Book Description
Here is a new, larger edition of a classic reference. From its origins on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the seventeenth century, this charming and practical style of house has been transplanted and modified to accommodate varying life styles from as far away as Hawai`i. Stanley Schuler has brought together the architectural history of the Cape Cod House with many floor-plans and photographs to be studied and enjoyed by all who live in, restore, or want to build their own Cape Cod House. Examples range from the tiny single style to double, triple, modified and "modern" interpretations--all of which were practical at the time they were built.
Customer Reviews:
Poorly written by author with a bad attitude.......2006-10-16
Don't waste your money if you're looking for any written help on Saltboxes or Capes. The photos are adequate but the author's attitude toward architects and builders is malevolent.
Beautiful pictorial reference.......1997-08-29
A photographic chronical of Saltbox and Cape Cod houses from Colonial times to the present day.
A good idea book for anyone intending to build either style house.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for the paralysed beginner.......2005-04-24
I have been circling around watercolour painting for some time now and had gone so far as to buy some paints, brushes and paper, but was at a complete loss as to how to actually start.
I bought this book sight unseen on the basis of reviews, and I think it is the best possible book I could have bought. (I have several other 'beginners' watercolour books which have left me more, rather than less, inhibited about starting.)
This book concentrates on teaching specific watercolour techniques in a step-by-step manner, with very precise and detailed instructions on how to load your brush, how to use it, how to mix each colour, and how to do specific techniques such as laying a wash (best description I've read, by a country mile, and it worked - a perfect wash second time), softening edges, lifting out colour, adjusting your work if it isn't right first time, and so on. She takes the guesswork out by providing a series of interesting drawings to copy and step by step instructions on how to paint each, and by specifying exact paints and (cheap but good) brushes, which I bought. The exercises are graded - before I started each one I was sure I would make a total mess, but each time the results were very good (would have been excellent if I'd had the patience to do a quick trial of each technique on a scrap piece of paper before going for it).
This is not a fast-and-free approach, but an interesting and fun book which teaches you the basic techniques you will need even if the fast approach suits your personality better. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Disappointing.......2003-06-19
Not for the beginner. Choices of projects weak.
..........2002-02-11
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As a young chap, I visited my local Art Gallery here in Bolton (UK) and although I had virtually no interest in art, I found myself mesmerised by the watercolour paintings of Thomas and Paul Sandby (c1700's). Twenty five years later and I still haven't taken a brush to paper - well, not until recently.
Browsing through a bookshop a short while ago, I thumbed through scores of watercolour books and made mental note of how simple the paintings seemed to be. Can't be that difficult can it?
And then....I picked up Dawn's book and was simply amazed by the fine paintings contained therein. Wow! The "Strawberries & Lace" knocked me sideways! I figured that even if I couldn't follow the lessons, my money wouldn't be wasted, because I'd cut out these fine pictures and frame them! :-)
Seriously though, I'd agree with one of the other reviewers and say that this book is perhaps not the ideal beginner's choice. Having said that, this book does serve to inspire you and that's worth more than any amount of "basics".
Don't hesitate....buy it now!
...
Takes a Mid-Level Beginner to High-Intermediate Stage.......2001-11-23
This was one of the first watercolor books I ever bought when I first wanted to learn how to paint. First of all I'd like to list some of it's stronger points.
1. The projects are beautiful with the subjects being mostly still-life (although there is one animal project of baby ducklings
2. The author lists exactly the colors and brands she used in each project, the specific mixes of each colors and step-by-step directions for you to follow at each stage. Each project has stage-by-stage photos so you can see what your painting-in-progress should look like at the end of each stage.
3. The "Critique Your Work" tip section. She lists some questions to ask yourself as you examine the finished painting to see what you did well and what can be improved.
4. The "how moist is moist?" examination of loading a brush with color. This is one technique most other watercolor books either don't mention at all or if they do they don't explain it. The author gives photos and a detailed description of exactly what she means by a phrase such as "loaded brush", "moistened brush" etc.
5. The section on values and painting a controlled wash. There is a page devoted to common problems that beginners can run into when trying to paint washes - complete with examples of some of these problems (streaky wash, backruns, etc.) and how to correct them or avoid them.
It helps to buy the paints she recommends because it will eliminate one variarable that might make it harder to lead to a satisfying result. It is possible to use other brands (I did) but I recommend at least try to use the same pigment, if possible, as she lists in the book. For some people who are on a limited budget or don't want to invest in a lot of paint to be used only for this book's projects they might consider this a drawback. Also, this book doesn't cover painting portraits, wildlife, landscapes, seascapes, etc. It will be of most interest to fans of still-life subjects. Overall, I'm glad I own it as it is a big help to further development of techniques with watercolor.
Beautiful book but not for a beginner.......2001-11-15
The first time I picked up this book, I am very much inspired by the projects. Very clearly written step by step, even with the drawing provided and color chart clearly explained. They are as easy as coloring book, or so I thought.
There are few things that are big turn-offs. First of all, the equipment. The paint has to be of specific color (and/or maker) and for each project it requires more than 5 different color of paints. Other equipments are also specific such as brush sizes. They can be very costly, especially for a beginner like me who doesn't want to spend a lot of money for something that I will most probably failed on first try.
Second, the techniques, such as mixing colors to achieve a shade or a value, controlled wash, although very clearly written, does not give any indication that it is very hard to achieve in real situation, especially for beginner. It takes me a long while to mix a paint and achieve the described value and by the time I finish mixing all of them, I have no appetite to paint anymore. I also practiced to do controlled wash as described many many times and still I cannot achieve the same quality as desired in the book, not even near. A smear here, a balooning effect there, if you can't master it, the finished project are not too forgiving either. In short, it is very easy for a beginner like me to be frustrated and discouraged, especially after that much money spend for buying the equipments.
Maybe it's me. Maybe I will pick up this book again in the future. But for now, I'd like to see a book that teaches me how to paint intuitively, allowing me plenty of room for error, and use less equipments.
Customer Reviews:
A Photographer's Passion.......2006-08-23
David Finn is one of the world's finest photographers of sculpture. In this book he articulates in words what he has demonstrated through his photographs over the years: the sensuous appeal of figurative sculpture. His passion for his subject shines through his words as well as his well reproduced photographs. "How to Look" is a delightful introduction to sculpture.
Customer Reviews:
Decent Coverage.......2003-05-16
This is a decent reference, if only for the rules at the back. Those rules are organized throughout the book with neat historical commentary on many of them, either with actual incidents or with reasons for why some rules came to be the way they are.
Best book on the history of baseball........2003-01-02
This book gives the reasons why there are 39,337 words in the rules to Major League Baseball. Do you want to know why the pitchers' mound is 60' 6"? Read the book. It covers most of the rules and how they developed through the years. If you love baseball and want to know all about it, this is a must read. If you like baseball, you may want to borrow the book from the library.
The book does have some great b/w pictures.
It wasn't bad, but for some reason, it didn't catch me.......2001-05-14
I got this book, and expected it to be a fun read, and for awhile it was. It's got some great ancedotes on how the various rules in the baseball rule book have come up.
However, as the book wore on, it got more tedious. Some of them are very funny, and I enjoyed the book in places, but I felt it too tedious of a read for my personal enjoyment.
That's why I gave it three stars instead of a lesser rating. I expect others will enjoy it, but for me *PERSONALLY*, I felt it was tedious.
Best Book I've Read on This Subject.......1999-12-26
Nice job of interweaving baseball's rules with anecdotes giving you the reasons they were first implemented or else later modified. I found it a surprise that this book was first written in 1994 and then updated for 1999 with almost no effort at all. Because there have been no important changes at all in the rules for a number of years now! Think about that. Monumental player strikes, massive umpiring problems, records toppling almost every day--but the basic game has remained changeless. This book, as a result, may hold up for a long while as the best I've seen on the rules and their history.
Surprise, surprise.......1999-09-02
Terrible title, but the book more than survives it. The Rules of Baseball a fun read? Somehow Nemec makes it happen. Just wish it had been longer. You get the feeling that for every anecdote he used he had another 10 or 12 he could have given us that were just about as entertaining.
Book Description
"The most famous introduction to prints. Through a series of enlarged details of prints in various media, Ivins makes clear the stylistic qualities peculiar to each technique." — Choice
Customer Reviews:
A museum of printmaking.......2002-03-30
This is one of the most useful references available for learning the differences between various printmaking techniques. I have used the book myself and assigned it to museum graduate students since it was first published, as a practical compendium of most methods for graphic reproduction. The illustrations are not always crystal-clear, but each is well explained and makes a point about the method being explored. The many photographs of prints are well chosen to clarify the many differences and similarities of print techniqes.
Customer Reviews:
How to Look at Photographs.......2006-05-21
I found the book nothing more than a forum for a mediocre photographer to convince an unsuspecting reader that his less than acceptable photography be considered alongside the work of great photographers like Siskend, etc. What a rambling. I forced myself to read the entire book expecting to eventually stumble on something of value. Wow...What a waste of time. I found the inane use of poetry offensive. I think an appropriate title for the book would be, "How to Get People to Look at My Photographs." What a dirty trick.
I had to put it down.......2005-12-29
This book so thoroughly misses the mark that it's laughable. After a while, I gave up reading the author's inane babble and thumbed through the pages in search of an image that actually had text referring to it with a critical eye. Alas, it was not to be found.
Once I'd seen what other titles this author had produced, the penny dropped. Finn is taking his zest for the beautiful things in life and trying to give it different titles, all the while failing to actually address the topic in an even remotely considered or generally plausible manner.
What are they thinking?.......2005-04-11
I see no connection at all between the content of this book and how to look at photographs. It includes timeless historic photographs and Finn's own less than remarkable examples of the craft. What it does not include is any framework whatsoever as a guide to looking at photographs. Where was the editor? Is this vanity press? Jeez.
Not helpful in the Least.......2003-10-28
Too amorphous and self-referential to be helpful. The author emphasizes extreme subjectivity instead of a more useful, systematic framework for reading photographic text.
There's no room for aesthetics here. Finn implies that the act of looking is so highly personal as to preclude the use of any criteria in evaluating art. Not only an intellectual dead-end, but also a justification for mediocrity. And, no offense to Mr. Finn, but his own work appears just that: amateurish compared to the included "masters."
Skip this one and check out "Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images" by Terry Barrett.
Worst Photography Book Ever.......2003-08-27
Finn has nothing to say. This is a terrible book. In no way does the author provide any insight to analyzing the content of a photograph aiding the viewer to appreciate and understand the artist's work. I cannot believe the publisher allowed this material to be published.
Average customer rating:
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Trashman Lives!
Spain
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Drawing
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
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General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0930193741 |
Book Description
Abridged and edited for the modern reader and available in paperback for the first time ever, this second edition brings back into print a classic autobiography of Middle America--an immensely readable document that enriches our understanding of Progressivism and politics, journalism, and the social history of small-town America from Reconstruction into the Roaring Twenties.
At the time of his death in 1944, William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, was a national celebrity, proclaimed one of the truly great Americans of his age. Life magazine called him "a living symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense."
During his career White had managed to expand his circle of influence far beyond Emporia Kansas to include most of the nation. By the end of his life he had become a nationally acclaimed journalist and author of biographies, novels, and short stories. He was also widely known for his shrewd commentary on contemporary events in the national media. An influential Republican political leader, he founded the Progressive party and was a longtime advocate of social reform and individual rights. But what endeared him most to his contemporaries was that, in spite of national fame, he remained first and foremost a small-town newspaperman.
First published posthumously in 1946, White's Autobiography was immediately hailed as a classic portrait, not simply of White himself, but of the men and women who transformed America from an agrarian society to a powerful industrial nation in the years before World War I. A bestselling Book-of-the-Month Club selection, the Autobiography was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1947.
This new edition, edited to eliminate repetitions and digressions, features an introduction by Sally Foreman Griffith, author of a recent biography of White. Griffith explores the background of the Autobiography and illuminates its place in the development of the autobiographical genre.
Customer Reviews:
It's just not the same book.......2003-06-10
Anyone who is familiar with the original Autobiography of William Allen White will immediately recognize that this new book is a crippled skeleton of the original. Almost all the lyrical, descriptive, humorous, and self-effacing passages that made the original a great work of literature have been slashed out. White won the Pulitzer Prize for his literature, not for his name-dropping and political glad-handing. It is amazing that the family would authorize this badly damaged version of an American classic. Why would you want to read this version, when the original is so readily available? I suppose some would say that Sally Lindsay White might have had a major hand in the posthumously published original, and might try to find W.A.White's own hand in the work, but if so, that would only mean that she should have shared in the Pulitzer. Besides, the parts that are cut out are the most truly autobiographical sections. Unless you just enjoy loading your bookshelf, leave this one off.
Average customer rating:
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RV Rambling the USA: Travel Memories
Gordie Weymouth
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1410739406 |
Customer Reviews:
I bought this book and immediately made some of the tassels........1999-05-11
My husband and I went on a trip to England. One day going through the Cotswolds we both saw a beautiful red tassel hanging in one of the shops. Then 3 days before going back to the States, I thought this is a very hands on creative country, maybe there is a book for making tassels that I could take home. I checked with the Canterbury bookstore and YES there was a book available for the same price as the tassel we had seen in the Cotswolds. I purchased the book and read it on the plane home. It had the best explanations and I created a red tassel as soon as I got home. In the book are also discriptions and photos of the tools needed. I wrote a letter to Anna and she sent a list of supplies that could be ordered from her. She was so helpful by mail. I have since made tassels for wedding gifts, teachers of my children, birthdays and for home decor. It has given me great creative pleasure, and of all the tassel books that I have collected...."The Tassels Book", is still my all time favorite that I come back to if there is a question on how to do something. I have since discovered other United States sources for supplies and threads thanks to Anna Crutchley's detailed discriptions in her book.
Book Description
In the fifth year of the War of Independence, while the Americans focused on the British thrust against the Carolinas, the Canadian Department waged a decisive campaign against the northern frontier of New York. Their primary target was the Mohawk River region, known to be the "grainbowl" that fed Washington's armies. The Burning of the Valleys details the actions of both sides in this exciting and incredibly effective British campaign. General Frederick Haldimand of Canada possessed a potent force, formed by the deadly alliance of toughened, embittered Tories, who had abandoned their families and farms in New York and Pennsylvania to join the King's Provincial regiments in Canada, and the enraged Six Nations Iroquois, whose towns and farmlands had been utterly devastated by Continentals in 1779. The Governor augmented this highly motivated force with British and German regulars and Canadian Iroquois. In October, without benefit of modern transportation, communications or navigational aids, four coordinated raids, each thoroughly examined in this book, penetrated deeply into American territory. The raiders fought skirmishes and battles, took hundreds of prisoners, burned forts, farms, and mills and destroyed one of the finest grain harvests in living memory.
Customer Reviews:
THE Burning of the Valleys:Daring Raids form Canada..........2003-03-07
This is a must have book for an American Revolutionary War reenactor. That is, if you are on the side of the Crown. Especailly if you are portraying a Loyalist/Tory. God Save King George III!
Your Humble Servant,
C. Hofmann, King's Rangers
A very well written History of the American Revolution.......1998-08-04
A Fantastic work and a pleasure to read the History of a forgotten area of history, the American Revolution as it happened in New York state. Very well documented, good selection of paintings, modern photographs and maps of the region. The indices are unquestionably the most complete that I have ever seen.
I highly reccommend this book to anyone who is interested in the late 18 th Century and the American Revolution.
Average customer rating:
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Gaelic Mind and the Collapse of the Gaelic World (Studies in Irish History)
Andrew Gailey
Manufacturer: Cork University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ireland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
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History of Ideas
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
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General
| Foreign Languages
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ASIN: 090256157X |
Average customer rating:
- If you know the author, maybe you'll like the book
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How to Build a Person: A Prolegomenon
John Pollock
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Artificial Intelligence
| Computer Science
| Computers & Internet
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Machine Learning
| Artificial Intelligence
| Computer Science
| Computers & Internet
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General
| Computers & Internet
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General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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General
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Cognitive Psychology
| Behavioral Sciences
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General
| Behavioral Sciences
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Cognitive Psychology
| Behavioral Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
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Cognitive Science
| Behavioral Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
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ASIN: 0262161133 |
Book Description
Building a person has been an elusive goal in artificial intelligence. This failure, John Pollock argues, is because the problems involved are essentially philosophical; what is needed for the construction of a person is a physical system that mimics human rationality. Pollock describes an exciting theory of rationality and its partial implementation in OSCAR, a computer system whose descendants will literally be persons.
In developing the philosophical superstructure for this bold undertaking, Pollock defends the conception of man as an intelligent machine and argues that mental states are physical states and persons are physical objects as described in the fable of Oscar, the self conscious machine.
Pollock brings a unique blend of philosophy and artificial intelligence to bear on the vexing problem of how to construct a physical system that thinks, is self conscious, has desires, fears, intentions, and a full range of mental states. He brings together an impressive array of technical work in philosophy to drive theory construction in AI. The result is described in his final chapter on "cognitive carpentry."
John Pollock is Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona. A Bradford Book
Customer Reviews:
If you know the author, maybe you'll like the book.......2000-12-26
Quick check - do you *love* to use terms like de se, de re, defeasible reasoning, supervenient, attenuated rational functionalism, intentionality, individuating, Tversky's representativeness heuristic, rebutting defeater, doxastic assumption, physicalism and simpliciter? If so, we _might_ have a book for you here
i'm not sure how to describe this book. i realize my rating (1 star) is harsh, so let me justify it by saying that this book appeals to a very small niche, and if you're not in that niche (which i am not), this book will probably bore you to tears
Although Pollock claims to be a philosopher, having read the book i'm going to guess that his specialty is symbolic logic. Pollock, obviously an active academic, talks exclusively about formal logic - "building a person" means only the ability to do formal logic. Like many boring academic works, it is chock full of citations, and the author seems to assume that you've read most of them. Actually, i get the feeling that the author expects that you wrote some of them, as the writing tone reminds me of an email pulled out of the end of a long, detailed flame war.
People who follow arguments in formal logic closely (i.e., other logicians) might find something interesting in this book. However, since i know relatively little about the current state of formal logic, this book went right over my head. As such, i'm really not qualified to say anything about the book other than, if you aren't part of the niche this book is targeting, you probably won't like it
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- Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj
- Store Windows, No. 14 (Store Windows)
- SuperDutch : New Architecture in the Netherlands
- Swatt Architects: Livable Modern (House Design)
- The American Brewery: From Colonial Evolution to Microbrew Revolution
- The Buildings of Charleston: A Guide to the City's Architecture
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