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Because this book lists where the barns are - and they are usually in out of the way places - you can start off in the morning to find one and have a great adventure on the way. Then when you discover a barn, the book tells you great stuff about what you're looking at.

This book is a must for all persons interested in historic barn preservation. It contains a wealth of information and knowledge of early timber-frame construction from the early cruck to post and beam techniques. As a traveling guide, I can see myself spending a summer driving around England in awe of these magnificent structures photographing them in total and in detail.

After reading this volume, the reader is inspired to find an old barn, restore it, and live in its great open space.

All you ever wanted to know about tithe barn history, architecture, restoration, usage plus amazing details about quantities of wood used, construction techniques, etc. Good pictures and drawings. The right size book to take pon a trip to England to learn more aabout history and culture.

College-level art library holdings will find much to recommend with GUNNAR ASPLUND, the only detailed monograph in print on the Swedish architect. Given that Asplund is hardly an unknown name in the world of architecture, it's amazing to note that this is the only such reference in print, providing a scholarly survey of all of his works both popular and lesser-known, and packing in new color photos along with sketches and drawings. Perhaps it's because Asplund's buildings don't neatly fit into architectural categories, and thus have missed extensive survey in genre-specific considerations - but they certainly deserve the depth GUNNAR ASPLUND provides, here.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The influence of Scandinavian design in the United States, if not in the whole world has been immense. The clean simple lines of functional design pioneered over there have influenced more designs than have been built in Scandinavia. Gunnar Asplund is one of the lessor known (in the United States) architects of Scandinavian design.

Born in 1885, he began his career in 1907 with a small villa. A few years later he won his first competition for a school which launched his professional career. From then until his death in 1940 he designed a range of structures that reach from small homes through large commercial/government/public buildings. They remain classics of their type.

This profusely illustrated book is unusual in that it includes not only photographs of the buildings as they exist now, but also many line drawings that illustrate the original concepts. As such this is both a tribute to his designs and an idea book for designs being made today.

This is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive monograph on the underrated Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. Although Asplund's work is contemporary with Mies, Le Corbusier, and Aalto, it is of an entirely different current -- Asplund weaves together vernacular, classical and modernist influences in a way that stands solidly outside standard, official history of Modern Architecture. Like the Slovenian architect Plecnick, Asplund's work has always been tricky for historians to place in the march from Wright to Gropius to Mies that is the standard trajectory of early 20th c architectural history.

While that fact may contribute somewhat to the neglect of his reputation, this is undeserved. Aplund's best projects, like the Snellman House, the Enskede Cemetery, or the Stockholm City Library are phenomenal masterpieces of 20th century architecture. The photographs of the work in this book are excellent, and fortunately plenty of line drawings are included too. Jones' summary of Asplund's career is lucid and solidly researched. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early modernist architecture or Scandinavian design.

All I have to say is.... that it doesn't surprise me that these calendars are still being made. There are so many works and bi-products that this only sctratches the surface. When I began seeing his work in things I started off feeling a little frightened & uneasy, but for some disapparent reason wanted that feeling again and again. The fact that other art and so many other artists use his material, as well as being influenced by it in some way really says something kinda important, or maybe not?
There's almost never an image that doesn't do something to you. It's really easy to see that it may sometimes look outrageously scary or just plain sick. What happens is this: YOU have to end up facing that there's always wonder and something quite tender and truthful behind so many of the images. I hate to say that it is oddly almost comforting if you can look closely enough. But it's true. And always true to it's form, but yet something completely different every time.
I guess it's just better to say thank you H.R. Giger, and whomever else is motivated to continue releasing these images on a regular basis like this. I really appreciate it.

I've always admired H.R. Giger's art, and have obtained other calendars in the past. This one has the added feature of noteworthy birthdays of figures throughout history who have contributed to dark horror, cult, science fiction/fantasy, and mystery genres -- such as Marilyn Manson, H.P. Lovecraft, and Dante. A must for devotees of the man.

If you're a Geiger fan, and even if you're not but you're a little bit Goth, you'll love this calendar. Always thoroughly disturbing, thoroughly sexy, and thoroughly beautiful, Geiger never disappoints! Highly recommend for Gothic art fans, SF art fans, and dark fantasy artwork fans -- anyone who appreciates cutting edge science fiction art.

Hair of the Dog is an immensely interesting tale of the life of an American translator aboard Soviet fishing trawlers during a Joint-Venture in the late 1980s. The story gives insight into the lives of the Soviets and how they lived with constant observation by the political commissars and KGB agents while working alongside the Americans. The friendships formed by the author and the experiences she had as both a translator and representative of America were solid and left me wishing I could have joined her out at sea. The story flows well and was an extremely easy read for anyone interested in Russia, the Soviet Union and the people of both great countries.

She gave a detailed of how the journey would go through out the ship voyage and gives reader a great idea of how brave she was on the ship. This book does not only show the readers that even you only spend most of the time on the ship that you can still have fun and this a once a life time experience. You can imagine how people who sail or working on the ship most of the time, and how they spent their time. It's a great and fuuny book and gives me a imagination of how her journey is.

This is a special book and a very enjoyable read. Oakley perservered in getting it published and we are all the beneficiaries. Give yourself a treat and get a glimpse of US-Soviet relations that few Americans have witnessed. This book is not just a factual account of life at sea; it is a view into the Russian soul and psyche. You will not regret it.

I brought this book for my mom who loves interior design and she adores the photographs in the book.

This wonderful coffee table book won't be on the coffee table long! It is chock full of beautiful pictures with practical ideas. Although many of the rooms are decidely high-end, there are several ideas that can be applied to more moderate tastes.
I highly recommend that this book be added to any home design library.

If you enjoyed Spirit of African Design, then you will love this book. There are nice room pictures showing african art in primarily a contemporary design style.

It's a great coffee table book for anyone who loves both African Art styles and contemporary interior design.

What a wonderful book. It's a series of great photos of significant covered bridges, with descriptions that include building methods and styles, dates, history and best yet... driving directions! I find myself itching to go out and visit some nearby ones. An enjoyable, easy read that I know I will refer to over and over.

This book was beautifully illistrated, and informational. Each photographed bridge holds part of our past, and an oppertunity to understand a part of our history. Once inside the pages you are transported back into a time that others have forgotten. I recommand this book to all who have been in love with the Covered Bridge for a long time, and to thoes like me who have just fallen in love with this beautiful part of our history.

Brian's book is filled with some of the most breathtaking photographs you will ever see of Covered Bridges. If a bridge had a soul, he certainly knows how to capture it with his photographs. The historical and technical information is wonderful as well. It is a magnificent book!

Hollow Land is very throughly researched and Eyal Weizman is clearly passionate about his topic. The book provides an interesting perspective on a widely discussed topic.

The author is an Israeli, which gives him access and a through knowledge of the issues that many other authors lack. He is an activist and artist working on Israel-Palestine issues. He is also an architect, all of which gives him a unique perspective on the whole Israel-Palestine conflict. His descriptions of Israel's architecture of occupation shows his deep familiarity with the facts on the ground.

His interest in architecture some times took the book in directions I was not interested in, such as the history of the selection of the architect for Ma'ale Adumim. However in general this provided a fresh perspective, and new information.

The author clearly has strong opinions about his subject, but that does not interfere with the narrative. Hollow Land will interest anyone who cares about Israel-Palestine issues, as well as anyone interested in modern occupation. Hollow Land is also an example of a well written, throughly researched book that should server as a model for other authors.

Weizman begins his introduction by telling the story of the founding of Migron, a Jewish settlement built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Convincing the Israeli military to build a cellular antenna, settlers first hire a single 24-hour guard. The guard is followed by his family, followed by five more families, and "by mid-2006 it comprised around 60 trailers and containers housing more than 42 families: approximately 150 people perched on the hilltop around a cellular antenna" (p. 2).

But Weizman is not content to recite the facts of Israeli occupation. His analysis draws heavily on post-structuralist thinkers like Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari. Covering everything from Israeli architectural aesthetics, checkpoints and border terminals, to the Wall, Ariel Sharon's conception of depth security, Israeli urban warfare doctrine and targeted assassinations, he repeatedly penetrates the surface of his extensive empirical research, locating the social narratives which give birth to these phenomena.

He is primarily concerned with charting what he calls the "elastic geographies" of the occupied territories (p. 5), a continually modifying frontier in which architecture and space become both a form of power and a conceptual way of understanding the political issues at stake.

Some issues he tackles are well worn, but by combining his extensive fieldwork as a consultant for B'Tselem with a robust theoretical approach, he still brings interesting insight. In a series of chapters covering Israeli settlements, checkpoints and the construction of the wall, he exposes not just the extensive control of Palestinian society, but also the way in which Israel's sense of security has come to depend on a conception of the territories as a malleable and vulnerable space. The spread of these control mechanisms in Israeli society, he claims, constitutes a "cognitive and practical system that sees the physical separation of Jews and Arabs, and the total control of Palestinian movement, as an important component of Jewish collective security" (p. 155).

Some of the issues, however, are less well known, such as his analysis of Israeli archaeology, architecture and landscape. He shows how city planning and architectural policies have attempted to make Jerusalem "an exhibition-piece of living biblical archaeology" (p. 29), drawing on Palestinians as "fossilized forms of biblical authenticity" (p. 43) while simultaneously seeking to reduce their contemporary presence.

Weizman's strength is in the way he hits on two registers at once. His section on Jerusalem connects in a straightforward way with Israel's sustained attempts to minimize the Palestinian population in the city, and to visually and ideologically "unite" the Jewish suburbs with the historic city. But it also taps into the enduring manifestations of the contradiction between Zionism's secular modernism and its ancient biblical promise.

Above all, "Hollow Land" doesn't just explain Israel's spatial practices of occupation. It explores the way in which Israelis' and Palestinians' self-understandings are deeply embedded in these structures. This is Weizman's contribution. While some may feel his work is too abstract, this is where the "cycle" that so often takes the blame for this conflict is found. Weizman is painting a picture of how we have lost ourselves within the conflict, and what it might mean to find a way out.

Weizman's analysis of the articulation (division, consolidation, dimensionality, etc.) of space as a primary expression of political power is highly original in approach, full of extraordinary insights, and provides a powerful moral argument against the occupation of Palestine. While some writers theorize about this sort of thing, Weizman's application of highly refined ideas to concrete practices demonstrates a kind of eloquence and courage that is rare in discussions of Israel and Palestine.

I think Hollow Land is an intellectual masterpiece.

A fun and informative little book. Most insightful on pre motor transport technology. Most fascinating for those interested in history or in Horse drawn Transport.

Some of these little carriages, such as the double decker omnibus and the tree transport, blow the mind in regards to the genius of our forbears in how they applied the technology they had. Then there are the dump wagons.

A must for any library of anyone interested in pre-motor technology.

the cover of this book is very appealing to me, so I might be disappointed by the contents. but, on the contrary, when looking inside, I was amazed by the quality. In Germany there are very few books on carriages and coaches and, as far as I know, none about commercial. those available are either on luxury coaches, actual sports vehicles and some few containing carriages for personal transport, either mail or private, museum descriptions and reprints of old books. I am positive that I own more than 80 % of all there is on the subject. so it was natural starting to look abroad, and I must be careful not to try to get everything all at once, since temptation is there with so many superb books on the market. to my opinion, this one belongs to the best there is, but I admit having been lucky this far since up to now all were exceedingly good containing exactly what I had been looking for. and at reasonable price, too.

A unique book covering vintage horse drawn vehicles of the 19th century. Besides the well written text, I found the illustrations, photos and diagrams amazing in their detail. There are over 250 illustrations. Truly a wonderful reference for anyone into antique transportation history.

Lucky me. A friend gave me this wonderful book about the rise of hotels and the hospitality industry in the United States. What an eye-opener. The author, an academic, has done massive, serious research and has come to some extremely interesting conclusions. Who would have dreamed what an important part of our social history hotels are, or what they have meant to us economically (including the rise of the railroads). As someone who has traveled extensively, I can attest that some hotels are more welcoming than others, some have better beds or better food, but being a guest in a hotel is almost always a treat. This book helped me relive childhood trips to Miami Beach, eating a glorious room service dinner during a blizzard Richmond, Va., and hightailing it to a Motel 6 in Carlsbad,California. It taught me about a valuable part of our history I had never thought about. And the pictures are fascinating. I'm giving Hotel: An American History to my traveling cousin for Christmas.

While this comprehensive history of the American hotel surely will become required reading for students in hospitality programs, it is not the sort of history of hotel management and technology that one might expect of a text book in this field. Rather, this seems to be the "American Studies" genre, primarily concerned with viewing the hotel as a phenomenon in a larger cultural context of the place and times.

While more attention to management practices and technology might have enriched the book, it serves a sufficient purpose as cultural history. The author clearly has done much homework, searching local newspapers across the nation for anacdotes about hotels. Naturally, what was reported was not behind-the-scenes hotel operation, but what would interest the public--the "front of the house" events.

All of us who have favorite historic hotels and their histories will regret that much has been missed, but considering the vast scope of his subject, the author has done a superb job.

I'll never hear the snoring, coughing, wheezing, televisioning, or humping in the hotel suite next to mine without thinking of this history of the American Hotel.We have come a long way since the time when overnight accomodations included sharing a bed with a stranger (unintentionally). The slamming of doors, the ker-chunk of the ice machine down the hall, and the rowdy late nights of party-goers become understandable (if not tolerable) after reading this rich and detailed history of the American hotel. Indeed, it explains why "American Hotel" is redundant.

I've loved this book since a Business English class where it was a requirement. It makes it SO easy to find your topic. I no longer work in an office, but whenever I have personal correspondence that needs to be "perfect", I find myself still reaching for this little gem.

If you are looking for a great informative handbook to keep available at your desk in the office, I recommend How 9 Handbook. This is by far an excellent handbook to have. How 9 handbook gives you information on grammar usage, memos, reports, and business documents. The numbers listed on the front of the book, helps in finding the material you need easily. Clark & Clark hit a home run with this book. Also, if you need a little refresher course to enhance your skills, I recommend the How 9 Workbook. Try them both for yourself!! Every office worker should have one.

This book was required reading for a college course; however, had I found the book on my own I would have felt I struck gold! How 9 is the tool to keep right on your desk...allowing you to either learn or refresh skills from grammer and punctuation to proper format of an email correspondence or business letter.