Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest and the Architecture of Adventure

Book Description

From a rustic beach house on Puget Sound to a desert retreat on the high plateau of southeast Oregon to a cabin nestled in a forest of Douglas firs, vacation and retreat architecture in the Pacific Northwest is as varied as the terrain itself. The best examples of retreat architecture in the country are here, from ageless timber homes belonging to early Northwest moguls to today's "days away" architecture-- lodges, cabins, and summer cottages that communicate the exuberance for year-round outdoor adventure. With ideal terrain for hiking, rock-climbing, skiing, fly-fishing, and more, the Pacific Northwest is a mecca for lovers of the outdoors, and as a result, a flood of new wealth is being poured into lifestyle architecture in this area. Retreats here are designed to keep the terrain at the inhabitants' fingertips and to adapt to such unique demands as where to park one's glider.

These days Americans can be as remote as they want to be. This book demonstrates how retreat architecture can now respond to our recreational needs while providing comfort and beauty so we can settle down in style.

Customer Reviews:

COASTAL RETREATS The Pacific Northwest.......2003-05-16

From the Seattle AIA Reviewer, Peter Sackett:

Trying to convince a reader that architecture is
good by telling them it's good is an exercise in
futility. In Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest
and the Architecture of Adventure (Universe,
2002) author Linda Leigh Paul understands the
burden of her responsibility as a writer. Her
contributions reflect what images, on their own,
cannot. Coastal Retreats offers a broad
photographic sampling of Northwest vacation
homes designed over the last half-century with
editorial work that provides context for their
creation, including anecdotes from both owner and
architect, taking the architecture out of the
showroom and into the lives of the people who use
it.

A couple of years ago I ranted for eight hundred
words or so in the pages of Arcade about a
newly-published monographic account on the work
of architect Roland Terry. My beef wasn't that the
architect's work wasn't up to snuff, rather that the
book's author had done little to flatter the
architecture nor contribute a compelling narrative to
describe its significance. To judge from the editorial
content, he seemed less than convinced that
Terry's work could stand on its own without
bolstering it with sentences of fawning admiration
to make projects appear buoyant on the page.

Paul, instead, takes the trouble to tell stories
behind the homes' creation using relaxed, informal
language to describe the likes and dislikes of
clients as well as quirks of the landscape that
provide a setting for enjoyment of their
investment. The approach is both entertaining and
instructive. She includes the following in a chapter
on "Decatur Island Haven" by George Suyama
Architects:

"In the mid-1990s, while flying over the San Juan
Islands, designer Christian Grevstad's instincts led
him to alert his pilot that they were off course and
lost. As the pilot corrected the flight path, Grevstad
glanced down at a flowering meadow sitting atop a high
bluff. Below him lay the site he had envisioned for his
ideal island getaway. He headed for Seattle, where he
did the necessary footwork, and found that the price
was right."

Grevstad may enjoy a vexingly privileged lifestyle,
but it makes for a cool story.

Images and Ideas.......2003-01-03

I was surprized by the quality of the works presented but more particularly the idea of "the architecture of adventure". The premise of this book is "right on." These get-aways are not just comfortable, but expose their owner's attitudes on being at home in nature.

Great looking with great ideas..........2002-12-16

This is a beautiful book full of beautiful houses in beautiful places. There is a wide range of projects and styles, illustrating the quality of design in the Pacific Northwest region. An attractive book in its own right, this would be a great resource for anybody thinking of building a vacation house.

This book ranks high on my list...........2002-12-04

Definitely, Linda Leigh Paul should be very proud of her work....It really captures the spirit of Northwest design...When one asks, "Why hire an Architect",,,all one needs to do is show this book,,,it tells all....Again, a job well done!!!

Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest and the Architecture of Adventure

Average customer rating:

Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest and the Architecture of Adventure
Linda Leigh Paul
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LXCMVQ

Average customer rating:

Not necessarily for beginners but good book

Watercolor Simplified: A Fresh Approach to Painting Better and Faster With Confidence
Pat Weaver
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Watercolor Painting | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Painting With Your Artist's Brain: Learn to Paint What You See-not What You Think You See

ASIN: 1581803508

Book Description

Artists will learn to simplify their paintings by capturing the spontaneous nature of watercolor. Author Pat Weaver shows them how to incorporate her loose, direct painting style into their paintings, helping them build their confidence and skill.

Packed full of clear instruction, Weaver shows readers how to mix color directly on the paper, many times without drawing first, to create rich vibrant hues. She then tackles the basics of good painting-composition, drawing, value and color-and teaches them how to easily apply these elements to their paintings.

Through 16 step-by-step demonstrations, Weaver shows readers how to capture a variety of subjects, including cats, dogs, people, flowers and buildings. With just paper, pencil and paint, readers will be able to create paintings beautiful paintings that jump right off the page!

Customer Reviews:

Not necessarily for beginners but good book.......2006-06-01

I checked this book out of the library, and like it a great deal. However, for my purposes (I am only a self-taught "baby watercolorist"), it is a bit too advanced for me. After I have developed some confidence and experience in watercolor painting, I will buy this book.

Book Description

135 color photos 7 x 9 Expert information on outdoor photography Advice and inspiration for any photographer Understanding the effects of light on a subject is one of the most important elements of taking top-quality outdoor photographs. This richly illustrated guide discusses in detail the varying qualities of natural light-how it affects metering, aperture selection, film speed, mood, and composition-to help both beginning and experienced photographers improve their images. Practical techniques are offered for low-light situations, sunny skies, overcast days, clouds, reflections, shadows, haze, and fog. Includes a gallery of the author's own photos. George Schaub is the author of numerous books on photography, including How to Photograph the Outdoors in Black & White. He teaches photography and printing at the New School/Parsons School of Design in New York and lives on Long Island.

Book Description

Wilks was a space marine with a near-fatal flaw: he had a heart. Billie was a child, the only survivor of a far-flung colony outpost. Thrown together in the last hellish night of an alien invasion, Billie and Wilks helped each other get out alive. Thirteen years later Wilks is in prison, and Billie lives in a mental institution, the nightmare memories of the massacre at Rim seared into her mind. Now the government has tapped Wilks to lead an expedition to the aliens' home planet to bring back a live alien. But the competition on Earth to develop the aliens as a new weapons system is brutal. When Wilks's team departs on their mission, a trained assassin trails them. And what follows is no less than guerrilla warfare on the aliens' planet--and alien conquest on Earth!

Customer Reviews:

Good book.......2007-08-17

My teenagers were having problems finding the book in the stores, they enjoyed the Alien/Predator series.

Pretty good.......2007-05-06

I liked this one. It was a good story save for a few things. The ending was one of those preparing for a sequel endings so there was really no real climax to be found. The title of the book gave me the idea that it starts off as the earth is overrun but it seems like it only just tells the story of how it got overrun with a side quest being told with Wilks and Billie. I would recommend this but only if you plan on reading the sequels after.

Earth Hives.......2007-01-19

This was a gift to a friend. He said it was quite good.

Better than Alien vs. Predator.......2006-05-31

Having read all three installments of this series, I feel that the first book - Earth Hive - was the best. Since the movies all deal with faraway worlds and distant spaceships, choosing Earth as the setting of this book was a good, new angle for a novel. There is a really lurid enjoyment to seeing the places you visit get it (ala Independence Day).

Earth Hive focuses on a Marine named Wilkes and an escaped mental patient called Billie. Several subplots build the action, ranging from the marine squad sent to destroy the aliens' home planet to the arms dealers that see the aliens' as a potential weapon. As the title might imply, the Earth faces a danger of alien infestation.

The scenes are very reminiscent of the movie Aliens, and the characters could well be taken from that movie and dropped into this book without a problem. Perry uses some interesting presentation of the aliens in his book to make Earth Hive an enjoyable read. For a page or two, the book takes a documentary-like script to examining the aliens' biology. That can be a potentially dangerous plot device in a novel, but Perry pulled it off nicely. This book is what it is, and in that regard it succeeds. Three stars - average.

Aliens Earth Hive.......2005-09-06

After reading S.Perrys 'Earth Hive' I found myself wanting more, and before I knew it I had worked my way through 8 aliens books, 3 AVP books and 3 Predator books. From the first page of the first Aliens book I was hooked and I must admit nothing has ever been able to grab my mind and keep me thrilled and the need to keep me reading.

From a small age I have never really been interested in much reading, but being a fan of the Aliens movies and receiving the first 3 aliens books as gifts, I thought to myself that I would take the time and read them, and I am not regretting this decision.

The story is quite simple, humanity has fallen into a world of greed, living for the wants of life, not the needs. And during these sorrowful years we find ourselves in hell, as the beginning of the war for Earth begins. Alien eggs are stolen from a science facility and spread across the globe, and within a year man has to live in space stations and almost unhabitable planets.

Each of the books follows an almost linear pattern of story telling, we are introduced to almost doomed individuals and their growing struggle to live in a world and space inhabited by monsters. The books themselves originate from Graphic novels that would be inspiration for the books, and each page you can see this. The description jumps out at you, as each Xenomorph attack does, and you want to turn the page to see who lives, who dies and who, well becomes a lifeless host for the aliens.

S.Perry started with a great read, and with the help of his daughter who joined him and wrote her own stories, was met up with many other writers, and each one did a great job, bringing likable and hated characters, and the stories that would make you just hope that Earth would not be taken over by these creatures. But with each of the novels, you learn that man itself is far worse in nature than these creatures.

Thank you for all the authors who would write the books that would make me wish to continue the series and I hope to see on the bookstore shelves, one more story that would take me to a world where power and greed outways the growth of such a devastating species.

Earth Hive began it all, read it, it will scare you into reading the others...!

Aliens: Hive (Dark Horse Comics Collection)

Average customer rating:

Aliens Love Puppies!
I am sorry I really gave it 0 stars!
Aliens fans: you might want to skip this one!
It was a great comic with great art.

Aliens: Hive (Dark Horse Comics Collection)
Jerry Prosser
Manufacturer: Dark Horse Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1878574477

Amazon.com

Aliens: Hive is an original comic book story based on the Alien movie series. Main character Stanislaw Mayakovsky once wrote a book called Cyberantics about a cybernetic ant he designed to infiltrate a hive to gain knowledge about the inner workings of the ant culture. Now a beautiful young thief has approached him to use his experience and expertise to create a cybernetic alien to sneak into an alien hive and steal the rare and valuable alien jelly. This is a fresh take on the Aliens mythos with creepy Kelley Jones artwork.

Book Description

Stanislaw Mayakovsky once wrote a book about the cybernetic ant he designed to infiltrate an Alien hive in order to gain precious knowledge about the species. Now, a beautiful young thief has approached Mayakovsky to use his experience and expertise -- not in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, but in the pursuit of the Alien Queen`s precious jelly. The mission is a perilous one, but the motives are compelling . . . Formerly collected as Aliens: Hive, this newest remastered Aliens Library Edition features an introduction and gallery by Kelley Jones!

Customer Reviews:

Aliens Love Puppies!.......2005-10-13

NOTE: This Book is also entitled Harvest, confusing alot of people. Harvest has a few additions to it that allow it to be the re-release it is, but I'm still partial to the cover of this lovely baby. I'm reviewing Hive and it'll show up on both, so you know you have the right one when you get the picture of the alien with the dog. That said, to begin:

All the Aliens Graphic Novels, distributed by Dark Horse, can be insulted if taken out-of-context and looked at on a one-on-one basis. Still, when thrown into a timeline and looked at as pieces telling the saga of a beast that is, in a sense, more terrifying than anything with Earthly comparisons, its a beautiful beast to behold. In stories like Labyrinth, for instance, you see what contact with Aliens can do to the human psyche and just how frail humans really are, and in additions by people like Mike Mignola you see the human side of the equation. In Hive you are thrust into a world where Aliens are understood to a point and where the item that allows them to become "Hive Mothers," Royal Jelly, has become THE narcotic of choice. Accordingly, you have a perpetual goldrush with people willing to take a variety of chances just to have something that is worth vast amounts of money and that makes its user feel better than escapism has ever imagined being. Take that and add in see the ways that people try to get to that payload and you have Hive.

As far as a creative complex, the art leaves something to be desired and there are slow place sin the story. Still, for some reason, I'm drawn to the notion of the Alien and this book made me alot happier than many of the others. Perhaps its because it not only adds in little scenarios of trying to raid a hive but comments on the Alien itself, trying to add an understanding of what the Alien is. Or maybe I just like watching people die because of their own stupidity when they mess with something beyond their wildest nightmares.

If you want to check out the Graphic Novels, start with Earth Hive and start working outward. These have been going on for years and you'll find alot of stuff you like/ dislike, and some of the stories are fringe tales at best. Unlike others here I liked this story, however, and am giving it a four out of five because I liked what it did. I just wish the art would've given me a little more.

I am sorry I really gave it 0 stars!.......1999-10-15

BAD ART,BAD STORY,BAD CHARACTERS ! DONT GET THIS BOOK

Aliens fans: you might want to skip this one!.......1999-04-11

After reading practically all other Aliens novels and comics, I find this one too drawn out, too much unnecessary plot and not enough involvement of the aliens themselves. The book delves too far into the woman thief's past and the feelings of the main character, Stanislaw. I was too bored three quarters into the book and couldn't even bear to finish it.

It was a great comic with great art........1999-04-08

It is about a sientist who once wrote a book about ants. He has built a robot alien. He has crashed on a planet full of aliens. I like this book because it is an action packed comic with great art and a good story.

Average customer rating:

Aliens Book One Earth Hive
Steve Perry
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UUMAAS

Average customer rating:

That ending... YUCK.
Spectacular Sci-Fi
The "Chinese" Accent Unbearable
The book that divide the waters
Fantastic book!

Xenocide (Unabridged)
Orson Scott Card
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
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ASIN: B0002P0C7O

Amazon.com

Orson Scott Card's Xenocide is a space opera with verve. In this continuation of Ender Wiggin's story, the Starways Congress has sent a fleet to immolate the rebellious planet of Lusitania, home to the alien race of pequeninos, and home to Ender Wiggin and his family. Concealed on Lusitania is the only remaining Hive Queen, who holds a secret that may save or destroy humanity throughout the galaxy. Familiar characters from the previous novels continue to grapple with religious conflicts and family squabbles while inventing faster-than-light travel and miraculous virus treatments. Throw into the mix an entire planet of mad geniuses and a self-aware computer who wants to be a martyr, and it's hard to guess who will topple the first domino. Due to the densely woven and melodramatic nature of the story, newcomers to Ender's tale will want to start reading this series with the first books, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. --Brooks Peck

Book Description

Xenocide is the third installment of the Ender series. On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequeninos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought. But Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus which kills all humans it infects, but which the pequeninos require in order to transform into adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effect of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way and a second Xenocide seems inevitable, until the Fleet vanishes.

Customer Reviews:

That ending... YUCK........2007-09-16

I loved this book. It had been so long since I read the first two ender books, I forgot how much I really like Card. This book was gripping, thought-provoking, character-driven (a rare thing in sf), well-written... and then that stinker of an ending. Hyperspace is a common phenomenon in sf books, and I'm willing to buy it as there is currently no was to surpass the speed of light and obey the laws of physics. However, in Xenocide's hyperspace, wishes come true. Yes, really. While your ship is in hyperspace (called 'Outside' in the book) you simply have to wish for something and it will become reality. This allows for facile and annoyingly neat and tidy resolutions to the major conflicts in the book. The biologist wishes for a cure to the killer adaptable virus... KA-ZAM! It appears. The cripple wishes to be healed. SHA-POW! He walks. A cure to a unique, man-made form of OCD is wished for and... you guessed it, TA-DA! There it is. Ender's bizarre subconscious wish to resurrect his brother seems to be the only interesting side effect of this deus-ex-machina, until we realize that it's nothing but a convenient way for the author to take care of congress (and the servant girl wang-mu).

Spectacular Sci-Fi.......2007-09-02

The Ender's Game series, including Xenocide, is simply genius: plot, character, psychology, metaphysics, imagination, dream science. After C. S. Lewis' _Space Trilogy_ this is the first science fiction I could tolerate- most others being just too hopeless, nasty, and well, kid's stuff.
Clarke's _Childhood's End_ a rather more distant third- as Clarke stops short of dealing with the most difficult issues of "Why the humans?", and "What is humanity's destiny now?"
Mr. Card seems to have a personal worldview which empowers him to write from great strength of conviction to convice us that there IS a plan. Such a titan of a series!

The "Chinese" Accent Unbearable.......2007-07-24

I am a huge fan of the Ender's Saga. I am a fan of this book. I am not, however, a fan of this audio recording. Given my constant traveling, I picked up some of the Ender's Saga audio books for old time's sake.

Being of Chinese descent, I am extremely offended at the "Chinkiness" of the voices of Path who were obviously performed non-native Chinese speakers. Qing-jao's voice was especially the case. It is hard to believe such a recent recording would include something so stereotypical and offensive. Keep in mind, despite the 'multi-cultural' characters comprising the series, there were no other noticeable accents in the readings- no Samoan accents, Japanese accents, Portuguese / Hispanic accents... Not even the Pequeninos had accents! The only accents came from Path, and they were horrible. It was as if I were living 30 years ago where every Asian had to be Chinese and we all Kung-Fu. This was a very backwards recording that still upsets me just thinking about it.

If you can live through the accents and not feel as offended as I was, I have no complaints about the contents of the book. It is a story that should be experienced, one way or another.

The book that divide the waters.......2007-06-30

Before continuing let me state that i have given both Enders' game and Speaker for the Dead 5 stars and are among my absolute favorites in Sci.Fi. Maybe it is because i rarely read Sci.Fi that i do not share the dame view on the third and (inaccurately) "last" book in the "trilogy" One thing is for sure, while the community and most readers agree that the first two books are classical in the genre, in fact in comtemporary literature itself, the third book really divides the waters with some readers purely disgusted and others enormously thrilled. Xenocide did not win any prices, and for that i agree with the community.

Card tries, really tries, to deliver a novel of even more vast proportions than the previous two, and he tries to spin a story of the fundaments of the entire universe, humanity, and religion but he just doenst succeed....

It is a fine novel, a good read, and better than everage of Sci.Fi in my opinion, but is does not deliver the closure or the desired ending to the story of Ender as i had anticipated. It is also a more difficult novel, and Kudos to Card for trying to write something as Xenocide.

My three stars are given purely for the one brilliant thing in this novel, Card's take on religion and what it means. The religious nature of the people of the path really leaves you at first disguted and you dig out a copy of Nietzche's "thus spoke zarathustra" cause you relly come into the mood of reading critical works about religion, but in the end card delivers a cunning and surprising 'punchline that sums the whole concept up, without revealing too much he is picturing the individuality in religion and the diversity, and proves that it may well be the savior for some, while being the ruin of others. Religion neither builds us up as people, or can be blaimed for hindering our developments, it is purely a product of our individuality, and for that philosophical drame i could easily read the book over again.

That being said, thats all the book has going for it, that and the dilemma in which Enders "followers" (he is becoming more and more a "jesus" character) while maybe having to destroy one race in order to allow another to live. All in all, the book is a must read if you read the two previous books, but im stopping here, from here on with the rest of the books, the "shadow Saga" and the latest publications it is becoming too much of a cash cow for me and reminds me of the unfortunate fate of many brilliant fantasy saga's such as Dragonlance and wheel-of-time that has been going on and on and on while only a minor proportion of them being of excellent quality.

All in all a big thank you to Card for creating the Ender Saga, whether you wanna call it a trilogy, a quartet, or a duology is purely individual, in the spirit of Card himself

Fantastic book!.......2007-05-30

Ignore all the negative reviews about this book being far-fetched. It's science fiction... it's supposed to be far-fetched. Card's representation about souls and alternate universes are his way of showing what one of his theories entails. Aren't the stories told in the bible far-fetched? People are so quick to refute Card's ideas based on the fact that they are inconceivable but many people are sold that a person can heal by touch, walk on water, etc. no questions asked. Have an open mind and you will enjoy the book.

Orson Scott Card is a great author and presents his ideas in an intriguing manner. This book was awesome. While these other people are upset about the fact that Peter and Valentine are spawned by Ender's sub-consious, I was fascinated. As the story progressed I became more and more intrigued and wanted to know more and more and more. I found myself predicting what I thought might happen with Ender's "children" and hoping that the plot would turn take certain turns. Great reading!

This book, in combination with the rest of the Ender saga, was amazing and tells a fascinating story!

Average customer rating:

Aliens (Hive, Vol. 3 of 4)
Jim Woodring
Manufacturer: Dark Horse Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic
ASIN: B000W9ABPS

Aliens Omnibus: Earth Hive / Nightmare Asylum / The Female War (A Dark Horse Science Fiction Novel)

Average customer rating:

Two Great Aliens Novels

Aliens Omnibus: Earth Hive / Nightmare Asylum / The Female War (A Dark Horse Science Fiction Novel)
Steve Perry , and Stephani Perry
Manufacturer: Orion Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews:

Two Great Aliens Novels.......2004-01-23

Steve Perry has done a wonderful job taking the horrible beasts of the screen and comics into novel format. Though these books dont have as much aliens as the movies, when they do it is horrifiying and great at the same time.

Instead of getting one book at the time just get the omnibus edition. This one, comtaining Earth Hive and Nightmare Asylum (which are the first two)has Wilks and Billie fighting the hordes of aliens as Earth is being taken over by the beasts.

In all two great novels.

Average customer rating:
Aliens Trilogy Book 1, 2, 3 - Earth Hive - Nightmare Asylum - The Female War
Steve Perry
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000ILGCTO

Product Description

Three massmarket Paperbacks.

Average customer rating:

Aliens, Book 1: Earth Hive
Steve PERRY
Manufacturer: Bantam Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M6AX3Q

Average customer rating:

Aliens: Earth Hive and Nightmare Asylum
Steve Perry
Manufacturer: Orion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MVVT3O

Average customer rating:

Aliens: Hive #1 (Dark Horse Comics)
Jerry Prosser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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