Design Books

How blessed indeed we are to have these truths available to read and study. Thank you Joel Goldsmith!

I have read several of Joel Goldsmith's books before I read this one, but who could assimilate all that stuff in mere months? This book took me by surprise. It was bam bam bam, pearls everywhere, on every single page! To date, this is still THE best book I've ever read, whether by Joel or not, but then again, that's not a fair comparison. I am so blessed to have come upon this work.

I was skeptical about reading this book based on the first few pages. As I went further, I found Goldsmith's writing to be full of conviction and motivating. I will try meditation as a result of reading the book. Goldsmith frequently repeats points made earlier but with another twist added. This is good because it helps to remember the points that Goldsmith makes.

Joel Goldsmith has been given a spiritual vision into living a life in Christ.

There are many steps to take in the spiritual life and sometimes we take one step forward and two steps backward.

There are days when all seems hopeless and your faith is waning and than you let go and let God and you reach the mountain top.

To stay at peace in your journey takes work and yet this is a paradox because grace will see you through.

40 years after reading this book for the first time, I can read it again and still be amazed and astounded by the spiritual insight it contains. In consciousness it does not matter when something was first written -- it is the insight written on the pages that matters. You will be blessed to read the pages of this book.

This is an excellent book for a beginner to practice landscape quilting.
The simple techniques that you can try will encourage you to then design and make your own landscape quilt.

In Points of View, Valerie outdoes her first book, Beyond the Horizon. She includes many more techniques and hints, along with gorgeous pictures of her work and that of others. It's a book to get lost in. Easy to translate the written word into real life works and be pleased with the results!

Points of View is a wonderful book, rich in detail and information, and gorgeous photos of Valerie Hearder's quilts. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to do landscape quilting. Valerie's "viewfinder" idea for finding your correct section of fabric is great, the instructions are clear and easy to follow to make your version of each type of quilt.

If you love making quilted landscapes or are interested in learning how to make them, this is a great book. You learn easy as well as a little more advanced ways to make them. You learn how to look at fabric and see possiblilites in it that you had never seen before. Follow the patterns and techniques to make your own piece of art and then check out the gallery in the back of the book. Amazing! I had made landscapes before getting this book, but I have learned so much more from it.
Kay S.

As a quilt teacher this is a must have tool. This book is one of the best landscape book out there, it so simple to use that a first timer can use it with their eyes closed. If you ever wanted to give it a try this is the way to go it has it all from the very simple to wow!!!!

Populuxe describes the postwar era from 1955-1964 when American consumerism reached its fullest expression. Since that time we have just recycled and re-invented that period's concepts and trends. Mr. Hines points to the product launch of the 1955 Chevy as marking the beginning, as it was the first mid-price car with tailfins, terminating with the staleness of the "future" presented at the 1964 World's Fair that came in the months after the crushing blow of JFK's assassination.

Thomas Hine describes the era as one that simultaneously looked back to the old west and to a space age future. The old west was a useful paradigm because it brought to mind the pioneer spirit; the sense of self-invention involved and the space age came with the atom bomb, sputnik and the astronauts. Fueled by sudden prosperity, shaped by sophisticated advertising and product marketing, embraced by an American middle class rich with dollars and plenty of leisure, it was the time of ever-growing tail fins on cars, the latest kitchen gadget and exuberant roadside architecture.

While the book would be highly enjoyable just for the descriptions of the products and trends of those times as well as the treasure trove of classic photos, Mr. Hines does more than that. He shows how the tenets of consumerism were laid out in this time; from feeding people a readymade identity through the products they purchased to creating new markets by fulfilling consumers desires rather than their needs. A toaster was no longer a machine that grilled bread. It was a space aged accessory that told its purchaser that he or she was pioneer in the land of tomorrow.

Hine's book is a meticulously researched, wonderfully illustrated work on how the American mindset of the 1950s and 1960s created both the consumer culture and the physical environment in which it thrives. All of this is masquerading as an enjoyable, nostalgic, amusement park ride through the world of split-level houses, tail finned cars, and orange Naugahyde-upholstered furniture. It's a fun read for all baby boomers as well as for any of their children who are trying to figure out why their parents think pink and green go together. By the way, I also recommend this book to any Europeans trying to understand American culture. Read this and the short story "The Concrete Mixer" by Ray Bradbury and you'll understand why McDonalds and Wal-Mart can't be stopped.

While the colorful plastic and steel designs of the '50's and '60's lacked the beauty of the bronze and silk Art Deco styles of the '20' s and '30's, they are still full of a spirit of fun and excitement.

Before Thomas Hine invented the term "Populuxe," the hopeful designs found in '50's and '60's fashion, furniture, architecture and automobiles were linked with the Space Age, the mighty atom, Rock 'n' Roll, and a nation in love with its wheels. Looking toward a bright future helped the Western world bear the reality of the shadow of Communism. As a guy with dim memories of this era I can say that this book is great fun to read with plenty of vintage pictures and insight into how the Space Age came to be and what it all meant.

I found this book in college, used as a text for the Industrial Design dept. I was a Criminal Justice major myself, but found this a great look at American culture.

This book could be a blueprint for the whimsical looks at the 50's seen on History Channel documentaries.

Hines book is a fun, unpretentious look at the times that led to the designs. It is refreshing that the author didn't take the easy route and simply churn out a tome laundry listing trends simply to make fun of them. The book shows a great understanding and admiration of the industrial art of the era without any pretense or hubris

Hine's work is a meticulously researched, wonderfully illustrated work on how the American mindset of the 1950s and 1960s created both the consumer culture and the physical environment in which it thrives. All of this is masquerading as an enjoyable, nostalgic, amusement park ride through the world of split-level houses, tail finned cars, and orange Naugahyde-upholstered furniture. It's a fun read for all baby boomers as well as for any of their children who are trying to figure out why their parents think pink and green go together. By the way, I also recommend this book to any Europeans trying to understand American culture. Read this and the short story "The Concrete Mixer" by Ray Bradbury and you'll understand while McDonalds and Wal-Mart can't be stopped.

I have purchased several markets development books and this one beats them all. It has a fantastic overview of the markets, the language is awesome & the detailed instructions on how you can build your system ground up is fabulous. I'd recommend it to everyone from Beginner to a Pro - "A must buy !!"

For me, just beginning in this field, this book is a gem.
It has great explanations of the lingo/structure of the financial markets as well as useful code examples.

'Practical .NET for Financial Markets' by Samir Jayaswal is a very specialized book for all financial developers. Laid out over 9 chapters with 500+ pages of detail this is a wonderfully written reference for this niche market.

If you are a .NET developer in the financial industry you owe it to yourself to pick up this great resource!

***** RECOMMENDED

This text is excellent in what it sets out to do and five other reviewers have said so with 5 star ratings. I agree very much with the reviews of Ted Hrudz and Gulli Ellee, in particular - they are well said and spot on. I think I must make a few comments of my own, however. I have managed financial software projects in the last seven years and have experience in developing and implementing capital and money market securities software, and prior experience in implementing equity software, so I have some background and interest in this area.

First the positives: This books succeeds enormously at providing a very good introduction to equity markets and front and back office software development from a .NET development lead, architect or developer perspective. In less than 500 pages the authors manage to provide a very good and reasonably comprehensive/broad tutorial in several aspects of financials as well as .NET and the book makes reasonably easy reading for such technical subjects. Most of the relevant and interesting topics are covered or touched on. The reviewers I mention above itemize most of the .NET and financials topics covered so I will spare you the repetition.

The authors are obviously very knowledgeable in both the securities domain and the .NET architecture and development technologies and issues and convey their knowledge expertly. This book makes an excellent introduction (but ironically advanced/intermediate in several respects) to the domain concepts and requisite architectural/developmental .NET features. Having said that let me add that you will need more than this book if you seriously plan to undertake financial software development with .NET. You may need to supplement your knowledge in both areas with some of these books, depending what you already know or have been involved in:

Securities/Electronic Payments Domain: 1. Securities Operations: A Guide to Trade and Position Management by Michael Simmons; 2. Corporate Actions by Michael Simmons; 3. After the trade is made by David M. Weiss, Revised 2006 Edition; 4. How the US Securities Market Works by Hal McIntyre (2nd Edition); 5. Gobal Securities Operations by Jeremiah O'Connor; 6. Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners by Larry Harris; 7. An Introduction to Financial Technology by Roy S. Freedman. 8. You may also need to understand Secure Electronic Payment Systems (see texts by Weidong Kou, Mostafa Hashem Sherif)

Technology (.NET Framework, Visual Studio & SQL mainly) : Books by some of the best authors such as 1. Juval Lowy and Alex Ferrara (.NET 3.5, SOA/WCF, Web Services, Remoting, Messaging, Application Logging, Threading, Component-based/Distributed Architectures, Application Security Design, etc.); 2. Chris Sells (Windows Forms in VS 2005); 3. David Sceppa, Brian Noyes, Fabrice Marguerie or David Ratz(ADO.NET 2.0/3.5/Data Binding or LINQ); 4. Stephen Walther, Alessandro Gallo, Cristian Darie, Marco Bellinaso (ASP.NET 2.0/3.5 and AJAX); 4. Nick Rozanski (Software Systems Architecture); 6. Itzik Ben Gan (MS SQL 2005-8); 7. Secure Coding against hacker attacks using books by Gary McGraw/Billy Hoffman/Michael Howard such as 'The 19 Deadly Sins Of Software Security'; to explore such topics in greater detail.

I think the author could have added the equivalent VB.NET code for VB developers and architects. That is the main beef I have (and the book is a bit too expensive, buy it online for a rebate. It should have been paper back to reduce the price for readers) but I still thinks it deserves a 5-star ranking . Bravo to Samir Jayaswal and Yogesh Shetty, the authors!

The authors' experience building a .NET application for a trading house shows. As a result I learned a little about the domain & saw several well written "how to" .NET examples based on it.

Two negatives might be worth considering before spending a fair amount of money. First, not much (anything?) about building high performance applications. Lots of talk about needing performance in the securities market, little in the way of delivery. Second, the book is based on .NET 1.X "best practices". The chapter on 2.0 reads like a last minute techno-tour.

I just received this book in the mail, and i have only one word for it - Stunning.

This book is full of beautiful photos and sketches of original costumes, and there's a wealth of written information to go with the pretty pictures!
Even the presentation is lovely, i'm really impressed with the matte pink binding - it'll look great in my book case ;)

Go ahead and order this book, you won't be disappointed.

the book is very dazzling ,and it would be my ture love for the passed Age.

If the book title sounds familiar, it's because Liz Goldwyn's HBO documentary of the same name aired in July 2005 to much acclaim, covering the history of American burlesque. If you think you've seen it all in the show, think again: the book holds much more! Here are personal stories, career overviews, and biographies of some of the most talented genre stars. Burlesque history comes alive here as in no other collection, making PRETTY THINGS a 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history, from general-interest to college-level libraries.

An enlightening look at a largely misunderstood/misinterpreted art form, this book combines rigorous scholarship, engaging narrative, rare photos, and well-executed design. Liz Goldwyn's love of the subject matter is clear and infectious. Highly recommended, as is the author's HBO special of the same name.

An artistic design layout provides the reader with lots of photos and scrapbook pages of original costume sketches, fabric swatches, letters, postcards, and lots more. This visual collage is a wonderful piece of film toward understanding the life these women lived. Their attitude and sex appeal as we know it only disguised the reality of their life, tough working conditions and a career contingent of youth and beauty eventually leading these women to fall on hard times and in the end forgotten.

I own a good dozen or more books on how to attract birds to my garden. This book is definitely one of my favorites.

It contains a variety of very easy projects on best ways of providing seeds, making your own bird treats (like those expensive seed bells they sell in stores), creating feeding stations, planting habitats, setting up water stations, birdhouses and more. There is also a section devoted to hummingbirds and butterflies.

I really like that it isn't a bird or plant identification book. One of my pet peeves with many of my other "project" books is that they dilute their content by including bird identification charts for instance - often up to 1/3 of the book with another third devoted to pictures and descriptions of the plants. I'd rather leave that to a specialized book and let my project books be filled with (imagine this) projects! There is a small amount of this type of information in this book, but it's generally to the point and captured in simple and easy to read charts. I would suggest anyone looking for that type of material should buy appropriate field guides.

I love that the projects are pretty much entirely able to be made from recycled materials (like using the plastic tubes that tennis balls come in or metal coffee cans or plastic plant saucers for instance) and scrap wood. They are very easy and could be wonderful projects for engaging your kids with nature and getting fast results. Tips are also included for maintenance too (such as keeping feeding stations looking their best).

I also love the garden ideas - simple plans for small patches of specialized garden areas - there's one for a self-renewing bird attracting garden with a ton of seed-producing annual flowering plants for instance; a garden for producing nesting materials, another for attracting butterflies by providing food for their caterpillars, one for hummingbirds and a number of others.

Overall, if you are trying to attract birds to your yard and especially if you are looking for ideas for projects you can do with your kids to give them an appreciation for nature, I think you can't go wrong with this book.

This is a great book for anyone interested in backyard birding, no matter what size your backyard may be. There are articles on how to attract, feed, and house different birds.

I like this book. I'm a new bird watcher. I've made some of the projects mentioned in this book and they work quite well.

Numerous, easy to follow instructions on how to create wide variety of projects! Includes illustrations also. Must have for those that want to attract birds to their gardens without spending a fortune buying items ready-made. Would be a good resource for those wanting to learn how to make garden produces to sell also.

This book will delight the Do-It-Yourself types who would rather put something together and attract birds to their backyards than to merely observe them in the wild. It's a sturdy, glossy trade paperback with detailed line-drawings, tables, side-bars, and step-by-step project sheets.

It starts with a section of fast-and-easy projects for beginners to get your feet wet with the easiest of the various types of woodworking, cooking, and gardening projects you can do to attract birds.

Later chapters go into detail on each of the specialties (woodworking, cooking, gardening) so that you can either do it all or just focus on the chapters that address your talents.

The book also includes a Projects-at-a-Glance index so you can look up things to do involving Nesting, Water, Landscaping, et cetera. Highly recommended. Longer review at OrnateBirdGarden-dot-com.

Out of maybe a few hundred, this is probably the funniest book I have ever read. I remember reading it late at night in my parents house, trying to stifle my laughter so I wouldn't get in trouble for waking people up. "...a cry went up from the sleaze-mavens"

With this book, you could argue that John Waters is a better writer than he is a film maker.

This book is impossible to describe in one word. It's no surprise that Water's life is funnier, and more bizare then any of his films can ever hope to be. We learn about Baltimore life, his childhood, Divine, Edith Masey, Pink Flamingos,Desperate Living,and more. THIS needs to be his next film project! The only thing sad about this book is that it feels dated at certain parts (especially when it refers to Divine in the present tense, since this was written before he died...and before Cookie Muller died...and Edith Masey). But it remains a fascinating read that really encourages people to feel grateful for living in Baltimore(or makes you wish you lived there).

Shock Value is like Waters' autobiography, mainly focused on his film career. There are only two chapters about his childhood. The book will be very interesting to every Waters fan as it provides in depth looks at the making of several of his earlier films. The book's material is dated, however, since it was written before he completed "Polyester". Waters' updates you in the new introduction though. It is very clean and has few curse words, unlike Waters' films, but is still good. I recommend it.

This book was without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read. Naturally, readers familiar with his movies will get the most out of this book, but there's a lot in there even for those who can't sit through one of his movies. I especially like Waters's tales of his mischief as a lad attending Catholic school. Considering the time, his educational background, and the Baltimore environment, I can really understand how Waters turned out the way he did.

I finished Shock Value only moments ago, and i feel like i should go to baltimore and fall on my knees worshipping Waters and the crew. i thought i was weird...This book focuses on the early years and has truly inspired me to raise myself above the boring muck of semiconformist existence. READ IT

LOVE the fact that there is pop culture included. More content than most. I love the section on Sex and the City!

One would think Shoes: What Every Woman Should Know would be another historical survey or a shopping guide: actually, it's both under one cover: a history and a consumer's guide with lovely color photos following, literally, the ups and downs of shoe styles and considering how shoe trends are influenced by fashion. From how shoe sizing began to wartime shoes and art deco styles, Shoes is packed with color and interest, and is highly recommended for any with an interest in shoes, from students to casual consumers.

You don't have to be Carrie Bradshaw to love this little book, beautiful and fascinating if you love shoes this book will give you lots of delightful insights into the way shoes have evolved. Lovely photographs and the writing is delicious. Make a wonderful stocking stuffer for the shoe-shopper in your life.

What is it about women and shoes??? Stephanie Pedersen's "Shoes: What Every Woman Should Know" is an awesome history of shoess from past to present. The photos are delicious, and I enjoyed reading about the history of shoes.

One of my favorite sections in the book was "Red Shoes", which was all about the sexual power of scarlet pumps. The adage "red shoes, no knickers may or may not be true, but I ain't tellin'!

If you have more than two pairs of shoes in your closet, you'll love this book!

Carla
www.CarlaLynneHall.com

I am enjoying Shoes: What Every Woman Should Know so much that I have decided to order a few copies for my more stylish girlfriends as a Christmas gift. The book effectively describes how a woman's image is often shaped by her own shoes. Shoes described range from sexy -- I love the chapter on the stiletto -- to elegant and graceful, such as the chapter on shoes of the silver screen in the 40s.

The author, Stephanie Pedersen explains how shoes have been worn by women as a symbol of sensuality. Not only did I learn about the history of shoes from this stylish and reasonably priced book, but I learned about fashion, design and culture. Pedersen's artful descriptions coupled with the colorful images have really inspired me to consider my own shoe collection and what is says about me. After reading this book, I want to go on a little shoe shopping spree to add a few pairs to my own collection -- the book heps one to understand what shoes can say about one's image.

Now that shoes from the 20s, 30s and 40s are making a comeback in modern fashion, it is even more fun and interesting to read about how those styles were influenced by the trends, attitudes, movie stars and even dances of those decades. My favorite sections are "1923: The Charleston," "1939: Red Shoes," from the chapter "The Jazz Years." Also, "Shoes of the Silver Screen" from the Chapter on the Hollywood Years, and the section on Sex and the City from the Chapter, "The Designer Years."

The first chapter of the book is excellent, and fills you in on the fascinating history of shoes, with interesting bits of information such as the cultural attitudes in Asia and fashion trends in the late Middle ages, when Florence was the fashion capital of the world.

This is a book you will read again and again, and want to keep handy to refer to often to inspire you to consider shoes as a part of your own style, and certainly to show to all your friends. You will learn something about yourself from this book because it helps you to understand what your shoes say about you! Whatever image you want to convey from sexy to confident, graceful to elegant - this book will help you understand which shoe styles could help you make the precise statement you want about yourself and your sense of style and originality!

I studied this book like a Bible when I was a kid, lying on the floor all weekend. I started on the easy reads like Allie Oop and Buster Brown, then slowly got drawn-in to strange ones like Krazy Kat. I was surprised by the great narratives in strips I'd only seen in tired forms, like Popeye and Mickey Mouse. All the way into college I was still making new discoveries, eventually coming all the way back to love the pure optimism of Buster Brown. Astounding examples of art are all through this book; It's amazing.

This is a beautifully packaged collection of some of the very best comic-strip art from the first half of the 20th century (and a little more). The reproduction is very good, the introductory material is useful and informative and the selection of strips is first rate.

In particular, having collected several of these strips in other formats over the years (e.g. "Little Nemo", "Polly and Her Pals" and "Krazy Kat"), I can say that they've selected many of my personal favorites for inclusion here.

As I write this, this book is basically in "remainder" status meaning that it is available brand new for very cheap, but has gone out of print in hardcover - pick it up while you can!

Growing up in the 60s & 70s, I wasn't much enamored of comic strips appearing in the newspaper with a scant few exceptions. Newspaper comics were awfully stale if not comatose at the time; they smell even worse now. In light of this reality, thank God I found this book 20 years ago. To me, this mammoth oversized anthology of color and b/w strips (mostly vintage 1895-1950) was and is an education, a revelation and a door to a separate reality. Who knew that such fully realized, utterly compelling and unique works of art were once commonplace features in our daily and Sunday newspapers? Compiler Bill Blackbeard provides minimal but insightful commentary, which only underscores his good taste as the majority of SMITHSONIAN is devoted to the actual comics themselves. Wherever possible, he provides continuities of strips to give the reader not only a fuller flavor of the individual storylines and the era they appeared in, but each strip's particular dynamic with its audience. What's also impressive is the sheer number of titles sampled. Among the weightier excerpts are Popeye, Moon Mullins, Wash Tubbs/Capt. Easy, Barney Google, Polly and her Pals, Krazy Kat...but many of the lightly-skimmed properties are just as good. Set aside their enormous entertainment value and what you may find most impressive is how starkly individual each strip creator is; what ends up on the page is the sum total of one man's creative & emotional being, distorted through a prism of fantasy or slapstick or melodrama. Your net gain as reader: 336 pages of the kind of joyous, crazy, all-elbows-and-graceful-despite-it art that can only emerge from forms that the Arbiters of Taste don't take very seriously. Splendid as this book is the first time 'round, it continues to enrich you, always revealing more with every subsequent re-reading. Out of print for a while but readily available through the online auction services; I also hear it's being reissued soon. By the way, the other mandatory strip anthologies are the 'sequel' to this one (COMIC STRIP CENTURY), an important predecessor (Robinson's THE COMICS) and the entire run of Rick Marschall's NEMO magazine; happily, there is next to no duplication of strips reprinted between all of them (apparently the archivist's code of honor). If this book floors you like it did me, seek them out and flabbergast further.

not a longwinded anecdote about an age by someone who wasnt a part of it but the strips, sundays and dalies, from the turn of the century heavy into the forties with a quick touch of fifties to top it off. has the prestige and backing of the smithsonian, so the selection is incredible, complete storylines are presented, color, large format, things youve never seen before and will never see again. thimble theatre, krazy kat, flash gordon, ally oop, mutt and jeff, king aroo, dasheil hammet, rube goldberg, walt disney, dick tracy, little orphan annie, white boy, li'l abner, terry and the pirates, winsor mckay including little nemo sundays, a large number of teens and twenties strips i cant name, a large number of thirties and forties strips i cannot name, i am in awe of this book. i am a comic maker and reader and this book is absolutely flooring.

One day I had to go to the library to get a book from my 7th grade reading list and I saw this huge book of comics and I just had to take it out. I read it probably 100 times .It became my favorite book.My favorite comics were Popeye, Gasoline Alley, The Smythes,and Krazy Kat. I love this book and you will to. So my advice to you is if you love comics you will love this book!

This is an excellent reference work. The layout of the book is easy to use and the pictures are first class. This book surpasses many of the standard reference works available. Makes a great addition to a reference library on Lionel Trains.

this is the only book you will ever need if you collect older lionel trains it covers all the bases and lets me remember everything I forgot many years ago when I got my first train set extremely informative thanks I only wish there was a book to cover later years

Excellent amount of information on post Lionel trains. The catalog contains the highest amount of information on Lionel trains, the value and rarity for each model. Plenty of photos to provide visual reference for your research.

Now in a newly expanded and updated second edition, David Doylle's "Standard Catalog of Lionel Trains' showcases Lionel toy trains made from 1945 through 1969. Surveyed in an authoritative collector's reference this new edition packs over a thousand color photos with its expanded catalog , which includes variations on Lionel cars and accessories. Many collectors of Lionels will find come to consider this a major 'must have' bible of information, packing in color photos and charts of values for Lionel trains in all conditions.

The best or one of the best Lionel guides to postwar Lionel trains. The only guide that authoritatively lists all production variations over the years covered.