A Manual of Construction Documentation: An Illustrated Guide to Preparing Construction Drawings

Average customer rating:

This resource is a "must" for any beginner

Included in my course syllabus

Good, But Not for Residential Projects or Beginners

A Manual of Construction Documentation: An Illustrated Guide to Preparing Construction Drawings
Glenn E. Wiggins
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Drawing & Modelling | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0823030016

Customer Reviews:

This resource is a "must" for any beginner.......2006-02-20

It's one thing to tell someone what needs to be on a working drawing, but it's another thing to show them how to put one together. This book does just that. It describes a step-by-step procedure for developing a working drawing. While it's focus is on drawings for building construction, it can easily be adapted to parts fabrication as well. The clarity and simplicity of the presentation make this book a "must read" for anyone just entering the consulting design industry. It is also extremely low priced. I will say that the drawings are not completely cross-referenced and notated, as would be necessary for a complete set of documents. Still, the drawing examples do present clear set of procedures for preparing working drawings which everyone in the business should master. I highly recommend this book.

Included in my course syllabus.......2001-08-27

I have been teaching construction documents to interior designers at Parsons School of Design for the past three years. The Wiggins Book is one of the two prime texts included in my course bibliography. The sheet by sheet instruction are very clear and show the process of putting together a set of drawings. I don't always follow the same standards as Wiggins, but it's the best that's out there. As previously commented, not recommended for residential or specialty interiors projects. Very good reference for general commercial construction documents.

Good, But Not for Residential Projects or Beginners.......2001-04-12

I was looking for an introductory book to explain how to prepare construction drawings, and the title seemed like it might do the job. However, this book is ENTIRELY dedicated to commercial buildings and the target seems to be intermediate users. There is very little useful information for residential Projects or Beginners.

The book was done well however, and I wish the author would make a similar book for residential work and revise the title or taglines these books.

Average customer rating:

How Does He Make a Living ?

A small epiphany!

It's just OK

Finally -- a "freeing your creativity" book that works

Energetic and Inspirational

Oil Painting: The Workshop Experience
Ted Goerschner , and Lewis Barrett Lehrman
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Painting | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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14 Formulas for Painting Fabulous Landscapes

ASIN: 1581801742

Book Description

Artists are intrigued by all that a workshop offers--one-on-one attention, a focused course of study and a knowledgeable instructor. This book offers a practical and stimulating alternative to the expense and inconvenience of conventional painting workshops, including:

* chapters organized like an actual week-long workshop
* first-hand instruction from a seasoned pro
* secrets to create fresh, bright colors and techniques for painting outdoors
* a dozen popular "paint-on demos" in which correct the author's common problems on student paintings

Customer Reviews:

How Does He Make a Living ?.......2007-04-11

In the opening of the book, the artist mentions that he dropped out of art classes because of his instructors. I think he should have continued his art classes. I don't know if his paintings are meant to be just illustrative and are not real representations of what he does because I've seen his work before and it's not comparable to what is in this book.
If I had to pay for his instructional teaching, then I would demand my money back. The only reason I haven't returned this book is that I misplaced the Amazon invoice and packing materials. In all honesty, I must say that my first oil painting I ever painted turned out better than anything this artist has in his book, and that was without any previous or prior knowledge, and I don't consider myself to be a great artist.
Painting is like common sense - you either have it, or you don't.

A small epiphany!.......2004-02-08

I have read a good number of books on painting and this one is head and shoulders above the rest. I experienced an immediate improvement in the quality of my painting after reading this book.

Some of the things I found valuable were Goerschner's explanation of how he achieves color harmony through the use of four "grays," the role of dynamic and static shapes in a composition, and his annotated "paint-on" critiques.

This book contains complete and well rounded instruction -- I can't recommend it enough!

It's just OK.......2002-10-03

It's more suitable for beginners. There is not much information. There are some good suggestions. The book title attracted me. It's pretty basic.

Finally -- a "freeing your creativity" book that works.......2002-01-07

I've been painting off and on for 50 years. This book is the best I've read, bar none, on how to free up your artistic creativity. I've read it through twice and keep it handy as a reference. The ideas within are expressed with simplicity and great skill, making the book a delight to read. The book is definitely a keeper. I highly recommend it for any serious oil or acrylic artist.

Energetic and Inspirational.......1999-12-05

I am using this book (along with Kevin Macpherson's "Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light and Color" and Charles Sovek's "Oil Painting -Develop Your Natural Ability") as a foundation for my self-directed study in oil painting.

Goershner's understanding of design and color, and his enthusiasm and clarity of teaching makes him a must-read for serious students of painting. My hope is to become as masterful as he is in his paintings: he manages to intrigue the viewer immediately, and uses superb compositional and color methods to elate and inspire, and leave the viewer wanting more.

Through step by step examples in the book, he explains why his paintings work so well, and how you can develop the same competence. I particularly enjoyed his critiques of 12 student paintings which he then improves and explains why they now look so much better. What a superb way to learn!

I've definitely become a Goershner fan and will be working with this book often.

Book Description

One of the most important documentary photographers of our time, Dorothea Langes revolutionary work chronicled Americas struggle with poverty during the Great Depression. Her widely reproduced, classic portrait from the 1940s,Migrant Mother, is just one of the many unforgettable images found in her stunning oeuvre of documentary works. While there have been other books on Langes photographs, none exist with the scope and breadth of this monograph, which comes from her archives at the Oakland Museum in California and includes numerous unpublished photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Documentary photo art.......2006-07-20

If you've read the standard biography of Dorothea Lange by Milton Meltzer (ISBN 0815606222) you'll enjoy this handsome photobook. Originally published in France it beautifully reproduces two hundred and sixty photos (in 250dpi) of her work owned by the Oakland Museum of California.

Dorothea Lange has now, rightly of course, achieved iconic artist status and a steady stream of photobooks continue to appear. Her work is studied by cultural commentators looking for new interpretations of photos that were originally just a straightforward record of how many Americans lived in the Depression and early war years. Though not touched on in this book she provided incidents that will keep the photo world talking: her retouching of Florence Thompson's thumb holding the tent flap in 'Migrant Mother' (Stryker totally disapproved) or the dropping of a black object to attract the attention of a little girl in one of a the series of photos about a homeless family on the road in Oklahoma during June 1938.

The six essays in the book give an overview of her life including a very good one about 'An American Exodus', the 1939 photobook she compiled with husband, Paul Taylor (still available as a paperback reprint). The photos are spread between the essays and if I have a criticism it is that they are not divided into visual chapters. The sixty-eight FSA ones run on from others taken in the thirties. The eight from the Manzanar assignment run into the fifteen from the San Francisco Second Gold Rush series. Assignments dealing with the American Country Women, Irish Country People and The Public Defender likewise run together. The thirteen from the Defender series I thought particularly interesting and I'm not aware of this many being published before. Originally a 1955 commission from Life magazine that eventually took nearly two years but was not used by the weekly.

I think 'Dorothea Lange' is a stunning looking book of photos that can hardly be improved on.

At Last, the Definitive Work on Dorothea Lange.......2005-03-10

DOROTHEA LANGE: THE HEART AND MIND OF A PHOTOGRAPHER for the first time documents more completely the life and creative output of one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century. Including photographs of Lange in her childhood and then progressing through the formal studio fashion photos that started her career to the stunning documentation of the dust bowl migrant workers of the 1930s to the final images in the 1960s, this compendium includes essays and comments by AD Coleman, Ralph Gibson, and Sam Stourdze that enhance the viewers' experience.

Dorothea Lange was as much a sociologist and commentator on the human condition as she was a consummate photographer. She moved through the world of disenfranchised peoples with a tenderness and vision that was never cloying: honesty as captured in her famous photographs was also from her view of the people she sought to memorialize. Her contribution to the knowledge of the plight of the poor is unfathomable.

Yet given all of this, the power of page after page of her works form the massive archives of the Oakland Museum, including many works never before published in book form, makes a statement no words can match. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, March 05

Book Description

Feminist before there were feminists, single parent before the term was coined, teacher with uncompromising standards when times demanded laxity, Joyce Holsclaw is all these and more. Inspired by her grandson's queries about life in the "good old days", here with humor and irony she recounts four score years of experience and wisdom only hard times, war, divorce, love and seventy-nine years can teach. Readers for whom depression and world war are more than words will recognize in these stories both timeless truth and their own lives. For the young, I Flunked Santa Claus offers a view into the world from which theirs has sprung. So great is the contrast, they may well doubt the parentage. But regardless of age or politics, these simple, yet eloquent stories will leave no reader unmoved.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT BOOK BY A GREAT LADY.......2003-07-05

This book made me never want to put it down. If you are over 50 you'll love every word of it. It will make you both laugh and cry. That's how true it is.

A very fine and entertaining autobiography.......2003-04-14

I Flunked Santa Claus was written by Joyce Holsclaw, an 80-year-old woman who was an early feminist, a single parent, and a demanding teacher. With humor and irony Joyce engagingly recounts over seventy years of her experiences, blending a zany sense of humor with insights into the social and political events of her times. A very fine and entertaining autobiography.

Excellent from cover to cover!.......2003-03-06

This book was absolutley amazing from one cover to the other. It's the real account of one womans life through the depression, world war II, and teaching in our problematic public high school system. I strongly recommend this novel for anyone who's seeking to understand this womans era and generation!

Average customer rating:

Masterful Account of Liberation

The Great Southern Eruption of Liberty

The Liberation of an Entire Continent

Very insightful account of the liberators of Latin America

Fascinating book, criminally badly editted...

Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence
Robert Harvey
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Central America | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | South America | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Aztecs and Conquistadores: The Spanish Invasion and the Collapse of the Aztec Empire (General Military)

ASIN: 1585670723
Release Date: 2000-10-02

Amazon.com

In 1780, a Peruvian-born Spanish count named Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui organized a revolt against the Spanish crown, one that briefly united thousands of Indians in a 10-month war against Peru's European conquerors. The revolt was eventually crushed, and the count was torn apart by horses after having his tongue cut out.

Condorcanqui's revolt is all but forgotten today. But it set off events that continue to reverberate, writes Robert Harvey. Less than half a century later, across Latin America, "Spain's empire had vanished without a trace, as had Portugal's dominion over Brazil." This astoundingly rapid loss of empire was the work of a handful of sometimes flawed but gifted reformers such as Simón Bolivar, José de San Martín, and Bernardo O'Higgins, who followed George Washington's then recent example and organized great armies of liberation against powers they had come to regard as foreign. These leaders paid a great price--all of them, and others Harvey profiles, died violently--for revolts that sometimes replaced one inhumane regime with another, but that, Harvey observes, at least pointed the way toward "the independence and self-respect for which the Liberators fought so hard."

A former correspondent for The Economist, Harvey writes with particular attention to England's relations with Latin America, from failed invasions of Argentina and Nicaragua to more fruitful alliances with progressive movements throughout the hemisphere. By linking developments in Latin America to political movements in North America and Europe, he does much to remove the air of isolation and exceptionalism that surrounds so much historical writing about the region. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In this "informative and inspiring volume" (Chicago Tribune), Robert Harvey reconstructs in vivid detail the gripping story of Latin America's independence and those who made it possible. Treated with contempt by their Spanish overlords, given to dissipation and grandiose proclamations, these fearless men nonetheless achieved military feats unsurpassed elsewhere in history. The aristocratic Sim&oacuten Bol&iacutevar led his guerilla armies through swamp, jungle, and Andean ice to surprise his enemies and liberate most of northern South America. The inarticulate San Mart&iacuten joined Bernardo O'Higgins, illegitimate son of a Spanish viceroy, to do the same in the south. These and five others waged the war for freedom against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, the American Revolution, the collapse of the Spanish Empire, and the revolutionary ferment of the nineteenth century. Despite the success of their revolutions, all seven liberators died in poverty, disgrace, or oblivion.

This fascinating and dramatic story takes in a vast range of martial experience, from butchery in the torrid Orinoco basin to a cavalry fought with lances 13,000 feet up in the mountains of Peru. It is one of the greatest and least-known epics of history, told here in unprecedented detail.

"A splendid old-fashioned read for those who like their history rich and romantic." (Foreign Affairs)

"Liberators is a lively, engaging introduction to a great turning point in the history of our hemispheric mates." (Houston Chronicle)

Customer Reviews:

Masterful Account of Liberation.......2007-04-01

Mr. Harvey has written a wonderfully engaging and human perspective on the OTHER American revolutions, the ones that brought down the oligarchial and reactionary Spanish Empire in this hemisphere. He writes of the awesome feats of bravery that time and time again fought against all odds. His portraits of Bolivar, San Martin, O'Higgins, Pedro Braganza, Iturbide, Cochrane, Sucre and the "supporting cast" doesn't shirk from revealing their all-too-human foibles either. Sadly, the legacy of their heroism has been obscured by the repetitive cycle of coup, caudillismo and so-called democracy in the liberated lands over the last 200 years. Equally lamentable is the fate of several of these heroes, who were shunned or worse by the people they freed. Kudoes to Harvey, not a historian by trade, who shows how good history should be written.

The Great Southern Eruption of Liberty .......2004-09-01

"Liberators," by Robert Harvey, is the most accessible popular history - in English - of the great spurt of revolution that swept South America in the early 19th century. Harvey uses the story of the Great Men of the revolution in order to weave together the events of the period, beginning with the great Precursor, Francisco Miranda, to the titans of the revolution - Liberators Simon Bolivar and San Martin, not to mention O'Higgins, Mendoza and Sucre, plus the mercenary Sea-Devil, Cochrane. He rounds off with chapters on the bloody rebellions that hit Mexico, plus the saga of Brazil's Emperor Pedro. Of the various players, Miranda comes across as the most sympathetic, mainly because of his cosmopolitan travels (he was a lover of Russia's Empress Catherine) and also becuase he didn't get his hands too bloody. Martin comes across as dour but brilliant; Bolivar, inevitably the star of the show, is painted as a great military leader on the scale of Alexander the Great, whose Andes campaign goes down as one of the greatest in history. As an Englishman, Harvey is at his best telling the story of Miranda and Cochrane, with their connections to Britain - one of whom, Cochrane, was a disgraced Member of Parliament; the other, Miranda, spent some time ingriguing with William Pitt. Also, as one versed in European history, Harvey is adept at drawing links between the Age of Reason, the age of European revolution and the Latin liberation movement.

The Liberation of an Entire Continent.......2003-11-27

By almost any measure, the liberation of Latin America dwarves the American War of Independence. In terms of landmass, this struggle ranged continously from Mexico down in Chile and Argentina. During this fifteen year conflict, several hundred thousand people died. Major battles were fought in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and Peru. A once tranquil Empire was devastated and a host of new nations arose from the destruction.

The Liberation of Latin America is an epic story and the strategy that Robert Harvey uses to tell it is to focus on the lives of the key leaders of the struggle. In this book, we meet the great Liberator, Simon Bolivar, the Protector Jose de San Martin, the Scotish Sea-Wolf Lord Cochrane, the nobel Sucre, the indomitable Padre Hidalgo and finally the Emperor and Freedom Fighter Dom Pedro I. Truly a cast of larger than life characters.

Robert Harvey has written a popular history for the general public. This book is not likely to end up as a college text book nor will it be respected by serious historians. It is a good solid read about an interesting historical period. My only regret is that Harvey is not a truly great writer. This epic story desrves its own Prescott, Catton or Tuchman.

Very insightful account of the liberators of Latin America.......2003-11-08

This is the best book on the Liberators of Latin America. This book brings to life men like Bolivar, San Martin, and Miranda. Wonderful chapters details the rebellions from the first stirrings in 1780 to the final victories in 1850. It details the liberation of Brazil, and the rest of Spanish America. A good deal of information is provided on the English involvement, their diplomatic missions and their precipitation of war in Argentina.

The books downfalls are mostly editing mistakes and a few misspellings along with the occasion flaw in dating. In many ways one wishes the book could expand to include the early life of the new republics. It would be interesting if the author could have covered the `ten years war' between Argentina and Uruguay and the Three nation war where Uruguay, Argentine and Brazil allied to almost annihilate Paraguay. But alas these subjects are beyond the authors framework.

The book is not biased and doesn't dather into the obscurity of socialist theory and other revisionist obsessions that many people have for Latin America. What is not fully explained is why the Latin American choose to fight for independence. There is much history on the American revolution and the decision to oppose the British but there is little analysis of what drove these men to declare war on a vastly superior European power(albeit one that was in decline). A very interesting read.

Fascinating book, criminally badly editted..........2002-11-30

As a Venezuelan, I was looking for a book on the independence struggle free of the tedious hero-worship that pervades Venezuelan historians' writing on Miranda, Bolívar, Sucre and the rest. This book is a good choice in that regard, full of fun annecdotes and interesting insights.

What's inexcusable are the dozens of little mistakes, place-names that are misspelled (Guiria?!? Guatiré!?!), dates that are plainly wrong, etc. etc. At one point, Harvey screws up the name of one of his main characters! After writing an entire, and very entertaining chapter about Francisco de Miranda, he finishes it off with a stylish, perceptive passage about...Fernando de Miranda! Did anyone copy-edit this thing?! Can they be summarily executed, pretty-please?

The thing about such inexplicable gaffes is that they don't do anything for your faith in the rest of the guy's narrative. If he gets simple things like that wrong, why should I believe the rest of his story? It leaves this nagging suspicion in the back of your head, you're never quite sure whether you can trust him after that.

Still, the overall narrative is gripping and fun, and it's just a puzzle to me how he could've been so careless with the easy stuff.

Average customer rating:
Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence
Robert Harvey
Manufacturer: The Overlook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K1H1BK

Book Description

Extraordinarily powerful and superbly written, this book has been widely acclaimed as a major work of popular science. It won an American Health Book Award in 1986.

This gripping and provocative book looks at the modern hospital with a probing, intimate approach. Written by a registered nurse, it tells the dramatic, poignant real-life stories of both patients and caregivers caught up in the mysterious cycle of wellness and sickness. She is puzzled by the fascinating contradictions and paradoxes - the dubious miracles of modern medicine. Despite the panoply of high-tech technology, we cannot escape the feeling that medicine retains its primal roots of sorcery and that we are all its apprentices.

It deals with the real-life stories of patients and care givers caught in the cycle of wellness and sickness and highlights the contradictions and paradoxes of modern medical miracles.

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