5 comments about Swimming Pool.

1. My review will be short and to the point. This book does not deliver what the title implies. If you just enjoy looking at pictures of pools in different settings -- then this book is for you. If you need what the title implies -- look elsewhere.



2. I saw this one in the bookstore and didn't buy it. Pretty pictures but way above the average person's spending budget. It lists styles of pools in the middle section and gives stars for levels of expense - 1 star was $10,000 or less, etc...I couldn't find any at all that were one star. Maybe there was one but I didn't see it. If you want waterfalls and fancy shapes and pools inthe $40,000 range this is the book for you. If you're not rich, get the Sunset book...at least it's practical.



3. this book is the least technical,yet, most informative book I have read concerning swimming pools. The quality of pictures and settings is second to none. As a matter of fact I used the idea of a post and beam cabana with a built in bar to incorporate into my own pool area. Pick up this book and enjoy.



4. This book does not contain the information necessary for building your own pool as it implies. This book contains only general inforomation on building and designing a pool. If you want someone else to design and build your pool and would like to have an understanding of what professionals are talking about, this book is good. This is by no means a "how to" book.



5. The title implies that there are sections that show HOW to build and Landscpe a pool..There are not. There a ton of beautiful pictures of other people's pools. The book tells you what to tell the person that is building your pool. It is the only book I have ever returned to Amazon.

1 comments about Study Guide to Art Through the Ages.

1. Gardner's Art through the Ages gives a comprehensive picture of art history. How can a student learn all the material in this book? The student can buy this study guide. It is gives excellent and thought-provoking questions. The parallel textbook doesn't have questions like other books, so this book is absolutely key to learning art history. Whether you are in a high school Advanced Placement art history course or in an introductory college course, buy this book. It asks questions about important points in art history, has "discussion questions" and has a special feature where the student fills out a chart of the important works of a period.

3 comments about Flowers by Design.

1. Being inspired by Jane Packer and Paula Pryke floral decorator books for years I think I have been spoilt and this book by Jeff Leatham, while being beautiful, is not really a flower arrangers book. In actual fact, the flowers play very little part in the actual photography. At times the "eye catching creations" (the reviewers comments) could not even be found. Nothing "genius" in this book except pretty interiors with flowers on the mantle -sorry Jeff, I will stick with the girls.



2. As a professional floral designer I was very disappointed in this book. About half of the arrangements are this:
   
   select a bundle of flowers - probably of all one type
   
   arrange them so all of their heads are at the same height
   
   tie the bundle together or simply cluster it so it stays together
   
   stick it in a vase so the stems don't touch bottom and the thing leans at an angle at the top of the vase
   
   or.....lay it across the top of the vase out of water.
   
   or.....do exactly the same as above only slant the bouquet in the vase at an angle and allow it to touch the bottom.
   
   
   Over 45 photos illustrate that single technique. The designs are mostly made of callas and roses. The repetition is pretty annoying as a person usually buys this sort of book to learn new techniques not to just see the same old one repeated again and again.
   
   Oh, I forgot - and for some real excitement make a bouquet exactly as above then stick it in a clear glass vase standing straight up.
   
   There's a lot of single flowers alone in a vase and a lot of flowers beheaded and set to float in clear glass vases. There are a few flowers shoved upside-down into clear vases and a few settings highlighting flowers out of water but there's really nothing terribly original. The arrangements were all pretty and all photographed in marvelous settings but unfortunately I learned nothing new from the book.



3. I had the good fortune of working with Jeff personally, and I own this book. I love his idea of decorating the space as opposed to just decorating a vase, and putting it on a table. Most Floral designers just think too small!Jeff only uses the most beautiful flowers and displays them in a way, that they not only are most beautiful, but can be most appreciated. The flowers are not "shoved up-side down in a vase" they are placed carefully and willingly. Jeff has the upmost respect for flowers, more than most people who call themselves floral designers, that shove hundreds of flowers all together in a vase in a contrived matter and call it beautiful.
   
   If you want to know what's really going on in floral design you better pay attention to this book and his other books. Jeff is admired by the most prestigious and forward, and successful floral designers and floral event companies in the world. As a Professional Floral Designer myself of over 25 years, I know sometimes we think we know everything about what we do. But, sometimes something new comes along and blows us out of the water, and this is what Jeff Leatham has done, in America and Europe! Hope to see you again sometime in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or Paris Jeff! Christina

1 comments about Cape Cod: Gardens and Houses.

1. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hover magically over a coffee table while watching your husband sprinkle plant food on your neighbor's dandelions? This is the amazing book that will no doubt show you how.

5 comments about Cataclysms on the Columbia (Scenic Trips to the).

1. I've lived in the Walla Walla River Basin for a little over a year. After reading this book, the surrounding area became more alive. This book tells of fascinating events that took place several thousand years ago that created many of the local landmarks. It makes my travels more interesting and personal as I recognize features described in this book. If your a highly educated geologists searching for some real meat, this book is not for you. For the rest of us, this book is written in easy to understand terms. If you live in the Northwest, it's a must read.



2. This book excellently explains why the eastern half of the State of Washington and the lower Columbia valley are so curiously carved. It also shows how a truly observant scientist works, even though his vindication may be slow in coming. While some persons might wish for more color photographs, I believe the black and white format, particularly in the Grand Coulee region, better shows the power and scope of the floods that carved these otherworldly channels from bare lava rock. The drawing of a typical Bretz flood has to be seen firsthand to be believed. Another exemplary book on the geology of the West. Don't see Grand Coulee or the Columbia Gorge without reading this book.



3. Ever driven down Highway 84 and been amazed by the scenery of the Columbia River?
   Ever curious about how the Columbia became the Columbia?
   Ever seen a giant bolder in the Willamette Valley and wondered how it got there.
   Can you imagine the sea level four hundred feet above Portland?
   You think you know, but you have no idea.
   Until you read this book! (Or hear about it from a friend.)



4. Picked up this book in a book store because I though it looked good. It was. I have to admit that I was already in the thrall of the scablands of eastern Washington but this book really brought it together. There is an interesting biographical drama as a separate story. The basin by basin description of the columbia valley that follows can be skipped over, used as a tour guide, or cherry picked. Or, like me, you can read every page. First go see the dry falls and the excellent interpretive center there with its satellite photographs and topographic maps. Then read this book and marvel at what Harlan Bretz was able see from eye level. You will never look at Eastern Washinton the same way again. A steal at ten bucks!



5. This is the story of the largest floods ever described by modern science (they happened about 40 times, between 15,000 and 12,800 years ago) originating from an ice-impounded lake in Montana that formed when a glacial lobe blocked the west end of the Clark Fork River. The lake covered thousands of square miles and impounded about 500 cubic miles of water. As the water in the lake rose, it eventually got high enough to float the ice dam, breaking it and unleashing hundreds of cubic miles of water that rushed out through eastern Washington creating what we call the channeled scablands.
   
   The flow was enormous. It left giant ripple marks that are clearly visible from the air, but hard to discern from the ground. It left gravel beds sloping upstream in tributary rivers on the Columbia. It tore out chucks of rock and stripped away loess. It carved interlinking channels, waterfalls, and deep canyons - all of which can be seen today, and which are particularly striking when viewed from the air, or space.
   
   The book is filled with photographs and maps showing the evidence for the flood, but older folk (like me) may need a magnifying glass to make them out.
   
   The book's written in several parts. Parts 1 and II, written by Marjorie Burns, consist of introductory material with historical background about Bretz, his early field work, and his effort to construct a complete and coherent theory of the Ice Age floods. Part III was written mostly by John Allen, who presents some of the scientific detail that describes and supports the Bretz Flood theory. Part IV, also by Allen, follows a typical flood from the point of failure in the ice dam until it emptied into the Pacific Ocean.
   
   Allen's sections are my favorites. I also enjoyed much of what Burns wrote, except for her frequent personal attacks against early skeptics who rejected Bretz's initial hypothesis. Burns leaves the reader with the impression that skepticism is bad, and that early scientists should have rushed to embrace Bretz's hypothesis before all the evidence, especially the source of the flood, had been discovered
   
   For example, on page 52 Burns quotes Meinzer, who said (in 1927)
   
   "Before a theory that requires a seemingly impossible quantity of water is fully accepted, every effort should be made to account for the existing features without employing so violent an assumption."
   
   This seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to say, particularly since Bretz, in spite of the evidence for a massive flood, had been unable to identify the source of the water. Burns, though, calls Meinzer's comment a "splendidly revealing passage," and "remarkably close to overt hostility."
   
   When Bretz presented his hypothesis in 1927 he didn't know the source of the flood, and without being able to point to a clear source, he knew his hypothesis was lacking. W.C. Alden responded to Bretz' hypothesis by suggesting the need for more research; again, this seems like a perfectly reasonable response. But Burns taunts Alden's position by mentioning other geologists who said "Cautious" was Alden's middle name. And, with dripping sarcasm, she quotes Alden as having used phrases like "it would seem," "perhaps," and "not yet well enough understood."
   
   Burns lambastes skeptical and/or cautious scientists who disagreed with Bretz. She describes them as closed minded, unwilling to accept new ideas, and stuck in their ways. She describes Bretz's hypothesis as an "unthinkable heresy," while twisting legitimate scientific caution into claims of "overt hostility." Yet, when Bretz exhibited similar caution she lauds it as a high "standard." Consider this quote from page 58:
   
   "By 1932 Bretz was again saying `the cause of the flood is not yet known.' He had, at this point, virtually finished his field research on the Channeled Scablands, and in his final studies he mostly ignored the Lake Missoula possibility. It was an intriguing hypothesis but too questionable to meet Bretz's standards."
   
   Burns seems to have a genuine grudge against skeptics in the scientific community. For example, on page 72 she complains that Wegener's "theory" leading to "plate tectonics" was "maligned." The problem is that Wegner didn't have a theory; he had a hypothesis based on incomplete data, with an incorrectly proposed mechanism for how the continents moved. In retrospect, his larger hypothesis (like Bretz's) proved correct, but it wasn't a scientific theory until it was completed with a verifiable mechanism for continental drift - something that's part of the theory of plate tectonics. The fact that hypotheses such as Wegner's are/were debated is a necessary and healthy part of the way science works, and yet Burns castigates those critics who later turned out to be wrong - as if they should have been "believers' without all the evidence.
   
   Bretz should be highly regarded for correctly hypothesizing (on the basis of a huge amount of original field work, I might add) that the scablands were created by a great flood. But in spite of the many evidences he presented, he couldn't explain where the water came from, and how it was unleashed. Without that key bit of evidence he didn't have a scientific theory; he had a scientific hypothesis that was still under intense investigation. The scientific community did pretty much what it should have done; they went out and found the source of the flood.
   
   It was Pardee, who did it with his description of humungous ripple marks in Lake Missoula in 1942. With the source of the flood identified, Bretz's hypothesis was quickly accepted. While Burns sees the episode as a sham, I see it as one of the best examples of why and how science works so well.
   
   Once you get through Burns' personal attacks on Bretz's critics, the book becomes a pleasure to read. It is one of the best scientific descriptions of the Bretz floods and has some very helpful references. In spite of Parts 1 and II, the rest of the book makes it definitely worth reading.

1 comments about Hanging Baskets, Window Boxes, And Other Container Gardens: A Guide To Creative Small-Scale Gardening.

1. This book was given to me as a gift by a friend. I have yet to put it down. I am an experienced gardener, but have used it for new ideas and inspiration constantly. I loaned it to another friend and had to fight to get it back, so I have ordered her her own copy. An exquisite book, especially if you admire the Europeans their container gardens.

No comments about Fieldwork: Landscape Architecture Europe.

No comments about Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma.

No comments about The Montana Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening under the Big Sky (Gardener's Companion).

1 comments about Ortho's Patio Plans (Ortho's All About Home Improvement).

1. This book has great illustration and instruction for patio construction. It guides me step by step. I like this book a lot!