Best Designed Modular Houses

Book Description

Who does not dream of owning their own home? To allow these dreams to come true and to make houses affordable, more and more planners are turning to prefabrication as a solution. Whether just individual building elements or the entire house, prefabrication makes a home of one's own possible, even with limited financial resources. The present book is evidence that such off-the peg houses by no means need to be uniform in appearance. 45 sophisticated examples from all over the world show that there are practically no limits to individuality. The US and Australia in particular have developed a distinctive prefabricated building culture.

Customer Reviews:

if you buy, you waste money.......2007-04-10

the cover is the best project. there is not enough information or project for pre fab projects. and too general information. you can get those information in any architectural magazine.

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Best Designed Modular Houses
Martin Nicholas Kunz
Manufacturer: Avedition
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7BS8I

Book Description

“The book will help readers mightily....The projects outlined are clearly laid out, the instructions for them easy to follow. The projects...are multicultural, too, for they include an African art object, traditional American art objects, a Native-American art object, a French art object, and, yes, even an Icelandic art object.”—Booklist. Bonus: The ratings of various manufacturers’ models, and helpful descriptions of tool types are included.

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Disappointed
Power Tools For Wood Carvers

Power Tools For Woodcarving
David Tippey
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sculpture | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Power Tools | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1861081049

Book Description

Woodcarving is probably the last craft where hand tools are more important than power tools--yet for some projects machines are just the right "hand tool." Use this guide to the wide range of possibilities that power tools offer you, and see how quickly they become part of your repertoire. A survey of every power tool needed in woodcarving, it includes some you might not ever consider, as well as a range of ordinary saws, sanders, and polishers, plus power chisels, files, angle grinders, die grinders, routers, chainsaws, and a variety of other portable and fixed machines. The techniques for using each tool come fully illustrated, showing how to use them on all your favorite types of woodcarving projects. 144 pages (all in color), 8 3/4 x 10 7/8.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed.......2000-03-03

Nothing really new here... some nice photos but not much fresh information. Lots of rehashing of what I've seen in many other places.

Power Tools For Wood Carvers.......1999-12-23

NOT WORTH THE PRICE! Nice cover pictures, but This book falls short of expectations. Mostly advertising type descriptions that I've seen many times in carving supply catalogs.

A beginner's look at woodcarving with creative power tools

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A beginner's look at woodcarving with creative power tools
Willard Bondhus
Manufacturer: Dremel Manufacturing Division, Emerson Electric Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006WJ74W

Customer Reviews:

Nature boy, this book's for you.......2007-07-19

Naturalist's Big Bend is a comprehensive overview of the flora and fauna of the Big Bend National Park region in Texas. Big Bend is unique for a couple of reasons. First, because the US/Mexico border dips south there, many species are found in the US only in this region. Secondly, as the climate changed following the last ice age, other species found themselves islanded in the cooler mountain ecosystems as the plains around them became deserts. These "sky islands" hold unique flora and fauna that has remained isolated for thousands of years.

Authors Wauer and Fleming have comprehensive first-hand knowledge of the park that comes through in every chapter. The book provides the advantage not only of their expertise but of their access to many unpublished Park Service and other reports and surveys of the park. The bibliography is the definitive go-to guide for anyone wishing to research any aspect of Big Bend's ecosystem. However, for a more personal tour of the park, you might prefer For All Seasons: A Big Bend Journal by author Wauer.

The book makes an excellent reference for the knowledgeable biologist or biology buff planning, enjoying, or remembering a visit to Big Bend National Park. Casual tourists will find the detail overwhelming and the illustrations miserly. With a bigger budget, this could have been a stunning illustrated field guide. As it is, most species rely on description alone for identification. There are a few black-and-white plates of plants, a limited number of fascinating black-and-white photos of animals, and a select group of stunning color photos that illustrate the diverse habitats found within the park.

Good general naturalist's info.......2006-03-07

My husband and I both found this useful and interesting for our recent weeklong trip to Big Bend. I would recommend it more as preparatory reading before the trip, or evening reading at your room or campsite while in the park, than as a guide to specific areas or species. Also it is best used with oher books accompanying it rather than relying on it alone, such as hiking, lizard, flower, or birding book too, depending on your interests. The bibiography uses up about the last quarter of this rather slim book. So you may want to get it way ahead of your trip then order more books from the bibliography or elsewhere.

Great book, bad citations........2005-12-14

This is a neat little book summarizing the flora and fauna of Big Bend National Park. It covers plants, birds, mammals, invertebrates, fish, and reptiles and amphibians, and provides a brief history. It is not an identification guide, but a listing of species of interest with some facts about them. There are better resources of information about birds and plants, but the other topics are rarely covered elsewhere aside from checklists available at the park.

My only problem with this guide is that they have provided in-text citations that are not in the bibliography! If you are going to cite sources in the text, please provide complete information *somewhere*. The bibliography lists lots of great sources, just not ALL of the sources used in the book. This lack of attention to detail is the reason I gave this book anything less than 5 stars.

Plants and Animals at Big Bend .......2004-12-27

Big Bend National Park has a variety of habitats for plants and animals. I was surprised to read that Big Bend counts more bird species than any other National Park in the US. Most of the park is desert, but the Rio Grande attracts water-loving species and the higher elevations of the Chisos mountains support trees normally associated with the Rocky Mountains hundreds of miles further north.

This is a fine little book. It has many color illustrations of the rugged terrain of the Big Bend, historical photos, black and white photos of animals and plants, and line drawings of wildflowers for identification purposes.

The book offers a capsule history of the Big Bend and a description of the five ecological zones in the park: floodplain, desert shrub, desert grassland, woodland formation and woodland. A chapter each is devoted to describing trees and shrubs, wildflowers, cacti, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, fish, and insects and other invertebrates. An extensive bibliography will guide a reader who wants more information. The text is competently and clearly written with brief descriptions of each species and comments on its importance, uses, range, and habitat.

Smallchief

Big Bend Country: Land of the Unexpected (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas a & M University)

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Big Bend Country: Land of the Unexpected (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas a & M University)
Kenneth Baxter Ragsdale
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Big Bend Vistas: A Geological Exploration of the Big Bend

ASIN: 089096811X

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A Photographer in the Big Bend

Exploring the Big Bend Country
Peter Koch , and June Cooper Price
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Photographer-naturalist Peter Koch first visited the new Big Bend National Park in February, 1945, on assignment to take promotional pictures for the National Park Service. He planned to spend a couple of weeks—and ended up staying for the rest of his life. Koch's magnificent photographs and documentary film-lectures Big Bend, Life in a Desert Wilderness and Desert Gold introduced the park to people across the United States, drawing thousands of visitors to the Big Bend. His photographs and films of the region remain among the best ever produced, and are an invaluable visual record of the first four decades of Big Bend National Park.

In this highly readable book, Koch's daughter June Cooper Price draws on the newspaper columns her father wrote for the Alpine Avalanche, supplemented by his photographs, journal entries, and short pieces by other family members, to present Peter Koch's vision of the Big Bend. The book opens with his first "big adventure," a six-day photographic trip through Santa Elena Canyon on a raft made from agave flower stalks. From there, Koch takes readers hiking on mountain trails and driving the scenic loop around Fort Davis. He also describes "wax smuggling" and other ways of making a living on the Mexican border; ranching in the Big Bend; the prehistory and Native Americans of the region; collaborating with botanist Barton Warnock on books of Trans-Pecos wildflowers; and the history and beauty of Presidio County, the Rio Grande, and the Chihuahuan Desert.

This fascinating blend of firsthand adventures, natural history, and personal musings on anthropology and history creates an unforgettable portrait of both Peter Koch and the Big Bend region he so loved.

Customer Reviews:

A Photographer in the Big Bend.......2007-08-14

Photographer Peter Koch came to the Big Bend country of Texas in 1944 and stayed there until his death in 1986. His daughter assembled and edited his writings on the Big Bend to compile this book.

This is not a guidebook, a trail guide, or a scholarly dissertation. Rather the author recounts his experiences in and around the Big Bend National Park. He tells of building a raft and floating down the Rio Grande, searching out rare plants in the desert, the people he met in his travels, and he tosses in a few tidbits of history about the ranchers, Indians, and Mexicans who lived or still live in this sparsely populated desert. The book is illustrated with the author's black and white photographs and several maps.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is Chapter Two in which the author describes his arrival at the new national park in 1944 -- which at that time had five employees to manage more than 1,000 square miles of park. With a photographer's keen eye he describes several of the most scenic and popular trails in the park. "Exploring the Big Bend" is a good little book that is easy and pleasant to read to read. The Big Bend is still one of the best and most isolated places in the United States to visit. From the headquarters of the National Park it's about 50 miles to the nearest grocery store.

Smallchief

Land of the Desert Sun: Texas' Big Bend Country (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, No.28)

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A comprehensive introduction to the Big Bend Country of TX
A book on the scale of its subject
Amazing black and white photographs of Big Bend, Texas.

Land of the Desert Sun: Texas' Big Bend Country (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, No.28)
Gentry D. Steele , and D. Gentry Steele
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Travel with Pets | Specialty Travel | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Big Bend National Park

ASIN: 0890968357

Customer Reviews:

A comprehensive introduction to the Big Bend Country of TX.......1999-03-18

Gentry Steele conveys the essence of the remarkable northern extension of the Great Chihuahuan Desert in his well-written text and supliments it admirably with supurb large format photographs. An excellent introduction to one of America's least explored regions.

A book on the scale of its subject.......1998-10-30

The Big Bend is a rugged, powerful, unforgiving, and beautiful country,that exists on a scale that most of civilized man never experiences. Most casual tourists who visit Big Bend are disappointed, as I was, in their pitiful efforts at capturing the essence of the experience both in words and 35mm photographs. This is a land that does not exist in standard format; it is truly a large-format landscape that requires exceptional verbal ability and skillful large-format photography to do it justice. Gentry Steele has done just that. His love and knowledge of the Big Bend country are clearly evident in his text and, especially in his striking black and white photographs. A hearty thumbs up for this spectacular book!

Amazing black and white photographs of Big Bend, Texas........1998-10-03

This is the kind of book you return to again and again. Steele has both consumate technical skill and the eye (and heart) of an artist. The composition of each photograph is striking, but it is the play of light and shadow -- across canyon walls, over abandoned adobe buildings, and the occasional plant -- that will delight and amaze the viewer. Steele used the intense desert light as his accomplice, creating art out of light, shade, rocks, and space. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief description of what you are seeing and where the photograph was taken. Steele's love and respect for the Big Bend region is evident on every page. This isn't the kind of book to be flipped through casually. I find myself lingering over each page, savoring the image, returning over and over to particular images, seeing some new each time. I plan to give this book to friends and relatives for Christmas this year. I confess to owning two D. Gentry Steele photographic prints, including the one chosen for the cover of this book. Highly recommended!!

Wildflowers of the Big Bend country, Texas

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Wildflowers of the Big Bend country, Texas
Barton H Warnock
Manufacturer: Sul Ross State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

God's Country or Devil's Playground: An Anthology of Nature Writing from the Big Bend of Texas (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

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Read about this magnificent place

God's Country or Devil's Playground: An Anthology of Nature Writing from the Big Bend of Texas (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier

ASIN: 0292755805

Book Description

The dramatic desert landscapes of the Big Bend country along the Texas-Mexico border reminded historian Walter Prescott Webb of "an earth-wreck in which a great section of country was shaken down, turned over, blown up, and set on fire." By contrast, naturalist Aldo Leopold considered the region a mountainous paradise in which even the wild Mexican parrots had no greater concern than "whether this new day which creeps slowly over the canyons is bluer or golder than its predecessors, or less so." Whether it impresses people as God's country or as the devil's playground, the Big Bend typically evokes strong responses from almost everyone who lives or visits there.

In this anthology of nature writing, Barney Nelson gathers nearly sixty literary perspectives on the landscape and life of the Big Bend region, broadly defined as Trans-Pecos Texas and northern Chihuahua, Mexico. In addition to Leopold and Webb, the collection includes such well-known writers as Edward Abbey, Mary Austin, Roy Bedichek, and Frederick Olmsted, as well as a wide range of voices that includes explorers, trappers, cowboys, ranch wives, curanderos, college presidents, scientists, locals, tourists, historians, avisadores, and waitresses. Following a personal introduction by Barney Nelson, the pieces are grouped thematically to highlight the distinctive ways in which writers have responded to the Big Bend.

Customer Reviews:

Read about this magnificent place.......2006-03-07

The Edward Abbey entry is worth the price of the book alone. This is a great collection of writing about this very under appreciated National Park.

Adeventures In the Canyon, Mountain, and Desert Country of the Big Bend of Texas and Mexico

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Adeventures In the Canyon, Mountain, and Desert Country of the Big Bend of Texas and Mexico
Dudley R. Dobie
Manufacturer: Dudley R. Dovie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OMLIP0

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Big Bend Country of Texas
Virginia Madison
Manufacturer: OCTOBER HOUSE INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKGTKG

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Big Bend Country of Texas
Vigginia Madison
Manufacturer: October House Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K38E5U

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Full-blooded

The Big Bend country of Texas
Virginia Madison
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007EFAXQ

Customer Reviews:

Full-blooded.......2007-03-29

I read this collection of "Big Bend" lore (relating to TransPecos Texas south of the first rail line, roughly south of the Davis Mtns) during a recent visit to the region, and was able to pick up on a lot of the cultural elements of this fascinating country. The publishing date (1955) gives it a peculiar added interest, namely that of a snapshot of west Texas at the outset of the "civil rights" era; Ms. Madison, like most intelligent white Southerners (yes, Texas was a "Southern state" at that time), varied between cultural liberality and defensiveness, a "we have problems, but we can solve them ourselves" sort of thing. She is a skilled discursive writer, and people with an interest in this area should find the book enjoyable.

Customer Reviews:

Great Idea, Dissapointing Overall........2005-11-16

I actually got this at a second hand book store for dirt cheap, This was at a time where I had just started buying graphic novels (I've been buying comic books for four years, not actual graphic novels.) so I picked it up and paged through it. It was only 45 rand (about 5 dollars to you guys.) so I quickly payed for it and was on my way.

I had then read it in a quick period of time and then put it in my book shelf thinking "It was good I guess." and then went to bed. Note: I had just started reading graphic novels and didn't really know what was good and what was bad. My conclusion at that point was "it's great!". The next week I went to a local comic shop to purchase some graphic novels, bought a couple of books and went on back on home. I then decided to read dead enders again after the other books I had read, It was actually quite a dissapointment after I read it, realizing that it was ok, not great anymore.

The story bassicly follows a character named Beezer and his best friend named Jasper, these guys are just trying to surve a world where every cop is corrupt, and can't go to outer sectors. Beezer is a drug deeler who sells a drug called AMP, and is involved in other street crime. This is the world of the dead enders.

So down to the plusses and negatives of this book. First of all it's too short, huge effective things happen too early in the story. The ending is very dissapointing and is a bit of a "everyone lives happilly ever after" ending. The art gets very old after a while, and sometimes very annoying. And now for the plusses. The Idea is great! Set in a world where a cataclysm had just happened, so the people who survive it have to live in a city where everyone is effected. The coulering suites the enviroment of the setting with some bright colours in the rich sectors, and some dull colours in the poor areas. So Overall this graphic novel is really a "What's the big deal?" conclusion, only buy it if it's in a bargain bin or something, but if you want brilliant graphic novels go for Watchmen, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. That's all I have to say.

Dead End Kids.......2002-06-12

Twenty years after "the cataclysm", New Bedlam is a bleak metroplis divided by the authorities into fenced-off sectors dilineated by wealth and class, all policed by stormtrooper-type policemen. In the outer sectors, a post-cataclysm nuclear winter type phenomenon means 24 hour darkness, while in the wealthy areas, weather machines can generate sunlight and temperate climates. The story takes place mostly in an outer sector where a group of teenagers styled on the mod subculture run around on scooters and deal in amphetamines. One of these mods seems have visions of the past, and the authoroties are trying to find him in order to study him for some unxplained reason. In the meantime, he's trying to steal a weather generator to fulfill a friend's dying wish. Although the story is somewhat disjointed and has a number of grey areas, it's visually compelling, with a nice palate and good action art. The use of basic mod style touchstones, such as parkas, scooters, and arrows is kind of interesting, but that's about all. Of course, Chynna Clugston-Major's "Blue Monday" comic series also uses mod characters and stylings. For a pulp fiction treatment of the original mod subsulture, check out Howard Baker's novel "Sawdust Caesar". "The Sharper Word" anthology edited by Pablo Hewitt is another book to check out.

Engaging alternative to typical comics.......2001-03-01

I stumbled upon this comic by chance, a fellow Vespa rider recommending I pick up the "comic with scooters in it." Although I collect scooter-related stuff, I was surprised by how this story gained my interest. Not much violence, no super-heroes, but an engaging story with well-executed illustration. If you're looking for something that is an alternative to good-battling-evil and mindless sitcom stories, pick up this realistic story that is tempered with a bit of science fiction and mystery. If you like scooters, you'll find their plentiful inclusion a bonus. I would actually give it 3.5 stars. 4 stars if the whole 16 issues were collected here.

We are the mods!.......2000-11-03

Ed Brubaker's deadenders hasn't reached the grand disinfo/revolutionary, world-changing, thick cultural commentary of its now dead Vertigo peer The Invisibles. But comparison to what is probably the best comic book of the decade is a tall order, and I only make it because deadenders really is so good, and transverses some of the same countercultural territory.

What's really beautiful is how Ed Brubaker appropriates Mod culture so precisely and updates it for a uniquely "post" world - not post-apocalyptic, post-cataclysmic, and there's a difference. This is like William Gibson with parkas, addidas, and Vespas. I'd call it Grey Pop.

Like the best futurism, deadenders is pretty darn relevant to the current social landscape and sub/counterculture. Ed Brubaker has an innovative and unique take on the whole notion of time travel, and I'd suspect that if you get this graphic novel, you'll probably go out to the local comic shop and pick up issue #5 and not stop till you get caught up and probably not then either. Ed Brubaker really knows how to write a mystery, and though deadenders is by no means part of the mystery genre, it certainly pulls you in with the same power.

Part of it might be my love of Mod culture, but this is my favorite current Vertigo book.

Change the world.

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