mainstream. How do we know? We actually have clients asking us to design a LEED certified building or do a sustainable landscape design. Architecture and landscape architecture are knowledge-based, service-oriented professions. Architects and landscape architects have to catch up and become experts in sustainable design and construction, green buildings and LEED to be able to provide the necessary professional service to the clients.
   
   "Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors" is one of the best books on sustainable design and construction. It covers 10 principles of sustainable landscape construction: keep healthy sites healthy (preserve topsoils and existing trees, minimize construction damages, etc.), heal injured sites, favor living, flexible materials, respect the waters of life (understand, protect and restore wetlands, restore rivers and streams to full health, collect and conserve water, reuse gray water, etc.), pave less (reduce paving, reduce runoff from paving, use porous paving, etc.), consider origin and fate of materials (Use local, salvaged or recycled materials, avoid toxic and non-renewable materials, etc.), know the cost of energy over time, celebrate light, respect darkness (lighting efficiency and light pollution control), quietly defend silence (various ways of noise control), and maintain to sustain (alternate to mowing, bio-based maintenance products, etc.). Each principle is demonstrated with case studies and followed by resources for further studies.
   
   "Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors" has 416 pages and many line drawings and interior black-and-white photos. It is one of the most comprehensive books on sustainable landscape construction.



3. an excelent overview of the sustainable approaches to landscape design, a good basis to start thinking and acting sustainably in the landscape

5 comments about The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and Bulbs.

1. Comprehensive and very user friendly. A book every home flower gardner would want to have.



2. I've heard other gardeners talk about Tracy's books and what an inspiration they are, so I bought "The Well-Designed Mixed Garden" expecting to learn some GREAT ideas for my gardens. It has some good information on principles of design and how to work with color, texture, and so on. But I was disappointed at how weak and uninspiring the section is on plant combinations. She calls it an "encyclopedia of plant combinations," and the section is full of photos of flowers and plants she thinks are winning combinations. The combinations mostly have no real visual appeal, the photos (in that section) are plain, and it's a wasted section of the book. I think there was only one of these combinations that actually looked beautiful. Most of these photos were from her own garden, and perhaps she let her personal affection for her own gardens cloud her judgment on what to include.
   
   I like the rest of the book, however, and her examples of garden designs in other parts of the book have good photos and design layout drawings that are quite useful.



3. This book is so helpful in figuring out how to mix flowers and plants in border-type gardens. It details color combinations and tells what flowers go well together. It provides pictures of various gardens in different season to provide an idea of how the landscape will look in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.



4. This is the first book I would recomend to anyone! Ms. Disabato-Aust compiles a vast amount of quality information in one book, and she explains abstract concepts in a way that regular people who aren't master gardeners can understand. She also includes insights from her vast experience; it's not a dry recitation seen in other sources. She explains when and why to break the generally-accepted guidelines.
   
   I've been a hard-core gardener for about three years, and I've already gleaned some of the information from other sources. But I had to read a lot of different books and articles to get it, and it was often contradictory. The book not only ties it all together in a cohesive manner, but gives very detailed examples.
   
   I particularly enjoyed the section on combinations, where Ms. Disabato-Aust explains why certain things work together in a converational tone. Far from being a preening dilletante, the author's manner is friendly and warm.
   
   I only had two complaints, and they are possibly unique to me. As you might expect, the "example" gardens shown used Ms. Disabato-Aust's style of gardening. It's wonderful, but I have a different style, and would have appreciated seeing the gardening principles illustrated using different styles. Second, I garden in North Florida. A fair number of the plants that look so beautiful in her Ohio garden wouldn't make it in North Florida.



5. I'm a master gardener from Illinois,and have heard Tracy Disabato-Aust on a number of occasions. Her book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has long been our bible for perennials. In this new book, she makes accessible for all gardeners the depth of her experience and research in incorporating many kinds of plants in a mixed border. The book is worth buying for the appendices alone: plants by design and maintenance characteristics as well as common/scientific name cross-references. A must-have garden reference book!