1 comments about Simple Birdhouses and Feeders of Wood.

1. Ronald Tarjany's Simple Birdhouses And Feeders Of Wood is a practical, 64-page book of very practical, "bird friendly" designs of birdhouses and bird feeders which any do-it-yourself woodworker can create from simple, straight-forward, step-by-step blueprint instructions. A complete materials list provides the reader with the finished size for all of the projects, which includes a generic birdhouse; wren birdhouse; bluebird birdhouse; western martin triplex birdhouse; hopper wall mounted bird feeder; multi-station bird feeder; center column bird feeder; and more. Highly recommended and ideal for the novice, Simple Birdhouses And Feeders Of Wood is further enhanced for bird lovers with commentary on controlling unwanted predators; mounting birdhouses or feeders; and the construction of a mounting pole.

No comments about Square Foot & Assemblies Estimating Methods (Means Square Foot & Assemblies Estimating).

3 comments about Reinforced Masonry Engineering Handbook: Clay and Concrete Masonry, Fifth Edition.

1. This book provides a comprehensive explanation detailing the design standards used in masonry. This book is a must have reference guide for those who are in the field of Civil Engineering or design of masonry walls. No C.E. should be without one. It provides a necessary reference just like the AISC Steel Structural Book or any other design code books.



2. The fatal problem is this book is NOT current to the 97 Uniform Building Code, contrary to the advertised description. It is written for the 94 Code. Therefore, it is useless and dangerous for actual design and permit. This book gives a pretty good tutorial, but asumes the reader to be an engineer already and skips key explanations of the process, showing numbers in formulas without referencing where they came from, what they mean, or what units they are measured in. Too cryptic. The reference data is scattered throughout the book, and often doesn't have a cross-reference, so it took me over an hour to read each page of problem, due to hunt-and-peck for clues. The design examples are fairly good but hard to follow, and the problem questions don't have answers or process to check your work. The subject is so complex that it would be scary to formulate a real life problem. The author left out the seismic factors on foundation design, so the answers are very wrong in earthquake areas. The 97 Code changed greatly from the 94 Code, so you will be struggling to learn erroneous information.



3. Despite the fact that this book was published in 1998 and is based on the 1994 UBC, it is still the best book on masonry design out there for the practicing engineer. As another reviewer notes, it's useless as far as the actual design is ccncerned and it does assume you know a good bit about what you are doing already, but I am at a lost to find a better book for my newbies.

No comments about Advanced Building Simulation.

No comments about International Fire Code 2003 (International Fire Code).

No comments about Cost Studies Of Buildings.

No comments about Piling Engineering.

5 comments about Pool Maintenance Manual.

1. This book is a helpful tool for any pool owner or someone interested in having a pool.



2. This book was a wasste of time and money. The book focuses more on being a pool professional then the actual "how-to" a pool owner needs to work on their pool. It has more information on changing a light fixtures and on bilking wealthy Malibu folks out of cash then actual useful information.
   
   After reading this (useless!) book I went to my local library and reearched several books on the subject, there is a title called "What color is your pool?" That has lots of information for the first time pool owner. There may be other more technical guides our there, but this book has few drawings and illustrations, poor writing, and ultimately is lacking in adequate information.
   
   Trust me...SAVE YOUR MONEY!



3. This book is to swimming pools what the "Haynes" car maintenance manuals are to your car. It contains all the information required to maintain your pool, even though probably someone else is going to do it for you. If you own a pool, it is worth reading the book to understand what the service technician should and shouldn't be doing, and when the pool is in need of help. It can also help you save some money by doing the work yourself. The book is entirely about maintaining a pool, not owning one. It is written in a friendly, readable style, and you can simply keep it as a reference manual to know what to do when things go wrong. If you are considering installing a pool or spa, this book will show you what you are letting yourself in for. If there is one omission in the text it is that the author ignores electric pool cleaning robots, though they are probably the most effective way of keeping the pool clean.



4. We bought a house with an inground pool 5 years ago. A bit of a surprise really. We had ZERO experience with pools, and knew only by rumor that we were buying something that required a LOT of care and maintenance. I hunted through bookstores for a guide I could learn from. I am a technical writer by profession, so I know a thing or two about how to present complex ideas to the innocent. Browsing through this volume I was impressed with the author's skill at getting ideas across (well structure informattion - here's the idea, heres' the basics, here's the gory details). I bought it on the strength of his organization and writing, not on the content (about which I knew zilch).
   
   It is still in regular use 5 years later. YES, it is technical. YES, it sometimes provides way too much information for the novice. But if you have a brain and you can handle some complexity, this book is BRILLIANT. I knew nothing, and in very short order I learned what I needed for basic care. This book is a bible for pool maintenance. Over the years I've learned (from experience guided by this book) how to strip a DE filter, how to repair my Polaris pool robot, and more about water chemistry than I ever thought possible. This past summer ('07) it guided us through a plaster refinishing (pool is ~30 years old) and taught me how to restart the pool.
   
   It IS written by a pool professional, FOR pool professionals, and even has advice on how to run a pool maintenance business (which is of zero interest to me). But if you can learn from a pro talking to other pros, this book is it.



5. The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual: Spas, Pools, Hot Tubs, Rockscapes and Other Water Features, 2nd Edition is an in depth, easy to read guide for maintaining your pool. I have purchased a few different books on the subject and this is by far the best.

No comments about Construction Site Erosion and Sediment Controls: Planning, Design, and Performance.

2 comments about Cost Analysis and Estimating for Engineering and Management.

1. The author of the book goes over the top in derivation in his calculations. It's almost as if he's trying to show off instead of keeping the math simple and relevant. However, considering the other books for this topic, there are no better.



2. This book gives a good overview of current cost analysis and estimating methods. The given examples and exercises help to understand how to use the methods. I recommend this book to everybody who is interested in cost estimating methods. To understand the described methods it is necessary to have some knowledge of mathematics and in some cases an engineering background.