Crater Lake National Park: A Global Treasure

Crater Lake National Park: A Global Treasure Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Crater Lake is one of Earth's most precious jewels. Ann and Myron Sutton have captured the beauty and majesty of this awesome place, with breathtaking images and richly descriptive text.

Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home

Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Seventy–two step–by–step projects for modern do–it–yourself home and office design, by world–renowned designer Todd Oldham.

Love the look of mid–century, modern, retro design, but don't feel like dropping two weeks' pay on an Eames chair? Todd Oldham shares his passion for mid–century modern homes with over 72 do–it–yourself projects for anyone who loves crafts and longs to add character to every corner of their home.

Each project is charted through step–by–step photos and instructions until the fabulously mod end. Other projects include home–computer face–lifts, Xerox wallpaper, aluminium lighting fixtures, and cosy shoe–storage systems. In additional to Todd's brilliantly engineered projects, the book comes complete with a tutorial on modern home design in the form of sidebars and short essays throughout –everything from that now–famous Eames chair to the case–study houses of the 1950s.

Handmade Modern promises to revolutionise the way the reader looks at his or her own home and capacity to beautify a space. Chic, accessible, and fun, this is the achievable new look of modern home design.

The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine)

The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine) Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

The English Country House takes a look at the architecture and interiors of sixty-two stunning houses in a range of architectural styles spanning seven centuries—from the medieval Stokesay Castle to the newly built, Lutyens-inspired Corfe Farm—brought to life through the world-renowned photography library of Country Life. More than four hundred color and black and white illustrations provide an insight into the architecture, decoration, gardens, and landscape settings of these houses, which are set into their architectural and historical context by the accompanying text and extended captions.
 
The book provides an entrée into the houses to which Country Life has had privileged access over the years, many of which are still private homes, often occupied by descendants of the families that built them. Punctuating the book at intervals in the form of booklets on rich, uncoated paper are six essays by leading British architectural historians that set the English country house into its social context and chart the changing tastes in decorating and collecting, the development of ancillary buildings, gardens and landscapes, and finally, its influence in the United States. 
 

Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture

Caribbean Houses: History, Style, and Architecture Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Caribbean Houses is a lavishly illustrated account of the development of historically significant houses in the West Indies. Author Michael Connors, a West Indian decorative arts scholar, examines venerable houses that remain as a testimony to the rich history and vibrant lifestyle that was, and continues to be, an important part of Caribbean culture. The book is divided into five chapters, one for each European heritage: the Spanish Antilles, the Dutch Leewards, the English Islands, the French Lesser Antilles, and the Danish Virgin Islands. An authoritative text sheds light on the area’s rich architectural and interior design history and gives the reader a unique view of houses that combine the tradition of European styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs. The lavish new photography captures the stunning exteriors and provides a rare look into the interiors of these historic houses, with exotic tropical hardwoods, indigenous stone, and a blending of local crafts and handiwork with antiques and contemporary furnishings. With the disappearance of so much of the Caribbean’s historic domestic architecture, the colonial residences that still exist represent an important historical record of the Caribbean’s material culture.

Japanese Garden Design

Japanese Garden Design Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

The Japanese garden designer, like the poet, creates a theater for the wind to speak, and asks only that we listen. This book presents the essential concepts that garden designers have employed through the centuries and the knowledge necessary to create these living sculptures, these sacred spaces, these ethereal and graceful gardens of Japan.

American Bungalow Style

American Bungalow Style Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

America once had a love affair with bungalows -- and it's being rekindled coast to coast. This elegant book showcases exceptional examples and features a catalogue of period furnishings.

With a flaming fire in the cozy hearth, a comfortable Morris chair, and soft, natural colors everywhere, bungalows have long embodied the ideal of the American home. At the turn of the century they took the country by storm, providing well-designed and well-priced shelter nationwide. Bungalows revolutionized residential architecture in America and grew into a beloved symbol of domesticity by offering stylish yet affordable housing for the average person. Today whole neighborhoods of bungalows are being saved and restored by people who appreciate the simple and natural lifestyle made possible by these small houses.

Beautifully illustrated with more than three hundred color photographs, "American Bungalow Style" presents two dozen American houses that capture the bungalow spirit. Many are Arts and Crafts in style, others show a touch of Spain or colonial America, and all exemplify the charms that enticed thousands of bungalow buyers during the form's heyday from 1880 to 1930. Among the bungalows included are examples by famous architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Bernard Maybeck, as well as Gustav Stickley's own log cabin retreat. Many are the work of anonymous but skilled builders, and some were ordered by mail.

Bungalows may differ widely in style and size, but they have in common a simplified natural lifestyle made possible by these small houses.

Beautifully illustrated with more than three hundred color photographs, "American Bungalow Style" presents two dozen American houses that capture the bungalow spirit. Many are Arts and Crafts in style, others show a touch of Spain or colonial America, and all exemplify the charms that enticed thousands of bungalow buyers during the form's heyday from 1880 to 1930. Among the bungalows included are examples by famous architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Bernard Maybeck, as well as Gustav Stickley's own log cabin retreat. Many are the work of anonymous but skilled builders, and some were ordered by mail.

Bungalows may differ widely in style and size, but they have in common a simplified plan that places most of the living spaces on one floor. They are typically one or one and a half stories high, low in profile, and fitted with lots of built-ins and all the conveniences of their time. On their own piece of land, with a garden in front or back and space to park a car, bungalows provided the privacy and independence that many Americans favor.

The idea that simplicity and artistry could harmonize in one affordable house spurred the bungalow's popularity -- a rare movement in which good architecture was found outside the world of the wealthy. Bungalows allowed people of modest means to achieve something they had long sought: respectability. With its special features the bungalow filled more than the need for shelter. It provided fulfillment of the American dream.

A fully illustrated appendix features more than one hundred furnishings suitable for bungalows and Arts and Crafts houses. This special catalogue section highlights modern reproductions of tables and chairs, lamps, textiles, wall coverings, tile, and hardware that look right at home in bungalows old and new, commodious and compact.

Arts and Crafts End Table/Nightstand Mission Style: Downloadable Woodworking Plan

Arts and Crafts End Table/Nightstand Mission Style: Downloadable Woodworking Plan Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

You won't have to look far to find the perfect spot in your home for this multi-purpose table. Here, we photographed it as a nightstand, but other uses might include: telephone stand, occasional table, plant stand, or entry hall table. Its timeless beauty is matched only by the pride you'll feel when you're finished building it.

Measures 18" wide, 15-1/8" deep, 29-1/16" tall.

About WOOD Magazine downloadable plans

• For error-free construction, each downloadable plan includes a bill of materials, a cutting diagram, a detailed supplies listing, and, when necessary, a mail-order buying guide for hard-to-find hardware.
• For a clear idea of how our projects go together, each downloadable plan includes an exploded-view drawing with helpful details. All drawings are done professionally by the WOOD Magazine staff of woodworkers and illustrators.
• Large color photos and step-by-step instructions show exactly how we built the project in the WOOD magazine shop. We build each project ourselves to work out any bugs before you ever get the plan.
• Detail drawings and step-by-step illustrations provide necessary dimensions and machining processes you'll need to make the building process as straightforward as possible.

Note: This is a downloadable woodworking plan. All other materials must be purchased separately.

Glass-Topped Coffee Table: Downloadable Woodworking Plan

Glass-Topped Coffee Table: Downloadable Woodworking Plan Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

If you have a treasured collection of curios, you probably understand how difficult it can be to find just the right place to display it. But now, with this traditionally styled coffee table, you have a unique option.

Measures 48" long, 24" deep, 17" tall.

About WOOD Magazine downloadable plans

• For error-free construction, each downloadable plan includes a bill of materials, a cutting diagram, a detailed supplies listing, and, when necessary, a mail-order buying guide for hard-to-find hardware.
• For a clear idea of how our projects go together, each downloadable plan includes an exploded-view drawing with helpful details. All drawings are done professionally by the WOOD Magazine staff of woodworkers and illustrators.
• Large color photos and step-by-step instructions show exactly how we built the project in the WOOD magazine shop. We build each project ourselves to work out any bugs before you ever get the plan.
• Detail drawings and step-by-step illustrations provide necessary dimensions and machining processes you'll need to make the building process as straightforward as possible.

Note: This is a downloadable woodworking plan. All other materials must be purchased separately.

Classic Modern: Midcentury Modern At Home

Classic Modern: Midcentury Modern At Home Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

This gogeously illustrated book is the only major work to document the hip and inventive design of the mid-twentieth century, a period that today reigns unchallenged among style setters as well as a new generation of home owners and collectors. There is no hotter style today than the cooler than cool work of modern designers and archtitects from the 1940s and 50s. Endlessly inventive and emminently livable, mid-century modernism has an optimism and confidence born of postwar abundance, and a spirited elegance that appeals powerfully fifty years later. In CLASSIC MODERN, design expert Deborah Dietsch introduces readers to the basic tenets of modern design and explains how the simple yet inspired forms typical of this style were so readily disseminated into mainstream American culture. Filled throughout with enticing examples of mid-century pieces from such timeless designers as Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, and George Nelson, this beautiful book recaptures the excitement of the period's brilliant designs.

Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining

Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

More than just the woman who created the fashion empire that bears her name, Lilly Pulitzer exemplifies an attitude, a casual sort of elegance, a style called "affluence at ease." Lilly and her clothing wholeheartedly embrace color -- she made famous the pink and green combination -- and her love of vibrant hues and bold prints led the New York Times to recently call her "a major force in prep resort wear for forty years."

But Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau is also almost as well-known for her entertaining as she is for her fashions. A tribute to her insouciant lifestyle, Essentially Lilly is lavishly illustrated and peppered with anecdotal memories of a life filled with color. Joined by her family and close friends, Lilly recalls the parties, the decorating, the food, and the fashion that have been part of her life in Palm Beach since she arrived there in the 1950s.

With sections devoted to each part of the day, Essentially Lilly captures a variety of social events -- from a sunrise sail to a beach supper under the stars -- and imbues each with singular "Lilly style":

Mellow Yellow Mornings -- start the day off easy with a walk on the beach or a luxuriously lazy breakfast in bed. Take some friends out for an early morning sail or a country club brunch. Round off the morning hunting for a one-of-a-kind treasure at a local flea market.

Think Pink Afternoons -- rev up the middle of the day with a bridesmaids' lunch, a birthday cookout, or a charity tea. Perhaps you'd rather relax with a fruity pool party or a "just-looking" stroll down Palm Beach's fabled Worth Avenue. True Blue Evenings -- gather your friends together for a festive cocktail party or a romantic beach dinner under a full moon. Maybe it's a deep woods campfire that appeals to you, or watching a movie out under the stars, or just a simple pizza party for your family.

Essentially Lilly presents memories and menus, beautiful photographs and dazzling illustrations as well as dozens of recipes and entertaining suggestions to make your own get-togethers as successful as one of Lilly's famed parties. Best of all, Lilly offers her spirited advice throughout: "Just relax and have fun -- and be an individual," she says. "It's better that you enjoy yourself than it is to get it right." Good rules to live by.

"LILLY PULITZER trademarks and logos are the property of Sugartown Worldwide, Inc. The book, including the design on the cover, are Copyright © 2004 Sugartown Worldwide, Inc."

The Ninth District - A Thriller

The Ninth District - A Thriller Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

The Federal Reserve has never been robbed. FBI Special Agent Jack Miller, pulled into a high-profile case to mentor a new agent, finds himself in a clash with the toughest opponent of his career. The chase culminates in the bowels of the city, in the storm sewers and tunnels beneath The Ninth District Federal Reserve of Minneapolis.

The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl

The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Marc Schuster’s colorful debut novel paints a riveting portrait of a divorced mother whose quest to be everything to everyone exposes the dark secrets of America’s suburbs.

Audrey Corcoran never dreamed she’d try cocaine, but a year after a bitter divorce, she meets a man named Owen Little who convinces her that a little buzz might be exactly what she needs to lift her spirits. And why not? He’s already turned her on to jazz, and no one in his circle of friends ever thinks twice about getting high. Soon, however, her escalating drug use puts a strain on Audrey’s relationship with her daughters, and she begins to sell cocaine from her home in order to subsidize her habit. By turns horrifying and hilarious, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl offers a scathing indictment of American consumer culture and the wildly conflicting demands it makes upon women.

On the surface, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl is about overcoming addiction. At the same time, however, the novel examines society’s conflicting expectations of women. Consumer culture constantly tells women to be fun, smart, wild and sexy, but at the same time, this same culture also demands that women be dependable, reliable, sensible and safe. In short, women are expected to do it all. Against this backdrop, protagonist Audrey Corcoran discovers cocaine and thinks she’s found the product that will allow her to be everything to everyone. Her struggle with addiction, then, is also a struggle with her sense of identity, and her essential dilemma is whether or not to buy into the myth of the perfect woman or to accept herself as flawed and imperfect, yet no less worthy of love.

Woodworking Plans And Projects

Woodworking Plans And Projects Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Woodworking plans and projects is a book that contains 35 woodworking plans catering for the beginner through to the more experienced woodworker. The woodwork plans are drawn on a scale of 1:1(full size) for the smaller projects including the model plans (and an explanation of how each part was made.) These can be used as patterns, either by photocopying or tracing. Other plans are drawn on grids and dimensioned,photographs are provided to aid construction along with pictorial assembly diagrams. The fore pages contain handy tips and hints relevant to the projects within this book

Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles

Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

"If you want to know anything about the Beatles, ask Tony Bramwell. He remembers more than I do."- Sir Paul McCartney to Donovan in a January 2002 interview

Tony Bramwell's remarkable life began in a postwar Liverpool suburb, where he was childhood friends with three of the Beatles long before they were famous. And by the time he caught up with George Harrison on the top of a bus going to check out "The Beatles, direct from Hamburg"--one of whom George turned out to be--Tony was well on his way to staying by them for every step of their meteoric rise.

If anything needed taking care of, Tony Bramwell was the man the Beatles called, the man they knew they could trust. His story has been sought after for years, and now, here it is, full of untold stories and detailing with an insider's shrewd eye the Apple empire's incomparable rise, Brian Epstein's frolics, Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, Phil Spector's eccentric behavior, and new stories about Yoko Ono, the Stones, and the life--his life.

From developing the first Beatle music videos to heading Apple Films, and from riding bikes and trading records with George Harrison to working and partying with everyone from the Beatles to Hendrix, Ray Charles, and The Who, Tony's life really did (and does) encompass a who's who of rock.

His story reveals fresh insights into the Beatles' childhoods and families, their early recordings and songwriting, the politics at Apple, and Yoko's pursuit of John and her growing influence over the Beatles' lives. And it uncovers new information about the Shea Stadium concert footage, John Lennon's late-night "escapes," and more. From the Cavern Club to the rooftop concert, from the first number one to the last, and from scraps of song lyrics to the discovery of the famous Mr. Kite circus poster, Tony Bramwell really did see it all.

Conversational, direct, and honest, the ultimate Beatles insider finally shares his own version of the frantic and glorious ascent of four boys from Liverpool lads to rock and roll kings.

Bloodroot

Bloodroot Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

The brilliantly ambitious thriller- frightening, twisted, and filled with secrets and heartbreak-from the author of Fresh Kills.

Kevin Curran wants to unite his family, but he's ready to give up on his younger brother, Danny-three years lost to heroin addiction and hard, desperate living on the streets of New York. When Danny shows up on Kevin's Staten Island doorstep, looking clean, fit, and prosperous, Kevin can't help but be overjoyed that his brother has escaped his past life. But at what price? Not even Kevin's worst nightmares could have prepared him for the horrors he'll discover about his brother's dark history.

After a brief reunion, Danny offers Kevin a role in an underworld plot revolving around the Bloodroot Children's Hospital, an abandoned juvenile asylum with a nefarious past. Hoping to rescue Danny from his criminal life after years ago failing to save him from his addiction, Kevin accepts.

While Danny's plan unfolds, Kevin is drawn into a world of murder, Mafia hit men and dangerous espionage. The halls of Bloodroot reveal one horrifying secret after another: about the building's history, about Danny's life of addiction and crime, and about the true roots of the Curran family. At the end of the maze of monsters, the brothers make a discovery so horrific it may force them to destroy each other.

Do-It-Yourself Coffins: For Pets and People (Schiffer Book for Woodworkers)

Do-It-Yourself Coffins: For Pets and People (Schiffer Book for Woodworkers) Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Dale Power departs from his usual animal carvings, burying himself in a new art formthe manufacture of special boxes for pets and people. Heres one project you wont want to put off till tomorrow. All of the tools and techniques needed to produce strong and beautiful coffins are presented here in clear, concise language. Color photographs illustrate every step in the construction of three pet-size and three human-size coffins. Detailed patterns are provided and different box construction techniques are revealed. One box design even doubles as a beautiful blanket chest or coffee table. Once the coffins are built, the discussion turns to the many moldings, appliques, linings, and finishes which may be used to make each coffin unique. A color gallery is also provided. With full color illustrations and detailed instructions, this book is a challenge to the novice and a joy for the experienced craftsman.

New Strawbale Home, The

New Strawbale Home, The Review

See more picture @ amazon.com

Straw bale-the cozy, sculpted home that feels like an embrace.
(20030921)