This is my first introduction to Greene & Greene's work. If you have never seen it before, think of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, except everything is allot more rounded, and comfortable looking, except for the exteriors. I would say though that Frank Lloyd Wright was a better architect, but he could have gotten Greene & Greene to make his homes interiors allot more homey looking, and less dated. If your a fan of Wright's or the Art's & Crafts movement buy the book.

The Greene brothers were architects who designed in the Arts and Crafts style. Like Frank Lloyd Wright, their style was so distinctive that they are not considered as examples of a type, but as architects whose style stands by itself. Unlike Frank Lloyd Wright, the Greene brothers' practice was almost completely limited to personal residences. This has probably limited the reach of their reputation. Outside of the Gamble house, which has been made into a museum, the work of the Greene brothers is generally not accessible to the public. All but one of their houses was in California, most of them in Pasadena. One wonders how well known Wright would be had he never designed the Guggenheim, or the Marin County Civic Center, or if he had never ventured outside of Chicago.

This book addresses the problem by taking us inside twenty-five examples of Greene and Greene's work. The text is accompanied by the breathtaking photography of Alexander Vertikoff. I own a large collection of books on the architecture of this period, and those illustrated by Vertikoff stand in a class by themselves. His photos are magnificent, doing justice to the material he portrays. I doubt if there is a finer photographer working in this field today.

With photos like these, it would have been easy to turn this volume into nothing more than a glorious picture book. Instead, Bruce Smith provides an engaging story of the careers of the two architects. The best writing is found in an extensive introduction, where the author discusses the Greene and Greene style in general terms. One can see at a glance how the style starts with Arts and Crafts. Indeed, there is a wealth of Stickley furniture in many of the houses. It is equally obvious how the two went beyond the plain craftsman designs so common further east. The Japanese influence was much stronger here, and the craftsmanship in the wood joinery was much more refined. There is more woodworking than carpentry here. The woods included Burmese teak, Honduras mahogany, Port Orford cedar, oak, maple and redwood. In some cases, the brothers were able to design furniture, landscaping and gardens to go with the architecture.

For the remainder of the book, we get a tour through twenty-five houses designed by Greene and Greene. Each house is presented in the order of its design and construction, with a history of the entire house to the present day. In some cases, this includes restoration after some abuse. Some of these houses were created on a budget; others were done with no apparent limits on the imagination of the architects. All are works of art, created as a labor of love by all concerned. For anyone unfamiliar with the work of Greene and Greene, this is an excellent introduction. For those who are already captivated, this book is a must, if only for those magnificent pictures.

As an aspiring woodworker with apparently very little natural talent, I can only view Greene & Greene's work with a mixture of awe and jealousy. While I find much of what Wright has done to be at times inaccessible and dated (primarily because so many others have attempted to copy or incorporate his style into theirs - and failed miserably by the way), the Greene's work is absolutely gorgeous, and would fit in with many current styles.....But then again you all know that. The question is why buy this particular book?

If you are looking for wonderful, full-page color photographs this is it. The first 50 pages are devoted to the G&G style; there is a page or two devoted to Materials, Joinery, Lighting etc. Descriptions are quite brief, and include a couple of pics.

The next 170 pages are devoted to 25 different houses with narration about the original design process, the ensuing history, and the current state. Again tons of color pics, and lots of shots of the furniture they designed to go with the particular house.

If you are looking for an in-depth discussion, check out Randall Makinson's "Architecture as a Fine Art/Furniture and Related Designs. These two books (now available in one edition) cover the G&G history in detail, but have less photos (many in black and white). They do have many front on center views of the furniture (as well as early drawings) so if you are interested in building their furniture, these books make a suitable companion to the one being reviewed.

I did the CIPT training course hoping that it would be enough to pass the exam. Although the instructor was excellent, the documentation was not. It did not couther certain topics in detail, and was hard to follow. As I had to pass the exam for myself and so that the company kept its Cisco Partner Status I had to get some good documentation.

Although I am only half was through this book I am finding it excellent. It goes into good detail on the information, which you have to know, whilst not sending you to sleep on information, which is not relevant to call manager, networking, or telephony. I am confident that once I have read the book a few times I should be able to pass the exam without too much trouble. Cannot say this about the Cisco training documentation.

There is no more authoritative book on the market on Cisco CallManager. This book answered questions for me that I couldn't find anywhere else. In particular, the dial plan chapters unravel the difficulty of complex route plans and helped me to understand each component of the dial plan process. I reach for this book frequently as I administer my CallManager systems!

This book includes signific in-depth information that I have not been able to find in any Cisco documentation. After reading this book I have gained a much stronger understanding of the inner-workings of the software. Understanding the architecture of the software will help anyone who is installing, designing, administering, or troubleshooting a Cisco IP Telephony network. I highly recommend this book.

I have been tired for most of my life. In college they used to prefix my name with "fall asleep as soon as she sits down girl". After numerous blood tests, a doctor finally reccommended nutrition. Pam's book really helped me understand the causes of my fatigue. I can't say I am full of energy now, but I am much more energetic than ever before and I have lost five pounds to boot! Thanks, Pam.

Pam Smith has once again done a great job! The book explained so well what the pros and cons for every trend diet and how these do not work. I, myself am a living testimony of that. I look forward to staying and keeping on a steady track to achieve my maximum health level. The Diet Trap lists out the meals, snacks and even a shopping list of all that our bodies need. A great book with wonderful effects.

This book was so full of information for an easy to follow plan for your diet and your life! I couldn't put it down! I wanted to know more! I wanted to get up to practice what I was reading and she was right. No frills, just practical information you can use. I knew she was a Christian and I could tell the influence on her book. Very balanced and enlightening!

Pedia was a genius; he had the love for the sport and the ability to pass it on, not only to his family and friends, but to anyone who picks up any of his books. He was incredibly talented and dedicated to his work- this book shows the passion that captured him as it does so many of us that truly love the hunt, the hounds, and the horses.

Reading this collection of special hunting stories so deftly illustrated was a joy. The breadth of the collection encompasses many different periods in hunting lore and offers the reader the enjoyment of reading about hunting from those whose perspectives differed as greatly as did their writing styles. Mr. Mackay-Smith has arranged the collections and illustrations very cleverly, with a sure sense of rythmn and sharp editing skills. A wonderful gift, much treasured.

best book ever very interesting and intriguing ....very clear and interesting.. i new of the man personally so it was a pleasure to read the book

This book is a breathtaking experience! It is well written and gives us account of the steps we can move up to our return of wholiness! A very grateful emotion for me and friends I have recommended it. But, as I live in Brazil and many people do not read English, I would like to know if there is the Portuguese translation...

When someone is hurt during medical treatment it is an understandable reaction to blame the doctor for the harm. However, the great majority of errors which occur in medicine are a simple consequence of conscientious doctors being fallible human beings just like the rest of us. Hospital systems are generally full of design faults which pre-dispose doctors to make mistakes. Blaming doctors for simply being human directs attention away from these design faults, reduces the chance that system improvements will be made, and makes it likely that the same error will repeat itself in the future - thus perpetuating patient harm. Human error cannot be avoided, but patient harm can, through better systems and procedures. Genuinely negligent acts do occur in medicine, but it is important that these are distinguished from the inevitable human errors of clinicians doing their best. This is a distinction which is also required in law to ensure fairness in both the prosecution of negligent doctors and the compensation of harmed patients. This book goes several steps beyond the Institute of Medicine Report ("To Err is Human") in identifying the mechanisms and nature of error within health care and in its detailed discussion of the intricacies of culpability, blame, violation, error, legal fairness, and patient safety.

Sleep deprivation has a considerable impact on our society. This book is the first of its kind, I understand, to look at the legal implications of this fascinating subject. It is extremely well-written and is quite accessible to the lay reader. A remarkable book.

If you love tomatoes, I mean not just eating, but raising collecting, and learning about them, this is THE book to own. A.W. Livingston was an instrumental force in the breeding and popularizing of tomatoes in the late-19th and early 20th Century. His varieties were perfect, copied and some are still available today. We hope to have at least two of his varieties listed in our catalog next year.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency has problems--a new competitor run by a man has opened in town. And with Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni returning from his long bout with depression, there's the problem of how to pay Mma. Makutsi--who has served as assistant detective and also acting manager of Matekoni's garage. Still, although the competitor threatens to steal some of their business, Mma. Ramotswe has some detecting jobs to do--including finding the people a client wronged many years before and whether a husband is cheating on his wife. In the meantime, Mma. Makutsi comes up with a brilliant idea--a typing school for men--men who wouldn't be caught dead in a secretarial college like Mma. Makutsi attended, but who need keyboard skills for their jobs. It's an ideal solution to her money problems and also a convenient way for the single Makutsi to discover a man.

Author Alexander McCall Smith loves Africa, its traditional ways of life, and the ways that its people (at least the people of Botswana) treat one another. His No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, including THE KALAHARI TYPING SCHOOL FOR MEN are practically poetic in their praises of this traditional way of life. Mma. Ramotswe is the protagonist in these stories and the central pillar for tradition. Her detecting and the solutions to her clients problems flow from these African traditions (as interpreted by Smith) and prove heart-warming even in the midst of poverty and the AIDS crisis that has destroyed so much of Africa (AIDS is not mentioned by name in this novel but its impact is clear to see). Whether Smith's view of Africa has anything to do with the real continent is something I won't even attempt to decide, but it is certainly his view and his love for this Africa is obvious and compelling.

Smith's beautiful writing makes KALAHARI an enjoyable read that can be savored or swallowed in a gulp. The characters of Mma. Makutsi and Mma. Ramotswe are well drawn and interesting. KALAHARI is anything but a thriller, but it makes a wonderful diversion from the everyday.

"The Kalahari Typing School for Men" is the fourth novel in Alexander McCall Smith's spectacularly successful series about a lady detective in Botswana. Precious Ramotswe is facing new challenges. A rival detective agency opens up nearby, and Mma. Ramotswe is worried about the competition. The two orphans whom she and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni adopted are having problems. In addition, Mma. Ramotswe is worried about her assistant, Mma. Makutsi, who cannot seem to find a husband.

However, Mma. Ramotswe is an optimistic person by nature and she tries to set aside her worries. One way to forget her troubles is to take on new clients. Mma. Ramotswe accepts the case of a woman who suspects that her husband is being unfaithful. Another client is a wealthy man who wants Mma. Ramotswe to find two women whom he had wronged in the past. He wishes to apologize to them and make amends for his bad behavior.

As in his earlier books, Smith's writing is sweet, funny, understated and touching. Mma. Ramotswe again displays her keen insight into human nature and her empathy for those who are in pain. "The Kalahari Typing School for Men" is written simply but it is never simplistic. This novel will delight Alexander McCall Smith's fans, and it will make readers of this series impatient for the next installment.

As Westerners know, the confrontations between men and women are often acrimonious. Many books, with positions ranging from the militant to the yielding, have been written on the subject. But this small novel, "The Kalahari Typing School for Men", gently and quietly explores the relationships between men and women, and wisely and quietly illustrates the virtues of respect and patience as people learn to live together.

Yes, this is a 'detective' novel, and it's also a folk tale, an allegory, and a spiritual journey for all of the characters--and the reader. The heroine, Precious Ramotswe, returns in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series to confront a number of problems: a client who needs to make amends to important women in his life, an adopted son who is reaching puberty, a fiance who is fragile but growing stronger, an assistant who wants a man and finds one, and competition for her business with an obnoixious male detective.

But Precious is a well-rounded lady in her late thirties who possesses wisdom, maturity, and directness and sensibility. In less than 200 pages of this deceptively simple and exquisitely crafted novel, the problems are solved and--yes--the men learn to type.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series is a wonderful one. It is set in Botswana, where people mend tea cups rather than throw them away, the simplicity and dignity of the lifestyle is in itself a lesson.

"The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" is a solid pleasant mystery book, centering on the chubby, pleasant, no-nonsence Precious Ramotswe, seemingly the most unlikely sleuth in Botswana. While a pleasant enough read, it isn't the best I've read. It's a bit like cotton candy -- sweet, but you'll feel hungry after.

After a disastrous marriage and the loss of her child, Precious returns to care for her dying father. As he dies, she tells him that she plans to open a detective agency -- the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." Already seasoned in sniffing out crime, Precious finds plenty of clients: A woman searching for her long-lost dad, a very rich and anti-woman client who asks her to find his daughter's boyfriend, a possible insurance fraud over the loss of a finger, a woman seeking proof of her husband's adultery, a woman whose husband converted to a small Christian church and vanished. But most harrowing of all, a young boy kidnapped and possibly murdered by witch doctors...

"No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" is a pleasant but not amazing read. The best aspects are the unusual -- sometimes humorous -- cases that reflect universal crimes and problems (fraud, adultery), and when giving glimpses of traditional and modern African society. How is it different from American culture? Well, you might get a better idea from this.

The writing is plain and not extremely detailed. Smith takes care to make sure that the backgrounds are set up properly -- she gives a description, for example, of the harrowing mining in South Africa, through the eyes of Precious's father, who witnesses all sorts of crimes. A particularly sweet part is when Precious's second cousin (who is infertile and was dumped by her husband) finds true love with a kindly, scarred man. And the writing suddenly becomes deeply detailed and very haunting when Smith takes on the harrowing story of the kidnapped boy.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that while Smith makes the book go at a brisk pace, it takes an effort to get to know Precious and the other characters (except Obed, who gets a first-person half-chapter). We don't get much of a glimpse inside their heads. This changes occasionally, mostly in the last chapters, such as when Precious thinks back to the death of her baby, or when Mr. Matekoni thinks about marrying her. But unfortunately through most of the book, the third-person narrative keeps readers distant from the characters. And most of the cases aren't too complex (the adultery one, funny as it was, wasn't really a case).

Mma. Precious Ramotswe is a nice character, a break from the hardened or arrogant detective that populate a lot of detective fiction. Her outspoken secretary offers some chuckling humor, and Mr. Maketoni is a nice, doubt-filled love interest for Precious. The most three-dimensional character is Precious's dad Obed; the rest are pretty flat and interchangeable.

A pleasant, diverting read. It wasn't entirely satisfying, but a nice enough read with some suspense and likable characters. Nice read.

In Precious Ramotswe, Alexander McCall Smith creates a beguiling character. Precious is a detective, the first female detective in Botswana and owner of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Precious is a middle aged woman with a prominent posterior, whose self image and poetic praise of the simple things in life - like a dish of cooked pumpkin - are arresting to a reader surrounded by urban materialism and Western notions of attractiveness.

Through Precious, the reader is willingly enticed into a love affair with the landscape and values and people of Botswana.

But Precious is far from a simple woman. The stories about the tragic life of her beloved father, her own disastrous marriage and move into the detective business are all enlivened by her capacity to find lessons from each painful experience.

It therefore comes as no surprise that she is a very successful detective. Helped along by her handy and hilarious "how to" text, her undeniable intellect and talent for nosiness, she is soon finding answers where others have not.

There are three books in this series and they are all wonderful. Each left me with a smile on my face and a desire to reread some of Precious' wry observations (favourites include those about the sad weaknesses of men and a number about the inferiority of neighbouring African countries) or her poetic descriptions of the world around her.

The mysteries - plus their solutions - are also satisfying.

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book. It's technically classified as a mystery because the heroine, 30ish Precious Ramotswe, operates Botswana's first female-owned detective agency, The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency.But to pigeonhole this sublime,wonderful book as just a mystery is to unjustly limit its appeal. Mma Ramotswe does solve a few cases, a lot of them involving matters of the heart, during the course of the book. She does so with integrity, a gentle sense of humor , compassion

and just plain common sense. The mysteries are fun but what makes this book so special is the author's ability to weave together the themes of African tradition, nationhood, pride, simplicity and independence without being the least bit preachy . The writing is just so simple and beautiful and I found myself thinking about this book long after I finished it. It just stays with you. I've already read the second installment in this series, Tears of the Giraffe, and there is no doubt in my mind now that these books are destined to become classics. Anyone who likes mysteries, or anyone who enjoys just plain good writing will fall in love with Mma. Ramotswe. A superb book.