Historic Preservation Handbook (Handbook)

Rating:
Summary: Good idea Good book
Review: I would disagree with the previous reviewer's comments about this book. The book is well researched, well written, well documented, and well put together. I agree that the publisher should have used better paper and the illustrations that are oriented sideways are a distraction. But they are labelled correctly. Maybe the reviewer from Georgia thinks that the London Guarantee Building is in London not Chicago. Or maybe he has not seen the Auditorium Building tower from the west as it is shown in the book. Are there sour grapes between the lines here on the part of our reviewer from the South??

For someone interested in a serious study of preservation as an integral part of the re-making of the American city and as a part of a vital public policy process, rather than a process driven by legalistic drivel and innept stylistic analysis, then this book is indeed complete and comprehensive. For the preservationist who wants to do no more than revive what remains of Decatur,Georgia (I think there is a bandshell remaining) this book is of little value. For a person who wants to link his or her work in historic preservation to a critical dialogue about what makes vital urban settings, this is an important book to buy and well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Great idea--poor execution
Review: This book is definitely needed in the field of historic preservation; however, this edition is so poorly executed that I would advise against purchasing it, particularly at the full retail price... The Figures are sometimes mislabelled, and the descriptions of them within the body of the text often do not match what is actually diagrammed. The photographs are all black and white, and are frequently too dark to demonstrate the architectural feature being described. I found the errors very distracting, not to mention disconcerting in what purports to be "the most complete and expert resource you can find." I believe Mr. Irwin has written a valuable book, but I wish I had waited for the second edition.