No comments about Construction Master Pro: Workbook and Study Guide.

5 comments about Complete Guitar Repair (Guitar Reference).

1. This book covers several areas about guitar repair, but only vaguely. It does not go into details that are needed before even trying most repairs. I was hoping to find help on removing binding and fingerboards to replace a truss rod. It touches in these areas, but that is all it does. I still have no clue. I already know the board and binding needs to come off, but how? Not enough info to even try attempting this feat.

   The book is 23 years old. Something that is not shown on the Amozon.com site before buying it. If you buy this book you're reading history, not up to date facts needed for guitar repair. This is more a reference book from the 60's and 70's and not a repair book at all.




2. This is the seminal book for luthiers the world over. It doesn't matter that it was published so long ago; it is still relevant. The joy of this book is the plain language used and the unpompous descriptions. I understood everything and have benefited from owning this book.



3. This outstanding book gives the reader the backround knowledge and theory to professionally address guitar repair issues.
   It is important to note that skilled guitar repair requires years of practice and trial and error so don't expect to pick up this book and replace your fret board with no prior experience.
   Knowledge is your best ally however, when diagnosing a problem and deciding on a proper repair aproach. This book will help the individual do the simple repairs and adjustments to his instument and know when to delegate the more complex ones to a professional.
   The section on tuning and intonation is by itself, worth the price of admission. If you think tuning a guitar is as simple as plugging into a tuner and turning the machines, this book is for you!
   There are other repair guides available but I would reccommend this one as the first reference as it will enhance your understanding of these additional texts.



4. This is a book that any guitar player should own. It's a great basic manual. I don't know why the other person was complaining about its "age". If you look at the publishing date it states quite clearly "1975". But that shouldn't matter. The basic repairing of guitars hasn't changed in that time. As for more complex problems, like changing a truss rod, as another reviewer mentions, this book isn't what you need. This is about the basics and truss rod change-outs aren't basic. If you're new to playing or an old pro who wants to take good care of his axe, this book is a worthwhile addition to your library.



5. This guide is the most needed, useful, great helper and bible for the guitar repair and maintenance. I had already browsed it once or twice and been advised with some tips from people who had it or read it. It's the best guide of the genre with many "old innovative" techniques still applied currently, for technology can't do much about this subject.
   I'm loving it!!

5 comments about Construction Scheduling with Primavera Enterprise.

1. Where do I begin? I can't write up every problem with this book, but just highlight a few of the downfalls. The first 80 pages can be dumped as they relate to what scheduling is all about and how to develop schedules. This info can be found in any book on scheduling or even Marchman's other Primavera book. He completely avoids the heart of what Primavera Enterprise is all about: THE ENTERPRISE STRUCTURE!!! This is the meat and potatoes to this new version of Primavera and if you do not have an understanding of how the EPS, OBS and WBS work and interact, you will be at a major loss here. When he finally gets to use the program in Chapter 4!, he fails to explain how to utilize the "Open Global Data button. This is a key element for controlling the Enterprise Structure of the program. He waits until the end of the chapter before he gets into Administrative Preferences, which should be at the begining. The chapters on Cost and Resources are very limited, as Enterprise takes on new areas of cost control for a project, that Primavera 3.1 doesn't. There is no mention about change order control, a major area that Primavera has incorporated into this program. He walks you through the printing of schedules, but fails to preface the chapter that Enterprise has numerous printing issues that have yet to be resolved by Primavera. He doesn't discuss anything about project codes; doesn't go into details about setting up a cost accout structure; makes no mention about timesheets usage; doesn't touch on the fact that you can links excel and word to activities; doesn't discuss the notebook feature; doesn't talk about Primavision, etc. I was looking foa an additional reference manual to complement the Primavera manual. This book is useless. ...



2. Am 100% pissed about losing $100 buying this piece of crap. Everyone familiar with Primavera knows that Primavera has written an excellent program P3 e/c especially for construction. I assumed Marchman knew this as well. After reading Chapter 4 (the first 80 pages being on general scheduling concepts for virgins), I tried to set up his sample project on a copy of the P3 e/c software. NO WAY. Far too much stuff was left out of the book such that it was 100% worthless. Very possible it may work on P3 e. However, as Primavera has had the P3 e/c out for quite some time, and construction companies are widely using P3 e/c -- why bother?



3. Am 100% pissed about losing $100 buying this piece of crap. Everyone familiar with Primavera knows that Primavera has written an excellent program P3 e/c especially for construction. I assumed Marchman knew this as well. After reading Chapter 4 (the first 80 pages being on general scheduling concepts for virgins), I tried to set up his sample project on a copy of the P3 e/c software. NO WAY. Far too much stuff was left out of the book such that it was 100% worthless. Very possible it may work on P3 e. However, as Primavera has had the P3 e/c out for quite some time, and construction companies are widely using P3 e/c -- why bother? Note that one other review rates this book as "terrible". If you read closely the remaining reviews, as of May 5, 2004, you will find they are actually for Marchman's Primavera P3 book, and are incorrectly placed here.



4. Am 100% pissed about losing $100 buying this piece of crap. Everyone familiar with Primavera knows that Primavera has written an excellent program P3 e/c especially for construction. I assumed Marchman knew this as well. After reading Chapter 4 (the first 80 pages being on general scheduling concepts for virgins), I tried to set up his sample project on a copy of the P3 e/c software. NO WAY. Far too much stuff was left out of the book such that it was 100% worthless. Very possible it may work on P3 e. However, as Primavera has had the P3 e/c out for quite some time, and construction companies are widely using P3 e/c -- why bother? Note that one other review rates this book as "terrible". If you read closely the remaining reviews, as of May 5, 2004, you will find they are actually for Marchman's Primavera P3 book, and are incorrectly placed here.



5. The book is intended as a lab manual to improve usage of P3E. It was written by a professor to be used as a companion to a more traditional planning/scheduling text, but tries to also be a standalone text.
   
   The strengths here are that it is 375 pages of material, including many detailed examples of using Primavera, using examples from construction, grouped into chapters by general area with sections and subtopic paragraphs in bold so it's fairly easy to flip thru and find things. It does explain key terms, demonstrate some common operations, and has a few tips in the mix such as explaining the different way scheduler vs estimator schedules concrete or noting that 2-week windows are a useful printout for daily organization.
   
   The weakness is that it did not concentrate on being a good workbook. The description parts are largely generic blurbs that the traditional text would handle better, and are isolated bits instead of being in an overall approach to the project control techniques. You also do not get to see up the higher abilities of Primavera to organize the whole effort, and the construction scheduling are just unrelated examples not a course in construction scheduling. Finally, while it's not a menu-walk kind of book, there was too much on display options in Gantts and too little on controlling baselines and tracking -- or some more of those real-world tips. I'm left thinking I need the course notes that he wrote this for.
   
   Chapters:
   1 - Into to Scheduling; 2- Rough Diagram Preparation; 3 - Schedule Calculations; 4 - Gantt Chart Creation; 5 - Gantt Chart Format; 6- Resources; 7 - Costs; 8 - Gantt Chart print preview; 9 - PERT Diagrams; 10 - Tabular Reports; 11 - Updating the Schedule; 12 - Tracking Resources; 13 - Tracking Costs.

No comments about Carving Wooden Santas, Elves & Gnomes: 28 Patterns for Hand-Carved Christmas Ornaments and Figures (Woodcarving Illustrated Books).

4 comments about Residential Framing: A Homebuilder's Construction Guide.

1. Spence's book is the most easily read reference I have seen on basic house framing. Excellent diagrams of everything from batter boards to installing crown moulding. Good info on scaffolding and other saftey items. Good basic reference on lumber grades and markings. I have consulted this book during every project from my shed to my addition and deck.



2. Consider "Carpentry & Building Construction" by the same author. It seems to include most of the content of "Residential Framing" plus much more.



3. Excellent diagrams, well-written, very thorough. If you can swing a hammer and have some basic mechanical inclination, this book will be invaluable. Or, even if you have a really good idea of what you're doing, this book will fill in the holes of your knowldge and you'll frame like the pros. This is probably the most useful book I have ever bought - on any subject.



4. So nice to see such a quality book that cover every detail big and small. It is my building bible! Every one who either owns a home of wants to do a building project should make this their first purchase.

No comments about Tablescapes.

1 comments about Complete Book of Framing: An Illustrated Guide for Residential Construction (Complete Book of Framing).

1. A former US Secretary of War spoke longly once of the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns, etc. This book has all knowns and unknowns, and more.
   
   I especially like the writer's philosophy of education. He shows us clearly, carefully and with great good humor how to organize and plan and teach and assign and supervise a work crew folowing an architectural plan. For me working alone and until now making it up as I go along based on old memory and mediation technique, this is more than I can now imagine I need to know; but as a teacher it shows me just the best way to teach and to manage my classroom. Read this section as well, especially as he hides a lot of his best secret tips in the boxes here.
   
   As a bilingual teacher, I also love his bilingual section of terminology, very complete, with only a very few inventions and one arguable mispelling. The v and the b are pretty much interchangeable in Spanish, and I had always spelled his bisagra with a v (as they say v de vaca instead of de burro) having learned this usage in hardware stores in Nicaragua twenty years ago. Maybe it is a regionalism. It's enough to drive me to my huge Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages , Seone's Neuman and Baretti, which does spell my visagra with a B! Oh well, in Guatemala a quarter century ago I used to see roadside signs in the mountains offering "serbesas vien frias").
   
   In any case, I am glad to know this previously unknown, and with most people actually working in America now talking Spansh this section is very useful, recognizing the reality of our contemporary work crew.
   
   What I know of building I learned some thirty five years ago from an old Italian carpenter who had built the city of New York, with work crews using every European language you could find, including axe-wielding Swedes who eschewed the saw for their sharpened axes, boards at a time. I did not acquire that skill from him but others, and so have been behind the times until meeting this book.
   
   What we then might have considered overbuilding and especially over-nailing are now code. The great part of this very new book is it presents the latest International building code and practices, and nailing patterns which make up for our modern inferior wood, which my Italian master would have rejected as too wavy, too green, too knotty and especially too light. Toe in nowadays four nails and then a nail zig zagged every two feet. Makes good sense. Get'er done.
   
   Really this book contains a wealth of information valuable to any level of user, from the brand new beginner to the journeyman, as advertised. By this book you can train a crew. And it is not written in any kind of useless, cutsey "For the complete idiot" style, but professionally with deep wisdom and knowledge and experience. This man Scot knows what he is talking about, and shares it all, clearly, comprehensively, in a way you can immediately use and with clear illustrations. This man is an excellent teacher.
   
   For example from the section entitled "Teaching Framers" he presents everything any teacher ever need sto know (beside content):
   
   "You have to take training seriously if you want your framers to take learning seriously. You are a teacher whether you want to be or not. The only question is whether you are a good teacher."
   
   "Good teachers have confidence in their knowledge and an understanding of those working for them. Remember:
   "A picture is worth 10,000 words
   "A demonstration is worth 100 pictures
   "Tell your framers what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. Repetition makes learning easier.
   "It is important that framers understand the structural significance of their work (p. 276)."
   
   This is the golden secret of any and all pedagogy, including Paolo Friere's Pedagogy of Hope. Do not worry if your knowledge of the content is lacking; this book contains all necessary knowledge. It is complete. It shows me the latest and most useful way to frame, and more, inclduing such needed tasks as the hanging of exterior doors and nail-flange window units. Get this book and you may need no other, and will at least enjoy a great read with a wonderful, kind and knowledgeable companion. Read it.
   
   This makes an excellent follow-up to this author and master carpenter's six year old Builder's Essentials: Framing & Rough Carpentry.
   
   One more personal story: My father's father was an Irishman who worked melting the tar for roofing Boston; he was the kettleman who sent up buckets of "hot" by ropes to pour on the roof. My father after the war went to work with him, but confused him as my father called down to his father, "Please send up another bucket of hot." The others quickly replaced my father as his father could not understand this polite and respectful request, and instead shouted down the obscenities upon my grandfather in terms he could comprehend, to which he was accustomed.
   
   Scot here writes: "The words please and thank you can make a framer feel much better about working for you. It is an easy way to let him know that what he does is important and appr4eciated (p. 264)."
   
   I have learned much from this thick book and am certain you will, too.

No comments about Machine and Hand Joinery (New Best of Fine Woodworking).

2 comments about Digital Electronics: A Practical Approach (7th Edition).

1. William Kleitz takes a more practical approach which will benefit you now and prepare you better for the future, if you prefer digital over analog. Although I was forced to use Floyd's edition in college, Kleitz goes much deeper in detail for designing digital circuits taking small steps to learning, which then all come together as one. Generally speaking, all logic tables, using simple gates, their behavior appears static in all text books which are currently published. However, Kleitz reveals very interesting concepts and ideas, which appealed my interest in reading his book.
   My experience with troubleshooting digital circuits leads me to believe that this a better overall text, no question about it. His remarkable approach, and style of teaching should be noted by all, but with most digital textbooks, most of them don't go beyond simple logic predictions, and material that never leaves the classroom floor.If your seeking advanced digital concepts with basic fundamentals included, then your best bet, is the text I'm reviewing here today by William Kleitz.



2. Book works well in a classroom format when you have time to go over the various waveforms. The Instructor package has several useful items.

2 comments about Landscape Planning: Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener.

1. It's so handy to have around. I borrowed from the library, but soon after decided I wanted my own copy. It has great tips for all different landscapes. My favorites are the top ten lists - fastest growing privacy plants, slowest growing, perfect plants for between stepping stones, etc.
   
   I've read several landscape books, and I strongly recommend this one to anyone who plans on landscaping by themselves.



2. I recently had to educate myself in landscape design (large landscaping job at the house). I looked through many landscaping books, and bought several. This one has turned out to be the best one by far.
   
   There are all sorts of great tips along the way, everything from design do's and don'ts to plant recommendations. But what I most appreciated (and what most other books lacked) was the straightforward walkthrough of how to plan: goals, design, hard landscaping, soft landscaping, and so on. Many so called "landscaping" books are actually just coffee-table books with a lot of pretty pictures but no details on how to come up with a good design. This book really helps you go from zero to a workable landscape design.
   
   When I brought in landscapers to submit bids, I had designs on hand to show them. After looking at them, one gave a sigh of relief and said "oh good, you are way ahead of most people." That's all thanks to this book.