Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, but not revolutionary.
Review: This is a lovely book, with luscious color photography; the houses depicted are beautiful in every detail. There is some overlap with other Taunton books, e.g. Fine Homebuilding's More Small Houses, but at least they haven't recycled the text to accompany the houses. As a dream book, it succeeds wonderfully. But there are some disappointments for the practical-minded. "Not So Big" turns out not to mean much for those of us on a less than astronomical budget; it seems intended primarily as an alternative to the suburban McMansion phenomenon, for those with more than a quarter million to spend. Some of the houses in this book are 3000 sq. ft., for goodness' sake! While there are some little gems by the architects Ross Chapin and Robert Knight, for example, many of the houses presented are not really *small* houses, just *smaller* than the architects' clients could have afforded. Fans of affordable housing may want to look elsewhere for a practical vision; the rich and tasteful will be pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: SIMPLY WONDERFUL
Review: This is one of my favorite books. It is so good that I have given it as a gift several times and have loaned my copy to several friends. The pictures are marvelous and the text is equally good. I am so glad to have read this book before building or buying my "forever home." This book explained to me why some houses have character and others do not. If you want a house with character, buy this book. Then if you can't find this home, you'll know how to build it or renovate a house to give it character.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest House book, awesome stuff.
Review: This is packed with so many great ideas and principles. It'll change everything you thing you want in a house. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Much Needed Common Sense
Review: Where did house building in the U.S. go so horribly wrong? Why is it everywhere we go we see ugly housing developments in which ugly houses face away from the roads onto barely usable culs-de-sac, absent of windows on their vinyl-clad sides? Porches wide enough for furniture only to be lined up? Garage doors the largest design element of the facade? Windows unrelated to the size and shape of the building? Soaring cathedral ceilings and arched dormer windows don't make up for the lack of relatedness of the basic design elements in our suburban dwellings. This book provides some much-needed help in addressing the issues of design and usability in the home. The author achieves her goal of drawing attention to many of the important issues and provides a visual as well as verbal vocabulary so that people can begin talking about these concepts. I hope this book reaches every developer, contractor, and potential home builder so that the American landscape can start to feel like something to be proud of once again.
Rating:
Summary: Great photos and non-techical explanations
Review: While I agree that there are better books out there for architects and folks who actually build houses (e.g., Alexander's "A Pattern Language", and any of the Taunton Press books on homebuilding), this book succeeds in its simple explanations of why one should build "better" instead of "bigger". And probably even more important than that, there are more photos of each house than in the Taunton Press books, which allows you to get a much better feel for how these homes work. A great book for anyone who can't stand the idea of moving into one of those cookie-cutter, semi(read:ersatz)-custom, blandly and inoffensively painted, mass-produced starter mansions, with their obscenely proportioned (and aptly named) "Great Rooms" and their total lack of character. It's nice to know there is something else, and that there are still people who value quality construction and careful design. I only wish this book were required reading for whoever those yahoos are who are buying those ridiculous McMansions.
Rating:
Summary: Great photos and non-techical explanations
Review: While I agree that there are better books out there for architects and folks who actually build houses (e.g., Alexander's "A Pattern Language", and any of the Taunton Press books on homebuilding), this book succeeds in its simple explanations of why one should build "better" instead of "bigger". And probably even more important than that, there are more photos of each house than in the Taunton Press books, which allows you to get a much better feel for how these homes work. A great book for anyone who can't stand the idea of moving into one of those cookie-cutter, semi(read:ersatz)-custom, blandly and inoffensively painted, mass-produced starter mansions, with their obscenely proportioned (and aptly named) "Great Rooms" and their total lack of character. It's nice to know there is something else, and that there are still people who value quality construction and careful design. I only wish this book were required reading for whoever those yahoos are who are buying those ridiculous McMansions.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful thoughts for beautiful houses
Review: Your home will never be profiled in Town & Country. Your house isn't grand enough, which you couldn't afford and wouldn't want anyway. Turning away from the architectural glossies and their emphasis on intriguing design, Susan Susanka instead examines what makes a house a home--what arrangements of space lead to the comfort and familiarity that we all treasure. The book is not a cheap do-it-yourself manual. "Not enormous" does not mean "thrifty." If, however, you are interested in building your own home, you cannot afford to ignore this book.
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