Book Description
Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of plants and microorganisms to clean and purify the water. They are a safe place for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, too, when they can be used for ice skating and other activities. Often the focal point of a garden, natural swimming pools blend into their environments, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks.They reflect the changing seasons and they enhance the environment naturally. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools, providing significant savings in water. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals are hazardous to human health and are not used. This book is a necessary resource for anyone interested in having a natural swimming pool and shows how a natural swimming pool system works, as well as the environmental, health, and safety benefits it offers. Drawings, diagrams, and charts cover planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color pictures feature projects that will inspire you to have your own natural water garden where you can swim in harmony with nature at any time.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect book.......2007-09-04
Great book for all aspects of creating a variety of green/natural pools. Beautiful pictures and good illustrations and copy to help in decision making.
YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK .......2007-08-22
Simply put this book is a MUST READ for anyone intersted in any aspect of Sustainable and Ecological Design. It should be read right along with Permaculture by Mollison, the Passive Solar Handbook by Mazria, Rainwater Harvesting by Lancaster, and ecocities to Living Machines by Todd. Even if you aren't specifically interested in making a swimming pool (which you will be after reading it) the insights into the workings of hydro-ecologies and how to design natural systems are invaluable!
If you aren't interested in the whole range of sustainability but just this particular topic of pool design then this book is STILL A MUST READ. If you're an ecologist who wants to make a pool, or a pool designer who wants to do something ecological this book provides an excellent layman's understanding of ecological design, with good technical and artistic advice for how to do it, and good technical and artistic advice for swimming pool construction.
I would still advise you to also purchase the book Poolscaping as a companion to this one.
This is an all around excellent book buy it now.
Beautiful photos; strange text.......2007-08-01
Thumbing through the book will make you want to move to Austria or Germany where beautiful "natural" pools are somehat established. Why is the U. S. so environmentally backward? Unfortunately, the text is awkwardly translated at times such that one has to struggle to figure out what is meant with limited success.The assumption is that one is swimming only in the summer, but in California we may want to swim year round. Useful especially since so little information is available. Can't understand why the publisher didn't insist on professional proofreading.Buy it for inspiration, or wait for the next edition, or wait for one more applicable to your area. It does provide info in the back about two U.S resources, one in CA.
Very complete book .......2007-02-24
Is the book i need for learning on natural swimming pool. Now i can make my own pool
Surprisingly COMPREHENSIVE!.......2007-02-09
This large sized book covered the subject exceedingly well in lots of color photos with explanations and, more importantly, in lots of diagrams and nuts and bolts descriptions. I only read sections here and there but what I did read clearly indicated to me that you could actually use this book to build a natural swimming pool. At the least, you could definitely make a solid decision whether or not you could build or would want to build such a pool on your property. These pools are basically like salt water aquariums in that you have to make a biosphere and monitor it. In some ways it's not as easy as it sounds but also not as hard as it sounds. However, start up takes time and it can be tricky to finally reach environmental stabilization. I am not going to build a natural pool but I still found this book very useful. At the end this book are MANY pages of water plants and trees recommended for certain types of water areas. There are zone maps of the US included for reference. So even if you just want to make a little ornamental fountain in a big pot on the patio deck or a pond or a bog out back, this book has a VERY comprehensive set of plant lists you will find exceedingly useful. 18 pages of them. Categories include Submerged Plants, Floating Plants, Floating Leaved Plants, Shallow Marginal Plants, Deep Marginal Plants, Moisture-loving Plants, Bog/Marsh Plants, Waterside Plats-Trees & Shrubs, Ferns, Grasses Sedges Reeds and Rushes. Botanical and Common Names are listed along with height, spread, water depth, flower color, flower period, foliage, position, comments and plant zone. It's the best I've seen in any book so far.
Book Description
Mediterranean inspiration Bringing the allure of the sunkissed Mediterranean directly into readers hands, all 125 home plans are inspired by the traditional Southern European style.
Customer Reviews:
Mediterranean Inspiration.......2007-05-15
Title should be "Mediterranean Lack of Inspiration".
This book will appeal to those with too much money, too few brains and absolutly no taste
Although America, rightly so, lays claim to some of the finest examples of Mediterranean Revival in the world, this book does nothing to bring the reader into the understated elegance created by those homes. Instead it continues the trite and tasteless habit of ostentatious behavior we Yanks have become known for the world over. The designs are thinly vieled examples of the MacMansions found on converted corn fields, complete with corn fed owners, throughout America. Bigger is better and gaudy is better still.
The book should not be used for reference material or even a coffee table book unless you need something on which you may rest your Bud while watching Monster Truck episodes.
Using this book for reference will not supply any insight into the Mediterreanean style, but it will demonstrate just how good we are at commandeering a style that has been perfected over hundreds of years and "fixing" or "improving" it.
If you are interested in the Mediterranean style in America, try "Red Tile Style" by Aroll Gellner or "Santa Barbara Style" by Kathryn Masson.
There are also many books covering he work of Addison Mizner and George Washington Smith in Florida and giants such as Julia Morgan in the West.
This book MIGHT be good to line the cat's litter box, but be forwarned, the cat may object.
Affectation In-A-Box.......2006-09-26
.
gauche: Lacking social polish; tactless
gauche --Synonyms inept, clumsy, maladroit; coarse, gross, uncouth
This offers the reader All of the above and more.
Several issues are immediately apparent. First, is the lack of congruity it seems, of a philosophy (or budget) that would purchase plans from a mass-marketed stylebook on the cheap, only to have designs embellished with an excess of budget-busting ornamentation, inordinate angles, appliqué, unnecessary fictitious details, fatuous decoration and curves upon curves.
Anyone expecting to save money on this type of approach to building is setting himself or herself up for a HUGE awakening. One is well advised to consult a designer, building designer, or architect prior to purchasing such plans and proceeding with wise professional counsels.
Essentially what the reader is purchasing is a catalog of 125 cookie-cutter, in your face track home plans, from which they can select the one design on which to spend another thousand dollars (give or take depending on the plan) to secure the foundation plans, detailed floor plans, cross sections, structural plans, exterior elevations, and electricals.
These ersatz, eclectic "Mediterranean Inspiration" designs "steal and borrow" (the word begins with a "B" and will not pass the filter although a legitimate clean word) from Neoclassical, Story Book Style, Norman, Gothic, Tudor, doghouse. They brim with ostentatious details that betray the very fundamental standards of taste and refinement that the purchaser hopes to transmit.
The designs are a miscellany of plans intended to impress; yet lack the grace, elegance, and fundamental standards of good taste.
The reader should recognize that they will need to float their furniture on all those curves that are so beguiling on paper. The reader needs to identify 12-foot living room space as too small, or a 10-foot circular breakfast room that looks better on paper than the Gestalt of its reality. Consider all those eyebrow, and Palladian curved windows that look great on the exterior elevations will also require window treatments. Curved arches, arch-over-standard, circles, octagons, hexagons, trapezoids, angled top or bottom, and cutout shades are all going to require custom solutions that are not only far more costly than standard windows, but they also frequently detract from the interior surroundings they are supposed to enhance.
This book might be useful to free up creative blocks for those persons collecting ideas for their building projects. Nonetheless spare yourself the troubles of buying the actual plans without professional counsels.
Jolene's Reviews.......2006-07-04
This book has beautiful photos and sketched home plans for luxurious living. If you are looking for ideas to build an estate or a waterfront home, this is a good choice. It has home plans from designers like Sater.
Book Description
Anyone who's covered their walls in paint samples or pondered over lighting schemes will know that being your own designer is not as easy as it sounds. Luckily, help is at hand with Interiors by Design. Getting Started shows you how to draw up the all-important design brief of what you want to achieve from your space, both practically and aesthetically. Complete Schemes and The Rooms present over 30 interiors selected from the most stylish homes around the world, created by talented designers including William Yeoward, Pam Giolito and Joseph Marino, and Bruce Oldfield. Trade Secrets provides a summary of professional wisdom to ensure you get the best results. About the Author Ros Byam Shaw is a former features editor of World of Interiors and deputy editor of British W, the fashion and lifestyle newspaper. She is now a freelance journalist and writes on design and interiors for House and Garden, Tatler, and The Sunday Times. She is author of Naturally Modern, and
Book Description
Spectacular in scope yet intimate in detail,
The Way We Live transcends the archetypal style book to reveal global connections and patterns in home decoration. This unique body of detailed design inspiration encompasses the full range of options, from climate, location, and size to surfaces, arrangements, and colors. Whether you’re decorating a beach house in Chile or a loft space in Paris, you’re sure to be inspired by hundreds of images from around the world—a Moroccan house that coolly mixes the modern and traditional in elegant interiors; a dramatic arrangement of shells decorating a tabletop in Mauritius; flowers strewn across bare floorboards for a Christmas feast in Sweden. The enormous range of places here highlight connections and parallels of very different habitats in a way both striking and reassuring. The same attention to detail can clearly inform the layout of a dining room in a modest Mexican home as it does an exclusive club in Buenos Aires. This encyclopedic tome, a sublime visual record of how we construct and adorn our living spaces, celebrates our communal experience of the home.
From coastal hamlet to urban center, design expert Stafford Cliff compares architectural styles and decorating details from every corner of the world, whether it is a modest adobe dwelling whose contours complement those of the earth or a skyscraper of glass and steel that contrasts the natural terrain. The ingenuity of each culture shines through in the instinctive use of colors and materials, and in the way the spaces are inhabited.
The world tour of interior design elements and accents is lavishly presented in more than 1,000 glorious color photographs by famed lifestyle photographer Gilles de Chabaneix. Humble yet interesting structures, objects, and settings are all viewed with the same eye as the grandest homes, the rarest antiques, or the most exclusive addresses. From an unadorned Vietnamese sitting room to a bustling Neapolitan street market; a modern London flat to a baroque drawing room in Versailles; an Indian palace to a Chilean café, here is a world where old and new, organic and synthetic, happily coexist. And within these interiors, a myriad of choices and inspirations are seen in the contrasts between stark simplicity and sumptuous embellishment, minimal modernism and rococo splendor, the self-consciously urbane and the authentically rustic, the uniform and the eclectic. Fabrics, textures, and ornamental details reflect the complexity of different spaces and lifestyles, spurring countless ideas for personal self-expression. It seems that the way we live is not always defined by where we live.
Commentary on communal open space, which connects us to one another, and a meticulous guide to sources and materials round out this ultimate treasury. Both beautiful and practical,
The Way We Live is much more than a decorating guide—it is a design for living.
Customer Reviews:
terrific book.......2007-05-15
brilliant pictures of landscapes from around the world and homes. I particularly enjoy the pictures of various stairwells together or doorways for example.
Rich, complex, atmospheric.......2006-06-14
I thought this book was exceptional.
This book deals with design in all parts of the world, but much more than this it gives you the feeling of the cultural richness of people who live in these spaces. It is visually beautiful and evocative.
I think the photography is outstanding. The photograper has a real knowledge about light and composition. It is rare, I think, to have so many excellent photos in a single volume. Along with this, the narrative is direct and insightful.
For those interested in design, the book offers many ideas for all types of settings. None of the ones presented are stereotypical or stiff.
The most winning aspect in this book is the realism and beauty that we are able to see around the world. The colorful, serene, and eclectic nature of many settings make this book a delight to read over and over again.
Through the Keyhole.......2006-02-08
Have you ever walked or driven past someone's home and wanted to look inside? Looking through this book is a bit like that on an international scale. The book is a beautiful work of art in itself, the presentation top class, the paper quality excellent, the binding great. It is packed with marvellous photographs of interiors, accompanied by descriptive text. What it isn't is another of those boring interior design books, filled with rooms that are painted offwhite, with large mirrors, potted palms and overstuffed sofas. This book is interior design getting real!
A Comprehensive and Sensitive Survey of Peoples and their Habitats.......2005-12-06
Stafford Cliff has collected images from all around the world and with the help of superb photographer Gilles de Chabaneix has done what few other innovators in design have done - created a book that is, yes, about design, but is equally about how climate, place, ethnicity, tradition, cultural philosophies, and history inform the decisions people make about their living environments.
Not just viewing the gracious homes of the wealthy of the planet (though there are plenty of gorgeous 'palaces' of design to please the most art hungry eye), Cliff views the differences geography makes in dwellings, from spectacular vistas of the sea to the mountains and to the deserts, and how the climates influence the manner in which 'design' is used. As interested in discussing and sharing the most humble abodes with the most lavish mansions, Cliff doesn't miss a beat as he and de Chabaneix journey to places obscure and places of notoriety. The emphasis is always on the manner in which the people of these dwellings adapt and incorporate their living spaces to their environment.
A book that is both sumptuous in design itself and tender in its approach, THE WAY WE LIVE will appeal to both students of design and to those who long to understand the essence of living, wherever they travel. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 05
Great Research Book........2005-10-01
As an interior designer, I often start thinking about new spaces by doing research as to what other people have done in the past in similar situations...this is a great book to have in your library for that purpose. I've referenced it many times to show clients the sort of "mood" I'm looking to create before we sit down to hammer out the nuts and bolts of how that feeling translates into a different space with different furnishings and fabrics...this book won't teach you how to make curtains, but it is well worth the investment as exactly what it says it is..."a global design inspiration".
Book Description
There is a universal longing to live near the water ... and this inspiring book can make that dream come true. What's it really like to live near the sea (or on a lake or at the river's edge)? Maine architect Robert Knight looks at 25 well-designed dream homes that are enhanced by the water around them; and he presents six design themes to help the reader understand what makes a house on the water work well. Over 300 color photos and site plans are featured in this outstanding portfolio of homes filled with inspiration.
Customer Reviews:
EXCELLENT !.......2007-06-29
If you are about to build a home...or just enjoy seeing the details that make other structures a "home" then you will love this book...
Very informative...beautifully executed...homerun all the way...
OK, but not what I was looking for........2007-02-13
I was excited to get this book in the mail, as I thought it would have some real good ideas on how to build a larger home on the water that had some character. I found most of the homes rather odd, homes for people that would name their children Jupiter or Flower. I am back today ordering more books. Also most homes either are RIGHT on the water or set back in rock. Didn't find much in the way of regular 100ft setback from the water, woods, maybe a walkout basement type of MN lakes home. There was one from WI but again, it was right on the water, which you normally can not build now days.
Visually Delicious.......2006-12-28
This book is wonderful at capturing the rare beauty of various architectural wonders through vivid photographs and welcoming text. You never get bored flipping through this book and it is incredibly inspiring. It combines several differently designed homes that will appeal to a variety of readers. Reading this book is like daydremaing on paper. Highly recommended.
Architect.......2006-03-11
I found this book both educational and handsome in content and in photography. As an architect practicing in different regions of the country, I'm always thankful for having opportunities to do design work in Maine. Maine, as a place to live, is simply wonderful and unique, but the sense of peace in these "Houses on the Water" is elevated creating a noble inspiration for the reader.
A House on the Water- inspiration for dreaming and designing.......2004-01-19
As a landscape designer, I was consistenly impressed with how these wonderful houses fit into their site, lifting out the critical views and respecting the nature of the place. Having enjoyed the houses that Robert Knight designs, I was pleased to learn why his houses and those selected for his book are so satisfying to see and experience. O'Rourke's photographs are spectacular and with the plans, really help to visualize the structure and the setting and how they fit together. Design professionals and homeowners alike with whom I've shared this book rave about it. A perfect gift for friends and family!
Book Description
America's quintessential house style is reinvented for the 21st century family in this book. Farmhouses evoke nostalgic memories, real or imagined, of a simpler life, and deep, nourishing connections to the seasons and the land. This remarkable collection details and celebrates today's interpretation of the American farmhouse by focusing on traditional elements as adapted for modern needs, such as porches, roofs, windows, mudrooms, doorways, vestibules, fireplaces, and nooks. The 20 homes in this book represent today's best interpretations of this classic style in new and renovated homes designed for modern living. In suburban and rural communities from Maine to California, The Farmhouse celebrates an enduring American icon. This engaging tour, including over 300 color photographs and drawings that vividly showcase the farmhouse of today in a variety of settings and seasons, will delight, instruct, and inspire homeowners, architects, designers, and builders alike. Site and floor plans plus sidebars with historical detail are also included.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing - Full of Great Ideas.......2006-10-14
This book is a valuable resource as my husband and I plan our "farmhouse" that we intend to build next year beginning in February. It gives examples of restorations, new construction built to look like the old classical farmhouses across the midwest, and amazing interiors. I love the shaded boxes of information, emphasizing the importance of features such as shape, the color white, porches, etc. It is a lesson book for those wanting a basic education on how to talk farmhouses. We bought three books, and this one is far superior to the others.
Perfect and Invaluable.......2006-01-03
One of over $1,000 worth of books I ordered prior to starting our remodel, The Farmhouse is above and beyond the best book I bought for our tastes, and is the primary resource I have given to our architect. No country shabby chic here -- the style is spare, warm, and elegant. Great photos and text. This book will save us thousands by beautifully getting across our ideas for our new Boulder, Colorado home. Those who like this book would also like Jeremiah Eck's The Distinctive Home.
Review-The Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home.......2005-11-02
An informative book with good examples and photos.
Beautiful Inspirational Book!.......2004-11-29
This book is a great quality hardcover full of spectacular color photos of the traditional farm style. I found it's content and pictures insipiring and it would make a great gift for any 'farm-style' enthusiast... or it's great for any coffee table! Really an excellent book, un-beatable in terms of conveying a classic style and delivering inspiring ideas!
Not for those looking for a "classic" farmhouse style.......2004-09-14
This book, although well detailed and presented left something to be desired as far as I was concerned. Appreciating the "classic farmhouse" style, which covers a wide variety of architectural detail, I did not like many of the homes highlighted in this book. They were much too contemporized for my "Yankee" preferences. Oddly, the house most resembling a traditional farmhouse style inside & out was a California Greek Revival.The unusual angling of portions of 1 house, the strange selection of plastic siding for another, the glass & steel addition to an otherwise beautiful famhouse, left me wanting more. I'm sure some people like this style, but they were "cold" buildings. If you are looking for a book on beautifully detailed, classic farmhouses, look no further than "American Farmhouses" by Leah Rosch. I believe a modern day farmhouse can be built with an eye to the past and livability for today without sacrificing the warmth and traditional look.
Book Description
In Home by Design, Sarah Susanka presents the 30 key design concepts that can be applied to any home – no matter what the style or size. Using 28 of the best designed homes from around the country, Susanka brings these concepts to life with 150 powerful and inspirational examples: from something as simple as placing a rug under a table to renovating a whole second floor. Home by Design shows homeowners a new way to look at their spaces and provides ideas for how to make each home reach its full potential.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPACE
THE PROCESS OF ENTERING, SHELTER AROUND ACTIVITY, SEQUENCES OF PLACES, CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY, INTERIOR VIEWS, INSIDE OUTSIDE, CHANGES IN LEVEL, PUBLIC TO PRIVATE, OPENABILITY, ENCLOSURE, DIFFERNTIATION OF PARTS, DEPTH AND THICKNESS
LIGHT
LIGHT TO WALK TOWARD, LIGHT INTESITY VARIED, REFLECTING SURFACES, WINDOW POSITIONING, VISUAL WEIGHT, VIEW AND NONVIEW
ORDER
PATTERN AND GEOMETRY, ALIGNMENTS, RHYTHYM, THEME AND VARIATIONS, COMPOSTION, EXPRESSED STRUCTURE, POINT OF FOCUS, ORGANIZING STRATEGY
Customer Reviews:
Informative & Inspiring.......2007-09-19
I found this book to be well laid out and full of good ideas for not only planning the construction of a new house but for doing renovations as well. Reading this has mad me want to buy her other book about Small Homes.
Buy before you select a plan.......2007-07-16
Having browsed through a thousand or so online house plans, my wife and I are just starting to work with a designer to plan our own house. This book provides a great source of ideas.
For those thinking about having a house built, this is a good book...unless you're past the plan selection phase of the process. Susanka walks you through many of the facets of home design, explaining tools that architects commonly use to put a house together: space, light, and order.
The book begins with describing how space can be used to make a home more liveable. It covers different characteristics of an entry, and different techniques used to vary ceiling heights such as dropped soffits, lowered hallways, and floating shelves. It discusses the importance of views and how to take advantage of different types of views to get different effects. It even covers the importance of distinguishing between public and private areas, something that seems to be completely missing from most of the house plans we have seen.
In discussing light, the book covers techniques such as placing a window at the end of a hallway, using reflective surfaces, positioning windows, and using color and texture for visual weight. Order techniques, such as alignment, geometry, symmetry, themes, and composition are all covered in an understandable manner.
More than just a simple idea book, Home By Design tells you why a particular feature works, and why it is important to the overall home design. Granted, some of the features covered in the book are not to our taste. Other features look fabulous, but would probably kill our budget. And I certainly wouldn't want to attempt to use all of the ideas in one house.
But we will certainly use many of the ideas in the book. For example: we might modify our kitchen layout to include dropped soffits in a manner similar to that illustrated in the book, we'll probably pay attention to the height of windowsills, to alignment, and to views; we may even be able to figure out how to use repetition or rhythm to come up with something that we really like.
If you're still in the planning phase of your building or major remodeling project, by all means use this book as a source of ideas. If you've already started building, stay away from it! You might want to start the whole process over again.
Home by Design: Inspiration for Transforming House Into Home.......2007-01-12
GREAT!
Inspirational, Energizing..........2006-08-18
This book is fun to own. Lots of good ideas that can be realistically applied. The pictures are beautiful and the writing truly energizes and inspires one to look with new eyes at the way space is used not only in ones own home, but also in public buildings and spaces which one occupies as daily life is lived. I refer to this book often, and would recommend it to anyone interested in beautifying and simplifying their environment.
Great BEFORE you build.......2006-07-30
This book has wonderful design ideas if you are working with an architect designing a new home, if you are or remodeling an old one. If you already have a home and want to incorporate her ideas, it might be a little difficult. It is a very educational book with beautiful photos, however, I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't planning on doing any major renovation or construction.
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Book Description
Packed with design instruction and horticulture tips, this paperback version of Jamie Durie's bestselling gardening-design book provides all the necessary information and inspiration to create glamorous garden and patio spaces. Stunning photographs highlight stylish, award-winning landscape designs created in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Each photograph is accompanied by a complete discussion of the design and its elements, including watering requirements, featured plants, and optimal lighting. Tips and instructions help inspire gardeners to create their own original designs.
Customer Reviews:
a terrible disappointment.......2007-09-12
I've bought that book 'cause I'm planning to transform a small corner of my garden into a nice patio. But this book is about balconies, sky gardens, decks, pools, back yards, seaside retreats, etc...Nothing about patios!!! If you're looking for ideas for your patio, this probably isn't a good book for you.
Best Inspiring Book for Outdoor Design.......2007-05-25
A definite must have. This is by far one of the best inspiring books for outdoor designs. If you are looking for something modern, minimalist, different from ordinary, don't look any further and buy this book. I designed my own terrace thanks to the great ideas and inspiration by Jamie Durie.
This is one of my favorite inspiration books.......2006-06-09
This is the best of Durie's books and is an excellent companion for the California garden designer. The plans are helpful for understanding the layout of a garden, but the photos are what really make the book. The light modern style, clever detailing, and CA compatible plants give me new ideas every time I open it.
Must-read for garden design.......2004-07-12
I must admit that I wasn't expecting much from Jamie Durie, knowing him mainly for his home renovation shows in Australia.
However, after much searching through countless books on garden design in bookstores, I found his books to be far and away the best I've seen.
His designs are very modern and innovative and the book gives a lot of insight into the design and construction process. Backgrounds and reasoning on particular choices made and goes into detail on subjects such as lighting, plants and materials.
I own quite a few garden design books and I would definately rate this the best I've seen and just about every design in his books I would rate amongst the best I've seen.
A more elegant modern.......2003-08-30
This book is an excellent sourse of inspiration for the garden designer who is tired of traditional garden design. Jamie Durie explores new materials and plant selections in a way that is comfortable and exciting. A must read for those of us who are tired of English garden design!
Book Description
Enter more than 250 of the most beautiful guestrooms in the world, and dream up wonderful ideas for your own sleeping quarters. Herein lie all manner of inspiration for every sort of bedroom, from lofty hideaways under slanting eaves, to enormous, two-room master suites. You'll get ideas for bedspreads and pillows, curtains and upholstery, wallpaper and window seats, and ideas for incorporating antiques or a favorite collection into your decor. An amazing showcase of beds, from four-posters fit for a king, to unique, handcrafted antiques in all their intricate glory. Plus ideas for incorporating extra features like whirlpool tubs and fireplaces into the sleeping chamber.
Books:
- Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book)
- Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book)
- Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book)
- New Babylonians: Contemporary Visions of a Situationist City
- New Trading Systems and Methods (Wiley Trading)
- Paint Can!: Techniques, Patterns, and Projects for Bringing Color into Every Room
- Paint Shop Pro XI for Photographers
- Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock (A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts)
- Prefabulous: The House of Your Dreams Delivered Fresh from the Factory
- Project Resource Manual (PRM) : The CSI Manual of Practice
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
- The Nature and Prospect of Bioethics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
- The Complex Networks of Economic Interactions: Essays in Agent-Based Economics and Econophysics
- Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space
- Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles
- A Whale For The Killing
- Digital Gehry
- The Long Island Country House 1870-1930
- Himself & Other Animals - A Portrait of Gerald Durrell
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Earth Ponds Sourcebook: The Pond Owner's Manual and Resource Guide, Second Edition
Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide
The Ponder's Bible
Earth Ponds: The Country Pond Maker's Guide to Building, Maintenance and Restoration
Poolscaping: Gardening and Landscaping Around Your Swimming Pool and Spa
