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Home & Interior Design books:
Pools

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Manufacturer: Rizzoli

List Price: $85.00
Our Price: $51.00
You Save: $ 34.00 ( 40% )
(prices subject to change)
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Average Customer Ratings:

Inspired by a desire to design a new pool for her own Long Island backyard, Kelly Klein sought out and put together the most arresting and iconic photographs of swimming pools in all their various forms to create this unique and stunning book. The photographs are as inspiring as they are moving, revealing an incredible wealth of styles and designs in climates and cultures across the globe, and evoking the sensations of rest and nostalgia, the clarity of water and light, the coexistence of coolness and warmth, and the insinuations of sex and romance that can bring such character to a swimming pool. Included are pools in all shapes, sizes, colors, and settings, from Tangiers and Miami to the ancient magnificence of Hadrian's Villa; from Coney Island to the Côte d'Azur; from the robber baron 1880s through the prosperous 1990s, and captured by great photographers such as Lartigue, Stieglitz, Munkacsi, Weston, Mapplethorpe, and Weber. Republished in its entirety from the original first edition of 1992, including 187 photographs and a note from Esther Williams, Pools is a classic of modern design photography and an inspiration to aesthetes and creative homeowners alike.


PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 779.97289
EAN: 9780847829187
ISBN: 0847829189
Label: Rizzoli
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2007-05-15
Publisher: Rizzoli
Release Date: 2007-05-15
Studio: Rizzoli


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• The Swimming Pool: Stylish and Inspirational Ideas for Building and Decorating Your Pool
• Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People
• Poolside with Slim Aarons
• Axel Vervoordt: Timeless Interiors
• Ralph Lauren


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

A shame the pictures are all so dark.. doesn't compare to 1st edition. -
I was excited to see this has been reissued, as the first edition copies cost several hundred dollars. Well I can see now why the 1st edition continues to bring top dollar. If you get a chance to see the pictures in the 1st edition and compare to this one, you will be highly disappointed. Pictures which were bright and cheery, turned out gloomy and look like they were taken at night with poor lighting. I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't get over the poor printing. If you haven't seen a 1st edition, you might not care, but if you have, you may be quite disappointed like I was. Guess I will have to save up and splurge for a 1st edition. The good thing is this only costs about 5-10% of what a good 1st edition copy sells for.

Murky waters -
I, too, missed the first edition of this book and combed used book stores for years in vain. When I heard Pools was being reissued, I was delighted and preordered. When it arrived, I sat outside in bright light for my first look, expecting to be dazzled, but was sorely underwhelmed. Over the years, I have noticed lousy printing in many of Rizzoli's books and this might just be the worst. Page after page, what should be vibrant images are overly dense or dingy and end up looking sinister instead. The shadow areas are often completely black. The whole book looks like it took a gloom pill. I feel for Kelly Klein. She's done a great job of assembling a fascinating collection of images which are mostly drowning in too much black ink.

Not For Architect or designer -
If you are artist or photographer,buy it.
If you are landscape architect or pool's designer,DON't buy it
Kamal Moneir

An expensive disappointment -
I read the few available reviews in advance of purchasing this book, and to my disappointment, the one negative reviewer was the most accurate. To one of the praisers, I agree that the book has a beautiful cover and would look great on a coffee table. However, inside the book, the images are poorly organized, and what little decription is available is at the end of the book in a short (two-page) reference. Better pool / landscape images are available in Architectural Digest and Southern Living articles. Overall, I found this book boring, repetitive, and disappointing. I haven't seen the Slim Aarons pool-themed book yet, but I would imagine it would have more interesting images and commentary / documentation.

Fell Short, Very Short -
Kelly Klein explains that she was inspired to create a comprehensive design reference for those wanting to complement their own backyard with a swimming pool. While the book does provide dozens of interesting and beautiful photographs of pools, water and people, it provides little, if any, inspiration for those hoping to design their own oasis. There are dozens of books that offer better photographs and design ideas for modern backyard swimming pools. In addition, there are thousands of photographs on the internet that would offer more help than most of those shown in Klein's book.

If you are desperately looking for a coffee table book, you may find this one appealing. Personally I think there are dozens, if not hundreds, of better collections of photographs. Other than the quality of the paper, this pretentious volume wouldn't warrant a $12.00 price tag.

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