Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Perfect book
  • YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK
  • Beautiful photos; strange text
  • Very complete book
  • Surprisingly COMPREHENSIVE!
Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book)
Michael Littlewood
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

GeneralGeneral | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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Outdoor & Recreational AreasOutdoor & Recreational Areas | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Swimming PoolsSwimming Pools | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0764321838

Book Description

Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of plants and microorganisms to clean and purify the water. They are a safe place for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, too, when they can be used for ice skating and other activities. Often the focal point of a garden, natural swimming pools blend into their environments, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks.They reflect the changing seasons and they enhance the environment naturally. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools, providing significant savings in water. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals are hazardous to human health and are not used. This book is a necessary resource for anyone interested in having a natural swimming pool and shows how a natural swimming pool system works, as well as the environmental, health, and safety benefits it offers. Drawings, diagrams, and charts cover planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color pictures feature projects that will inspire you to have your own natural water garden where you can swim in harmony with nature at any time.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Perfect book.......2007-09-04

Great book for all aspects of creating a variety of green/natural pools. Beautiful pictures and good illustrations and copy to help in decision making.

5 out of 5 stars YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK .......2007-08-22

Simply put this book is a MUST READ for anyone intersted in any aspect of Sustainable and Ecological Design. It should be read right along with Permaculture by Mollison, the Passive Solar Handbook by Mazria, Rainwater Harvesting by Lancaster, and ecocities to Living Machines by Todd. Even if you aren't specifically interested in making a swimming pool (which you will be after reading it) the insights into the workings of hydro-ecologies and how to design natural systems are invaluable!

If you aren't interested in the whole range of sustainability but just this particular topic of pool design then this book is STILL A MUST READ. If you're an ecologist who wants to make a pool, or a pool designer who wants to do something ecological this book provides an excellent layman's understanding of ecological design, with good technical and artistic advice for how to do it, and good technical and artistic advice for swimming pool construction.

I would still advise you to also purchase the book Poolscaping as a companion to this one.

This is an all around excellent book buy it now.

4 out of 5 stars Beautiful photos; strange text.......2007-08-01

Thumbing through the book will make you want to move to Austria or Germany where beautiful "natural" pools are somehat established. Why is the U. S. so environmentally backward? Unfortunately, the text is awkwardly translated at times such that one has to struggle to figure out what is meant with limited success.The assumption is that one is swimming only in the summer, but in California we may want to swim year round. Useful especially since so little information is available. Can't understand why the publisher didn't insist on professional proofreading.Buy it for inspiration, or wait for the next edition, or wait for one more applicable to your area. It does provide info in the back about two U.S resources, one in CA.

5 out of 5 stars Very complete book .......2007-02-24

Is the book i need for learning on natural swimming pool. Now i can make my own pool

5 out of 5 stars Surprisingly COMPREHENSIVE!.......2007-02-09

This large sized book covered the subject exceedingly well in lots of color photos with explanations and, more importantly, in lots of diagrams and nuts and bolts descriptions. I only read sections here and there but what I did read clearly indicated to me that you could actually use this book to build a natural swimming pool. At the least, you could definitely make a solid decision whether or not you could build or would want to build such a pool on your property. These pools are basically like salt water aquariums in that you have to make a biosphere and monitor it. In some ways it's not as easy as it sounds but also not as hard as it sounds. However, start up takes time and it can be tricky to finally reach environmental stabilization. I am not going to build a natural pool but I still found this book very useful. At the end this book are MANY pages of water plants and trees recommended for certain types of water areas. There are zone maps of the US included for reference. So even if you just want to make a little ornamental fountain in a big pot on the patio deck or a pond or a bog out back, this book has a VERY comprehensive set of plant lists you will find exceedingly useful. 18 pages of them. Categories include Submerged Plants, Floating Plants, Floating Leaved Plants, Shallow Marginal Plants, Deep Marginal Plants, Moisture-loving Plants, Bog/Marsh Plants, Waterside Plats-Trees & Shrubs, Ferns, Grasses Sedges Reeds and Rushes. Botanical and Common Names are listed along with height, spread, water depth, flower color, flower period, foliage, position, comments and plant zone. It's the best I've seen in any book so far.
Design with Nature (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Too Long and Overpriced
  • la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad
  • not as good as i expected
  • A must read for Landscape Architects
  • Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow
Design with Nature (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design)
Ian L. McHarg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 047111460X

Book Description

"In presenting us with a vision of organic exuberance and human delight, which ecology and ecological design promise to open up for us, McHarg revives the hope for a better world." —Lewis Mumford

". . . important to America and all the rest of the world in our struggle to design rational, wholesome, and productive landscapes." —Laurie Olin, Hanna Olin, Ltd.

"This century's most influential landscape architecture book." —Landscape Architecture

". . . an enduring contribution to the technical literature of landscape planning and to that unfortunately small collection of writings which speak with emotional eloquence of the importance of ecological principles in regional planning." —Landscape and Urban Planning

In the twenty-five years since it first took the academic world by storm, Design With Nature has done much to redefine the fields of landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, and ecological design. It has also left a permanent mark on the ongoing discussion of mankind's place in nature and nature's place in mankind within the physical sciences and humanities. Described by one enthusiastic reviewer as a "user's manual for our world," Design With Nature offers a practical blueprint for a new, healthier relationship between the built environment and nature. In so doing, it provides nothing less than the scientific, technical, and philosophical foundations for a mature civilization that will, as Lewis Mumford ecstatically put it in his Introduction to the 1969 edition, "replace the polluted, bulldozed, machine-dominated, dehumanized, explosion-threatened world that is even now disintegrating and disappearing before our eyes."

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Too Long and Overpriced.......2007-08-23

As a former colleague of McHarg's at the University of Pennsylvania during the 1960's, and currently working in a planned community he designed (The Woodlands, TX), I decided to buy this book to try to understand the strange idiosyncracies of The Woodlands, TX.

The book is very wordy, but it is well illustrated. McHarg successfully blended community design with natural boundary conditions (watershed management, geology, forestry, slope properties, etc) with the case histories he presented (some of which I remember when serving on an invited basis on jury's in McHarg's academic program). The book's strength is his advocacy of melding human planning needs with nature's boundary conditions.

BUT, does it really work? Only at the expense of the time of people working and living in such a planned community. The inconvenient practices that go with such a planned community require a lot of adjustment that asks a bit much of people who work in such places but don't live there.

But it works fine for the affluent and the unhurried who can afford it.

5 out of 5 stars la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad.......2007-06-15

No has estudiado arquitectura si este libro no ha caido en tus manos. Sin Ian Mcharg la arquitectura sostenible no seria posible. Por lo menos la arquitectura sostenible pensada a escala regional."

2 out of 5 stars not as good as i expected.......2003-11-02

this highly recommended book started out as a compelling read, but became something i had to force myself to finish. it seems to be a series of lectures strung together, which may have been interesting as lectures, but is not cohesive enough to be a book. the good information is lost amidst the rambling style.

5 out of 5 stars A must read for Landscape Architects.......2002-08-08

Anyone studying environmental planning or LA should read this book.

4 out of 5 stars Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow.......2002-01-30

While it's not the kind of book you want to lounge around the fireplace reading, it is a book that is frequently referred to by architects. It is significant in designing and ecologially friendly building in today's built-up environment. Summary: Not a great book, but a useful resource for architects.
Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Not what I thought
  • The finest Grand Canyon book at the lowest price....
  • off the charts superb stunning startling good heavens
  • Review by Jennifer Owings Dewey, author/illustrator
  • A superb choice as a Memorial Fund acquisition for any library system
Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography
Stephen Trimble
Manufacturer: Northland Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

GeneralGeneral | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0873588940

Book Description

One of the most photographed subjects on earth, Grand Canyon continues to inspire awe, admiration, and frustration for those who attempt to capture its majesty with a camera. Reaching back 125 years into the photographic record of the Canyon, this book artfully explores the experiences of the earliest photographers and today's most exceptional artists.

Accomplished writer and Ansel Adams Award-winning photographer Stephen Trimble deftly navigates the stories of the Canyon's photographic history and takes us down the river and along the rim with the next generation of photographers and their photographs. Also included are twenty-one essays by the finest contemporary photographers recounting their experiences at Grand Canyon, along with fascinating details of changing equipment and a timeline of important moments in the Canyon's photographic record.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Not what I thought.......2007-09-13

I bought this as a present for my wife. We had just returned from a trip that included a visit to the Grand Canyon, and I wanted to get her a memento of the visit. This book sounded good, but was not the one that included the beautiful vistas that we wanted. There are some photos too dark to really discern why they are included. There are some photos of a boat on the bank of the river. That could be from anywhere.
Although I suppose others may find it interesting, we didn't want a book of prose, we just wanted amazing photos. This was not that book.

5 out of 5 stars The finest Grand Canyon book at the lowest price...........2007-02-15

This book is so awesome, and of such high quality, that its Amazon price seems surreal...I have two copies and am ordering a third, for posterity or whatever.

Intensely beautiful photographic prints, at the very leading edge of Canyon photos....almost beyond description!

If you buy one copy of this book, you'll then want another for a gift, and another for your own collection.....etc.

5 out of 5 stars off the charts superb stunning startling good heavens.......2006-11-03

Yes, you would expect truly astounding photography here, and you get exactly that, in lots of different flavors too, but the stories are deft and revealing -- far more than in a book of photos alone of a place that you couldn't take a bad photo if you tried. Trimble himself is a master craftsman with the camera, but his service here is to gather some really remarkable work and voices into a tome that anyone who has gaped and prayed there will want to paw through before you get major brownie points for giving it to someone else. Terrific work.

5 out of 5 stars Review by Jennifer Owings Dewey, author/illustrator.......2006-09-28

Lasting Light is a treasure, a compilation of photographs taken of the Crand Ganyon over a broad stretch of time. The viewer/reader may gain a sense of history, passing from the old to the new. The book is an experience in images of the vast wonder of the Canyon and the smallest, most discreet detail. Because the text is direct and not-technical, anyone interested in what is grand and lit by extraordinary light, the Grand Canyon itself, will find this work a delight.

5 out of 5 stars A superb choice as a Memorial Fund acquisition for any library system.......2006-07-10

Lasting Light: 125 Years Of Grand Canyon Photography by award-winning author and photographer Stephen Trimble is a visual celebration and documentation of the beauty and grandeur of one of the most photographed subjects on earth -- the Grand Canyon. Comprised of the best of 125 years of great photographs beginning with the pioneering glass plate negatives of the 19th century to the digital images of the 21st century, Lasting Light produces spectacular visuals enhanced with an accompanying text of fascinating details regarding the advances of photography, stories of various individual photographers, and the relationship between the photographers and the unique American icon that is the Grand Canyon. As a coffetable art book, Lasting Light is a simply wonderful contribution to any personal, academic, or community library photography reference collection and would make a superb choice as a Memorial Fund acquisition for any library system.
Logs, Wind and Sun: Handcraft Your Own Log Home ... Then Power It with Nature
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • An inspiring and entertaining book.
  • Enjoyable reading with a wealth of information
  • Interesting, informative and easy to read!
  • A Must Read for Log Home Wannabes
Logs, Wind and Sun: Handcraft Your Own Log Home ... Then Power It with Nature
Rex A. Ewing , and Lavonne Ewing
Manufacturer: Pixyjack Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Buildings & ConstructionBuildings & Construction | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0965809838

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars An inspiring and entertaining book........2005-10-17

A very inspiring and fun read! Written by a couple who had the courage to pursue their dreams, this book is written for you and me with lots of details, wit and humor.

One of the funnest books I have read in years.

5 out of 5 stars Enjoyable reading with a wealth of information.......2003-08-31

I have been reading everything I can find about log homes. Most of the books I have read are more like an information text book. Lots of facts but boring. Logs Wind and Sun gives you the facts and how to use them along with a very enjoyable story of the trials and tribulations the authors encountered building there own log home. This gives you a much better idea of what to expect building your own log home from scrath or from a kit. The detailed information on solar and wind energy is a real eye opener. It opened up a whole new possibility of finding what my wife and I want in a piece of land to build our retirement log home on. We thought that land with no power was out of the question. Now we know that is exactly what we want. With this book you have nearly all the information you need to build a self sufficient log home. If your dream is to have a log home in the mountains far from the "rat race", Logs Wind and Sun is a must have book. Live your dreams!

5 out of 5 stars Interesting, informative and easy to read!.......2003-01-18

When I started reading Logs Wind and Sun, I imagined I would skim the more detailed parts about construction since I don't plan to build a log home. I bought the book because I was interested in solar and wind generated electricity. But in the end, I read everything. Whenever I tried to skim, I soon came across something that caught my interest and, before I realized it, I was totally entranced with the story. The framed inserts break up the flow of the text and add little tid bits of information just when some variety is necessary. Rex's Maxims and LaVonne's Verities are a novel way of introducing light humor while at the same time making an important point. The illustrations were very concise, attractive and easily understandable. The photography was out of this world and the photos very appropriately located within the text. Every photo enhanced the message on the page where it was found. Logs Wind and Sun is clearly a product of team work, the story of a couple who, working together, accomplished their dream. I loved it, and also learned what I wanted to know about solar and wind power.

5 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Log Home Wannabes.......2002-10-16

Logs, Wind and Sun is one of those rare books that is both packed with useful information and enjoyable to read. I only wish it had been available five years ago when my husband and I started drawing up plans for our own log home. We spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars trying to get utilities to our remote mountain building site. This book clearly lays out alternative power solutions that can give you the freedom to live with all the modern conveniences you need miles from the nearest power pole. The authors personal experience provides the framework for the book, but they have obviously done their homework, and all their recommendations are backed up by copious facts. The book is generously sprinkled with photos and illustrations that de-mystify and explain and personal stories that entertain and inspire. LaVonne's Verities and Rex's Maxims give you personal insights and quips. And the writing is several notches above most other how-to books, offering emotional insights into the process of building your own home, as well as the more expected practical fare. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who's ever dreamed about building a log home.
Nature's Studio: A Quilter's Guide to Playing with Fabrics and Techniques
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • More techniques in your armory
  • A beautiful book
  • Great stuff
  • A MUST HAVE
  • How to think like a great fabric artist and develop your own style
Nature's Studio: A Quilter's Guide to Playing with Fabrics and Techniques
Joan Colvin
Manufacturer: C&T Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1571202927

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars More techniques in your armory.......2007-08-23

If you like and want to know how to constuct the kind of quilt pictures on the front cover, then this book will show you how, and give you lots of ideas. Joan gives an overview of style, fabric selection, fabric manipulation and construction methods. The major chunk of the book deals with various tree forms and, later, birds and nests. Towards the end there are few examples of Joan's gothic, pre-raphaelite women, and some ideas for finishing. The particular strength of the book is the layering, combination of manipulated and raw edge fabrics, and use of commercial tree fabric and hand-dyes and stamping to create semi-realistic trees. Joan talks us through her process, but she does not teach us how to LOOK at nature. The colour photographs and line illustrations are excellent.
It's great to have in your library, if you have already done some pictorial quilts. It is not really suited to a beginner.

5 out of 5 stars A beautiful book.......2006-03-29

I have not made anything yet from this book, but my fingers are itching to. It seems to give very good direction and a good start for your own ideas.

5 out of 5 stars Great stuff.......2006-03-13

If you are looking for inspiration on 'how to' this is the book for you. Very generous with personal techniques develpoed.

5 out of 5 stars A MUST HAVE.......2006-02-16

I love books and tend to buy a lot on whatever subject I am interested in. This has to be my favorite pick of the fiber art books I have read. My dream is to someday take a class from Joan Colvin. She is an incredible artist and her book has just the right balance of technique and inspiration. She is truly gifted, as is any artist and or quilter who is lucky enough to own this book.

5 out of 5 stars How to think like a great fabric artist and develop your own style.......2005-09-23

Joan Colvin acts as a gentle yet strong guide for anyone who wishes to find their style and understand elements of the design process in making a quilt. She generously offers some of her techniques and methods which work for her (and maybe you) and gives you great insight in how to express yourself creatively through fabric. However, as any good creative teacher will tell you, this is only the beginning of your personal creative process, and this book is not a project based one but instead will jump start you in other ways as you feast your eyes over her quilts (with details of some shown also). I just wish she included photos showing some alternative choices and decisions she inevitably had to make whilst she was making the quilts to illustrate this further because she does mention the value of photographing your options- but maybe I just can't get enough of her unique work.
Fill Your Watercolors With Nature's Light
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Fill Your Watercolor With Natures Light
  • Great Service
  • Nice loose painting
  • These techniques are nothing short of fantastic!
  • A power tool for watercolorists
Fill Your Watercolors With Nature's Light
Roland Roycraft
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History & CriticismHistory & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books | Criticism | General | Regional | Themes | Women in Art
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ASIN: 1581800398

Book Description

Anyone can learn these simple and fun methods for producing outstanding watercolor landscapes and flowers. One of the reasons that Roland's first book has been so popular (Fill Your Watercolors with Light & Color--over 65,000 copies sold) is that his techniques make watercolor fun and successful for a great number of otherwise frustrated artists.

Roland has a gift for simplifying the process of painting into a few readily understood steps. In this book, he expands the teaching of his pouring technique and goes into the underlying structure of a painting. He presents a unique way of teaching composition that will delight the reader. He then presents his three-step process of painting a landscape--masking to preserve the lights, pouring on the atmosphere and spattering the textures. Next, he shows two great techniques for painting flowers, a subject that does not appear in his first book. Also included is a chapter of fun experimental techniques that readers are sure to enjoy and another chapter that answers some frequently asked questions.

* Enables any artist to produce landscapes and flowers, two of the most popular painting subjects
* This author has a proven sales track record

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Fill Your Watercolor With Natures Light.......2007-05-25

Helpful well put together book, which encouraged trying new techniques

5 out of 5 stars Great Service.......2006-08-10

It was a surprise when the book was delivered in a couple days, I had expected a week. It is in superb condition. Impressive seller and delivery.

4 out of 5 stars Nice loose painting.......2003-08-19

This is a nice book for soft landscapes. However, I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. Check out the authors style first, and if you really like it...then the book is for you. I use some techniques, but the subject matter is a little soft for me. I didn't stay interested enought to use the lessons, but I did read it through and apply concepts to some of my own work.

5 out of 5 stars These techniques are nothing short of fantastic!.......2001-12-24

I love these books by Roycraft. If you love painting landscape or natural subjects, you cannot go wrong reading this book. Roycraft's techniques look simple (a lot of splashing going on) but they are controlled and well thought out. If you love floral painting you should not miss his examples here of a peony and an iris. JUST Breathtaking. I picked up so many ideas from this book.

Not only are Roycraft's paintings beautiful to see, he knows how to communicate his techniques incredibly well. I'm glad I found this watercolor artist's books.

5 out of 5 stars A power tool for watercolorists.......2001-08-09

Having read "enough" art technique books, I have learned that until one gets "down and dirty" trying out what is discussed in the book, then one does not actually spend the money wisely (on the book).

The same for this book. Beautiful artwork by the author. Did I say beautiful? No, BREATHTAKING, rather. However, to be able to generate beautiful artworks, the readers will need the following:

- An ability to SEE (light, dark, positive and negative space)

- Follow instructions from the book (which is PROBABLY the easy part, since it is rather well-written)

- A decent craftsmanship to finesse the final painting after the "mask and pour paints" phase of the process.

Briefly, I would think this is a power tool for watercolorists. How great the final products turn out to be will depend on the aforementioned factors.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Designing with Plants
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Inspiration and Implementation
  • Wow
  • Refreshing and Inspiring
  • Tremendous inspiration
  • Designing with Plants
Designing with Plants
Piet Oudolf , and Noel Kingsbury
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

LandscapeLandscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0881924377

Amazon.com

When your new gardening bible comes with chapters entitled "Birth," "Life," and "Death," you know you're in trouble. But be brave, turn to those chapters, and in some very practical little essays on planting, you'll uncover the very down-to-earth principle from which Piet Oudolf's radical reinvention of gardening is based: plants die.

In the traditional mixed border, shrubs, climbers, perennials, bulbs, and annuals defy mortality; when one plant passes its best, there's always another in the wings, waiting to grab the eye. But such borders have very little impact: there is too little at any one time to hold one's attention. Oudolf wonders why we fight the unavoidable. Why not create borders that bring out the beauty of plants throughout their natural cycles?

Oudolf also thinks our obsession with color is another deadening influence on current gardening practice. Plants have form: leaves, flower heads, and stems have beauty and variety, too, and last far longer than any bloom. Why not create gardens that use the whole plant, not just its genitals? This, as you've probably already guessed, is a recipe for perennials, and without any of that anxious autumn rush to cut down those perfectly lovely bare stems and seed heads.

With these versatile plants, Oudolf would have us all create gardens that change month by month, week by week, even day by day. It's a radical, beautiful vision that's absurdly easy to achieve. In Designing with Plants, Noel Kingsbury has done a terrific job of bringing Oudolf's work within reach of the rest of us. --Simon Ings, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Trained as an architect, Oudolf values plants as much for their form and texture as for their color. He is the founder of New Wave planting, a spectacular naturalistic style of landscape design. Oudolf stresses the importance of choosing plants that "live well and die well," so that from birth in the spring through the crescendo of summer to the stark beauty of autumn and winter the garden presents continuing drama and interest.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Inspiration and Implementation.......2005-11-14

Piet Oudolf is one of today's garden design geniuses. He gives us a book that is both inspiration and implementation. He inspires readers to design gardens that are carefully crafted but appear utterly natural. Then he gives us new, creative tools to make these garden designs. Oudolf focuses on plant structures and gives us easy categories for the forms of herbaceous garden plants. He emphasizes mood, light, movement, and rhythm in garden design. Always thinking outside the box, he even champions spent perennials at season's end. Gorgeous color photos illustrate all points. A must-have for both dreamers and gardeners with dirty hands.

5 out of 5 stars Wow.......2003-01-30

The gardens in this book are amazing. As a landscape design student, the designs in this book give me something to aspire to.

The authors do a good job of providing most of the plants names for what you see in the pictures. The individual information about the plants is beneficial to determining their use.

I just love looking through this book and just enjoying the beauty of these perennials.

4 out of 5 stars Refreshing and Inspiring.......2001-10-20

This is not a reference book for active, summer gardening. This is an inspiring book for winter gardening by the fireside, a book from which to dream, plan and design and to gain a liberating aspect of gardening.

This book presents a peerless horticultural perspective on natural habitats and how these might be brought to gardens, delivering unique ways of planting and seeing by shape, form, color, size, texture and, singularly, by light. In this the author awes the reader with the beauty of plants affected by the seasons and their elements: light, fog, dew; rain, frost and snow. As a practical tool to aid the shaping of these gardens, he includes an unconventional index that lists the characteristics, cultural requirements and companions for selected plants.

The photography is stunning, enlightening and informative in its content--and valuable. Through their exemplary quality, serious gardeners and professionals will discover a freer and more natural mode of horticultural expression. This is one of the few gardening books that both stimulates and satisfies the spiritual and aesthetic quests of many gardeners.

5 out of 5 stars Tremendous inspiration.......2001-07-29

Even if the book has designs that seem more than you can handle now, the book is so breathtakingly beautiful that its inspirational value alone make it one of the best I've ever read. In the process of stretching your imagination in just one or two areas, a great deal of result may be seen in your garden, and you will have pulled the target for your creativity up several notches.

4 out of 5 stars Designing with Plants.......2000-06-16

A good resource for the personal landscape and a even better one for the professional. The two authors did a wonderful job laying out the many ways in which plants can be used to create the outdoor room and place. Their bold approach is reinforced beautifully in the full color photographs that are abundtly found on the pages of the book. Not a lot of additional information, but there are numerous lists and tables to help guide in ones plant selection. More slanted towards the professional, yet for the true gardener, a wonderful addition to your library.
Catapult Design, Construction And Competition With the Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Many Different Full Sized Designs
  • From the publisher.
Catapult Design, Construction And Competition With the Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients
Ron L. Toms , Bernard F. Barcio , and Ralph Payne-Gallwey
Manufacturer: Rlt Industries
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | Military | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0977649709

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Many Different Full Sized Designs.......2006-08-11

My son and I are using a design from this book as a basis for a ballista we intend to enter in the Punkin Chunkin contest. The book appears to be designs entered in a contest during the 1970s where the object was to toss a one pound bolt. That is a far cry from a pumpkin. Still it has good ideas although many are more geared to school projects rather than fathers and sons playing with power tools in the garage.

5 out of 5 stars From the publisher........2006-05-10

If you've ever wondered how to build a catapult or trebuchet, or wondered what you'd do with it once you've built one, then this book can help. Filled with anecdotes, plans, photographs, drawings and detailed descriptions of the workings and history of all the major types of catapults, these pages will help you get started in this fascinating hobby. You too will feel the joy of harnessing the power and energy of simple and ancient machines.

Those who involve themselves with a catapult project invariably find within themselves the enthusiasm, lit by a private spark of wonder, to participate meaningfully in the work. Almost at once and without planning, the task draws participants into a mature collaboration many have never known before. Here is a project that teaches one how to learn-- not to parrot, but to generate knowledge. Catapultors discover that they are collecting real information concerning a phenomenon about which very few people in the world know anything.

It's easy to design a simple catapult with modern tools and materials, but when you constrain the project to use only tools and materials available from a thousand years ago, and require that machine to compete with modern equivalents, then you start to see a lot of creativity sprout up. It's a puzzle, a challenge that inspires people to learn and it generates new respect for the ancients and their ingenuity.

The ancients had limited power and resources available, and had to concern themselves with efficiency and clever applications of leverage and other basic principles of physics. Helping kids to learn how they did these things in the Medieval world also helps those kids compete in today's world by inspiring them to be more creative and do more with our limited resources.

Catapult Design, Construction and Competition is a truly unique book that describes all types of catapults, including tension bow powered machines, ballistae, onagers and mangonels, and of course, trebuchets! There are a multitude of photographs, including some truly large machines that can hurl 100 lb. missiles! But there's more than just pictures. Schematics are included for four record setting machines, and detailed descriptions of their construction too.

This book also includes the results of early catapult and trebuchet competitions, and the rules and regulations for holding your own competitions. Including the definition of what is a catapult, safety, classes and categories of machines, judging, registering results, and lots of other details.

Also included in this volume is The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients. This is one of the most important books in the history of hurling. Written by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey in 1907, it's the first serious work on the ancient catapults to be written in modern times.

In this book, Sir Ralph explores the ancient writings of seiges and their artillery. Not content to take the writings at face value, he endeavors to assign credibility to the writer, and then go on to produce his own working versions of the ancient machines to test the principles and the claims of the ancient writers.

Containing forty-four pages with over 22 illustrations, this section gives details about the design, construction and operation of the three fundamental types of siege engines- the Catapult (also known as the Mangonel or Onager), the Balista (Ballista) and the Trebuchet, as well as the history and effects of such weapons.
Ian McHarg: Conversations with Students: Dwelling in Nature (Conversations With Students)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Ian McHarg: Conversations with Students: Dwelling in Nature (Conversations With Students)

    Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 1568986203

    Book Description

    One of the legendary figures in twentieth-century design, Ian McHarg transformed the fields of landscape architecture and planning through his personal methodology, his unique curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania, and his own inspired writing. In classic texts such as his landmark 1969 book Design with Nature, McHarg painted an incredibly rich and exuberant picture of the organic world while conjuring up the vision for a more wholesome and productive metropolis. In this new entry in the popular Conversations with Students series, we are proud to make McHarg’s never-before-in-print lecture "Collaboration with Nature" available for the first time. Captured on tape in the 1970s, the lecture is the sequel to McHarg’s Design With Nature. This is a must read for anyone in the fields of landscape architecture, environmental science, and urban planning.

    Building with Nature: Inspiration for the Arts and Crafts Home
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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    • Building with Nature--Review
    Building with Nature: Inspiration for the Arts and Crafts Home
    Leslie M. Freudenheim
    Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    GeneralGeneral | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 1586854631

    Book Description

    This new edition of the classic, Building with Nature: Roots of the San Francisco Bay Region Tradition, focuses on the beginnings (1865 and on) of the Bay Area shingle style and Arts & Crafts collaboration in California, and the origins of the trend toward building simple rustic homes in harmony with nature. Freudenheim explores how and why a small, influential group of Californians (including Joseph Worcester, Bernard Maybeck, Charles Keeler, William Keith, Charles Lummis, A. Page Brown, and others)--all of whom had come from the East or from England--were especially devoted to Ruskin and the Arts & Crafts style and how this combined with their dedication to California's natural beauty to create a unique architectural movement.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Building with Nature: an example of how architectural styles happen.......2006-02-07

    Ms. Freudenheim has provided us with a very well-written book about how new and developing architectureal styles happen, using the SF Bay Area and the development of the Arts and Crafts style as a perfect example. Ms. Freudenheim's excellant research and engaging style shows, in words and photos, how a web of people and buildings continually interact and thus result in a new style. In this greatly expanded edition of a now hard-to-find great original book, we learn about these people, their interactions, and how this resulted in a new archtectural style. This book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the Arts and Crafts style, either as a home owner, collector, scholar, or as a total observer of the Arts and Crafts movement and it's recent resurgence. Enjoy!

    5 out of 5 stars The Art of Arts and Crafts.......2006-01-26

    Leslie Freudenheim has captured an era that has given great beauty to our lives. With grace and wisdom she has presented the San Francisco Bay Area as a landscape filled with the richness of the architectural geniuses who gave the area their distinctive creations. The beauty of the arts and crafts buildings complements nature, and bonds our living spaces into it. The author has, with a great deal of style, significantly enriched our experience of this fine period in our history.

    5 out of 5 stars Origins of the "Arts & Crafts" in America.......2006-01-22

    This is the first book to truly explore the origins of the American Arts & Crafts Movement. A group in San Francisco began constructing simpler buildings and furnishing them with what eventually was called Mission furniture. This lead to the nationwide popularization of Craftsman homes and furniture by Stickley and others. If you have an interest in Architecture or the "Arts & Crafts" you should read this book.

    5 out of 5 stars Maybeck scholar reviews Arts and Crafts book.......2006-01-16

    Building With Nature, when first published in 1974, brought attention to Bay Region Architecture as a tradition, as the progenitor of simple homes, grounded on the philosophy of Bernard Maybeck and Charles Keeler among others, and as an influence on residential architecture of subsequent generations. In this new and significantly expanded book, Leslie Freudenheim broadens the inquiry toward a wider appreciation of indigenous forms of California architecture, and an understanding of the relation of natural building and environmental sensitivity to the international Arts and Crafts Movement. The book is a must for any Arts and Crafts devotee and architectural history, personal, or professional library.
    Robert M. Craig [author, Bernard Maybeck at Principia College The Art and Craft of Building]

    5 out of 5 stars Building with Nature--Review.......2006-01-14

    This is a very important reexamination of the American origins of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the major contibutions of a small group of Bay Area designers. The central role is occupied by the Reverend Joseph Worcester who created one of the true landmarks of the movement with the Church of the New Jerusalem in San Francisco. The author provides new context and a great amount of new reseach. This book is a major accomplishment.

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