1 comments about Plumbing Technology: Design & Installation.

1. Don't waste your money, most of the chapters are about 2 to 3 pages long and are very generic. There are about 85 covered topics but not much time is spent on them.

No comments about Mechanical Systems for Industrial Maintenance.

No comments about Fireplaces.

2 comments about Energy-Efficient Houses (Great Houses).

1. This book may have been good for it's time, but technology advances have dated it. It also leaves out numerous efficiency improving technologies and construction technics for existing homes. IMHO, it is better used as a coffee table book than a planning guide for your home- especially if you don't have $500,000 to spend constructing a house. Still, it gives some good food for thought.



2. While the book was published in 1993, it is a compliation of articles that appeared in the magazine Fine Homebuilding,leading up to that point. Thus, you'll find articles from the mid to late 80s. While many of the designs are dated and at times impractical, because of technological improvements since then (and really now, how many people can live in an earth berm house?) The take home message shouldn't be lost in, at times, bizarre approaches: heating the floor via an embedded series of air ducts.
   
   Rather, the take home message should be (and is readily apparent with the cross sectional construction drawings) in insulating the home and making it as tight as possible. Because of the excellent photography and the diagrams, I would start here, but certainly not end here. Moreover, for $5, it's not a bad starting point.

No comments about Refrigeration Principles, Practices, and Performance.

No comments about 547 Tips for Saving Energy in Your Home (Down-To-Earth Energy Book).

1 comments about Popular Mechanics Weatherproofing & Insulation (Popular Mechanics).

1. Has very little info on insulation, I would not recommend it to anyone.

3 comments about Applied Mechanics for Engineering Technology (7th Edition).

1. it is very wise of you to show me a step by step guide.



2. This has to be one of the worst text book i've used in all of my semester of schooling. The examples are poor and not related to the questions. There are multiple incorrect answers in the back of the book. Be carefull.



3. This text explains basic elements of applied mechanics and then gives good detailed examples. There are plenty of good homework problems at the end of each chapter. Some of them are harder than others, but enough information is given in each chapter to solve them. It is very easy to read and a good first book on applied mechanics.

2 comments about Industrial Mechanics and Maintenance.

1. Very basic knowledge in this book is presented in the most adequate manner: simple, authoritative, enriched with most common useful tips. Comprises most areas of industrial mechanics' real life. Any mechanical shop could benefit having one copy of this book. Very valuable for novices and very useful even for experienced craftsmen - one allways need to recall either some safety procedure or basic working rules for area in which was not working for a while.



2. Possibly a mandatory text for class, all information inside can be found elsewhere in more detail at a better price. Simple explanations.

3 comments about This Cold House: The Simple Science of Energy Efficiency.

1. As utility bills for consumers keep soaring for electricity for summer
   cooling and for oil and natural gas for winter heating, This Cold House provides some relief in the form of options to make one's home more energy efficient. This will help tenants and property owners save money on their residential energy bills, and these energy efficiencies will help the planet as they slow the rate that fossil fuels are consumed and greenhouse gases are created.
   
   Something that is good for you and good for others, something that is both expedient and altruistic, is the definition of civility. This Cold House reveals that our most private retreat, the home, is yet another site for civility, where our relationship with others can be considered, in addition to our own self-interested efforts to save money on runaway utility bills.
   
   This Cold House is an excellent primer on the various types of heating and cooling systems, the pros and cons of different energy for them (ie., oil versus natural gas versus electricity for heating systems), and insulation options. These form the central pieces of a home that can be made both more energy efficient and optimally comfortable. The book also explores various safety and convenience permutations, as well as the place for personal preference in terms of ambient home temperature.
   
   The book is at once elementary and oddly technical at times and reads like a perfect introductory textbook for an HVAC 101 class. The average homeowner will find some helpful tips if looking to overhaul one's heating system or enhance one's insulation. It will also provide an extremely useful companion if one is undertaking an energy audit of one's home in terms of insulation, system type, and fuels. For renters, it provides some more modest possibilities for saving money on monthly utility bills.
   
   This Cold House is written in a charming, inimitably British, and accessible voice, though at times Mr. Smith becomes cloying with his many winking asides ("My wife really does look beautiful in her new sweater!"). Overall, This Cold House really does make the science of energy efficiency simple, and its consideration of human factors such as convenience and comfort, as well as the more computational, make it a warm, inviting, and, indeed, most civil, volume. It is a very clever idea and very well executed.



2. I just bought my first home and was interested in insulating more, so i picked up this book on a whim to learn some general principles about ventilation, insulation, and other issues related to keeping my house warm. Being a layman with little knowledge of the subject, i figured i'd just quickly scan the book and try to get a few quick tips before being bored to death. Before i knew it, I'd read the whole book! Mr. Smith took a subject that could be dull, technical, and inaccessible and makes it vibrant and fascinating! If you have any interest in physics and would like to know more about the way the world works, read this book! You won't be disappointed.



3. I bought this book with the aim of learning the best way to reduce my fuel bill. It is fair to say that, buried deep within the book, there is some useful information, but the author has a truly irritating style of introducing every single topic with paragraphs of mostly unrelated drivel.
   
   We have descriptions about how the author's wife looks in her sweater, an account of the author's friends' bureaucratic problems getting through to his gas supplier on the phone, and a host of other anecdotes which leave the reader none the wiser concerning energy efficiency, and after an hour or two, were simply too much for this reader - I could take no more and gave up.
   
   Also be aware (as I was not) that this book is intended for an American audience and as such uses units such as gallons and fahrenheit.