House

"Flawless...(Snowden) has an inimitable voice that explores satire, sexuality, depression and angst - and most importantly he's not afraid to lay it down on paper the way he sees it. Like a good photographer, the poet sees beneath the surface and shallow ends. This is a fine (debut) collection that deserves to be heard. There's a message here for a lot of us."

Beautiful pictures throughout. What a wonderful book!!

Ms. Tam understands the style of Hong Kong and China (especially Shanghai) like few others; the best of that style is all here. She writes with enthusiasm and love for many essential aspects of the appeal of a culture known for its centuries-old aesthetic and for its mass-production and other mass sensibilities.

Tam's education at the Hong Kong Polytechnic gives her a unique vantage point for isolating Chinese chic. She can view Cultural Revolution paraphrenalia with the eye of a designer, collector, and artist, rather than with painful memories. In a show of global sophistication, she understands East-meets-West sensibility (her chapter on Chinglish is told with an appealing tenderness). The text comes off without a shimmer of self-consciousness or compulsion to 'be Chinese.' There is camp, sex, zen, pizzazz and beauty, exploding off of every page and augmented by Tam's tales of exploration and appreciation.

Bonus interviews with composer Tan Dun and choreographer/visionary Danny Yung are painfully short, but the reader still gets a healthy dose of young Chinese intelligensia. The text is endearingly personal, Vivienne Tam sharing with the reader what her senses take in. It's quite delightful.

Great keepsake for people who have visited Hong Kong or Shanghai!

1. Wonderful translation. The introduction does not tell us how this translation came to be. I assume it was commisioned by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). But the translation is a pleasure to read: modern but not as casual as the Good News Bible. I have various translations of the Bible, and so should you, since this may not be the most accurate. But the spirit of the Word (if you will) is there, and this is what I use most of the time.

2. Recognizes (to an extent) modern criticsm and research. Unlike the NIV Full Life Study, and Halley's Handbook, the commentators of the CCB do not shun or condemn the theories of modern scholars. Those two books are valuable in their own right, but I feel that they are narrow-minded, dogmatic and even hostile at times. By contrast, the CCB acknowledges when the authorship or historical validity of a book is doubtful (e.g. the Book of Daniel and 2 Peter). It also notes how silly some interpretations of Revelation are.

3. Comments are often longer, warmer and just more interesting than that of the Full Life Study. That book often just sums up passages, as if you aren't smart enough to figure that out for yourself. The CCB, instead of just repeating what a chapter says, seems to REFLECT deeply on it. Compare the commens on the Fall of Man, for example.

4. Important passages in the OT are in large print; less important ones not relevant to Christian teaching are in smaller print. This enables you to see at a glance which are the highlights of a book. I do not always agree with the commentators' choices, though.

5. The sides of the pages are marked (like Merriam Webster's) to make it easier to open the book you want to read.

6. There are a few things here that I didn't find in the Full Life or in Halley's, e.g. what the initials of the Lord's Prayer stand for. :-)

And now the cons:

1. No concordance. Only brief indexes, and historical overviews. No maps, either.

2. Commentaries are printed in small text. You MIGHT need a magnifying glass.

3. In some cases, commentaries are unexpectedly short.

4. It does get too dogmatic in some places, but THAT is expected. Of course, as a free-thinker, that bugs me. But if you are a staunch believer, you'll love it!

5. Order of books is different, as mentioned below. But I like it.

So, overall, GET THIS BIBLE!

This book originally was "Loizeaux's Plan Book No. 7" published by the J.D. Loizeaux Lumber Company. The book starts with photos of the Loizeaux business locations including their lumber plant and their builders' supply yard and dock. There are several pages showing a complete example of what blueprints one receives if one orders a plan. Then there's an article on styles of homes, which gives the modern reader a glimpse of what styles were most popular at the time.

The book continues with still more articles and advice, before getting to plans: a section on decorating, including what color schemes are advised for each room. One interesting feature to today's eyes is the recommendation of strong colors for walls - according to Loizeaux, white should be used only sparingly! There are illustrations of furnished rooms. Although black and white, each is accompanied by a description of its colors. Here's a nice tasteful bedroom: "Walls are tinted soft peach or apricot. Casement curtains are of sunfast voile or net in ecru or café au lait. Valence at top of window is of violet sateen with draperies of cretonne, chintz, or printed linen. Bed cover of violet sateen, flounce of soft jade green. Shirred over-spread of thin dotted swiss. Deep blue Wilton carpet and cushion on window seat. Slipper stool and lamp shade are in soft rose taffeta." Certainly makes your current bedroom sound pale, doesn't it?

In the illustrations of the kitchen and bathroom, we can tell that we are moving from the turn-of-the-century to the Art Deco era, because no longer are they done in gleaming "sanitary white" tile; now the tiles include colors and patterns.

The floor plans actually start on page 17. Each page contains an illustration (sometimes, but not always, a photo), upstairs and downstairs floor plans, a listing of overall dimensions, and 2 or 3 sentences about the house. Each room on the floor plan is labelled, and the various built-ins such as a telephone nook, medicine cabinet, or bookshelf, are pointed out.

Partway through the book, the plans are interrupted by more articles: one on how to heat the small home - basically, an ancestor of the infomercial, really a long advertisement for a particular brand of heater that Loizeaux sells. Likewise an article/ad for hot water heaters. Check out the article on G-E Wiring Systems on pages 70-71; the illustrations of a couple being shown a house by an agent are funny. Perhaps one of the funniest articles is the page about the "combination bath." This was supposed to be a new, modern, convenience, combining a seat, foot bath, shower, and child's bath all in one. Looking at the illustrations (including an unclothed young man in the shower- how racy!), one can see that this design is just an accident waiting to happen, which must have finally occurred to the company, too, because we certainly don't see any of these combination baths any more!

Little sketches here and there add to the charm of the book - a drawing of a child operating a garbage burner, of a furnished sun parlor, and so on.

While most of the plans are for single-family houses, there are a few for duplexes or apartment buildings. This book is also late enough into the century that we can take interior bathrooms for granted; the 1920's are quite modern compared to a 15 years earlier. Other plan books, from 1912, for example, still have half the houses without indoor baths, and many not wired for electricity. On the other hand, it's still long enough ago that there are a few houses with thatched or wooden roofs; there are not yet garages featured automatically with the houses, and the kitchen stoves still need a chimney vented to the outside. I greatly enjoy comparing books from a few years apart, to see the progress being made.

In summary: the extensive number of articles/ads in the plan book make it a valuable addition to a collection, because they provide so much information about what daily life and average tastes of the time were like, not just what architectural styles were popular. Fun reading, fun to browse, and also a valuable reference for anyone who is studying old houses and neighborhoods.

Interestingly it's edited by Andy Rae who also writes for Taunton Press.

The authors describe the concept of modern architecture in the short introduction and in the back each architect writes about their views on design. I must have looked through this book dozens ot times and I still love these houses. Unfortunately I bet a lot of them are no longer standing, which makes this reprint even more important as a visual record.

If you are interested in this type of streamline building have a look at 'The Modern House Today' by Nick Dawe and Kenneth Powell, this has excellent color photos of sixty-three houses in England that are still standing, unfortunately the book is let down by the minimalist design. Charlotte and Peter Fiell's massive 576 page reference book '30s and 40s Decorative Art' covers Moderne houses (mostly in the US and Europe) with photos of interiors, ceramics, textiles and lighting. All three books are worth owning.

The book introduces the reader to 62 marvelous houses which exemplify the modern style. Architects represented include Gregory Ain, George Howe, Richard J. Neustra, Raphael S. Soriano, and many more. Detailed floor plans, exterior and interior photographs, and details of construction are included. The houses range in size from modest 1- or 2-bedroom homes to expansive, luxurious mansions.

This book is a spectacular introduction to the vocabulary of the modern period in architecture. The photographs and floor plans capture the bold interplay of geometric shapes, the experimentation with glass and other materials, the profusion of balconies and terraces, and above all, the concern with functionality that motivated the masters of the modern.

Co-authors James Ford and Katherine Morrow Ford have included a interesting introduction. Also included is a collection of brief statements by many of the featured architects.

This is a great book for those interested in American cultural history, interior design, home photography, and other subjects. But at its core this book is an excellent record of and tribute to one of the most remarkable movements in the history of home architecture.

This is a book for your coffee table! It of course covers the history of Colt firearms, and was written by (who else?) the historical consultant to the Colt Firearms Division.

Wilson is also a well-known collector, free-lance consultant and well-known author in the firearms field. This is his twentieth book, and perhaps his best.

The book is well-written, of course, and the epitome of accuracy--deriving its facts and figures directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak--but its greatest value is the exquisite color photography with which it is filled.

There are 406 gorgeous eight and a half inch by eleven inch (landscape) pages, almost all of them containing color photographs of great beauty, depicting historical firearms directly from Colt's own collection, as well as from other sources.

If you are a firearm aficionado, or a Colt collector, or just a history buff who appreciates the role Colt firearms have played in American history, this is the book for you.

It is one of my most prized books.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity