Review of Housing Ourselves: Creating Affordable, Sustainable Shelter (Hardcover)

I'm surprised that this is the first review here for 'Housing Ourselves', but if you haven't read this book already, you should buy it now. Or at least go to your bookstore and read it.

'Housing Ourselves' essentially is a theoretical manual for the construction of affordable and sustainable rural houses; not to say that practical applications and examples are absent, or that the ideas can't be used on a suburban or urban lot, but I think Burnham himself makes the point that he's writing this book for the owner-builder out on the land.

Regardless, this is one of the very few books I've seen written for the every-day family who wants to build well, sustainably, and for the future on a budget; in addition, it's an idea-rich and inspirational book for affordable housing in general.

Read it as a how-to manual, read it as an essay on how to get back to affordable and sustainable design simply and for the long haul, but just read it. It's well-illustrated, well-written, and a good gift for your friends who want to build their own house.

- George Oliver georgeolivergo@yahoo.com



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Review of Insulating Concrete Forms Construction : Demand, Evaluation, & Technical Practice (Hardcover)

I am having a house designed to use ICF construction, but I wanted to come up to speed on the construction methods used.This book was a good source to get that knowledge.I covers many specifics about ICF as well as general concrete construction methods.



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Review of The Green Building Bottom Line (GreenSource Books; Green Source): The Real Cost of Sustainable Building (Mcgraw-Hill's Greensource) (Hardcover)

Green Building Bottom Line offers a series of case studies on Melaver's experience with sustainability across its business practice.

I just read it over the weekend: it offers rich detail on creating a sustainability program internally, on green development, on greening existing buildings, on sustainability in the market, etc.

Easy to read, especially strong on Melaver's efforts to account financially for the corporate investment in sustainability, and on practical tips on how to make things green and where things might go wrong on the way. Good tool for teaching, I'd think



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Review of Design-Build: Planning Through Development (Hardcover)

Design-Build: Planning through Development covers most aspects of this project delivery method and is an excellent source of information for all the parties involved in the design and construcion business. Owners, Contractors, CMs and Designers can benefit from this book by obtaining guidelines and good orientation of how and when implement D-B as an effective project delivery method that is getting more followers everywhere.



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Review of The American City : What Works, What Doesn't (Hardcover)

There is a very good reason that Garvin's The American City has become required reading for most of the major urban affairs programs across the country: it stands alone as the definitive book on practical urban planning as we enter the 21st century. The first edition of this book, released in 1995, was a breath of fresh air in the field as it avoided emotional polemics in favor of thorough, pragmatic analyses of virtually every aspect of urban planning. This new, 560 page edition builds on the strengths of the original but has been substantially updated. It now includes coverage of the effects of stadiums and entertainment centers, BIDs, environmental factors, and much more.It has also been updated with the latest statistical information and additional stunning photos, as well as follow-ups on the projects originally covered in the first edition.

Garvin himself is uniquely qualified to write this book. For over thirty years he has taught Yale University's Introduction to the Study of the City course, while remaining busy as an architect, real estate developer and Director of Comprehensive Planning for the City of New York. After the publication of the original edition he became the Managing Director for Planning of New York's bid to host the 2012 Olympics (which was just selected as one of the finalists), and this year he was chosen to head up the complete rebuilding of the World Trade Center site after September 11 as the Vice President for Planning, Design and Construction of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

If you have any interest whatsoever in the history, design, or improvement of America's urban landscape, this is the book to get. As Paul Goldberger, the former architecture critic of the New York Times has written: "I will read it again and again, sometimes from front to back, sometimes from back to front, sometimes to page through at a random, sometimes to consult and help me with a particular problem. I guarantee dog-eared pages within a year."



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