If your a hobbyist architect like me you will find hundreds of tidbits of info on all aspects of building construction, and architecture in this book, all illustrated in superb pencil drawings.

a comprehensive collection of elements and discriptions for whatever peice of idea that has been thought of, a must have for those who really want to understand the details of the profession. Very well organized chapters, and i liked specially the coverage of nearlly all the styles old and new with nearly all the elements included in each style. Photoes are generously included but they could use some color to make them more appealing. it is nice i think if it was available on CD.

As with most of Francis D.K. Ching's publications, this is a fundamental resource to the student of architecture, as well as the practicing professional. The practice of architecture is intrinscially tied to the ability of the Architect to communicate complex ideas to a myriad of persons. To be succesful at this communication, one needs to be conversant in both the written/spoken language of architecture as well as the illustrative language of drawing. The Visual Dictionary exemplifies this concept. Organized around 68 essential concepts of design and construction - concisely written and beautifully illustrated - Francis Ching brings forth clarity in communication rarely experienced in the world of design and construction. I use this book in teaching, in practice, in reference, and in simple enjoyment. Again, a fundamental resource for the reference shelf - although it rarely sits on the shelf.

This is a great resource for learning how to produce good architectural drawings. It is oriented around hand drafting, but the concepts and ideas are important for good, readable CAD drawings as well. My first year studio professor made everyone buy this book. It was money well spent!!

Architectural Graphics covers a huge range of fields within Architectural Drafting, and Presentation. From perspective to plans, this book has it all. Excellent for beginners, it is a visual, easy to understand guide to Drafting.

A fabulous survey of the conventions of architectural drawing in an easily referenced, concise format. Adequately covers the basics of orthographic, paraline, perspective, and rendering techniques. Good for the first time student just learning, or the experienced architect looking for a brush up.

There is a long tradition among artists and writers of maintaining a journal to record observations and impressions. Many writers use journals to write informally, often spontaneously, to describe real or imagined people, places, and events. Artists and naturalists as well fill sketchbooks with both words and images to help focus their observations. Frank Ching, the author of this sketchbook, not only records the optical reality of what is seen; he uses these drawings as a means of gaining understanding, insight, and perhaps even inspiration. His drawings stimulate the mind to think and can even make visible aspects that cannot be seen by the naked eye, or captured on film by a camera.

Frank Ching made most of the drawings in this sketchbook in or around O-okayama, a town southwest of downtown Tokyo, where the Tokyo Institute of Technology is located. The subject matter ranges from street scenes to traditional construction details, from temples and their sacred precincts to stimulating juxtapositions of old and new. He has successfully captured the sights, sounds and even smells of vibrant metropolis Tokyo, enabling the reader to feel the humid heat of the day or the cool rainy mist that fell as he drew. In addition, there are scenes sketched during the author's brief excursion to Kyoto and the mountain village of Takayama

All the drawings were executed in a pure contour-line technique with a fountain pen and black ink. There is a crispness and finality to an inkline that is both daunting and exciting. The process not only fostered the careful observation of details; it also required seeing how they fit into the larger framework and pattern of shapes, and noting which details could be omitted. The shape and extent of the white spaces are as important to a composition as what is delineated.

Francis D.K. Ching (1943- ) completed a month in the spring of 1990 as a visiting scholar at the Tokyo Institute of Technology which he spent producing this sketchbook.

This book lays the best foundation for architectural study and design of any book ever published. It should be required reading at every university and would make a great primer for high school students with enlightened teachers.

After seeing this book on the shelf of a friend's architecture office, I bought it for my homeschooled children who are genuinely interested in architecture and building...Their dad (who teaches drafting and construction) and I could not put it down! The drawings are clear and so comprehensive. The book covers so much...Architectural styles, drawing types, etc. Mostly in drawings with very little text. So many architecture books are filled with heavy text, that you are lost in it, rather than learning the ideas and concepts. That is not a problem here. It is not to say that in any way this is a simplistic, elementary book...I'm sure it is used at the post-graduate and professional levels. The drawings and captions/info just say so much more than all those words! We are all learning a lot from this book, and are looking forward to buying more of this man's work.

This book is not just for reading, but for studying. Each page uses excellent graphics to demostrate and teach the principles of architectural design. Each page teaches a principle and the following pages build on that principle.

This book is a text book and a study guide all in one book. I would recommend this book for student & practicing architects and interior designers.

While I agree with others that this book is comprehensive in scope, and while it is beautifully illustrated, it is lacking in the details. Our Building Construction class used it as a primary text, and nowhere does it tell you basics. For example, the drawings have few if any dimensions, which are pretty critical to one's understanding of basic construction (e.g., studs spaced 16" on center). Like all of Ching's books, they at first appear chock full of helpful information, but more often than not, I find them beautifully illustrated and light on content.

I bought this book expecting a building manual and got the most amazing drawings on the issue that I have seen. It keeps a very logical order, beginning with the managing of the building site and ends with special construction techniques. The drawings are handmade over CAD drawings and that fact doesn't matter because of its quality.

It has at the end the complete CSI masterformat System for specificactions, which scopes the whole field of building and a lot of references to institutions related to each division of the CSI system.

It's a very useful book. I't's less complete in information than the Graphics Standards or the Neufert, but it's precious, and I must say that books need to be useful and complete, but they need to be beautiful too.

I would recommend this book, because is one of the good purchases I have made.

The first edition was entirely hand-drawn (the 2nd ed. may be as well) and covers the difference between a hip and a gable roof, slabs, grade beams and other details of modern construction. If you want to know the difference between western platform and balloon framing, this is a fine book. It's primarily a reference book, but it could be read cover to cover.

THis is a remarkable inquiry into the history of one family, from the rise of one member 900 years ago - a confucian scholar noticed his fine caligraphy in an exhibition and took him on - to martyrdom in Mao's CHina and the career of the writer as a journalist.

It takes this kind of story sometimes to bring the lessons of history out, in particular the impact of the confucian tradition on a civilisation. The book is peopled with exremely vivid characters, almost all striving to honor their family in the records that survive. To Westerners, the view into an alien and vanished worled is as fascinating as it is surprising. THere are sons who were honored as having true "filial piety" because every day for years they licked the pus out of their mother's wounded knee; the difficult father who ruined the family with gambling and sloth - a typical selfish "Asian man" - only to spur his son to greater effort; the local official who spent a huge part of the family fortune to build a splendid garden for the emperor to see as he passed their home once.

Nonetheless, this history gets a bit lugubrious with detail, particularly personal. SOme of it could only be of interest to members of the immediate family, in my view.

REcommended for those who want a quirky perspective on Chinese history.

Frank Ching has done a remarkable job of tracing his family tree back over 900 years of Chinese history and uncovering the stories of the many notable figures that he found there. I was struck by the continuity of Chinese life over the years and the value placed on remembering and honoring those who have gone before. The individual biographies and the overall picture of Chinese history that emerges are very interesting.

Even though this book claims to be a history of one Chinese family, it is actually a thoughly engrossing history of the China from the viewpoint of the members of one Chinese family -- one that had many famous people thoughout the years. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand China or Chinese people better.