Wright-Sized Houses: Frank Lloyd Wright's Solutions for Making Small Houses Feel Big

Book Description

America's most famous architect was obsessed with small houses. Even though this exciting aspect of his work has been long overlooked, the truth is that Frank Lloyd Wright spent most of his career addressing the problems of houses intended for individuals or small families of modest means. In the only book on the master architect to focus on "the house of moderate cost," Wright expert Diane Maddex takes the reader inside a selection of his small houses from across the country, turning the spotlight on Wright's ingenious solutions to make these homes look and feel large.

Customer Reviews:

Wright-Sized Book for custom homes........2007-08-02

I am building a custom home and I keep going back to this book for inspiration and important details. I have a library of at least 20 other FLW (Frank Lloyd Wright) books, but this is the most up-to-date and most on target reference for new home design. The photographs are large and focused on details, not just exterior elevations. Doors, windows, roofs, entrances and many other important features are explained and given an indepth perspective. This is a must have for any FLW library and I guarantee you will be handing this to to your architect if you want FLW details in your custom home. A great read.

Ludicrous topic, excellent book.......2007-04-01

Despite the questionable purpose to show "solutions for making small houses big", as if using Wright's architecture for a DIY book, and the fact that all houses in the book are small like a condo, this is a very good book.
Selection of the photographs, print and layout are excellent and decidedly over the average, even for such a popular subject.
Plans and texts are plain and clear and eventually contribute to making it very easy for quick consultation. Somehow and unexpectedly, in my studio, you can never find this book in the same place.

Illustrates Wright's Ideas - Easy to understand.......2007-03-09

I'm a Wright fan and an architect, so it was good to find a book the describes and illustrates FLLW's architecture "gems" to be considered in home design. Well done and useful, whether you are considering a "FLLW-inspired" or another architectural style. I think this book is a good compliment to Sarah Susanka's books (i.e., "the not so big house", etc.).

I my opinion, Wright's approach is universal to many architectual style.

Very good synthesis of Wright's work.......2007-02-24

I really liked this book. Quite well structured, it presents first key characteristics of Wright's architecture apearing in Prairie but also Usonian houses.
The second part gives full details of some houses (mainly Usonian since the theme is about "making small houses feel big")
Special interest for Isabel Roberts house, River Forest (on front and back cover pages) which is to my mind Wright's Masterwork joining Prairie and Usonian concepts.
Photos are nice and drawings are also indicated (with scale and orientation).
The only point I disliked is the fact comments relative to photos are not always fully precise : they could have highlighted a bit more key characteristics quoted in book's first part. The author has also preferred giving some details about Owners rather than focusing only on architecture.

One of the best Wright books out there.......2006-05-11

This is a beautiful picture book that keeps its title's promise. Maddex actually identifies the specific FLW solutions for making small houses feel big. Her description of these solutions are well-written and aimed at appealing to the intelligent layman. Mercifully, she avoids the academic, pedantic and patronizing tone. A real pleasure. Couldn't recommend more highly.

Book Description

Ever wonder what Nero did before he began fiddling about in Rome, or wanted the bare facts about Lady Godiva? Maybe you've found the story of Lucrezia Borgia a bitter pill to swallow, or wanted the straight skinny on corpulent King Henry the Eighth, but you haven't the stomach for stuffy history books. Now these and twenty-two more of history's most famous personages are brought brilliantly to life, in this collection of unfailingly accurate yet undeniably hilarious biographies. You'll laugh while you learn about the very real people behind the legendary names, including why Montezuma was so vengeful, and why Catherine was so Great. You'll even finally lay to rest the rumor that Charlemagne was called "Chuck" by his friends.

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-14

This book is historically accurate, funny, satirical, informative, entertaining - in a single word "wonderful". It has been an inspiration to me. When I found out that there was no more Willy Cuppy I was so disappointed that I started my own series on Famous Folks. I have temporarily entitled my book Hobo Notes on Famous Folks.
Obviously I loved the idea and the style of Willy Cuppy. Of course Will is much smarter than I am, but hopefully I can make up for my inadequacy in other ways.
Willy inspires me to sit down and start writing as does Robert Service and Mark Twain.
You can't miss with anything by Willy Cuppy - this is probably his most well known publication.

An oldie but a goodie.......2007-04-03

I have an original copy of the 1963 printing of Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. Cuppy was a hilliarious writer. To do good comedy one has to take it seriously and Cuppy takes his history seriously, but I can't read his history without chuckling. His footnotes add to the humorous text. In this book he lampoons the various characters we learned about in highschool including Hannibal, Cleopatra, Columbus and Montezuma just to name a few. Will Cuppy makes one interested in what used to be just dull dates and factoids. Go for this one, you won't be disappointed.

Must read for any history or humour buff.......2007-03-06

I have read this work so many times I have worn out three copies, no exaggeration. It is delightful humour, of a sort rarely found nowadays. And it's not too bad as a history either. No "1066 and all that" drollery here. This is genuinely amusing, and it has held readers captive for decades. This book inspired me to seek the history behind the humour which has led to three decades of being a contented arm chair historian.

You will not be disappointed in this book, which I feel is Cuppy's best.

The Decline and Fall of Practicaly Everybody by Will Cuppy.......2007-01-15

One of my all-time favorites. My decades-old copy was literally falling apart, so I was glad to find a hard-cover edition available at a reasonable price.

A Fond Memory Returned.......2006-04-07

My high school history teacher (who was no fool and knew his stuff better than some professors I met in college) gave me this book. His copy was the original thing-- almost falling apart from being loved by so many students. It managed to spark an interest in history in me, because quite frankly I have no patience for the "golden sheen" that so many people try to put on historical figures. Who on earth cares about someone who's so perfect you could never talk to them, anyway? Let's face it, the so-called "greats" were people with flaws and quirks just like we are! Bravo to Will Cuppy for having the guts and the skill to portray them in a way that makes us laugh and makes us question a little beyond the almost impenetrable veil of History.

Average customer rating:

5A
5B
5C
Warriors
Did not engage my 10-year-old

Abel's Island
William Steig
Manufacturer: Square Fish
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312371438
Release Date: 2007-10-02

Amazon.com

One summer day, newlywed mice Abel and Amanda are out for a picnic in the woods when they are caught in a sudden storm--a "full-fledged, screaming hurricane" to be precise. As they take refuge in a cave, a wind scoops up Amanda's scarf, and Abel foolishly lunges from safety to retrieve it. So begins William Steig's Newbery Honor Book Abel's Island, the ensuing adventures of this rather foppish mouse as he comes head to head with nature. Amazingly, Abel is swept up in a stream, then a river, then eventually marooned on an island (about 12,000 tails long). He is sure that his rescue is imminent: "It's certainly gotten around that Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, of the Mossville Flints, is missing," the society mouse speculates. But he is not so lucky. What will this intelligent, imaginative rodent do to get off the island and back to his beloved Amanda? He busies himself with finding ways to get to shore (including bridges, boats, catapults, stepping stones, and gliders); figuring out what he should eat (everything from mulberries to roasted seeds); and investigating where he should take shelter (in a rotten log). As the weeks and months go by, he misses his books, his paintings, his comfortable stuffed chair, his stylish clothes (now damp, torn, and lumpy), but above all his precious wife Amanda, whom he thinks about constantly. As the mouse faces his new life Robinson Crusoe-style, Abel discovers what it's like to be in tune with the natural world as well as his true nature, and what it's like to return, fortified, to his real home and to the arms of the one he loves. Along the way, readers can't help but rediscover the joys of being alive. (Ages 8 and older, but an engaging read-aloud for younger children, too) --Karin Snelson

Book Description

Abel's place in his familiar, mouse world has always been secure; he had an allowance from his mother, a comfortable home, and a lovely wife, Amanda. But one stormy August day, furious flood water carry him off and dump him on an uninhabited island. Despite his determination and stubborn resourcefulness--he tried crossing the river with boats and ropes and even on stepping-stones--Abel can't find a way to get back home.

Days, then weeks and months, pass. Slowly, his soft habits disappear as he forages for food, fashions a warm nest in a hollow log, models clay statues of his family for company, and continues to brood on the problem of how to get across the river--and home.

Abel's time on the island brings him a new understanding of the world he's separated from. Faced with the daily adventure of survival in his solitary, somewhat hostile domain, he is moved to reexamine the easy way of life he had always accepted and discovers skills and talents in himself that hold promise of a more meaningful life, if and when he should finally return to Mossville and his dear Amanda again.

Customer Reviews:

5A.......2007-03-01

Abel's Island started with a rich mouse named Abel. He and his wife, Amanda, went on a picnic. Abel went in the woods and got a flower for Amanda. When he returned, it started to rain. They packed up and went in a cave. A gust of wind blew Amanda's scarf away. Abel went to get it. He was blown into a stream. He quickly built a raft. He floated toward an island. There, Abel carved family, found a log for a home, and even found a book! After a couple months, an owl came into his life and attacked him. After the attack, Abel put his pen knife on a long rod. The next time the owl attacked, Abel was waiting. Abel stabbed the owl. Soon the owl went away. Once when ABel was looking at the river, a frog named Gower came up. They became friends. When Gower went to swim across the river, he said he will send help. Soon no help arrived. Abel was going to try to swim across the river. He somehow made it, then landed under a rock and slept. When he woke, a cat was looking at him. Abel ran up a tree. The cat jumped at him, missed, and fell. Abel finally made it home.

I recommend this book because it has some action and adventure. It also has a great ending.

5B.......2007-02-27

The book Abel's Island is a very bad book. It's about a mouse who gets stuck on an island. He is stuck there because he went for his wife's (Amanda) scarf in a raging storm and got swept away because of the wind. He was swept into a rushing river after he had grabbed onto a wooden raft with a nail sticking out. He grabs the nail for a grip and floats down a river, down a waterfall, and into a tree. He falls out of the tree and hits dry ground. He makes wine and eats nuts and berries. He also made his home of a hollowed out log, rock doors, and moss curtains. He survives the winter and has some mean battles with an owl. A kind frog happens to swim along and come across Abel. The frog's name is Gower. Gower and Abel become great friends and Abel shows Gower the statues he had made earlier and makes a statue of Gower. When Gower builds up the strength to swim across the river and get help for poor lost Abel, Gower happens to forget all about meeting Abel. Able has to build up his own courage to swim across the river by himself and get back to his family. He did just what I said and built up his own courage and swam across the river and got back with his well loved and loving family.

The reason I didn't like the book is becasue I like books with suspense and action. But mostly I just don't like reading books. But some people like reading Abel's Island and some people don't like reading it, and that's okay. If it's good, that's your opinion. If it's bad, that's your opinion.

5C.......2007-02-23

Abel's Island was a good book! I got bored through some of it, but other parts were exciting. It had good word choice. There were some pretty big words, but I could understand them, since they were in good sentences.

Abel's Island is about a mouse who gets stuck on an island. He is blown out of the cave while trying to get his lovely wife's scarf. He has several attampts to get off the island, but no such luck until the water shallows down and he swims across.

Warriors.......2007-02-07

This is a good book for adventure!!!!!!!!!! And for readers with a love for cats.I reamed it for ages 8 and up

Did not engage my 10-year-old.......2006-08-03

This was required reading for my son going into fifth grade. He is not a strong reader, and neither he nor I enjoyed it. The combination of a large amount of flowery language and very little action made it a struggle to get through. What little humor there was, was too sophisticated. It was hard for us to identify with this foppish married mouse who ate caviar and champagne. While I can appreciate that many (I guess most!) find it literary and delicious, my son found it boring, and looking at it through his eyes, I have to agree.

Average customer rating:

Introduction to Steig
Introduction to Steig

The World of William Steig
Lee Lorenz , John Updike , and William Steig
Manufacturer: Artisan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Cartooning | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1885183976

Amazon.com

Anyone who loves William Steig--dean of the New Yorker cartoonists and Caldecott-winning creator of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and dozens of other children's books--will adore Lee Lorenz's gorgeous, 207-page, oversized book The World of William Steig. Lorenz, art editor of the New Yorker from 1973 to 1993, and its cartoon editor until 1997, brings an insider's point of view and an engaging writing style to this fascinating, truly historical tribute to his colleague. Pulitzer Prize-winning John Updike contributes an introduction that's sure to spark the interest of even the most Steig-deprived among us:

Such a compilation serves to celebrate an original who has endured, who has taken his talent in one direction after another and found new territory deep into his old age. Steig's art is not just testimony to his love of life but robust evidence of the necessary interaction between art and life, reality and fantasy.

Featuring hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations, including a portfolio of previously unpublished pieces selected by Steig himself, this rich book traces the life and artistic development of this funny, wise, talented man in the following chapters: A Family Album; At The New Yorker; Symbolic Art; The Years with Shawn; The Artist's Hand; and Through the Eyes of a Child. The book closes with Wordplay; Heroes, Villains, and Happy Endings; Epilogue; Acknowledgments; Bibliography; Featured Art; and an index. Contented browsers will find absorbing details of Steig's childhood in the Bronx, his cartooning days, his symbolist art, and his burgeoning, late-blooming interest in (and talent for) creating books for children. As Maurice Sendak says of the master, "Steig's infectious delight in rich, subtle storytelling, combined with a graphic style both simple and hilarious, has produced a body of work that remains astonishingly fresh and original. There is no school of Bill Steig. There is only Bill Steig." No Steig fan should be without this marvelous celebration of his life's work. --Karin Snelson

Book Description

William Steig, the godfather of New Yorker cartoonists, began his career at the magazine in 1930. After achieving acclaim with his gang of street urchins, affectionately nicknamed the "Small Fry," he branched out, exploring through his drawings the psychological undercurrents in relationships between parent and child, husband and wife, self and society. In such groundbreaking collections as About People (1939), Persistent Faces (1945), and The Agony in the Kindergarten (1950), Steig laid bare the raw insecurities of childhood. In the process, he introduced symbolic art to mainstream audiences and permanently elevated the place of the cartoon in American culture.

Beginning in the 1960s, Steig demonstrated his understanding and awe of children in numerous award-winning picture books, including such classics as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1970 Caldecott Medal), Dominic (1972), Gorky Rises (1980), Doctor De Soto (1982 Newberry Award), and Shrek! (1990)—now a major motion picture. His thirteenth book for children, Pete's a Pizza, was published in 1998.

Customer Reviews:

Introduction to Steig.......2000-08-15

This hefty chunk of book is a career spanning selection of cartoons and doodles from the bizarre pen of William Steig. Plenty of these illustrations and gag cartoons first appeared in the New Yorker. All of them are fantastic. Any individual page in this one should be enough to convince any sensible person that he is among the best of the New Yorker artists, his only competition is Saul Steinberg. Other good points: John Updike introduction and good biographical information by Lee Lorenz. Swooning lovers, expressive animals, fairy tales, anxiety. See also: Abel's Island, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, the Steig Album. Seth's It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken is a great comic book with deep influence from the New Yorker. Choice.

Introduction to Steig.......2000-08-15

This hefty chunk of book is a career spanning selection of cartoons and doodles from the bizarre pen of William Steig. Plenty of these illustrations and gag cartoons first appeared in the New Yorker. All of them are fantastic. Any individual page in this one should be enough to convince any sensible person that he is among the best of the New Yorker artists, his only competition is Saul Steinberg. Other good points: John Updike introduction and good biographical information by Lee Lorenz. See also: Abel's Island, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, the Steig Album. Seth's It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken is a great comic book with deep influence from the New Yorker. Choice.

The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg

Average customer rating:

Ups and Downs

The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg
Iain Topliss
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0801880440

Book Description

For many aficionados of the New Yorker magazine, the drawings of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg epitomize its sophisticated wit and disarming humor. In The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg, the first full-scale scholarly study of the subject, Iain Topliss considers the work of each artist, traces the development of his art, and recalls the cultural and social context in which it was created.

Topliss delves into the nature of humor and the elements that make successful cartoons funny, paying special attention to matters of style and technique. He draws particular attention to the ways in which these four artists mocked the status quo without alienating the magazine's readers. Indeed, argues Topliss, the New Yorker's cartoons helped define American consciousness in the mid-twentieth century.

Illustrated with more than fifty drawings from the artists published in the magazine between 1925 and 1975, The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg recognizes the achievements of these talented artists and their distinctive contribution to American culture.

Customer Reviews:

Ups and Downs.......2007-03-08

Somehow I always wind up first whenever I get a book that I'm sure dozens of other reviewers would be all over, like white on rice! This book, a serious and academic study of four New Yorker cartoonists, I would have thought would be a natural. Maybe people got turned off by the cover, a particularly grisly Charles Addams sketch in a drab, battleship gray color. And yet, the sketch itself, a crowded movie theater packed with weeping, intensely uncomfortable viewers, in the middle of which you see one of Addams' trademark characters watching whatever is happening on the screen (a death?) and chuckling happily--yes, the sketch itself encapsulates some of Topliss' thoughts about the position of spectatorship vis-a-vis the New Yorker artists he covers.

We see ourselves in Uncle Fester's grin, for we feel we too are different than the rest of the crowd, and that we have a privileged and superior position to what is being displayed on the screen. How these four artists managed to animate their own, very different sense of the "unique," is Topliss' subject.

He won't make you want to read much more about Peter Arno, the aristocratic playboy for whom comics were decidedly slumming. Of William Steig, Topliss shows us how first Karen Horney and then Wilhelm Reich animated his thinking about creativity and the act of drawing. His was a fascinating life, but again, I'm not so sure he was so utterly a genius at his art. Addams and Steinberg come off the best, although Topliss' "fame" angle on Steinberg made him sound a little like those celebrities who complain about the paparazzi even when they're courting press attention.

Topliss sees US culture, New Yorker division, through the distant, cold eyes of an Australian. Sometimes the onlooker sees more of the game, and there's a sense in which one of our better academics might be the best candidate to write about the classic Australian cartoonists of the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Turnabout is fair play, and in the writing game, objectivity is nearly everything. He has a rousing salute to Melbourne at the end of his introduction, in which he also explains why he seems to ignore the contributions of two other excellent cartoonists from the same period and venue, namely, Thurber and Hokinson. His salute to his hometown is worth the price of the book, though it's a little odd. Perhaps he could write another book about the "tall poppy syndrome" and why people in Melbourne are both proud of, and dismissive of, their celebrated comic muse, the one and only Kylie Minogue.

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody

Average customer rating:

"It's easy to see the faults in people, I know, and it's harder to see the good. Especially when the good isn't there."
A Decent Read Based on Some Historic Oddities
great read
the funniest history book ever written
man, will cuppy...

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody
Will Cuppy
Manufacturer: Sutton Publishing Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 075093204X

Book Description

The Classic book from author and humorist Will Cuppy transforms well known figures from history into human beings, showing them to be foolish, fallible, and so much our very common ancestors. Included are profiles of such historical figures as Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Lady Godiva plus many more.

Customer Reviews:

"It's easy to see the faults in people, I know, and it's harder to see the good. Especially when the good isn't there.".......2007-09-13

A collection of humorist Cuppy's sketches of historical figures is absolutely silly, absurdist delight. Though the book is quite dated (1940s), rather than being a weakness of the book, it turns into a strength for the humorous prose. A wonderful, very uniquely funny look at figures in history. Great if you know the references, hilarious even if you don't. Grade: A-

A Decent Read Based on Some Historic Oddities.......2007-09-12

Not the most well-written work but an interesting read for the novice historian. This book is organized into miniature stories of the demise of individuals commonly found in history textbooks and popluar lore. At times, Cuppy expands on the story we already know with some interesting anecdotes but he also exposes some real shockers and wonderful stories you cannot easily find elsewhere. It would have been nice to see all of the references as this book could have been a great research tool, but it ends up serving as a neat, quick read that is honestly more entertainment than scholarly. This is not necessarily to say I didn't like the book (I did), but it is obvious it was made for a specific niche market. For the average reader it may be less than engaging but for a history buff "Decline" is worth checking out.

great read.......2005-12-24

I wish Will Cuppy had written 100 books. His view on Humanity is hilarious. What he wrote years ago is still true today and he said it in fewer words!
Give this and all his books to everyone you know.

the funniest history book ever written.......2003-10-23

I must have read this book twenty times at least, and I never get tired of it. Every time it seems just as funny, as Will Cuppy tells us about the lives of historical characters, from Cheops ( or khufu) through to Catherine the Great, taking in such diverse characters as Cleopatra, Attila the hun, Lady Godiva, henry the eight, John Smith, and miles Standish. His wonderful dry comments are hilarious, as on Charlemagne who was born in the dark ages when people were not very bright. They have been getting brighter and brighter ever since, until finally the are like they are now'Or on the American revolution , started because the colonists had to pay takes to which their consent had not been asked ' today we pay taxes but our consent has been asked, and we have told the government to go ahead and tax us all they want to. We like it'This is a sublime book, the one I'd take with me to a desert island if i had to choose only one.

man, will cuppy..........2003-09-11

is amazing.

please do yourselves a favor and run out and read this book. right now. I'm serious. it's for your own good.

and when you've finished it and love it as much as I do, you can send me flowers and thank you cards, because I did you the great favor of recommending that you read it.

you better be buying it already. right now.

stop reading this and hurry up.

you're welcome.

d <3

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