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I was downtown at the San Francisco Public Library on the 6th floor in their historical section (local history) where I had a chance to view some of the local architecture books on display. Man what a choice they have. For those that are not aware, I am writing a book (at least starting to) in which I am doing a series of before and after prints of historical Victorian houses in the area. In my beginning research, I am focusing on several time periods in the city which dictated the style of house being built.

The interesting thing is that this book really gives a very good overall look into each time period as well as including visual representations (photo’s, illustrations, etc.). You get a good sense of why certain styles became the standard in certain sections of the city based on population, income levels, types of jobs, etc. There were only a handful of well known architects who were in the city, and most of the houses came from these Italian, Irish, and other ethnic groups. Read More…

A few weeks ago I picked up the book Microserfs which was on loan from a good friend of mine. He mentioned it would be a quick read, not full of much per say, but enjoyable none the less. This coming from an Ian Rankin reader, who also loves Anthony Bourdain citings. Lets put this into perspective here; I have not read a book (non technical of course) since very early in college, and even then, barely cracked the spine enough to give a second thought on the plot. So I was not at all ready to launch into a career of reading any time soon.

I really prefer softcover to hardcover as it is far more effecient reading something you can mangle to suit your reading preference, versus the hardcover where you are very fixed in your reading position. Getting back on track here, it was easy to see based on the cover that I might like this book. Read More…