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Brosterman, Norman. Out of Time: Designs for the
Twentieth-Century Future. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-8109-2939-2
(pbk); 96 pagine; black and white and color illustrations.
A collection of illustrations and ideas from the
late 1800s through the 1960s envisioning “what the
future might hold.” These collected works range from
the frightening (the US Navy’s “protection plan” for
ship against H-Bomb attacks) to the downright absurd
(have you ever wanted to own your own plush Capri
satellite?), giving designers and architects an example
of how far some ideas can go (and have gone).
Carroll, John M. Making Use: Scenario-Based Design of
Umano. Computer Interactions Cambridge, MA: IL
CON Premere, 2000. ISBN 0-262-03279-1 (hardcover); 368
pagine; black and white illustrations.
An examination and demonstration of how the
scenario can be used to effectively create a more natural
and intuitive information system design. Carroll
attempts to move the design process out of the abstract
and into the world of the concrete using models and
examples to show the necessity of scenarios when
designing information systems.
Chase, Linda and Laura Cerwinske. In the Romantic
Style: Creating Intimacy, Fantasy and Charm in the
Contemporary Home. New York: Thames & Hudson
Inc., 2000. ISBN 0-500-28244-7 (pbk); 144 pagine; colore
illustrations.
“Less a single visual approach than an attitude
toward design, the romantic style satisfies our desire
for rooms that we and those we love will find pleasur-
able.” This collection gives ideas and examples of this
particular take on the romantic style of interior design
though vivid images and unexpected combinations.
Christie, Christopher. The British County House in the
Eighteenth Century. New York: Manchester University
Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7190-4724-2 (hardcover); 331 pagine;
black and white and color photographs.
A nearly textbook examination of the architec-
ture, ambiente, décor, and social significance of the
country house in England in the 1700s. The subject is
exhaustively researched in this book, and resulting
information cover nearly every conceivable facet of the
British County House of the Eighteenth Century.
Books Received
Tim Fife
Aging in the Community: A Research on the Designing
of Everyday Life Environment of the Elderly Research
Report. Edited by Kwok Yan-chi Jackie. Hong Kong:
World Making Workshop, 1999. ISBN 962-85444-2-X
(pbk); 131 pagine.
This report examines the data and analysis
connected to a research project undertaken by the
School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University
and the St. James’ Settlement to examine the impact of
“the everyday living environment of the aging commu-
nity in Hong Kong.” The book is visual intriguing with
well thought out examples of information design.
Allyn, David. Make Love, Not War: The Sexual
Revolution: An Unfettered History. New York: Little,
Brown and Company, 2000. ISBN 0-316-03930-6 (hard-
cover); 381 pagine.
A historical and well-researched look at the
social climate of the 1960s and ‘70s and the social
changes that consequently occurred. It is an examina-
tion of a time in our nation’s history with is often
referred to, but seldom discussed in detail. Combining
research with firsthand accounts, Allyn investigates a
period of U.S. 93-93 history the likes of which he
believes we will never see again.
Ashcroft, Frances. Life at the Extremes: The Science of
Survival. Los Angeles: Stampa dell'Università della California,
Berkeley, 2000. ISBN 0-520-22234-2 (hardcover); 326
pagine; black and white photographs.
A facinating book of miscellanous explanation
of how things survive in extreme conditions. Full of
curious factoids, fascinating histories, and in-depth
explorations, this book is both engaging and entertain-
ing as it explains away hundreds of questions you have
probably never thought of asking.
Bermingham, Ann. Learning to Draw: Studies in the
Cultural History of a Polite and Useful Art. Nuovo
porto: Stampa dell'Università di Yale, 2000. ISBN 0-300-08039-5
(hardcover); 304 pagine; black and white and color
reproductions.
A well illustrated book exploring the historical
significance of drawing in England from the age of
Elizabeth I to the era of early photography. By putting
the art of drawing into its historical context, artists and
designers may be able to better see how their arts can
affect society and culture as a whole.
Design Issues: Volume 17, Numero 3 Estate 2001
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13 BooksRecvd 5/30/01 3:33 PM Page 94
Clough, Patricia Ticineto. Autoaffection: Unconscious
Thought in the Age of Teletechnology. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8166-2889-
0 (pbk); 213 pagine.
Graham, Tony. Unicode: A Primer. Foster City, CA: MIS:
Press; M&T Books, 2000. ISBN 0-7645-4625-2 (pbk); 475
pagine; black and white illustrations, screen shots, E
diagrams.
An examination of Poststructuralist thought
and cultural criticism in a technologically advanced
community. By using the concept of teletechnology, IL
mass communications of the late 20th century, Clough
suggests that our individual and cultural unconscious
have formed new connections between such areas as
postcolonial theory, queer theory, literary criticism, E
many other fields.
Friedlein, Ashley. Web Project Management: Delivering
Successful Commercial Web Sites. New York: Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-55860-678-5 (pbk);
324 pagine; black and white illustrations.
A comprehensive approach to managing the
building of commercial web sites. This book’s eight-
step building plan is aimed much more at business side
than at the techie side, so expect it to tell you how to
make the project run smoothly, not how to make the
website function smoothly.
Goldberg, RoseLee. Laurie Anderson. New York: Harry
N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-8109-3582-1
(hardback); 204 pagine; black and white and color
photographs and illustrations.
A biography of the work of Laurie Anderson,
acclaimed performance artist and instrument inventor.
Anderson’s work from the early 1970s right up through
1999 are documented in this collection which included
her preparatory sketches, installations, song lyrics, E
instrument designs.
Goodwin, Godfrey. Topkapi Palace: An Illustrated
Guide to its Life and Personalities. London: Saqi
Books, 1999. ISBN 0-86356-067-9 (hardcover); 223 pagine;
black and white and color photographs.
A detailed look at the Ottoman palace of
Topkapi. It is in essence a detailed guidebook for
exploring the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. It gives
painstakingly specific geography, history, and social
relevance of the palace and its grounds.
“Unicode is a character encoding standard that
includes all of the major scripts of the world in a simple
and consistent manner.”—Preface. This book contains
information ranging from “Unicode 101” to “Operating
Systems Support” and “Programming Language
Supporto,” two presumably sophisticated applications of
Unicode. The text itself contains a good amount of
graphically represented information and, particolarmente
near the end, an abundance of sample code to help the
coder along.
Graphic Design & Reading: Explorations of an Uneasy
Relationship. Edited by Gunnar Swanson. New York:
Allworth Press, 2000. ISBN 1-58115-063-6 (pbk); 221
pagine; black and white illustrations.
A collection of essays ranging from the exami-
nation of printing as The Crystal Goblet and Legibility to
Visual Syntax and the Democratization of Typography. IL
variety of topics covered all share the theme of “read-
ing“ graphic design—a topic still in much contention in
the field of communication design. The book is well
designed, with both appropriate and stimulating exam-
ples used to illustrate the concepts of the essays.
Heller, Steven and Louise Fili. Design Connoisseur:
An Eclectic Collection of Imagery and Type. New York:
Allsworth Press, 2000. ISBN 1-58115-069-5 (pbk); 208
pagine.
An exquisite collection of typographical arti-
facts dating from 1900 through 1940. These artifacts
include never-before-reprinted typefaces, ornaments,
letterheads, and trademarks from this vintage era. Questo
collection of art-deco typefaces and images could be an
excellent resource for any design study of early 20th
century typographical design.
Kalman, Tibor and Maira. (un)FASHION. New York:
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2000. ISBN 0-8109-4500-2 (hard-
cover); 224 pagine; full color photographs
A beautiful photojournal of actual everyday
fashion from around the world. The book contains
almost no text, using its stunning visuals to tell the
story of people and their lives all over the world.
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13 BooksRecvd 5/30/01 3:33 PM Page 95
Kwok Yan-chi Jackie. The Production of Space in Hong
Kong. Hong Kong: Crabs Company Limited, 1998.
ISBN 962-85444-1-1 (pbk); 234 pagine; black and white
illustrations and photographs.
Mirochnik, Elijah. Teaching in the First Person:
Understanding Voice and Vocabulary in Learning
Relationships. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2000.
ISBN 0-8204-4157-0 (pbk); 145 pagine.
A study of the teaching style of three different
UC Berkeley Undergraduate Architecture teachers and
the metaphors they employ. The subsequent compari-
son of these techniques and metaphors, which are
isolated after the teachers candidly discuss their inter-
actions with their students, brings up an interesting
examination of the educators’ assumptions about
knowledge and how these assumptions impact both
their teaching and their students.
Pfammatter, Ulrich. The Making of the Modern
Architect and Engineer: The Origins and Development
of a Scientific and Industrially Oriented Education.
Boston: Birkhäuser, 2000. ISBN 3-7643-6217-0 (pbk); 312
pagine; black and white illustrations.
An in-depth look at the history of the evolution
of the modern architectural engineering education. It
includes an examination of the École Centrale des Arts
et Manufacuter in Paris and the establishment of
Technical Higher Education in central Europe. It also
gives tribute to such engineering greats as Eiffel,
Durand, and Le Baron Jenney.
Rogers, David F. An Introduction to NURBS: Con
Historical Perspective. San Diego, CA: Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-55860-669-6 (pbk);
323 pagine; black and white diagrams and graphs.
NonUniform Rational B-Splines, or NURBS,
are used in modeling systems to create, and later bury,
lines, planes, and even spheres and complex sculptured
surfaces. If you are not familiar with NURBS, this book
attempts to bring the subject into the common realm,
and does of good job of just avoiding “math-textbook-
land” It is, Tuttavia, admittedly “no ‘NURBS for
Dummies’ book.” To understand the underlying
concepts requires some familiarity with simple calcu-
lus, and a lot of focus.
A uniquely designed investigation of the
common mis-educated view of design in Hong Kong
and how designing space in the urban setting is helping
to recitify the common misconceptions. With informa-
tion presented in both Chinese and English, this book
attempts clarity the difference between effective design
and trends in fashion in Hong Kong.
Le Corbusier. The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to
the Human Scale Universally Applicable to
Architecture and Mechanics and Modulor 2: Let the
User Speak Next. Germany: Birkhäuser, 2000. ISBN 3-
7643-6188-3 (pbk); pagine 244 E 336; black and white
illustrations.
As Signor Ivan Matteo Lombardo, President of
the ninth Triennale in Milan said, “The Modular is the
pivot around which revolve all the problems of propor-
tion in modern architecture.” These books describe a
mid-twentieth century move towards achieving
“harmony through relations of dimension.” The first
book explores proportion and dimension as related to
architecture, typography, and industrial design, while
the second book serves as a record of the forum of
responses to the origin Modular.
Lomax, Yve. Writing the Image: An Adventure with Art
and Theory. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2000. ISBN 1-86064-
474-0 (pbk); 238 pagine; black and white illustrations.
A collection of writings of Yve Lomax span-
ning 19 years, from 1981 A 2000. Her writings focus on
the idea of placing the written word onto the same
playing field as visual art. An unexpected informality
of voice combined with a certain intellectualism makes
these essays both touching and enlightening. At times,
it is a refreshingly non-academic look at the adventure
of combining artistic practice with theoretical writing.
McSheffrey, Gerald. Planning Derry: Planning and Politics
in Northern Ireland. Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 2000. ISBN 0-85323-714-X (hardcover); 136 pagine;
black and white illustrations and photographs.
A detailed look at the planning process of
Northern Ireland area known as Derry by the Northern
Ireland Department of the Environment, the Northern
Ireland Housing Executive and numerous community
leaders. The book takes a non-academic, real-life look at
the ethical and social issues involved in urban plan-
ning.
Design Issues: Volume 17, Numero 3 Estate 2001
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13 BooksRecvd 5/30/01 3:33 PM Page 96
Sex Appeal: The Art of Allure in Graphic and
Advertising Design. New York: Allworth Press, 2000.
Edited by Steven Heller. ISBN 1-58115-048-2 (pbk); 272
pagine; black and white illustrations and photographs.
A collection of essays on the role sex has
played in the evolution of graphic and advertising
progetto. The essays cover an impressive amount of
ground with topics ranging from the expected
(Perfection and Art Paul: Designing Playboy) to the unan-
ticipated (A Brief Look into Adult Typography and
Dressing Love’s Wounds: Purple Magazine and Post-
Feminist Porn). Many of the areas explored are ones in
which the role of graphic design does not spring imme-
diately to mind; consequently the essays are often
surprising, provocative, E, at time, quite enlighten-
ing.
Thompson, J. William and Kim Sorvig. Sustainable
Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building
Outdoors. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000. ISBN 1-
55963-646-7 (pbk); 349 pagine; black and white
photographs.
An environmentally friendly book which
examines the impact of architecture and design on the
surrounding environment. It is a veritable cornicopia of
dos and don’ts when it comes to design impacting the
ambiente, with healthy explanations of why some
things are good and others bad.
Toy, Maggie. Practically Minimal: Simply Beautiful
Solutions for Modern Living. New York: Thames &
Hudson Inc., 2000. ISBN 0-500-51010-5 (hardcover); 192
pagine; color illustrations.
A beautifully photographed collection of mini-
malistically designed home interiors. The architecture
and design of the homes featured are inspiring and
thought provoking, enough to make any designer or
architect rethink his or her concepts of space and its
usability as a form.
Venable, Charles, Ellen Denker, Katherine Grier, E
Stephen Harrison. China and Glass in America
1880–1980: From Tabletop to TV Tray. New York: Harry
N. Abrams, Inc., 2000. ISBN 0-8109-6692-1 (hardcover);
500 pagine; color photographs.
A history of 20th century dining ware and its
connection to the social and cultural history of the
stati Uniti. With extensive histories of such produc-
tion houses as Waterford and Wedgwood and their
influence on the history and development of glass and
ceramics in the US, this book is a good resource for the
evolution of domestic products and their social impact.
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