Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Architect.......2003-12-19

This book is something of an academic biography of Christopher Alexander. Good analysis of his theories as they developed. While the bulk of the text is by Grabow, written in academic style, there is quite a bit of what appears to be direct transcription or text of Alexander himself. If you're an Alexander fan, this is the meat of the book. That said, it's helpful to see Alexander's theories illuminated by a third party, and Grabow does a good job. Still, it's Alexander's wonderful writing style - simple but profound - that got me through the whole book. I read it as I finished architecture school, and it was revelatory, especially Alexander's discussion of his own experiences in school and his critique of architectural education. There is also an extensive bibliography and 60 pages of pictures at the end, a sort of collage of his work and life (There are also pictures throughout each chapter, illustrating the points therein)

Taylor's Guide to Shade Gardening: More Than 350 Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers That Thrive Under Difficult Conditions, Illustrated with Color Photographs and Detailed Drawings (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
Average customer rating:

Gardening

Very helpful handbook

A must have

Great idea book with pictures of shade lovers

Not a good resource for Southern gardeners

Taylor's Guide to Shade Gardening: More Than 350 Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers That Thrive Under Difficult Conditions, Illustrated with Color Photographs and Detailed Drawings (Taylor's Gardening Guides)

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Vinyl Bound

General | Flowers | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:

Taylor's 50 Best Perennials for Shade: Easy Plants for More Beautiful Gardens (Taylor's 50 Best)

Making the Most of Shade: How to Plan, Plant, and Grow a Fabulous Garden that Lightens up the Shadows

Taylor's Guide to Shrubs: How to Select and Grow More than 500 Ornamental and Useful Shrubs for Privacy, Ground Covers, and Specimen Plantings

The Complete Shade Gardener

Taylor's Guide to Perennials

ASIN: 0395651654

Book Description

This comprehensive guide addresses one of the most common problems for gardeners. Shade Gardening has over 250 color photographs of the 350 best trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, bulbs, ground covers, vines, ferns, and grasses for shaded areas. Articles cover the basics of growing plants in the shade as well as such subjects as city gardens, flowers, foliage plants, pests and diseases, and lawns.

Customer Reviews:

Gardening.......2005-08-25

Provides lots of interesting gardening information if you are planting only trees and shrubs. Book does not detail anything for vegetable gardeners. Title should be changed to include the word "Forestry" rather than the broad term 'gardening".

Very helpful handbook.......2005-02-07

This is a great reference for those gardening in shade. It is organized in a logical format and can be easily used. The photos are nice and the information helpful as plants are considered for a shade garden. While it may not be adequate for those gardening in the deep south, it is very well suited to zones 5,6, and 7.

A must have.......2002-06-22

This wonderful little book (thick, but only 4.27" wide) is an absolute necessity for anyone who wishes to do some gardening in a shady area. In fact, this book is really three books rolled into one. The first section looks at shade and shade gardening, it is straightforward and highly informative. The second section is entitled The Color Plates, and gives a long list of shade-loving plants, including a very nice color picture, and a highly informative description. The third section goes hand-in-hand with the second, and gives more in-depth information.

This book is really great, a must have for those of us who wish to do some gardening in a shady area. I highly recommend this book to all gardeners!

Great idea book with pictures of shade lovers.......2001-03-22

The Taylor's Guides are very reliable sources for gardening information and great pictures, and the Shade Gardening Guide is one of the best. Shade gardening is difficult for many reasons. There are not that many very showy flowers for seasons other than Spring, and there are many types of shade. The descriptions are very specific and helpful: light shade, dappled shade, "the more shade, the less moisture is needed," and so on. The soil and shade descriptions for each plant are excellent and detailed.

Although the plants are listed alphabetically for the cultural requirements, the pictures are listed by groups: trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, summer bulbs, ground covers, vines, grasses, and ferns. I would recommend that people using the book for plant selection read the "Encyclopedia of Plants" part as well as the brief but good descriptions with the color pictures.

Keep in mind too that the flowering times are primarily for New England (zone 5). Furthur South you may get earlier and more flowers. For example, Ceratostigma is listed as an Autumn bloomer, while in PA, it blooms from July through October. So you get more than the book suggests. Not bad. Anyone with shade should experiment with the plants in this book. As a gardening professional, I see so many great and underused plants listed and described in this book.

Not a good resource for Southern gardeners.......2000-09-09

Having recently purchased a condo in Houston with a north-facing porch, I eagerly awaited delivery of this book. However, I was quickly disappointed. This book should be titled "Shade Gardening in the North," since virtually all of the plants listed are for Zones 5 and lower...not much help for my Zone 9 garden. It did contain a couple of pages of information for shade gardening in the South (which they consider to be North Carolina!), but I was really looking for specific information on the types of shade plants I could plant here. This would have been a great book if I lived in Ohio, but not so good for us Texans.

Draw 50 Flowers, Trees and Other Plants: The Step-By-Step

Average customer rating:

drawing
For young art lovers
Not a good book
Draw 50 Flowers, Trees and Other Plants

Draw 50 Flowers, Trees and Other Plants: The Step-By-Step
Lee J. Ames , and P. Lee Ames
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Study & Teaching | Reference | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Draw 50 Animals (Draw 50)
Draw 50 Birds: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Chickadees, Peacocks, Toucans, Mallards, and Many More of Our Feathered Friends (Draw 50 Series , No 25)
The Draw 50 Way: How to Draw Cats, Puppies, Horses, Buildings, Birds, Aliens, Boats, Trains and Everything Else Under the Sun (Draw 50)
Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Castles and Cathedrals, Skyscrapers and Bridges, and So Much More... (Draw 50)
Draw 50 People: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Cavemen, Queens, Aztecs, Vikings, Clowns, Minutemen, and Many More... (Draw 50)

ASIN: 0385471505
Release Date: 1994-06-01

Customer Reviews:

drawing.......2007-01-18

book is good for drawing from scratch. it's helpful for someone just beginning to study art.

For young art lovers.......2005-09-09

On library day at school my daughter usually brings home an art book of some kind. Most of the time it was a book by Lee J. Ames. Marissa really wants to draw well but at 8 doesn't understand that you have to work hard at it. I suggested to her that she get a piece of white paper and trace over the drawings and then color them in. She has really made some beautiful drawings using this book.

Not a good book.......2005-01-17

I am a horrible but determined artist. I have enjoyed the "How to Draw 50..." series since I was very young. However, this particular book is not helpful: majority of the drawings are far too intricate to follow, most of them are unknown plants and flowers, and it fails to teach something.

Unlike the "How to Draw 50 Athletes" this book doesn't have a goal, other than to instruct you on how to mimic some plants and flowers. Whereas, after going through the "Draw 50 Athletes," I learned how to draw the human body; the muscles, head features, proportions, and how they moved.

This book is not for beginners I assure you of this. I understand nature is harder to recognize and capture, but the book just was too difficult to follow, I was only capable of drawing 12 of the 50, and I do each one many times, and I still showed no improvement.

It's just not worth owning. You won't learn anything, and you wont enjoy the process of drawing the plants and flowers. I promise.

In My Humble Opinion
John G (Who am I)

Draw 50 Flowers, Trees and Other Plants.......2002-07-31

This is a great instructional book. It takes you step by step thru the process. I would reccommend it to anyone starting out in drawing.

Plants: 2,400 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Flowers, Trees, Fruits and Vegetables (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Average customer rating:

Great Book!

Plants: 2,400 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Flowers, Trees, Fruits and Vegetables (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Animals: 1,419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects, etc. (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Women: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Harter's Picture Archive for Collage and Illustration (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Landscapes and Cityscapes (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Plants and Flowers: 1761 Illustrations for Artists and Designers (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

ASIN: 0486402649

Book Description

Hundreds of plant species — from lilies, lichens, and palms to mushrooms, mosses, and maples — supplemented by appendices on edible plants, medicinal herbs, and plants used in decoration and in graphic design. Indispensable source of inspiration and royalty-free graphics for designers and artists; a captivating compendium for botanists, gardeners, and collectors of old engravings.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book!.......2006-03-13

This is a terrific book. I purchased it with the companion book on Animals. It is a "must have" for anyone interested in art, biology, or just a good coffee table book. It will keep youngsters quiet for hours with the facinating illustrations. Very high quality. You just can't beat the price either. I highly recommend it. You, too, can be botanically correct!

Nature Illustrated: Flowers, Plants, and Trees, 1550-1900 : From the Collections of the New York Public Library

Average customer rating:

Nature Illustrated: Flowers, Plants, and Trees, 1550-1900 : From the Collections of the New York Public Library
Bernard McTigue
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Watercolor | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing Plants, Trees, & Flowers (Understand How to Draw)

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Drawing Plants, Trees, & Flowers (Understand How to Draw)
Margaret Merritt
Manufacturer: Search Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Specific Objects | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Draw 50: Flowers, Trees, and Other Plants

Average customer rating:

Draw 50: Flowers, Trees, and Other Plants

Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0606285229

Gardening: A Complete Guide to Garden Making, Including Flowers And Lawns, Trees And Shrubs, Fruits And Vegetables, Plants in the Home And Greenhouse. With 73 Halftones And 125 Line Drawings

Average customer rating:

Gardening: A Complete Guide to Garden Making, Including Flowers And Lawns, Trees And Shrubs, Fruits And Vegetables, Plants in the Home And Greenhouse. With 73 Halftones And 125 Line Drawings
Montague Free
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007E5AZO

Travel photography: Developing a personal style
Average customer rating:
Travel photography: Developing a personal style
Lisl Dennis
Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0930764420

Book Description

Ecuador is the third-largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the western United States. As the source of this oil, the Ecuadorian Amazon has borne the far-reaching social and environmental consequences of a growing U.S. demand for petroleum and the dynamics of economic globalization it necessitates. Crude Chronicles traces the emergence during the 1990s of a highly organized indigenous movement and its struggles against a U.S. oil company and Ecuadorian neoliberal policies. Against the backdrop of mounting government attempts to privatize and liberalize the national economy, Suzana Sawyer shows how neoliberal reforms in Ecuador led to a crisis of governance, accountability, and representation that spurred one of twentieth-century Latin America’s strongest indigenous movements.

Through her rich ethnography of indigenous marches, demonstrations, occupations, and negotiations, Sawyer tracks the growing sophistication of indigenous politics as Indians subverted, re-deployed, and, at times, capitulated to the dictates and desires of a transnational neoliberal logic. At the same time, she follows the multiple maneuvers and discourses that the multinational corporation and the Ecuadorian state used to circumscribe and contain indigenous opposition. Ultimately, Sawyer reveals that indigenous struggles over land and oil operations in Ecuador were as much about reconfiguring national and transnational inequality—that is, rupturing the silence around racial injustice, exacting spaces of accountability, and rewriting narratives of national belonging—as they were about the material use and extraction of rain-forest resources.

Customer Reviews:

Globalization on the ground in Amazonia.......2007-05-31

This is one of the best books on indigenous politics that has been written. The author's 20 years of experience in the Ecuadoran Amazonia show in the depth of her narrative and in her careful and accessible use of Foucault to draw out the complexities of indigenous identity, conceptions of nation and nationalism, and the impact of global forces. It is also beautifully written. Clearly, a labor of love and conviction by a scholar who has spent hours listening to indigenous activists , oil company officials, state officials, NGO workers, academics, and, most importantly native Ecuadorans of widely diverse political views and fashioned a wonderful book. If you are interested in all the complex political issues surrounding globalization as seen from the Amazon, you don't need a Ph.D to find this a great read

Book Description

After awakening from its long communist slumber, Russia in the 1990s was a place where everything and everyone was for sale, and fortunes could be made and lost overnight. Into this free-market maelstrom stepped rookie Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Brzezinski, who was immediately pulled into the mad world of Russian capitalism -- where corrupt bankers and fast-talking American carpetbaggers presided over the biggest boom and bust in financial history.

Brzezinski's adventures take him from the solid-gold bathroom fixtures of Moscow's elite, to the last stop on the Trans-Siberian railway, where poverty-stricken citizens must buy water by the pail from the local crime lord, and back to civilization, to stumble into a drunken birthday bash for an ultra-nationalist politico. It's an irreverent, lurid, and hilarious account of one man's tumultuous trek through a capitalist market gone haywire -- and a nation whose uncertain future is marked by boundless hope and foreboding despair.

Amazon.com

If Michael Lewis (The New New Thing, Liar's Poker) or P.J. O'Rourke (Holidays in Hell, Parliament of Whores) had spent the 1990s in Moscow, they might have produced a book like Casino Moscow--a dizzying first-person account of the wild east and its shotgun wedding with capitalism. It begins with Matthew Brzezinski as a rookie reporter getting beaten and nearly killed by a pair of Ukrainian thugs; the rest of the book is a white-knuckle tour through a place where the line separating entrepreneurs and criminals is often impossible to discern. Brzezinski worked in the Moscow bureau of the Wall Street Journal. If his name sounds familiar, that's because he's the nephew of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security advisor. He is an ideal guide: sometimes it takes a fish-out-of-water foreigner to see the things a jaded native cannot. (Comparing the author to Alexis de Tocqueville or Gunnar Myrdal is a stretch, but it's the same idea.) Brzezinski also writes with great humor and amazing panache. Describing the parking lot of a high-class bank, he writes that it "resembled a well-stocked Mercedes dealership that specialized only in armored, navy blue 600-series sedans, or shestotki, as the top-of-the-line models were affectionately known--as in 'My shestotka's just been blown up, can I borrow yours?'" Gangsters, prostitutes, and Western investors fill these pages, all of them coming to life courtesy of Brzezinski's narrative skill.

Despite the title, Casino Moscow isn't just about Moscow--some of the best sections cover other parts of Russia: "It was heartbreaking that St. Petersburg had been so mistreated. Yet even in its state of decay, I still preferred its shabby elegance to Moscow's new-money makeover. In St. Petersburg you lived for the past; Moscow lived only for the day." At the edge of Siberia, on the Pacific coast, is Vladivostok--"five time zones ahead of the Russian capital, but a decade behind." The book is a fast-paced adventure story--and a must for readers interested in Russia as well as fans of modern-day gonzo journalism. Brzezinski is a writer to watch. --John Miller

Customer Reviews:

Exciting, But Not Terribly Informative.......2005-12-12

As someone who has been involved in Russian legal matters for the past ten years, I found this book quite interesting, if not always accurate. It is not so much that it is inaccurate with respect to what it reports, it is that it so much sensationalizes Russian business that it ignores the great multitudes of Russian businesses that are out there slogging it out just like most businesses in the West. So while I greatly enjoyed the book from a mostly prurient perspective, I did not find it terribly helpful in improving my knowledge of Russian business.

the best of all possible worlds?.......2005-07-24

This book is like the story of Candide! Except in this tale Candide remains completely ignorant of all the evidence that this is not the best of all possible worlds. I'am not even going to spend my precious time writing a decent-sized review of this debacle of a book; it's bad enough that I've read the book. If you're looking for a realistic outlook on Eastern European post 1991 condition - look elsewhere.

The Robber Barons of Moscow.......2004-08-29

Matthew Brzezinski, former reporter in the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal (and nephew of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's anti-Soviet National Security Advisor) writes about his time in Moscow after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a gambling mentality took over from the collapsed aspirations of Russia's 70 year experiment with Communism.

His book captures something of the atmosphere of Moscow and the former Soviet Union of the 1990s when anything seemed possible in the world of finance, set in a time and place in which Berezovsky, Gusinsky, and Potanin were discussed with the same awe (and envy) as Bezos, Case and (Martha) Stewart were in the United States.

One tale of a board meeting in the mid-1990s in the chapter "Potemkin Inc." (after the phrase "Potemkin village", a sham devised by 18th century bureaucrats to impress their sovereign) is particularly telling, not only about how far corporate governance has to go to attract foreign investors but also how the 'Soviet' mentality continues:

"One by one, the nine board members followed, one elderly official pausing by the microphone. 'Foreigners need to think about the future of the plant and about the welfare of its employees, not just about pumping profits,' he spat, white with anger. 'This meeting is over,' he added, storming off the stage."

Such comments have a familiar tone to consumers of Soviet propaganda. For 70 years the Soviet Union spoke of the horrors of Western imperialism, while at the same time running the most far-reaching totalitarian empire the world has ever seen.

At times Casino Moscow veers too much between being a personal memoir of his time in Moscow along with his growing relationship with Roberta and the larger story of the first few years of freedom in Russia. Snippets of the life of an expat in Moscow-the problems with personal staff, fears about safety, frustration with the petty bureaucracy-leave the reader wanting to learn more about what it is like to be in a country that has collapsed and is trying to find its place in the world community. Although I can sympathize with the desire for maintaining discretion regarding his wife's career, it was somewhat teasing that Brzezinski doesn't name her shadowy (although well known in Russian finance circles) and immensely profitable employer; he writes, "...I have taken the liberty of changing [her firm's name] to VSO, for Very Secretive Organization." Such subterfuge does little to dispel the notion of a cabal of financiers plotting the future of the world behind the scenes (which does not make Western capital look too attractive to its recipients).

Casino Moscow is an enjoyable book to read for anyone wondering about the beginnings of Russia's post-Soviet history.

Brzezinski Pontificating with Ethnocentric Tunnel Vision.......2004-08-08

Brezezinski offers nothing more than personal asinine butchered urban tales that appeal to people like himself--droll dunderheads lacking in both originality & sincerity. "Moskviche" would love to thank this "author."

Red Whine.......2004-02-17

I've never felt compelled to throw a book away. Until this one.
A reporter for a widely respected newspaper, dropped into '90s Moscow's whirling clash of cultures, should be able to come away with quite a collection of stories. And, to be fair, Brzezinski has some humorous stuff, and some interesting tales, but they're buried among too much personal detritus. There is far too much about the author, his family ties (enough already about "Uncle Zbig!") and his resentment of all things Russian. I've never read a book with such a smug (yet whiny) protagonist.
He didn't much like Russians (and had a big chip on his shoulder throughout the book), and he had little use for the expat community. With all his complaining, I wondered throughout this book why Brzezinski agreed to go to Russia, then why he stayed there, then why he bothered to write about it.
There's a good book somewhere in the Russia of the 1990s. This isn't it.

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