Rating: 
Summary: This book deserves to be widely read
Review: We are just completing the construction of our new home. While this book was certainly not the only source of ideas, it was certainly critical in giving us the courage to abandon the "starter castle" mentality of soaring ceilings and the attendent wasted space. The reaction we are getting certainly bears out the strength of these design concepts. Given the content of the other reviews, I have to be clear about the intentions of this book. It is not a book about building inexpensive houses. It is written by an architect, and architects are generally not consulted when price is the ultimate consideration. It is not a book of house plans, nor a how-to book on house design. It is a book about a design philosophy which considers the house as a place to live rather than as a monument to impress ones neighbors. The philosophy is not terribly original; why does it have to be? It is a return to basic principles of good design. We began this project with a very clear idea of the style we wanted, and someone concerned with style alone might not recognize this book's influence on our home. On the other hand, anyone who compared our home to the starter castles on our block would see the difference immediately. Every room is comfortable and constructed on a human scale. I would recommend this book to anyone in the process of constructing a new home. If I had the money, I would send anonymous copies to a number of builders and designers in the area. This book deserves a wider reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, if not especially original concept
Review: The Not So Big House forces one to reevaluate what is truly a"dream home." Is it a house with empty square footage or onewith charm and character? I agree with many of the reviewers that the book features only one home style--the quasi Frank Lloyd Wright style obviously favored by Ms. Susanka. I like the Prairie Style, but it is certainly not appropriate for most regions of the United States. I would appreciate seeing examples of Colonial, Farmhouse, and Victorian styled Not So Big Houses. While I enjoy the blond trim and floors and white walls of the featured homes, that monotonous interior style is certainly not for everyone. It would help if dimensions for each of the featured rooms and houses were given. Many look large, but I'm not sure if that is due to the photography, the architecture, or just the room dimensions. This would help people see how much square footage is required to achieve the effects illustrated by the book. Additionally, Ms. Susanka refers to a special quality associated with these houses, but she seems to have trouble articulating exactly what that quality is. The Not So Big concept is not really all that innovative. These houses are rearranged, upscaled, and two-storied ranch houses popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of these ranches did not have "formal" dining rooms and had fairly open living areas. Like these ranch houses, Not So Big simply eliminates the dining room and reorganizes the living room under the moniker of "Away Room." Eliminating only the dining room does not reduce square footage by much. I would not want to throw away the dining room for one very important reason: cleanliness. The family dining area collects school papers, magazines, notices, newspapers, bills, etc (which are conspicuously absent in the photographs in the book). If the dining room is gone, suprise guests (which are fairly frequent at our house) would be forced to dine in the clutter of the kitchen. The dining room provides a quick, clutter free place to dine with guests, even if it is just an informal meal of sandwiches. Otherwise, the homes and concepts illustrated are attractive and fairly practical, if expensive. While these are out of the range of the typical home owner, who must settle for paint-grade finish trim, flat, textured drywall ceilings, and fiberboard doors, they do give one ideas for future upgrades and projects. Overall, an attractive book that wins the reader over to small homes.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you Sarah Susanka!!!
Review: This book has overhauled everything I thought I knew about houses (which I'll admit wasn't much to begin with). I used to think I someday wanted a big giant house in the burbs with soaring ceilings and giant entry ways. Now I want a small little cottage in the woods with an away-room and built in benches under round art-glass windows.
This book belongs in every American home.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: After reading and searching for many months, I finally found this book. It was instantly a favorite, as we love the idea of better insides vs bigger outsides. The author is clear and concise, and the pictures are well thought out. I reccommend this book to all home builders.
Suzanne Callison
Rating:
Summary: Not so big? I beg to differ!
Review: The book is wonderfully presented with example pictures and the text easy to digest. BUT 'Not So Big' is still an amazingly large house to me. The houses are beautiful and there are plenty of ideas on using space creatively. The concept being: only have sq feet you'll use. But some of the examples are staggering. 1800 sq ft for one person? I was looking for ways to simplify. This books has some ideas but taken as a whole was considerably less than I was looking for. Your mileage may vary.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, but Not Great Either
Review: Susan Susanka presents her ideas on how to build a better home. Half way through the book she presents her trinity of compromises that the architect, builder & home-owner have to make...price, quanity & quality of the proposed home. I think this is the gem in the book. As many have noted, this is definitely not a book for a "small" or "cheap" home; and this should be obvious as nobody who is limited to building a "small" or "cheap" home would hire an architect to design it! Though she never states it, I estimate that the houses she designs cost over $500,000 to build so consider that when you read this book. I value this book for the ideas it presents; however, it is definitely a coffee-table book rather than a reference for an architect or home-builder. Not until the last two super-homes does Susan even mention a number. Nowhere in the book does it actually talk about the square feet, total price, price for materials, cost/square foot, material trade-off possibilities, building codes, or anything that is actually needed to design or build a house (or even remodel). The lack of details and thoroughness was disappointing and the reason I only gave her three stars. I suppose this book can be considered a "theory" book rather than a "practical" book, but it seems to me that a well-written book could contain both. On the plus side, the pictures were very nice; there were floor-plans for each of the houses and Susan has a very nice and clear writing style.
Rating: 
Summary: Not So Big, but Just Right
Review: My husband and I are preparing our 5-year old, sterile house for sale with the intention of buying an older bungalow. We'll be looking for slightly smaller houses, since we've found that so much of the space in our present house is really wasted. We won't be building from scratch or even remodeling, but the philosophy of design in this book is really helpful to us as we think through what we want and need in our next house. I think the basic Not So Big concept is sound for any budget: square footage means little, rather, utility and comfort is paramount. The book is teaching us to think in terms of spaces rather than rooms, of getting the most possible use and enjoyment from a space. I think it will definitely help us train ourselves to see the possibility in houses we look at in our search.
Rating:
Summary: Not so small!
Review: This book is chock full of good ideas about how to maximize space in a house. It also makes you really think about how you spend time--i.e. live--in a house. That's the good news; the bad news is that Ms. Suska's idea of a "small" house seems to start well over 2,000 sq ft (although she does tantalize you with a one-person house built by another architect in her practice). The other problem with this book is that virtually all of her not-so-big solutions would be really expensive to build. If you're looking for a book to guide you in building a new house, this probably isn't it unless you're kin to Bill Gates.
| 
