Books

The book follows the rebuilding of a thousand year old Buddhist temple. The author S. Azby Brown was on site from the day the work commenced and followed the project through the entire process. The book also covers the traditions and rituals surrounding the rebuilding process and timber selection, and is full of photographs and detailed drawings. You gain a real sense of the dedication and skill involved in a project such as this.

The complexity of the carpentry and the standard of finish on the temple are quite simply awe inspiring. The book's title is correct: it does show the genius of Japanese Carpentry. If you at all interested in constructing structures from wood this book is a must. It constantly reminds you of the possibility of working with wood.

This volume explains the array of choices and combinations of material available for interior design, including wood, stone, brick and tile, glass, metal, concrete, plaster, synthetics, leather and lino. It discusses the characteristics of each marerial and offers advice on suitability.

I bought this book while at art collage and while I would never sit down to read the whole book in one go, I have kept coming back to it over the years as a no nonsense reference book.

It's rather dryly written and illustrated on a "less is more" approach. But the advice is good and broad in its subject.

Victories Of The Engineer

I found this gem in a house clearance shop for £ 1.50. Written just after the end of the 19th century it typifies that age. The Victorian era had seen astounding developments and feats in engineering and this book has a real feeling of the pride and excitement surrounding engineering at that time. The language is quaintly of the time.

Although some of the projects have surpassed in scale the grandeur of the projects in this book is breathtaking. It contains plenty of photos and illustrations and the ingenuity of some of the solutions to complex problems are so elegantly simple.

Expert information for professional builders and homeowners on every aspect of timber-framed house construction. This revised edition contains updated technical data and building details and also features advice on dealing with designers, sub-contractors and budgets.

As the title suggests this is more of a technical book. It deals purely with the production of timber frames for houses, not al aspects of a timber frame house.

It covers the tools required, types of framing as well as how to calculate loadings.

It's well illustrated and written. Ideal as a framing reference manual to keep in the office or workshop.

Beautifully written, Treehouse Chronicles is a reflective and insightful tale about building an elaborate treehouse in the Maine woods.

Filled with humor, packed with spactacular photography, evocative watercolors, and line drawings, this book is a delight.