3 comments about Seaside Style for the Home (Home Crafts).

1. I bought this book thinking it was another book by Andrea Spencer. Much to my dismay when I received the paperback of "Seaside Style for the Home," it was the exact same book as "Seashore Style, Decorative ideas inspired by the spirit of the seashore." All they did was change the cover and the title. It is an excellent book with great ideas and a true feeling of being by the sea. But I wish they would have said somewhere in the listing that it was the same book.



2. I live in a land locked state, but love the sea. This book not only has great photos, but great ideas to bring the sea side to your home. It's a small book, but packed full of wonderful projects. Simple ones with easy to obtain items. Enjoy!



3. This book has some great ideas that anybody can do at home. Very realistic projects. Even if you don't do any of the projects, guests will love to look at it.

5 comments about Home Theater Design: Planning and Decorating Media-Savvy Interiors.

1. This book should have been called "Beautiful Interior Designs that Happen to Include some Home Theater Gear", or "Home Theater Style". It's little more than a pretty picture book of impressive-looking rooms that integrate HT gear, and often in a laughable way. The text is fluffy, thowaway stuff that is irritating to read.
   
   The photos are very well done, but often include speakers and other gear set up with no unsightly cables. Of course, without the unsightly cables, there'd be no audio or video, either. I guess that's the main thing that got to me -- if you're going to show a setup with nice speakers and other gear that are out in the room, at least be honest about how to treat cables and make them look as good as possible. Don't just leave them out altogether. It's insulting, and is foolish in a book that is supposedly about HT.



2. This book is really helpful if you're planning a home theater system or integrating some type of audio and video stuff inside the house. I had a small house and was able to get lots of tips for designing my a/v system in it. Now that I bought my new house (much larger) I am able to reference the later chapters for dealing with the new challenges. Highly recommend!



3. This book has tons of helpful tips about features that you should have in an entertainment room. It helps you learn what accessories to get, but doesn't help much in the way of actually building the room. I was hoping to have some help on how to install a suspended ceiling with the sound-proofing material, or how they recommend to frame an elevated seating platform.
   
   All in all, I'd say this book is an advantage to have, and it definately is worth purchasing, but don't expect it to help you with the nuts and bolts of the operation.



4. I bought this book to help me plan the space for a home theater I am planning to build myself. Big mistake. It contained nothing useful for me.
   
   This is a book written by someone who only knows home theater from the perspective of rich or trendy clients who pay big bucks to have someone else do all the planning. It's also something of a advertising piece to show off very big and expensive (nothing under six figures) home theaters designed by two firms the author repeatedly gives credits to. At the very end she even has a brief interview with the head of one of those firms.
   
   If you're really rolling in the dough and want to see lots of glossy pictures to see how to spend your money, this book is for you. Example: "John and Jane have a wonderful theater space with arched alcoves along the walls. They display their collection of antique vases in each alcove, and use accent lighting to enhance it. They install a crystal chandelier for ambient lighting..."
   
   For everyone else it's a waste of time. It's so limited in text that it didn't take more than a couple hours to read through. Instead of giving you some real planning guides, the author limits herself to glosses of the obvious along with references to the type of professional you'll need to hire (so many - I've never heard of an acoustician before. He came somewhere after the cabinetmaker you'll need to design the housing for the projector).
   
   This is a book that bows to wealth and trendiness. For those of us who want to tap our own creative ability as well as our more typical budget, we'll have to look elsewhere for inspiration and information.



5. The first question you have to ask is 'What is a home theater.'
   
   And the author doesn't have any better definition than you do, so she has written the book in three sections, and with a definite point of view.
   
   One section is on small systems in small rooms. Here you are basically using more or less standard equipment in more or less standard rooms.
   
   The next section is on multi-purpose rooms, such as a den or living room with a major emphasis on media but still useful for other things.
   
   Finally there's the dedicated home theater. Here a room is built to make your own small, but technologically, audiologically, aesthetically and in every other way professional quality. This often includes stadium seating, with high quality chairs and tables for drinks and popcorn between the seats.
   
   All in all the book is more concerned with the interior decoration of the home theater than with the technical aspects. I suppose that's fair, because the rapid change in the technology. Anything you attempted to print in a book would become obsolete at the next Consumer Electronics Show.

1 comments about The Way We Live with Color (Way We Live (Rizzoli)).

1. LOVE IT. I can look at this book over and over again. This is a beautiful, visually stimulating, inspiring book for anyone interested in color and style. Major eye-candy. I think they should have gone with a different jacket though. To me there are so many other more beautiful and interesting photographs in the book so if you don't like the picture on the jacket as the saying goes: Don't judge a book by it's cover.
   I'm a big fan of World of Interiors and imagine if you like that magazine you will love this book.

5 comments about You and Your Only Child: The Joys, Myths, and Challenges of Raising an Only Child.

1. I found this book disappointing. It was very basic and anecdotal, and seemed to only brush the surface of many of the issues I am seriously struggling with. Some may find it useful, but being fairly educated and knowledgeable as a parent, I found it rather insulting.



2. What is wonderful about this book is that it includes and speaks directly to parents who may not have originally intended for their child to be an "only". Parents who may have wanted a larger family, but cannot due to circumstance are dealing with their own feelings as well and this book does a great job of identifing and advising on this aspect. This book is well written, well organized and offers practical advice in an intelligent and reassuring way.



3. I liked this book. It had some helpful tips on raising an "only" child. I grew up (happily) with seven siblings and was afraid that my son would be lonely but this book made me feel that he can have a perfectly happy childhood.



4. I found this book to be mostly a Feel Good About Yourself kind of book. The issues that were brought up were all issues those of us with onlies already know and are dealing with. The book offered very little advice or 'how to's' on how to deal with these issues, and the advice it did give was just common sense. Also, the constant references to "Studies" that show how great things are going to be for your only and how wonderful he/she is going to turn out, were a bit too much, in fact I began to doubt if those studies were real.



5. This is the right book if you're looking to come to grips with having an only child, and feel like you "need" to bring another child into the world for the primary purpose of keeping your already existing one company. This book will talk you out of that with kindness and care, and let you know your only will be ok, indeed probably better off. It will also help you see to it as a parent that they will, and not fall into the traps that some parents of onelies fall into.

3 comments about Energy-Efficient Building (Best of Fine Homebuilding).

1. I found this book beneficial. I believe that people doing either new construction or remodelling will find it helpful. It covers new ideas as well some often overlooked but simple, inexpensive methods that should be used in all construction.

   In particular, the first chapter is about energy efficiancy in general and performing an energy audit on your house to see where the energy is wasted or lost.

   For the price of this book, even if you only used one idea from the book, you would more than pay for the book in energy savings in one heating/cooling season.

   My reason for not giving 5 stars is, "There should even more ideas included in this book!"




2. Okay, I'll confess I don't own this book, but there are two reasons I wouldn't buy it, and each one knocks a star off my rating:
   
   1. This book seems a little old for this particular topic. Energy efficiency is an increasingly important issue in home building, and the various materials and technologies continue to evolve. There have been some advancements in the eight years since this book was compiled, and since it's a "best of," that means the articles in it are even older. I want the latest information available as I research this topic.
   
   2. Based on the table of contents, the book seems targeted toward saving energy in colder climates. I live in central Florida where we air condition most of the year. Our biggest concerns here are keeping the heat out, not in, and controlling the humidity (which is 91% outside as I write this) inside your home. This dictates doing some things differently here, and chapters on topics like fixing a cold, drafty house, preventing ice dams, and building an efficient fireplace just aren't applicable here. ;-)



3. This book is really a book. It is a collection of magazine articles from a well respected building magazine that cover different building techniques. One chapter per article. There is an article for every currently used, but not quite mainstream building technique to improve energy efficiency of a home.
   
   Since the articles are written independently and were later compiled into a book, there is no comparison and contrast between techniques. Since the articles are very well written and go into depth on each technique, then comparisons between similar techniques can be extrapolated out, but some things like cost comparisons may be difficult to gather from the articles alone.
   
   Overall a very good overview of what is out there and working in practice today.

3 comments about Shingle Style Houses: Past and Present.

1. Like my title says, there isn't really anything new here. The "Present" section of the book is a far cry from any thing of the Shingle Style. Many of the photos can be found in other books on the same topic. The worst part of the book is the photos. Easily half of them are either blurry, poorly scanned, or over/under exposed. The photos are also cluttered with very badly written captions. With books of this type, the photos are the most important thing and this book falls short.



2. I was disappointed by this book. When I saw the announcement for the book, I was excited because there is a limited number of books on Shingle Style houses.
   
   However, this book does not measure up. As mentionned above, the pictures are of poor quality. Some are blurry and others are overexposed. I expected better production quality for a $40 book.
   
   The organization of the book is odd. It highlights a few older homes that are very interesting. These homes are interspersed with pictures of new homes of uneven architectural interest. The selection of homes included in the book could have benefitted from weeding.



3. If you're at all interested in the diverse architecture of residential design, this may be one of the best books on the market. It is comprehensive and gives you a variety of shingle styles you may have never seen before with a generous assortment of exquisite photographs. It includes the several elements of exterior shingle design, not overlooking the fine details that make each one of these shingle houses unique. There are many fine photos of both exterior and interiors that give you a very thorough feel for the way these homes are lived in. I would consider it to be one of the finest books in my library, and I have been collecting quite a few on this subject. This is an excellent purchase!

5 comments about Structural Wood Design: A Practice-Oriented Approach.

1. I just recently took a Timber Design class and this book really helped me grasp the overall concept of Timber Design. With having no experience with timber design, the book's sequence is excellent with helping the reader develop and understand the reasoning behind this type of structural design.
   
   The examples in this book are great. They are not standard textbook examples, which lack real design concepts. This book goes above and beyond with applying the examples to real world scenarios. I have just graduated and found myself going back to this book to reference examples and also sharing it with my fellow co-workers.
   
   I highly encourage people at all levels in their engineering career to buy this book to use, it is highly helpful.
   
   Jennie Wilson
   Structural Engineer



2. This book is exceptionally informative and easy to navigate. This text has been very useful in teaching/training our office engineering staff. Highly recommend.



3. I wish more text book authors would write their text in a way befitting that for students and not cryptic nor elusive. Over four years of school, and I have never until now used a text that encourages my enthusiasm and stimulated my learning interest. I can guarantee that this is not one of those text that will be used for my PC monitor height adjuster.... It is "plainly absurd" to have read and use this text and "discern" otherwise...



4. In 2007, I used this text for a timber design class. As an engineering student with a background in residential construction, I found the text to be very practical in its presentation of the design process for wood-framed structures. Following the examples and working through the problems at the end of each chapter, I became comfortable finding and using relevant codes, especially NDS codes. The progression of the text to the building design case study helped me to apply the design examples for individual members to a complete structure, more relevant to construction or engineering practice.
   
   Since I remain interested in carpentry and residential construction, this text will continue to be a valuable reference for me. I would not hesitate to use it as a guide for the design of simple wood-framed structures not requiring a professional designer.



5. The first item I noticed in reading through this book was the practical design guidance an individual with wood design experience under their belt or someone at university learning it for the first time would be able to pick up and gain a common sense understanding of wood engineering. Every engineering book has its place, this book does and it should be on your desk ready for reference.
   
   Dr. Aghayere and Jason Vigil give you one of the most complete wood design aids that will allow you to learn how to design a wood structure almost sequentially from page one through the end. With hard hit subjects with real-world examples from horizontal diaphrams, vertical diaphrams, flitch beams (rare to find covered), floor vibrations, and even connections.
   
   They are thorough enough to dive into P-delta effects with an explanation (not everyone is a structural engineering scientists) they make concepts attainable for everyone.
   
   Some of their concepts will use the building code requirements as a launch pad but actually go beyond the code requirements creating more durable, long-term effecient structural wood designs (i.e. shearwall design). Remember that the building codes are just a guidance/minimal requirements. Don't just design for today but the future and note that the building code is meant to be exceeded not just matched.
   
   If you don't understand the basis of one of their approaches vs. IBC or some other code email one of them, I am sure they would be more than happy to respond.
   
   This is a book for anyone interested in learning about wood design (they even do a case study) in a concise, practical and thorough matter. You won't be disappointed.

3 comments about Metal Building Systems: Design and Specifications.

1. The auther has poured his knowledge of metal building systems into each chapter. The material is fresh and current. The auther addressed most of the problems encountered by metal building professionals. You will find examples of the current details and designs of metal buildings used throughout the USA. Also, this book provides a guidline of the important issues in metal buildings.



2. I love this book very much and finished the translation into Chinese last year. Any body interested in the Chinese edition of this book can contact me. I'm now doing some measurement on the publishing of this book in China market publically.



3. This book explains topics only treated in a consultant's office. If ever. Newman has accurately identified relevant and otherwise hidden concepts for development in his book. Also very well researched.

No comments about Clean-Up Time (Toddler Tools Series).

1 comments about Pool & Spa Planner (Better Homes & Gardens).

1. I borrowed this book from the library (too many pool books are not worth buying), and spent the rest of the night looking at it. Great photo examples of various types of pools that are described in detail, along with chapters on Safety, Design, Landscaping, Materials, etc... One of the best!