5 comments about The Not So Big House Collection (Susanka).

1. Sarah Susanka has managed to give us an understanding of why so many modern homes do not "feel right". Forcing us to think about how we really live on a daily basis she looks at what we need to feel really comfortable and how best to achieve it. This is not a one solution fits all but the thinking persons guide to pesonal solutions. Her ideas are based on a lifetime of dealing with different people and their wants and needs even looking at some time in England as a child. Forcing us to change the commercial idea of "bang for bucks" into lifestyle comfort, she has made me look at what I really need in my home.
   If only we could find mass produced houses that really suit the masses.



2. Susanka's series demonstrates that bigger is NOT better. Her focus on livable details to enhance the home environment are valuable to anyone who's considering remodeling.
   
   Grandiose over-development of some homes in our older neighborhood encouraged me to consider another solution.
   
   I recommend this collection.



3. Although a few people panned this book we found them somewhat useful.
   Good picts to give us ideas for our future retirement house.
   Although she talks about a green/passive solar house, the pictures detail don't quite bring in what you'd expect to make it a great renewable energy home.
   we liked the books as guide on how to think of ways to work on a decent price and size to live in.
   2000=2500 sqft is the max we want. didn't think about staggering the ceiling height great idea.
   since we wanted an open floor plan we plan to use tips from here to design up our texas house.



4. If you are designing your own home or checking that your new home design is what you really want, then it is important to read the Not So Big House. You may not agree with everything that Susanka says and certainly there are areas where more detail would have been useful. However we assessed our new house after reading the book and made several fundamental changes. The companion book, Creating the Not So Big House, is a nice add-on if you buy the Collection, but unless your house is similar to the design examples covered in the contents, it doesn't have the impact of the original book.



5. This series is really targeted at people in a position to buy their own lot and build a custom home. But there is a lot more to take away from the books if you are not in that situation.
   
   In the days of mcmansions everywhere, reading the books reminds us that we are really good a wasting space. Now with the cost of energy rising rapidly, a smaller house to heat and cool is a financially good idea.
   
   This books remind us that there are things like built in cabinets, chests and book cases in places like bedrooms that can maximize the utilization of space. These things don't require building a new house, just thinking about a room differently then it is currently being used. These book help spark that creativity.

4 comments about Strawbale Home Plans.

1. I bought this book seeking inspiration, and I was not disappointed. Evident here is the continuing evolvement of strawbale house design and construction. In this book, you can see what can be done with strawbale. Included are comments and suggestions from the owner/builder of each house. For anyone considering building a strawbale structure, these comments would be especially useful. One owner/builder in the desert, for example, says rain gutters should have been installed when the house was first built, not added later on. Photo quality is very nice, and the overall layout and design of the book is quite good. The title of the book is a bit misleading, and I would have liked to see more in the way of actual plans (all you get is a floor plan), but overall this is a nice book, and offers much in the way of ideas.



2. i was very impressed, this book is beautiful, the pictures, and floor plans inside give us so many ideas for the home we want to build in the future, i recommed it even if its a coffe table book.



3. This product is short on plans but I love it anyway. It provides one diagram, or layout for each ofmany sterling examples of this construction method,
   A good value for that strawbale builder who finds themself somewhere between a dream and the plan coming together...or just wondering where to get started making the dream a reality.



4. I keep this book around on my couch for all my friends to check out and i go back to it, daily, in searching for beautiful ideas for my soon to be breathable abode! The people in the book appear so serene and i know why! what glorious fotos and floorplans this book provided! great work!

5 comments about Classical Guitar Making: A Modern Approach to Traditional Design.

1. This book is an example of passion with the guitar. It's well written, beautifully photographed covering all steps of classical guitar construction that follows a high grade standard. Even if you don't want to build a guitar, buy it just for the beauty of its pages. I have bought a lot of books about lutherie, but this is one is far the best.
   It makes evident in every detail how Mr Bogdanovich loves what he do. Seems to me he had a very good time written it. Go deep!



2. This book is the ultimate guide to building your own guitar. The numerous color photos are of excellent quality. The book is well laid out and clearly written. A moderately skilled woodworker should be able to build a guitar from the information in this high quality book.



3. If it weren't for the fact that this is a step-by-step manual, the causual observer could be forgiven for mistaking this for a coffee-table book. It's almost too nice for a workbench! At the risk of sounding like an advertising blurb, the same passion and craftsmanship Bogdanovich displays in his guitars shows in nearly every page. He knows what he's doing, and it shows; the color photography is excellent, and the text is a pleasure to read - informative and concise without being dry at all.
   
   The beauty of this book is it has something to offer to experienced and aspiring luthiers alike. While the text deals with building a classical guitar almost entirely from scratch, much of the information given is pertinent to those attempting to go the kit route.
   
   This volume picks up where the classic Cumpiano/Natelson text leaves off, as far as the classical guitar is concerned. There are a few typos in the text that should have been caught by the editor, but they are obvious and not likely to cause trouble to anyone building a guitar from the book. All in all, Bogdanovich has kindly shared his skill and knowledge in a very timely, informative volume that I for one am proud to own!



4. I had originally checked this book out of my local library and after reviewing it, I knew I had to add it to my collection. It is a great companion to the Cumpiano standard with excellent color pictures. I am working on my first guitar and it is nice to have another book to illustrate different techniques for the different steps of construction. As the title suggests, he only covers classical guitar construction but many of the principals are similar and I would recommend this book to anyone considering building a guitar.



5. Classical Guitar Making: A Modern Approach to Traditional Design is a gorgeous book about how to build a John Bogdanovich-style Herman Hauser I guitar. If you are an out and out beginning woodworker who wants to build a guitar from scratch you can make a guitar from this book, but you will either have to own or have access to the power tools that the author uses to build his guitars-a drum thickness sander, resaw bandsaw, and a bandsaw, to name a few. The author really doesn't go into how to use hand tools to build the guitar and doesn't offer alternative ways to use hand tools as does "Guitar Making: Traditional and Technology" by Cumpiano and Natelson. I bought "Classic Guitar Making" to see if I could learn any new tricks in guitar building and I did-how to laminate sides and his binding-cutter router attachment is pretty nice. If a person is patience and willing to take the time to methodically follow Bogdanovich's instructions you can build a wonderful guitar. That can also be said for "Guitar Making: Tradition and Technology", by Cumpiano and Natelson and "Making Master Guitars" by Roy Courtnall. A nice thing about both of these books is that the authors immerse you into the tradition of guitar making as if an old school master luthier was standing over your shoulder telling you about how Simplicio, Ramirez and Torres made their guitars great. Buy this book but only after you have first bought "Guitar Making" and "Making Master Guitars" and all the wood you want to build your guitar with. If you have the money to build and equip a full sized cabinet shop definitely buy this book.

4 comments about American Medical Association Guide to Home Caregiving.

1. My brother and I take care of my eighty-year-old mother. She has
   diabetic neuropathy and can't walk. But she's a good kid and
   we take care of her. This book has helped. Although the object of the book at first seems to be to develop a care plan; it really is a book of primary skills that you need in caregiving.
   The book is best because you are not overwhelmed with 465 ways
   to help your loved one. This is a primary and basic skills book.
   Buy this book if you are new at caregiving and don't know where to start. Because the American Medical Associarion wrote it, I imagine that it would be good for all caregivers to buy it. I just love this book. It's like a Boy Scout manual. It's user-friendly for your brain. And sometimes simplicity can do more good that needless complications and theories. Thank you and I wish you luck.



2. I am an Illinois legal aid attorney and owner of Southwest Medicals, an online medical supply and equipment business. I strongly recommend this book. Very informative, full of helpful tips and resources. This book helps make a challenging situation much easier. I also recommend The Comfort of Home, An Illustrated Step by Setp Guide for Caregivers, 2nd Edition, by Maria M Meyer.



3. This book is a must-have for anyone responsible for realistic decision making about his/her ability to provide health care at home, as well as an excellent how-to guide for those who accept the inherent responsibilities of the caregiver. I consider it the one "best" guide of those available to meet the needs of the growing number of home caregivers.



4. This guide is very practical and deals with all aspects of eldercare and caring to the caregiver. I highly recommend it.

4 comments about 125 Brain Games for Toddlers and Twos: Simple Games to Promote Early Brain Development (125 Brain Games).

1. This book, written for parents of children ages 12 months to 36 months is packed with fun, simple, creative, and educational games to enhance and promote your child's brain development at this monumental time. Author, Jackie Silberg does a superb job of offering parents an interactive approach to helping their child activate synapses in the child's brain. After reading this book, you'll be pleased to see that as a parent you and your child are probably already willing participants playing many of these games and activities, but after reading the crucial brain research that backs up the importance of these games, you will feel even better. Ms. Silberg provides facts and evidence that clearly indicate spending time with your child at this very young age nurturing, playing, learning, and bonding together will lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning and positive experiences.

   Readers can easily flip through this step by step manual to sections of brain based learning games targeted to the child's age range and development. Since a child's brain development is explosive at this tender age, parents and caregivers must do all they can to foster a love of learning. These activities will stimulate your child's brain development by creating important neural connections for future learning, develop thinking abilities, language skills, fine and gross motor skills, and problem solving abilities. During this amazing brain growth, your child will be learning, creating, experiencing, and the two of you will be growing closer together. Utilizing the five senses, you are sure to find new and exciting mind games to delight and entertain you and your little one. My child and I have had tons of fun and giggles playing these games and you can adapt them anyway you wish. This book would be a great gift for a parent or caregiver.




2. This book really comes in handy when you are in between activities. It fills in small amounts of time really well. I just wish I had bought it sooner!



3. Very redundant...any normal parent would already do these things. Not worth the money. =(



4. cute book, well done, good information, but the activities aren't always stuff that people will actually do, just ok in that department.

5 comments about Ideas for Great Backyard Cottages (Ideas for Great).

1. This book is just a delight to sit and page thru for dreaming up ideas of your own. Page after page of beautiful cottages, quaint little retreats, and even custom doghouses. I have my own "carriage house" converted into an artist studio and just love it. There is really nothing more relaxing then building, decorating, then enjoying your own backyard cottage. If you have the yard space put the effort into building one; then get this book. Even if you don't have a backyard cottage you will enjoy the book. Hope the author will consider publishing Edition II.



2. Actually, I liked this book. It has fantastic color photos of various cottages, cabanas, potting sheds, sleeping/dining sheds, greenhouses, trellises, etc.. If you are just skimming for visual ideas for what to build in somebody's back yard or vacation property, this book is "tops".
   
   Unfortunately there were no sketches or plans accompanying the pictures. So the reader is left unsure of how to reproduce what he sees. Also, the plans available for sale in the rear of the book are fine as far as they go -- but they don't have anything available if you want a cabana, trellis, or outdoor kitchen.



3. accidently ordered 2 copies of same book
   Books were recieved by two different vendors but in ggood shape



4. An impulse purchase, but still, it gives you some ideas. Such as, "what the hell were those people thinking?" for some of the backyard cottages.



5. I'm planning a small cottage/guest house/art studio and needed help with design and interior. The book was exactly what I needed and is a big help with making decisions that will help me be able to use the building for all three things. It has a lot of pictures with landscaping ideas, thoughts on using space well, and very nice exterior
   design ideas.

3 comments about The Black & Decker Complete Guide to Roofing & Siding: Install, Finish, Repair, Maintain (Black & Decker Complete Guide).

1. The description of the book on Amazon said the book covered single-membrane roofs. That is the reason I bought this, plus all of the favorable reviews that all the other Black & Decker Complete Guide books receive. I wanted to know how to replace single-membrane rubber roofs on flat/low-pitch roofs. Well, this book didn't do anything for that.



2. This is a good book to use in planning what type of roof or siding that would
   suit your project. Then buy a book how to work that particular roof or
   siding.



3. Helpful. Helps clue you in if you have never done roofing or siding work before. Won't magically turn you into a tradesperson (nothing can without on-the-job experience), but will clue you in on how stuff is done. I imagine that even people in the trade might benefit from it, if only to see variations on the way that their own company does things.

5 comments about All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House.

1. I picked up a copy of this book to read later this summer "when I have more time". I glanced at the first chapter and was intrigued.
   
   I read the second chapter and was interested.
   
   Buy the third chapter, I was hooked.
   
   I read this in three days. Not because it is a thin book (it isn't), but because it was so interesting I couldn't put it down. I usually share or give away books after I've read them, but this one is going in my permanent collection--it's that good.



2. I could not put this book down. I was even reading it while walking to the subway, to the market, etc. This is a totally new genre for me and I was sorry to see the whole story end. Somewhere on the internet are photos of the house. Amazing... what they did... Giffel is a fantastic, gifted writer and without his style and skill this book would not have been as much fun.



3. I wish I could praise this sincere effort by a very nice young man learning to build his family through the metaphor of remodeling an old house. Talk about a money sink. And where did the dough come from, anyway?
   
   As a DIY myself with plenty of experience pouring footers and pulling, I understand his impulse. But the book doesn't offer any useful construction information or any juicey marital drama. The only surprise is the found money but even that dragged on until I lost interest.
   
   Judging from the posted reviews, my opinions are wrong, wrong and wrong again. But then I don't live in Akron. Oh wait, when he glued his pants to his legs taking up a linoleum floor.. I wanted to know who does his laundry. Alas, that mystery remains unsolved.



4. Giffels has written a thoroughly enjoyable book about a ridiculous quest into home renovation. All along I hoped to get to the part about the parallel ambition of building a cohesive family, and this never came. The character of the woman he bought the house from was better developed than the character of those whose welfare the home is supposed to shelter.
   
   I challenge the title and subtitle because the author seemed unwilling to delve into his own family's intimacy and what they surely learned as a team. It is a story of a man against himself, nature, and his house, all compelling reasons to read this well-told tale. Unfortunately, it seemed also to be a story of a man against his family while he battles a windmill, without his family's comprehension.
   
   The premise for the book begins with the assumption that the potential arrival of a second child requires a larger house. But a mansion? Not a convincing reason. The author needed a mansion to challenge, but not for his unborn child's well-being in whose name the project is undertaken. Giffels tackles this mansion with great description, practised humor, and introspection. He seems to be very averse to having his ambition compared to "The Money Pit", but this seems to me to be the same type of tale. As a veteran homebuilder from a wreck I haven't seen the movie either, but there is a difference in providing a home for a family against difficulty and lunging into a home that would require years if not decades of financing and dedicated physical effort to sustain.
   
   It seems to me that the marketing precedes the substance of the titles to sell the book to those of us that want more from a remodel story than the typical nuts and bolts. Giffel's advantage is that he can really write in an engaging way, and his love for his town's history is apparent, but the family life twist left me wanting. An additional complaint I have is that the restrained, though not entirely unadmirable budget indicates that the mansion will not be restored to the quality appropriate to the open budget that a mansion requires. It sounds like paint is used functionally take the place of materials more appropriate to the grandiosity of the building if the author/homebuilder hits a wall. It is a lesson that quality may suffer when there is too much space to fill. I recommend this book highly to read for entertainment, but not for the depth the tile suggests.



5. The book was a good read. However, if you're looking for what is advertised on the cover - a story about balancing a lifelong renovation project and fatherhood, there is not much of that.
   
   I did really enjoy the book. I have an old house, and I could certainly identify with the author. However, most of it is about David as an individual. His relationship with his wife gets a number of good anecdotes. His son gets very little time in the book, and his daughter does not appear until almost the end.
   
   As somebody who is embarking on fatherhood while renovating, I was hoping for some real insights, but there was little of that.
   
   Again, it was a very enjoyable read, but not exactly what was advertised.

5 comments about Cordwood Building: The State of the Art (Natural Building Series).

1. I'm from Germany and cordwoord buildings are uncommon here. Horizontal log homes are booming but as expensive as ordinary home building not a choice for people without a lot of money.
   So cordwood may be a solution if we can get a permission with our restrictive rules and regulations here.
   
   The book provides the builder with every detail he must know, it's really great.
   For getting some practice we will start building a small shed with cordwood. ;-)



2. I have only read a few chapters, but I feel the honest and open discussion of the Author will only enrich me and others as we follow in his footsteps. To build ones own home is always a dream. To be empowered with the knowledge to do so is a gift. Thank you! And If I ever follow my dream...you are always welcome for supper. (dinner, tea...we call it tea...although it is the evening meal...tea does sound funny)



3. This book is a great read. Enjoyable and yet it seems to give plenty of info on the different aspects of the cordwood building process. More than half way through I found out that there was a glossary in the back which helps explain some of the terminology. I would highly recommend this book for anyone thinking of building a cordwood home. This book will give you most of the know-how to build it and most importantly it will help you decide if you do want to build cordwood. It worked for me. My wife and I are presently saving up to build a cordwood home. I think it would be a good idea to watch the "Complete Cordwood DVD" before actually building.



4. This book doesn't tell you everything that you need to know about the subject but it gives you a whole lot of information and sets you on your way. The information is very good. If you are a beginner and have never tried this kind of thing then this is where you start.



5. Mr. Roy has done so much research into this subject. His formulas alone are worth the price of the book. Aong with timberframing and his book on underground housing, I have finalized my plans for building my next home. Keep up the good work Mr. Roy!!!

2 comments about How to Fix Everything For Dummies.

1. It's incredibly lame for amazon to require a comment in this field in order to accept a rating. 4 stars is 4 stars. deal with it, amazon!



2. I bought this as a reference to help out since I am a new homeowner. So far any minor problems I have encountered have been covered by the material in the book. I would recommend it to anyone as a useful guide to keep on hand.