Book Description
In the field of landscape architecture, there is no more distinguished voice than Michael Van Valkenburgh, and so it is appropriate that we begin this new Source Books in Landscape Architecture series with his recently completed Allegheny Riverfront Park project for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As part of the city's efforts to restore its downtown district and riverfront, Van Valkenburgh, along with artists Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercil, developed an ambitious plan to reform the wasted land along the river into an urban refuge. The celebrated collaboration between landscape architect and artists produced a thoughtful, useful, and beautiful park that has successfully renewed the city's core.
Source Books in Landscape Architecture, produced in collaboration with Ohio State University, will provide detailed documentation of important new projects.
Customer Reviews:
Novel Series.......2006-08-11
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Allegheny Riverfront Park
Source Books in Landscape architecture 1.
Jane Amidon, Series Editor.
Princeton Architectural Press, 2005.
ISBN 1-56898-504-5
The two main models of design publication that we are used to: the collection of projects or the corporate monograph are both neatly avoided in this, the first in a series of booklets from Princeton Architectural Press. The series is a really nice, unpretentious idea - one that has already been successful for Princeton Press in regard to architecture and one the series editor, Jane Amidon describes as a response to the `hunger for transparency'. Amidon promises that the series will take us backstage and give us an unvarnished view of the design process.
The idea is this. Each booklet is a synthesis of a seminar series held within the Knowlton School of Architecture. The seminars bring students, critics and one eminent or as they say, `emerging' designer together in the spirit of open and `critical inquiry'. Each consequent booklet then contains a mix of (very) short solicited essays, crisp interviews with the designer(s) and illustrations that divulge the process of the project's realization. The students who apparently bring the information for the booklet together have of course vanished by this stage.
Each issue is soft back, squared off, printed on nice paper and can be read from start to finish in about an hour or so. Each includes project time-lines the odd technical detail and a bit of site history. They are neat little educational documents - catalogues to be precise and one looks forward to further installments and being able to buy the box set after all is said and done.
Despite being 160 pages this particular volume feels like half that. It is very light on text and there is an excess of meaningless photography soaking up space which in my view should have stayed on theme and shown us more of things backstage. There is, for example virtually no documentation of the creative process of designing this park. There is the proverbial shot of people on site in hard hats and other ones of people in the office staring down at models but the content of the book doesn't quite meet the series mandate.
Even though I prefer the idea of focusing on a particular project and getting in to one designer's head than what has been a recent spate of global collections, I'm not convinced that the Allegheny Riverside Park by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates (MVVA) really needed a book(let) all of its own. As such this booklet goes very close to worshiping the banal. Having said that, the Allegheny Riverfront Park is a brilliantly controlled piece of work, one with three important sub-texts.
First, even if its hard to really see it as a park in the grand democratic tradition that he places it, Valkenburgh has made a functional, generous and simply beautiful sliver of public space out of what seemed like an impossible site. Valkenburgh fattens up the river edge with a clear infrastructural intervention and breathes a naturalistic, yet urbane poetic in to what was otherwise Pittsburgh's lifeless edge.
Second, whereas collaborations with artists have become something of a cliché, in this project it is genuine and the book accounts for why. The art is not a spilled souvenir shelf, rather, it is embedded and the resultant details are subtle. As art however it could be criticized for its limited representational scope, but landscape architects like art that is based on what they call `nature'.
Third, through the interview format Valkenburgh muses on his design philosophy. In what is a thinly veiled swipe at emerging `landscape urbanism' in some prominent north American schools, Valkenburgh expresses skepticism about programmatic open-endedness. He advises that landscape architects assert their traditional design skills and return to their core skills and know their essential materials--not least of all plants. His use of plants, and for that matter his attention to materials in general, manifests beautifully in the project at hand. Apparently an artist as well as a landscape architect, Valkenburgh likens his current direction to that of the mid-century abstract expressionists who rejected representational content and returned art to its essence.
The critics, who have the last say, are unanimously enamored by the warm glow of authenticity that Valkenburgh exudes. Gary Hilderbrand writes a lovely endorsement, although I think he struggles a bit to place the work historically. Another (so called) critic, Ethan Carr thinks the project gets to the quintessence of its location (the holy grail of landscape architecture) and Erik de Jong concludes that the project is the embodiment of beauty; not just beauty as we know it, but as the Greeks did. Unfortunately she is cut off before she can flesh out this vast claim.
I don't think this booklet has really described the messiness and the struggle of design processes and nor has it completey avoided the style of the corporate monograph or advertorial. Still, the series is a good idea and the landscape profession and discipline will be better for it. Perhaps the singularly most successful thing in this booklet and no doubt from those to come in the series, is that the gap between theory and praxis is compressed.
Customer Reviews:
This is not a book to learn by.......2006-05-31
The reviewer no one is paying attention to is the more correct one. This book is full of small photos taken during the completion of larger works. Accompanying these photos are plenty of comments, but they are NOT detailed instruction or guidance that will help if you are learning - only generalizations, broad concepts, wishy washy artsy fluff. Don't buy this book to learn to paint shiny objects, fur, cloth or folds, or any other specific material or texture. On the other hand, if you like Joseph Sheppard's style of painting and you can learn to paint anything simply by looking at hundreds of 2-3 inch square photos... this is the book for you.
Primer of Old Master oil painting technique.......2001-12-04
Before Modernism, oil painters were interested in developing their abilities to depict real or imagined images. In order to accomplish that goal, they needed 'technique'. Starting with the workshops of the Renaissance, young painters (e.g., Leonardo Da Vinci) learned how to represent the differing textures of objects (viz., silk fabric, satin, Persian carpets, shiny and dull metals, flowers, fruit ,vegetables, animal fur, human skin & hair). Only after gaining such facility in their painting technique were they allowed to join the guild of professional artists in their community.
In this book Joseph Sheppard shows how to paint the textures one sees. This liberates the artist who is willing to put forth the effort. Also, Joseph Sheppard painstakingly illustrates the steps one goes through in building an oil painting, from beginning to end. We see his accomplished paintings being built up layer by layer. He shows the importance of blending and how to attain sfumato. Note: I disagree with his insistance, in the book's introduction, on the use of toxic lead white (e.g., I have found that Old Holland titanium white is both more opaque and lean than lead white).
Sheppard starts with thumbnail sketches on paper to develop and optimize his composition. We are shown the various sketches he makes to reach a successful composition.
Using a toned canvas or panel, Sheppard begins the iterative painting process that follows upon the heals of laying in the drawing (i.e., with burnt umber and turpentine).
Joseph shppard is a comsumate teacher. This book is holds great potential value for the serious oil painter who wants to develop his or her painting skills to a high level.
Tons of photos but little more.......2001-08-29
Imagine taking a handful of very busy paintings. Take dozens of photos of each. Now add very generic comments about light, shadows, colors, etc. and you have this book. If you are a skilled artist who lacks formal training then the generic tips in this book might be of some slight benefit to you. However, if you are a beginning or intermediate artist who is looking for solid advice, detailed tutorials, or tips on painting specific textures then you should look elsewhere.
Average customer rating:
- Wrong book--Wake up Amazon.com!!!!
- Better title:"Transsexuals of Brazil"
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Brazil Incarnate
Paul Theroux
Manufacturer: Edition Stemmle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Photo Essays
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Theroux, Paul
| ( T )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 3908163242 |
Customer Reviews:
Wrong book--Wake up Amazon.com!!!!.......2006-07-13
I appreciate photographer Anthony Suau's work, but this book BRAZIL INCARNATE is not by Anthony Suau even though Amazon's website says that it is. The book is by a photographer who's last name is Pillitz. I ordered this book, waiting for a book by Anthony Suau, the author according to Amazon.com of the book BRAZIL INCARNATE. I wish Amazon.com hadn't decieved me and sent me a book that is not by Anthony Suau. Shame on Amazon.com. Did they lie on purpose? I don't think so... It's general incompetance, that's all. Now, I am stuck with a book I didn't order. Thanks for nothing you bastards!
Better title:"Transsexuals of Brazil".......2005-02-07
Pillitz has done his homework and infiltrated the inner sanctum of the the transvestite underworld of Brazil in order to capitalize on a very temporal and sex-crazed society. The black and white photography renders the subjects seemlessly, considering the starkness of black/white admixtures following generations of miscegenation. My main complaint is that Pillitz' obsession with the transgender world skews what the title and front photograph advertise. Further, the back cover states "a five year study on Brazilian sexuality and body culture"; however, in the author's own words he describes how he became fixated on transsexuals and patiently gained acceptance by visiting and living amongst them.
Don't buy this book in order to see much debauchery. There are many shots of bare breasts (mostly transsexual) and the most risque pic shows a guy tonguing a breast at the Gay Ball. Since HIV/AIDS is so prevalent, a few shots of transsexual bodies ravaged by AIDS would have been a good counterpoint.
The price is steep ($75) and fortunately I was able to get a loaner from the local library. I suggest you do the same if possible; otherwise, pass on this.
Average customer rating:
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Omitted Variable Tests and Dynamic Specification: An Application to Demand Homogeneity (Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems)
Björn Schmolck
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Econometrics
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Microeconomics
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mathematics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Probability & Statistics
| Applied
| Mathematics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Statistics
| Applied
| Mathematics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 354067358X |
Book Description
This book deals with the omitted variable test for a multivariate time-series regression model. The empirical motivation is the homogeneity test for a consumer demand system. The consequences of using a dynamically misspecified omitted variable test are shown in detail. The analysis starts with the univariate t-test and is then extended to the multivariate regression system. The small sample performance of the dynamically correctly specified omitted variable test is analysed by simulation. Two classes of tests are considered: versions of the likelihood ratio test and the robust Wald test which is based on a heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent variance-covariance estimator (HAC).
Book Description
How is the legal conception of "property" working to eradicate the global urban commons? Contemporary capitalism has advanced this process by producing rampant gentrification, socio-spatial stratification, and racial inequality. In Unsettling the City, Nicholas Blomley shows how the concept of "property" helps to generate and underwrite these pervasive urban processes. But they are not uncontested. Showing how conflicting concepts of property are implicated in a host of social struggles in the contemporary city, he begins his study with the Pacific Northwest. From this base, Blomley moves to Pacific Rim cities in general, looking at gentrification, urban land, and postcolonialism in the Western U.S., Australia, and Western Canada.
Unsettling the City is an expansive analysis of how "property" plays a key role in what he terms "the enclosure of the global commons," and what can be done to resist this process of enclosure.
Average customer rating:
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Globalising Brands
Alan Mitchell
Manufacturer: Financial Times Energy Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Retailing
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| International
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Marketing
| Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Research
| Marketing
| Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1840831545 |
Customer Reviews:
OK, but a little too idyllic.......2007-05-18
As a parent of a [..](who is my oldest) I got some value out of this book. That being said, I found the examples to be so cookie cutter obviously "made up" it strained the credibility of the book. Although it was acknowledged that being a parent and a divorcee can make things considerably tougher (which is my case and I think most parents these days) there was absolutely no helpful information on such a situation and every example contained married parents who seemingly were able to work together (wouldn't that be nice) or one primary parent with the other one entirely absent (which also simplifies some aspects of being a parent).
Bauman and Riche are right on target.......2002-02-23
As two fifty-something grandparents suddenly having a very angry sixteen year old child-woman unexpectedly thrust into our home because she disowned her mother, Bauman and Riche describe her to a T. It is like they sat in the corner of our home and observed what was happening. There were times when my wife and I got some real chuckles as they described our turbulent, resentful, self-absorbed, uncommunicative, secretive, rude and seemingly lazy sixteen year-old. Even more amusing was the perfect description of our frustration, resentment, and sometimes helplessness we felt. The book was an enormous help in showing us what and why she was doing things, and how the old techniques we used with our kids won't work any more. They just make the problems worse. We are applying some of the suggestions and they are working. Slowly, (not as fast as some of the case histories they used in the book) and not perfectly, but they are working. We are actually seeing some glimpses of the bright, wonderful person she will eventually become. Certainly, not all teens have these problems, but our extremely intelligent sixteen year old has a majority of the ten the authors used as discussion points. I highly recommend this book to any parent who is seeing some strong rebellion emerge in their teenager. If nothing else, it will help you keep your sanity.
Well-Written but Degrading.......2001-03-29
"The Ten Most Troublesome Teenage Problems" is just another member of a recent cult of parenting and self-help books. This cult believes that all human joys and woes can be boiled down into categories, usually seven or ten. See "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective ________ " and "Ten Stupid Things Women do to Mess up their Lives".
I read the introduction thinking "Yeah, this guy has a point. We need to communicate with our teens and solve problems individually." Unfortunately the book then proceeds to portray adolescents as irresponsible, immature creatures who can be classified according to ten undesirable attitudes and behaviors.
When we learn to respect our teens the way they are instead of putting them in categories, they will have fewer "problems" with parents, peers, and society in general. And books like this will no longer sell.
Book Description
Pannewitz's Cossacks tells the full history of the Cossack units that fought in the Wehrmacht in World War ll. Highly detailed captions accompany a spectacular collection of some 300 photographs, nearly all of which have never been seen before.
Customer Reviews:
Indispensible.......2007-08-10
If you have an interest in the Cossacks who served with the German Army during WWII, but don't know where to start this book is a good place to begin. If you already know something and want to know more, this book is good value. De Lannoy's book is one of the best on the subject. Hard cover, profusely illustrated with clearly captioned photos and beautifully produced. As an added bonus you also get some background to the Cossacks, including a number of colour plates of Cossacks in the service of Imperial Russia. If you're interested in the Eastern Front get this book. If you're a military modeller, whatever the scale, get this book. If you're interested in Knight's Cross winners, get this book. I know that no Cossacks won the Knight's Cross, but there are photos of a number of German officers serving with the Cossacks who did. I've been interested in the Eastern Front for a long time, and thought I knew about the Cossacks, but have found De Lannoy's book a real eye opener. If I had any complaint, and it is a minor one, it is that as the text has been translated from the original French, it's a little unusual in places. Don't let that put you off though, buy it for the hundreds of previously unpublished photos.
Book Description
Trusted by professors of the humanities survey course for over twenty years, CULTURE AND VALUES covers Western cultures along with important non-Western cultures, providing students solid, accessible introductions to art, music, philosophy, literature, and more. Available in two volumes, or as an alternate single volume without end-of-chapter readings, this text remains the most readable and reliable textbook for college and university students in the integrated humanities.
Book Description
CULTURE AND VALUES, Fifth Edition continues to combine balanced coverage of literature, art, music, and philosophy with sociological insight into the daily life of the characters in the unfolding drama of Western civilization. Available in two volumes, or as an alternate single volume without readings, this text remains the most readable and reliable textbook for college and university students in the integrated humanities.
Customer Reviews:
Full of Errors and Bias.......2005-04-30
As a Humanities teacher I was drafted to teach the Intro class at the last minute at my college. I "inherited" this text. It's a sorry excuse for a textbook. It's full of errors (even in the 5th edition!). Examples: "Egypptians have used hieroglyphics throughout their history." A) "heiroglyphics" is an adjective (the noun is heiroglyphs). And throughout history? Tell it to a modern Egyptian! B) "The Prophet Mohammad married Fatima." I can't begin to describe how offensive this is. Fatima was Mohammad's daughter. Fatima married Ali (they get that wrong, too). C) Throughout, pre-Christian religions are referred to as "pagan." Pagan is a Latin term meaning "redneck." One of the authors is a theologian and should know better: the preferred term among comparitive religionists is "polytheism." Moreover, the overall skew of the book is toward dates, rulers and battles; in other words, the book is better suited to a World Civ class--and a world civ class taught in the 19th century, at that!
Priceless Course Book.......2005-03-08
I love this book. It's beautifully arranged by the ages. Each chapter has a chronological map on Events, Paintings, Architecture and Written Works of the timeline. The illustrations are breathtaking. You not only get Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Leonardo's Mona Lisa and Rembrandts' self portraits, but description, motivation, history and characteristics. I learned that I love Renaissance paintings the most and that Rafael painted images with a triangle arrangement. When we took an exam, I was able to differentiate Greek from Roman statues. I hope your edition comes with the musical CD. In class, we hear Wagner, Beethoven and Bach. This was utilized in my Humanities course with the illustrious Yamilé Quintana, professor of music and humanities at Miami-Dade College. A major treat for me was to find the Chant to The Lord's Prayer. (I'm still practicing it.)
Book Description
This text specific audio CD contains music discussed in the text. It can be purchased separately or bundled with the text.
Book Description
CULTURE AND VALUES, Fifth Edition continues to combine balanced coverage of literature, art, music, and philosophy with sociological insight into the daily life of the characters in the unfolding drama of Western civilization. Available in two volumes, or as an alternate single volume without readings, this text remains the most readable and reliable textbook for college and university students in the integrated humanities.
Customer Reviews:
great buy.......2007-02-15
book was in excellent condition, small, minor markings that werent really noticeable...came quickly...super affordable!
Average customer rating:
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Culture and Values: Alternate Edition
Lawrence S. Cunningham , and
John J. Reich
Manufacturer: Holt Rinehart & Winston
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Civilization & Culture
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 003063511X |
Average customer rating:
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If You Should Hear a Honey Guide
April Pulley Sayre
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Nonfiction
| Birds
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Africa
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Zoology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Picture Books
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0395715458 |
Book Description
An East African bird, the honey guide, loves honeycombs but sometimes cannot reach them. So the bird calls a person or a honey badger and leads them to a bee nest."With outstanding care and restraint, Sayre introduces this unusual bird and tells the story of symbiosis in a spare, poetic text that is also exciting for reading aloud." -- Kirkus Reviews, pointer School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
Books:
- Minimum - Mini Edition (Phaidon Miniature Editions)
- Modern Urban Housing in China (Architecture)
- New Bedroom Design
- Observations for Young Architects
- Paradise by Design: Tropical Resorts and Residences by Bensley Design Studios
- Paul Rudolph: The Late Work
- Philip Johnson: Life and Work
- Places of the Soul: Architecture and Environmental Design As a Healing Art
- Plantation Homes of Louisiana and the Natchez Area
- Pleasure: The Architecture and Design of Rockwell Group
Books Index
Books Home
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Spielräume / Changing Places: Zeitgenössische deutsche Landschaftsarchitektur / Contemporary German Landscape Architecture
Open: New Designs for Public Spaces
Fieldwork: Landscape Architecture Europe
