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I have been teaching construction documents to interior designers at Parsons School of Design for the past three years. The Wiggins Book is one of the two prime texts included in my course bibliography. The sheet by sheet instruction are very clear and show the process of putting together a set of drawings. I don't always follow the same standards as Wiggins, but it's the best that's out there. As previously commented, not recommended for residential or specialty interiors projects. Very good reference for general commercial construction documents.

I was looking for an introductory book to explain how to prepare construction drawings, and the title seemed like it might do the job. However, this book is ENTIRELY dedicated to commercial buildings and the target seems to be intermediate users. There is very little useful information for residential Projects or Beginners.

The book was done well however, and I wish the author would make a similar book for residential work and revise the title or taglines these books.

It's one thing to tell someone what needs to be on a working drawing, but it's another thing to show them how to put one together. This book does just that. It describes a step-by-step procedure for developing a working drawing. While it's focus is on drawings for building construction, it can easily be adapted to parts fabrication as well. The clarity and simplicity of the presentation make this book a "must read" for anyone just entering the consulting design industry. It is also extremely low priced. I will say that the drawings are not completely cross-referenced and notated, as would be necessary for a complete set of documents. Still, the drawing examples do present clear set of procedures for preparing working drawings which everyone in the business should master. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great book. I have always wanted to offer my customers top quality framed and matted photographs, but wasn't shure how to go about it. This book opened up a whole new world to me, and I bought some reasonably price tools and now I can frame and matt like a professional. This book is worth its' weight in gold.

Author writes from first hand experience and adds in good technical details. Good examples of using common tools and professional tools to create desired results. Many examples and pictures to show how to perform each step. Many areas of framing, matting, and hanging the art are covered. Many references to the best practices are included. Overall a very well written reference book. A great place to start, but include a lot of extra material so the intermediate framer will get a lot out of this book also.

This book focuses mostly on woodworking techniques and building picture frames, with a minimal amount on matting (using the Alto mat cutter), mounting, or aesthetics (choosing colors and proportions). Some modern methods of mounting (for instance, strip mounts in which no glue touches the artwork) aren't even mentioned here. This book might be useful if you want to focus on building picture frames, but for a more general introduction to the kind of framing I might do myself, including assembling frames, I found Logan's "Mat, Mount, and Frame It Yourself" more useful.

These questions are misleading - I ordered one book, and received and paid for two - I have sent emails complaining, and all I get back (weeks later) is this stupid email asking me to rate the book - which book? - where were you when I asked how I got two books? And how do I correct this? - but NO, instead you send me this idiotic questionaire about "the book" I received - is anybody there? Are you people there, or am I talking to a computer? You pretend to care, but it appears you are just robots - HOW DID I GET TWO BOOKS, AFTER ORDERING ONE, PAY FOR TWO and GET ZERO RESPONSE TO MY QUESTIONS?!! Your computer generated concern is phony - the books were fine, Amazon is suspect!

Treat this as an encyclopedia. There is a lot of good information in this book, but a lot more than you need to get going. I have only just finished wading through this thing (after six months) and would have been better off with a book 1/8 the size of this one. For a "How To" book, the author is way too verbose on his way to getting to the bottom line--if he ever does. Only because I am very good at puzzles was I able to pick out the things I really need and the best methods to complete anything - otherwise, you can get terribly confused. The author wastes a lot of time on "you could do this" and "some people do this" when the most helpful advice would be just to say, "Do this."

Don't take this as too harsh an indictment of the book. Afterall, I Learned Everything I Need to Know About Picture Framing from the book. There is A LOT of stuff in it. But I could have done, and you can do, without the exhaustive descriptions of differences between various manual, as well as, power tools. It's a hobby, I expect to spend some money...just tell me what do.

Any parent who doesn't have the utmost concern for the safety of their child cannot call themselves a parent. "Consumer Reports Guide to Childproofing & Safety: 600 Tips for Keeping Kids Safe at Home and on the Go" is a complete and comprehensive guide for parents who seek to keep their child as safe as possible while they navigate one of the world's most treacherous and hazard-filled paths - life. With suggestions on avoiding bad toys or products, and how to treat common injuries, "Consumer Reports Guide to Childproofing Safety: 600 Tips for Keeping Kids Safe at Home and on the Go" is a top pick for any concerned parent and for community library parenting collections.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Cover to cover this book is filled with valuable information for Moms, Dads and caregivers. I love the way the book is laid out- such a quick and easy book to reference on any subject. I think it's a great gift idea for new Moms & Dads and also great for parents whose children are older.
My daughter is 5 now and I still want to give her the best care I can,so to me it is important to stay informed. Thank you!!

With all the information about child safety out there, it is great to have all this information in one place and from a trusted source. The book is easy to read and the information is presented clearly and concisely. I recommend it as the must have resource for parents (and anyone who takes care of children in their home).

New parents are bombarded with this stuff all the time. Why subject yourself to an entire book of fearmongering? I was hoping for a "room by room" description of what to cover up and contain, but instead I got "600 ways to Kill your kids". Enough is enough.

Every parent should read this comprehensive, easy-to-read and understand guide to child safety at home, outdoors, and in the car. There is an enormous amount of information so I suggest parents, especially new parents, do a quick read to learn about hazards in familiar surroundings and what parents can do to prevent injury. Then when you are ready to buy a bicycle and helmet carefully re-read that section in the chapter, "On the Go" which also covers strollers, skates, and how to be a safe pedestrian. This book is so comprehensive I could only come up with one omission: under food safety I would have added food spoilage and hazards like bacterial contamination of purchased food urging parents to keep abreast of food recalls and warnings. Might a new parent feel overwhelmed thinking about all the possible dangers in their child's world? Maybe, but better safe than sorry. Plus the book will help a parent develop a "safety reflex" so you automatically turn in the pot handle even though there are no toddlers around. Plus you will be modeling that safety reflex for your kids which will help keep your future grandchildren safe.

Marilyn Heins, MD
Pediatrician and parenting educator
http://www.ParentKidsRight.com

Walden Pond is a classic which everyone should be required to read. I read this years ago and wanted to add this one to my library. What a wonderful surprise it was. The pictures enhance this classic. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Thoreaus' works, Nature and getting back to the basics in life. In this busy life we live, it is relaxing to spend time reading this book.

Bought this as a gift for my husband and he really loved the photo illustrations. They are beautiful. Makes a nice "coffee table book".

* "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion . . . I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long . . . A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil."
~ Henry David Thoreau; "Walden"

* "Walden has become as much a state of mind as it is a place."
~ Scot Miller; "Walden - 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition"

For my birthday in 1984, my dear friend, Marty ("rhymes with party"), gave me the 1981 Avenel books hardcover edition of WORKS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU. This compilation contained all of the famous transcendentalist's most significant writings and the thirty intriguing Herbert Wendall Gleason, black and white photographs that graced the 1906 publication of Thoreau's complete works.

My dear friend died in an auto accident five years later, but part of his legacy is the passion for Thoreau's philosophy that his gift awakened in me, and that book which occupies a prestigious place in one of my bookcases right between my Holy Bible and my 1st edition copy of Mark Twain's 1872, Roughing It. And my book, though yellowed now, looks pretty good for a volume 23 years without a dust jacket (I nearly always trash the things immediately), and for having been completely read twice, and thumbed through hundreds of times!

A couple of years ago, GFM (Good Friend Melanie) gave me a softcover copy of WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS, and I was glad to have it as it contained a couple of essays and excerpts I'd not previously read, and it provided me with a copy of Thoreau's best that I could loan out to others.

Therefore, when my friend, Pooh, and I flew into Philadelphia in late August 2005, to visit the birthplace of our nation, and then to drive north to visit Walden Pond and environs, I did not consider purchasing a copy of this 150th ANNIVERSARY ILLUSTRATED EDITION of WALDEN for myself while in Thoreau's hometown. I already had two copies of this true classic and couldn't see buying a third despite the stunning pictures included in this publication. I did, however, bring home a copy as a gift for GFM. (The woman in the bookstore in downtown Concord, Massachusetts, pointed out to me that the original publishing price - printed on the inside flap of the dust jacket - was $28.12, half a cent less than Thoreau tells us it cost him to build his little house at Walden's shore in 1845. (He officially moved into his homemade home on the appropriate date of July 4th, and an American classic was born!)

One day, shortly after returning from my memorable trip, I borrowed from GFM the copy I had given her, so I could gaze upon the nearly 100 SCOT MILLER photographs once again. And I was so awed by the indescribably gorgeous and practically breathtaking pictures of the Walden area and its flora and fauna, that I realized I needed to own this book like Thoreau needed solitude. And that's how I came by Thoreau's WALDEN for a THIRD time! While Marty's gift reigns for sentimental reasons, the 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition is tops in exquisite beauty - a lovelier and more profound coffee table book is simply unimaginable; a richer gift for a valued friend couldn't be purchased at ANY price! This edition is simply a divine marriage of Thoreau's insight into the nature of Man and his place in nature, and Scot Miller's illustrations of the natural world wherein Thoreau made those treasured observations over a century and a half ago. Hey, I even left the dust jacket on this book despite the fact that the jacket's photograph is also reprinted on page 2, and it barely even hints at the wonders inside.

In Thoreau's WALDEN, the naturalist makes the following observation in the chapter titled, "Sounds": "I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. It was a drama of many scenes and without an end." And Scot Miller has brilliantly captured with his camera the splendor of that "drama of many scenes" at Thoreau's old stamping ground.

I'm not knowledgeable in the techniques of photography, so I can't explain to you HOW Miller was able to make photographs like these (it seems obvious to me, however, that he must employ an array of various filters and such). All that I CAN tell you is that words can't describe the virtual explosion of colors (like nature vibrantly celebrating that 1845 4th of July within Herself) and the uncommon degree of visible detail (staring at those rocks and leaves in "Still Life Under Ice", I can almost feel the bone-numbing cold that any one of those stones would penetrate my hand with). "Magical Fairyland Pond" is the perfect caption for that dreamlike picture of Walden's sister pond. I can almost hear a lonely dog barking from across the glittering snow while hidden deep in the distant, wooded shore, when I'm lost in the "Sunrise On Frozen Walden Pond." I'm not even going to attempt to describe the "Nature's Palette, Heywood's Meadow" photograph on page 32. Suffice to say that God is "The" Master Painter. Incredible! (And Scot Miller, you're a wonder, too!)

This five-star beauty of a book represents the pinnacle of the publisher's art, and it includes a shot of the exact site of Thoreau's 1845 cabin (previously obscured by a cairn), and Henry's simple tombstone, which I visited at the Author's Ridge section of the Concord cemetary where our hero's physical body gradually became a part of the nature that his spirit loved so much.

On a family vacation many years ago, I visited Walden Pond and walked all around it. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Thoreau's Walden, the Walden Woods Project published, in 2004, this illustrated edition of the work with stunning color photographs by Scott Miller of Walden Pond and its environs. The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Walden Pond and to the legacy of Thoreau. I found this book a fitting memorial of my walk around Walden Pond and of my earlier readings of Walden. The lovely edition, photographs, and memories inspired me to turn again to Thoreau's book.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 -- 1862) lived at Walden Pond, Masachusetts from July, 1845 -- September, 1847, in a cabin he built himself on a tract of land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was two miles from Concord, Massachusetts and one mile from his nearest neighbor. A railroad passed near the pond, and it was frequented regularly by farmers, hunters, picnickers, and others. During the two years, Thoreau left Walden Pond at times to visit friends in Concord, to lecture, and to visit other ponds and sites in the area. He made no pretense of being entirely isolated. In his book, Walden, published in 1854, Thoreau described the first year of his life at Walden Pond (he tells us that the second year was much the same) and his reasons for living there. Much of the book was written at Walden Pond, and Throreau also wrote other works there.

The book is short but it is written in a dense, difficult and condensed style with many long, complex sentences. It is also highly allusive and shows Thoreau's learning in classical literature and his interest in Eastern thought and religion. It is filled with many short, pithy, and provocative comments which have become proverbial in American literature.

In the opening and closing chapters of the book, Thoreau describes his motivations for living at Walden Pond and abandoning the life of commerce. For Thoreau, most people are owned by their possessions. He saw a need to live with little encubrance in order to understand himself and find inner peace. "Simplify, simplify, simplify" was his goal. In one of my favorite sentences of the book, he states (p. 67) "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Then, towards the end of the book, Thoreau recounts some of the lessons he had learned in the following passage:

"We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it, and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring."(p/253)

In the middle sections of the book, Throreau describes his life in the woods, again with recognition of his substantial interactions with other people during the time. (He was not a hermit.) He describes the books he read, his activites at his cabin, Walden Pond and woods, the changes of the seasons, and the plants and animals. The pond and its creatures are described with great detail, but Thoreau gives even more attention to internalizing his experiences and explaining their significance to his readers.

Scott Miller's beatiful photographs of Walden Pond add a great deal to this edition. They are well-placed to correspond with the discussion in the text, and they illuminate Thoreau's descriptive passages. The photographs, and the book itself, brought back reading and visiting memories and made me want to see Walden Pond again.

But much as Walden is revered for its descriptions of nature, the book remains for me primarily internalized and intropsective. Thoreau has many polemical things to say which will not, and should not, appeal to all readers. But the book documents the effort of an individual to try to understand his life, to reflect, and to understand change. As I have suggested, it is not an anti-social book as Thoreau was never far removed from friends and company. But it is a book about understanding one's life and learning not to be afraid of solitude or of being with oneself.

Robin Friedman

I'll not dwell on the author's content but on the publisher's choice of binding. Thoreau calls for a complete abandonment of possessions and to always choose the simpler, less expensive if something is needful. This beautiful coffee table book uses expensive glossy enamel paper with gorgeous photographs going way beyond necessity. Every time I picked it up to read, it's irony struck me first and weighed upon me until I set it down. It's a shame really, because with other content it would be luxurious.

Be Your Own House Contractor: Save 25% without Lifting a Hammer
I have read several books on this subject. This one offered the best information for the beginner. I would recommend this book for anyone considering building their own home.

This book contains a lot of great tips and serves as a good resource.

Very up-to-date publication. Author's web site provides much additional information. I plan to build using ICF's and Geothermal heat source. Good information available through both the book and the web portal. Clearly the best and most current of the 4 similar books purchased at the same time.

This book really opened my eyes as to how much was involved in building/being your own contractor. The author obviously speaks from experience.

It gives a true beginner some helpful insights into the different forms of micro-agriculture but it never goes into detail.

This is a very enchanting book, but I think the reader would be wise to take it with a grain of salt. The author makes a list of vegetables sound so good your mouth starts to water. Food literally comes to life. One farm has world class leafy lettuce. Another has miraculous tomatoes. A third has peppers for every taste. A fourth makes wool as smooth as silk.

On the other hand, some of the stories are fanciful at best. For example, there is the story of the 'good' coyote. A farmer takes pity on a limping coyote and offers it some food. The standard practice in the neighborhood was to shoot coyotes on sight, but this coyote touches the farmer somehow. The coyote mends. Once recovered, the coyote decides the farmer is 'one of the pack' and his chickens are 'his things'. Thus, she identifies the farmer's chickens as off limits and protects them from other coyotes, raccoons, and varmints. I've got chickens and cohabitate with coyotes. The idea of a coyote protecting the farmer's hens was good for a hearty laugh.

Another story concerns the 'good weed'. This story is part of section on letting plants restore soil depleted of essential trace minerals. The idea is that plants can concentrate trace minerals deep in the soil and deposit them on the surface. In this context, we meet the good thistle. The good thistle pulls out trace minerals out of the stony soil, then dies out as the soil returns to health. I had another good laugh with this story. In some ways there is truth in it, but let me tell you about my thistles. They are beautiful. Every year my soil gets better. I haven't noticed them dying out, though. Maybe next year!

Finally, there is the story of the weak plant calling out to nearby insects to end it's suffering. This theme is repeated numerous times. I guess it is the story of the 'good' bad insect. You see, those worms and beetles are not just eating any plant, they are consuming the suffering plant. I'm not going to argue that nature has a way of maintaining balance, but I had to laugh. I guess those squirrels that entirely consumed 3 trees of gorgeous, plump, red organic peaches were simply answering the peach trees cries of distress! I should have known!

If you want to grow your own food, more power to you. Don't be surprised if Mother Nature throws you a few curve balls along the way, though. Don't count on coyotes to protect your chickens, nor thistles to conveniently disappear.

Finally, Ms. Adams never mentions the local banker or tax man, which seems odd. I've never met a farmer that doesn't have something to say about these friendly folks.

This is a concise review of where large and small farming is going. It needs to be read by all. Just reading this book has elevated my urban garden to unbelievable heights.

This is a must have book for anyone wanting to get more for less out of their garden, farm, or acreage. I loved it and found it interesting and informative. It'll stay on my shelf long after I pass it around to all of my friends and family! Bravo! The world would be a better place if more people read and would take to heart the message this book brings.

If you've ever dreamed of having a small, productive farm but didn't know where to begin or how to creatively make money and have fun at the same time, this book is The Source for you. Barbara Berst Adams' "Micro Eco-Farming" is loaded with great ideas, sensible how-to information and strategies for starting, maintaining and expanding an environmentally friendly mini farm. The breadth of her knowledge is impressive. She obviously understands every aspect of small-scale farming from raising livestock and poultry to growing specialty herbs, flowers and vegetables. This is a practical handbook and a solid reference you will always want to keep on hand. It has earned a permanent place in my library.

This book was purchased for a class but will be extremely beneficial in my present role as a Career Development Coordinator.