Ron Arad Talks to Matthew Collings About Designing Chairs, Vases, Buildings and ...

Book Description

This book presents the work of Ron Arad, one of the most successful and creative contemporary designers. In a long conversation with the art critic Matthew Collings, which runs throughout the book, Ron Arad talks about his work, explains his projects and tells us the story of his amazing career. The interview is extensively illustrated by images of all the different aspects of Arad's work and world. The illustrations include not only his own projects but also reference images to help delineate his creative and versatile personality. Each project will be presented through new photographs by Tom Vack (one of the most famous photographers in the design field), drawings, sketches and models, all accompanied by extensive narrative captions written by Ron Arad Associates.

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In 1934, a 42-year-old Englishwoman named Freya Stark arrived in the British-governed Protectorate of Aden on a singular mission: to locate the fabled, long-lost city of Shabwa.

Located on the high Hadramaut plateau in what is now Yemen, Shabwa was renowned in antiquity as the source of frankincense. Little visited even then, it was also thought to be a particularly forbidding place; Genesis mentions it as the "enclosure of death," and the Roman geographer Pliny reported that it contained 60 great temples and wealth beyond measure. That was good enough for Stark, who, having not long before made a difficult passage across the badlands of Iran, thrived on improbable adventures. And so, by burro and whatever mechanical conveyances she could find, she ascended the high mountains into a world that was sometimes perilous, but that also sometimes approached fairy-tale dimensions, as when, climbing the Hadramaut, she writes, "The path kept high and open, until gradually the valley clefts narrowed again upon us, and shut us in walls whose luxuriant green made a romantic landscape of the kind usually only invented in pictures."

Stark never reached Shabwa; laid low by measles, she had to be evacuated from territory overrun in any event by warring religious factions and gangs of bandits. Though cut short, her time in the Yemeni highlands yielded this superb travel narrative, full of uncommon vistas and milieus (harems, bazaars, and Bedouin camps among them). Anyone who values tales of adventure well told will find Stark's body of work--and this book in particular--to be full of treasures. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In 1934, famed British traveler Freya Stark sailed down the Red Sea, alighting in Aden, located at the tip of the Arabian peninsula. From this backwater outpost, Stark set forth on what was to be her most unforgettable adventure: Following the ancient frankincense routes of the Hadhramaut Valley, the most fertile in Arabia, she sought to be the first Westerner to locate and document the lost city of Shabwa. Chronicling her journey through the towns and encampments of the Hadhramaut, The Southern Gates of Arabia is a tale alive with sheikhs and sultans, tragedy and triumph. Although the claim to discovering Shabwa would not ultimately be Stark's, The Southern Gates of Arabia, a bestseller upon its original publication, remains a classic in the literature of travel. This edition includes a new Introduction by Jane Fletcher Geniesse, Stark's biographer.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Tale of a Time of Adventure, Lost Forever.......2006-03-01

I found this book absolutely fascinating as it described a time, only 70-odd years ago, when there truly were unexplored reaches, where legend and history still co-existed, and where a culturally sensitive and aware, and properly respectful traveler could find peaceful and fulfilling adventure. This book is even more interesting now, given the changes in the Middle East in the past ten years. Can one imagine making the same kind of journey in Yemen now? Of course not; it would almost be suicide. That time has long since been destroyed, everything about this book but its pure physical setting gone, so this memoir is even more poignant and compelling.

Stark has an eye for detail, as jaundiced as it is with the unavoidable Orientalism of her time and socio-cultural context. This can be forgiven/overlooked, and she's a lot more fair and obliging when describing those she encounters than the majority of her contemporaries. She's at her best when describing the landscapes she is encountering, the stark desert and wadis, the unexpected lushness of the oases and tucked-away mountain crevices where all the shades of green burst forth.

More than anything, what comes through in this book is Stark's grace and abiding respect for the people she meets. She has taken the time to learn their language, and is familiar with their culture, and takes pains to encounter them in terms that will make them comfortable. She does not attempt to bend anyone to a Western European point of view. This is not to say she is subservient or fawning; she most certainly stands up for herself when it is required. But throughout the book and on this journey, her continued success comes from her honesty tinged with her respect for the region and the people with whom she is interacting. This engenders respect for her in return.

I found the three maps in the beginning of the book at first absolutely invaluable as references to Stark's locations and progress. I then found the maps to be absolutely infuriating, due to their black/white printing, the too-small script, the confusing order of the maps, the contradictory scales and place-name differences, etc. I ended up abandoning the book's maps and opening my unabridged atlas to Yemen and tracking her movement there. Editors: if you're going to offer maps in a book like this, make sure the maps are actually worthwhile and readable.

Two scholarly additions to the book are good. Stark's appendix on the "Southern Incense Route of Arabia" is a fascinating account of exactly what she was looking for, and what brought her to the Hadramaut in the first place. It's her indirect formal scholarly statement of motivation. This appendix would have been well-placed as a foreword to this book, serving to establish her motivation and objective. Stark lists her sources, and they're offered as a listed bibliography immediately after the appendix. There is also an index, but for whatever reason, many of the persons and places in the text are not included, and there is no cross-referencing. For example, the names of individual wadis are placed in the index as "Sidun, Wadi," and are not cross-referenced with a "Wadi Sidun" entry.

Bottom line: If you're one of the many readers newly interested in Islam, Arabs and the Middle East, and are looking for some context beyond the latest book on extremism or terrorism, something to add depth to what you think you understand, then this book will do you well. If you're looking for some insight into the cultures and traditions of Islam, this also will move you in that direction. If you're looking for a glimpse into a time when the West and Islam actually got along on a basis of mutual respect, this enjoyable book will tell you about it.

existentialist trek through Hadhramaut.......2004-01-28

Trekking over the desolate, rocky plateau that lies between the coast and the interior valleys of Hadhramaut, Freya Stark travelled in 1935 with a group of Bedu and a government slave-soldier. The area has been known as Aden Protectorate, the Qu'aiti State of Shihr and Makalla, South Arabia, the People's Democratic Republic of South Yemen, and is now part of united Yemen. She visited several of the interior towns, almost never seen by Europeans at that time (though the RAF did maintain a presence), and has written beautiful descriptions of the unusual physical environment as well as a kind and sympathetic treatment of the people she met. She talked in Arabic with the ladies of the harim as well as with the rulers, scholars, and ordinary men of the communities. Stark aimed to travel to Shabwa, a long-lost ancient city much further in the interior of the Arabian peninsula, to an area then contested between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Illness prevented her from doing so. This book then, is an account of her curtailed trip. She was evacuated by airplane from the interior, lucky to be alive. I always like travellers who respect the people they visit and who do not condescend. Freya Stark is certainly among them. For a travel book that describes a time long gone and a place still far from the beaten track-do you know many people who have been to Shibam, Makalla, Tarim, or al Qatn ?---you cannot do much better. You might use it as a guide as to how you could get along with people of a very different culture to your own---step number one, don't try to force them to adhere to your value system.

However, one thing about this book puzzled me. Compared to most travel literature, it is a most existentialist piece. "Here I am, travelling through remote Hadhramaut." That's cool, but we never find out why she was travelling to Shabwa-well, OK, it is old, it is a kind of `forbidden city', and it might hold ruins of interest---but why her ? Who was she ? What was her purpose ? What were her qualifications ? I realize full well that we can read her biography, we can look her up in the encyclopedia or on Google, that she wrote many other books. But, I had never read anything else by her, knew nothing of her life. I wondered who she was. The book offers absolutely no clue. Why did the rulers all welcome her ? How did she have such good connections with the powers that be in Aden ? I put this existentialist atmosphere down to a kind of British reticence, a reluctance to reveal much about oneself, not the proper form, etc. That is all well and good, each to her own culture, but it does cast a cloud of vagueness over the whole book. Compared to Wilfred Thesiger in his "Arabian Sands", Stark tells little of her aims or background, but is more willing to accept the Arabs as they were, not as she wished they would be.

a woman adept at cross-cultural encounters.......2002-02-04

As a Christian worker in China, I had first-hand opportunity to see how we "foreigners" interacted cross-culturally. (Usually, the most successful of us were those who were not on a Mission from God.) Having seen people badly suited to live abroad and admiring those who were very able to do so, the joy of this book by Freya Stark was reading about a woman operating cross-culturally with a world-class ability to encounter persons with a much different backround than her own. Her sheer delight in her Bedouin companions is vicariously enjoyable.
Of course, this book journeys not just across cultures but across times, beginning with the author's introduction, which discusses the antiquity of the regioun she explores, especially in the time of great trade in frankincense, which made the region, for a time, wealthy. It is also reflected in the ancient culture and historical monuments and artifacts the author encounters.
Moreover, Freya Stark writes (wrote) beautifully. This book will appeal to anyone who is curious about other peoples, other lands and other times or who enjoys good writing.

Amusing and Enlightening Tales of Travel.......2001-10-24

In 1934, Freya Stark determined that she would follow the ancient frankincense routes through the fertile Hadhramaut valley to locate and record what was left of the legendary lost city of Shabwa. In 1936 she published _The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut_ which, as did many of her thirty-odd books, became a best seller. It is now republished by the Modern Library, and is a welcome reminder of a brave, erudite, and witty explorer. The current volume has as an introduction a capsule description of Stark's life by her biographer, Jane Fletcher Geniesse. Born in 1892, Stark was only able to indulge in travel in her thirties; she realized that there was a hunger for knowledge about exotic Arabia, and she schooled herself in the language and history of the area, through which she traveled by foot, car, donkey, and camel well into her eighties. She lived to be 101.

The explorations of these exotic lands are rendered now more strange and lovely by time. Few of us will get to see the lands Stark loved, but we will never see them as she did. For most of the steps along the trail described in this book, Stark was the first European woman to come that way, and that she did so unaccompanied by a European escort gave the Bedouin, the learned men, and the sultans something to admire and wonder at. One who thought himself a leader of her group attempted to exclude her by bringing her meals to a separate area. "He was showing a Victorian disapproval of females who do not keep themselves to themselves, a thing I find dull and difficult to do." She finds that she very much likes being in the middle of the group, even as an outsider. "To sit over the fire with one's fellows in the evening, when the work is over and the talking begins, is the only sure way of keeping harmony and friendship. I never had any difficulties with my beduin and found nothing but friendliness and an anxiety to serve in every way, and I attribute this chiefly to the fact that we had our meals together..." On the last night being with one group, one of the Bedouin thanks her for sharing food together (rather than keeping separate as he had expected the European traveler to do), and says it has been pleasant traveling with her. "'Here we are now,' he said, 'all together. And tomorrow?' - he opened his hand out wide - 'all scattered, where?' After this question, so sad, ancient, and universal, we looked in silence to the darkness and the stars."

Book Description

This book is a calculus-based microeconomic theory text for undergraduates and graduates that successfully balances theoretical/intuitive (verbal), graphical (visual), and mathematical presentation in order to appeal to various learning styles. The text combines theory and applications more completely than most offerings in this course area, and bridges the gap between low-level texts that relegate math to footnotes and upper-level texts that focus only on math at the expense of theory and applications.

Customer Reviews:

This book is horrible!.......2006-03-26

This text was used in a graduate level microeconomics class I took last semester. We frequently found mistakes in the formulas, mistakes in the odd answers that are provided for problems, mistakes in the text's explanations. Answers to the odd problems often took the long, strange way to arrive at an answer. Or they were incorrect. For example, optimization problems often were solved without partial differentiation, using suspect math.

Some chapters were convoluted and confusingly written--for the second half of the semester the professor frequently started class with an apologetic "I know the chapter on ___ was confusing and hard to follow: these are the key points you should have gotten out of it..."

In addition, some of the theory such as that found in the public goods chapter is really unusual--not consistent with the accepted interpretations of other economists. While the focus on providing a format useful to visual and graphical learners is nice, the verbal half of those explanations was often lacking. And we also found a couple of incorrectly drawn graphs to confuse things further. Walter Nicholson's 9th edition Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions is far superior! I used it constantly when Wetzstein's text left me once again guessing...

As a first edition, I'm sure the book will improve in future editions. But geez, I worked in publishing before I went back to school--and the content of this book was not proofed very well. I was surprised, especially since it is published by Thompson-South Western.

Good Product.......2005-07-08

The book arrived about 2 weeks after I bought it, from the United States to Mexico, so I consider it was a very good service. I recomend to send the books into a harder covering because I noticed that my book was damaged in a certain level because of the transportation within a very weak covering; may be the price would be a little higher but it's worthwhile. The book was in good conditions.

Customer Reviews:

Where's the Explanations?.......2007-09-03

This book is a requirement for my Basic Education - as a licensed appraiser seeking upgrade to the Certified General level - this book has been more frustrating than explanatory. The absolute absence of related examples and real-world application of income capitalization approaches is what hurts this book more than anything. For example:

Page 95, Solution 1 for computing an IRR -when computing an IRR - you have 3 of the 4 elements required but don't have the yield rate - the objective of the IRR is to compute the yield rate absent any available interest rates. In the example, the following data is provided:

Present Value (PV) = -10,000; Periodic Deposits (PMT) 12,000 for two Periods; Future Value (FV) = 10,800* ( <- Notice the " * " ??) The asterisk says:

*Calculated using the present value of $1 formula on page 84.

The computation for the present value (PV) of $1 REQUIRES an interest rate...! So, in other words, there is no way to compute the FV without a rate of the for the FV (whether assumed or guessed) therefore this method does not work. So, where'd the FV come from?? What interest rate was used? Is this the future value of the reversion or is it the future value of the reversion plus the discounted cash flows? There is NO explanation. The yield capitalziation and the IRR discussion is weak and, because the book uses Chapter 4 as the basis for future chapters - it's making the going very difficult. It's as if the authors have a secret that they expect us to "find out" on our own.

I have to pass my income cap test before I can upgrade - unfortunately, I will need to purchase another book that will teach me how to compute yield rates and internal rate of returns - this book simply misses the mark.

Income Property Valuation Text Review.......2005-10-12

This book is used in my graduate-level Real Estate Appraisal class. I found the book to be riddled with errors and typos (for example, the bottom of page 293 shows an example property with an 8% LTV (!!)) and it is a bit dated, however, the use of a CDROM to show examples and a trial ARGUS program is nice. One major problem is that the numerous problems outlined at the end of each chapter are never answered in the book. Thus, the poor student hoping to check to see if his homework answers are correct is out of luck. The case study at the end of the book, the capstone project I assume, is an appraisal of an apartment complex. As users of ARGUS know, an apartment complex cannot be modeled well in ARGUS. The authors should have known that, and its clear that they are out of touch with how real appraisals are done. Overall, I'd say its a typical sloppy textbook written by academics with little to no knowledge of the real world....

Questions & answers to help you pass the appraisal certification exams: Over 1,000 questions, answers, and explanations, glossary of key appraisal terms, includes both residential and income property

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Questions and Answers to Help You Pass the Real Estate Appraisal Exams
I TOO USED MR. TIRONE'S HP-12C BOOK TO STUDY FOR THE EXAM
I used Mr. John A. Tirone's HP-12C Book to get me through th
Didn't feel like it helped much but I did pass
Don't waste your money if you already have the yellow book

Questions & answers to help you pass the appraisal certification exams: Over 1,000 questions, answers, and explanations, glossary of key appraisal terms, includes both residential and income property
Jeffrey D Fisher
Manufacturer: Real Estate Education Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Sales | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0884629821

Customer Reviews:

Questions and Answers to Help You Pass the Real Estate Appraisal Exams.......2005-07-19

Excellent review for taking the Real Estate Appraisal Exam, it covers all topics at the proper degree of difficulty.

I TOO USED MR. TIRONE'S HP-12C BOOK TO STUDY FOR THE EXAM.......2004-03-25

I purchased as much material as I could to help me through the appraisal certification exams, especially so to help me through the books I had to buy! It semed that I kept getting deeper and deeper with each book I purchased, the reviewed book included. I then saw one of my classmate's book on the HP12C, written by a Mr. John A. Tirone from Michigan. I purchased this book and used it to supplement the calculations in Mr. Fisher's questions and answers book as well as his Income Property Appraisal book.
The Tirone HP12C book was clear, comprehensive, and as said by others who have commented on Mr. Tirone's books, I was able to call him with questions on how to solve various income capitalization problems and also on how to fine tune my understanding of the Hewlett packard HP12C financial calculator. To my thinking, every appraisal text I have seen is deficient in assisting us students with the calculations on the HP finance calculators. Mr. Tirone's book and his giving no-charge approach to supporting his books and the topic are essentially lifesavers for most of us.

I used Mr. John A. Tirone's HP-12C Book to get me through th.......2004-03-13

I used Professional real Estate Propblem Solving using the HP 12C to get me through this confusing book as well as help me get through "G1" and "G2" appraisal's computations materials. What stumped me was the lack of clarity in the Fihser Tosh book as far as computations. for coverage of the HP12C it was a lifesaver to have Mr. Tirone's HP-12C real estate book. Mr. Tirone was helpful as several in our class called him for help while trying to absorb the confusing aspects of the Fisher/Tosh book. Mr. Tirone should write a book like Questions and Answers... or team up with the likes of the authors of the reviewed book.
One example in the Tosh book shows a calculation using a terminal value-sales price of $10,000 when it should be $100,000. This gave us fits and I could not figure the problem out until I called Mr. Tirone and he showed us how to do the problem.

Didn't feel like it helped much but I did pass.......2002-03-31

I was nervous before this test and I went through and answered every question in the book. The actual test seemed to ask significantly different questions. The result, however, was I passed with over 90 percent. Can you argue with that? It must have helped.

Don't waste your money if you already have the yellow book.......2001-08-26

If you already have the yellow book "Questions and Answers to help you past the Real Estate Appraisal Exams", don't waste your money purchasing the new book that was put out in 2000. It's the same book - just copy written in October of 2000. I made the mistake of thinking that there would be new questions since 1994, or the questions would at least be asked in a different format, but they are not. Word for word they are the same. So save your money if you already have the yellow book and just study it a little bit harder!

Instructor's Manual for Income Property Appraisal

Average customer rating:

Instructor's Manual for Income Property Appraisal

Manufacturer: Real Estate Education Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0793103738

Product Description

Instructor's Manual.

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Basic Income Property Appraisal
Donald R. Epley
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Pub (Sd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Communicating the Appraisal: The Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report (0642M)

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Communicating the Appraisal: The Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report (0642M)
Arlen C. Mills , and Dorothy Z. Mills
Manufacturer: Appraisal Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Harrison's Illustrated Guide How to Fill Out a Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Appraisal Report Small Residental Income Property (1990, 4th ed, 4th Printing,93)

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Harrison's Illustrated Guide How to Fill Out a Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Appraisal Report Small Residental Income Property (1990, 4th ed, 4th Printing,93)
Henry S. Harrison
Manufacturer: H2 Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Income Approach to Property Valuation

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English Pound notation is great if your working in England
Valuation Mathematics

The Income Approach to Property Valuation
Andrew Baum , and David MacKmin
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0415043891

Customer Reviews:

English Pound notation is great if your working in England.......2001-11-17

I ordered the book as a guide for refreshing some equations and methods in the income approach that I use for reports. The book is very comprehensive and useful ....except that it is noted in the Pound system which is distracting when read.

Valuation Mathematics.......2000-01-27

This book is good for people who is new to the real property investment. This is for beginner level only,however, it does offer the basic formula of various type of valuation mathematic.

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Income Property Appraisal and Analysis
Jack P. Friedman , and Nicholas Ordway
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Using the Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report

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Using the Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report
Mark Rattermann
Manufacturer: Appraisal Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0922154899

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The grocers' hand-book and directory for 1886
Artemas Ward
Manufacturer: Philadelphia Grocer Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Nutrition | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008BG4HE

Book Description

A guide for grocers published originally in 1886. The book is an alphabetical treatment of terms important to grocers. From "abattoir" (a slaughterhouse) to "yeast." Also includes some essays of importance to the business of the grocer.

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