Rating: 
Summary: This is a great book
Review: After seeing this book on the shelf of a friend's architecture office, I bought it for my homeschooled children who are genuinely interested in architecture and building...Their dad (who teaches drafting and construction) and I could not put it down! The drawings are clear and so comprehensive. The book covers so much...Architectural styles, drawing types, etc. Mostly in drawings with very little text. So many architecture books are filled with heavy text, that you are lost in it, rather than learning the ideas and concepts. That is not a problem here. It is not to say that in any way this is a simplistic, elementary book...I'm sure it is used at the post-graduate and professional levels. The drawings and captions/info just say so much more than all those words! We are all learning a lot from this book, and are looking forward to buying more of this man's work.
Rating: 
Summary: A world of ideas, but presentation distracts
Review: All the essentials of architecture - indeed, of three-dimensional design in general - in one volume. There's a lot of wisdom here, if you can get past the irritatingly chummy sans-serif typography and hard-to-decode, low-contrast pencil drawings.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent illustrations
Review: An excellent introduction to architecture. However, I liked the old horizontal format better. The new edition has all the same illustrations but its vertical formal isn't as compelling. Ching is the master of free-hand sketching. In this book he covers the basic principles of architecture with copious illustrations and an easy to follow progression of ideas. It is great for first year students and frustrated architects alike. My only word of warning is that once you buy one of his volumes on architecture, it is hard to resist the others.
Rating:
Summary: The "I Ching" of Architecture.
Review: An excellent introduction to architecture. However, I liked the old horizontal format better. The new edition has all the same illustrations but its vertical formal isn't as compelling. Ching is the master of free-hand sketching. In this book he covers the basic principles of architecture with copious illustrations and an easy to follow progression of ideas. It is great for first year students and frustrated architects alike. My only word of warning is that once you buy one of his volumes on architecture, it is hard to resist the others.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you need to know in the best order.
Review: An excellent textbook for Architecture students. It covers all the basic principles of form, space and order in a very clear and readable way. Very logical, eye-friendly page layouts and lots of clean pencil drawings illustrate the author's mastery of what he's trying to teach you.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent illustrations
Review: An excellently illustrated dictionary of architecture. Good for reference and fun for just browsing.
Rating: 
Summary: a bad book for architects
Review: As a current architecture studio student, I have to say that this book is the architect's Bible. Any time me or any of my classmates has a question on graphic standards, we are told "Refer to Ching!", it is an old joke in the studio. Couldn't live in the studio without it. Design Drawing by Ching is also extremely helpful, to the point of necessity
Rating:
Summary: "Refer to Ching!!!"
Review: As a current architecture studio student, I have to say that this book is the architect's Bible. Any time me or any of my classmates has a question on graphic standards, we are told "Refer to Ching!", it is an old joke in the studio. Couldn't live in the studio without it. Design Drawing by Ching is also extremely helpful, to the point of necessity
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing - solely for architects, no-one else.
Review: As a practicing civil engineer, I wanted a book that allowed me to add some architectural flavour to my houses. This book did not do that. It is really a coffee table book about the different ancient and modern architectural styles without really explaining how to practically go about adding such features.I suppose in the architectural world all the flowery language and concepts mean something, but its practically useless to anyone outside.
Rating:
Summary: Ching is my boy, yo!
Review: Ching be holdin' it down Seattle style, kid, j-yeah, kid, sweet as taboo, know what I'm sayin? His graphics be slammin' and his hand is fly as papaz, yo. Peace.
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