Reviews for Alberto Pinto Orientalism

The average rating for Alberto Pinto Orientalism based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-01 00:00:00 Tony Dipalma I really enjoyed the basic premise of this book: that we should focus more on the quality of our homes than on the quantity (i.e. square footage), and that we ought to build (or remodel) homes that reflect our actual lifestyles. I also particularly enjoyed her assertion that we should think about the ways that we use space--where do we spend most of our time? What activities do we do in those spaces?--and compose our homes inline with that thinking. In other words, we may find it worthwhile to spend more time, money, and effort on certain parts of the home than on others; and we may be able to find ways to incorporate multiple activities into a single space by the way we design the space itself. Some of the critiques I've seen leveled against this book are that 3000 sq feet is not a "not-so-big" house--but in fairness to Susanka, she's arguing that, if you can afford to build 6000 sq feet, you might consider building half that size and putting the remaining budget money in the kind of details (built ins, etc.) that make a house a livable home. I don't think she's arguing that everyone should build this size--in fact, she repeatedly emphasizes that the size and nature of the home should be in line with what the homeowners are financially capable of (and in fact, the homes in the book range from 800 sq feet on up). I did find that many of the interiors are much richer than I will probably ever be able to afford (and not all of them quite to my taste), but I think her basic principle--that we should make our homes into the kind of spaces we want to be in--rings true and is a refreshing contrast from the trend of ever bigger and more spacious (and often character-less) new homes. Since my husband and I are currently in the process of buying a new home, I found this book particularly pertinent--more importantly, for me, this helped me be more confident about our final choice. We chose, not the biggest or newest house we could afford with our budget, but an older home that was far above the other houses in terms of sheer personality and charm. This book helped explain why we were more drawn to this older home and, for me, validated our choice. Overall, I found this book to be highly readable--I read the entire thing in less than two days.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-16 00:00:00 John Stapleton This is a terrible book. The houses in this book are more than twice the size of my house! I already mentioned like 150 times that we bought a house and it's fairly small and we're trying to adjust our lifestyles to use our space better. And actually, our house is 1100 square feet, which is not *really* small. Basically, this book is for people who are rich beyond my lived experience and have some novel desire for a smaller house, and a desire to spend as much on it as middle America spends on their giant 'burbian houses. Anyway, I keep reading these "little house" books, many of which are really fantastic and full of ideas from people who created personalized homes with creative materials for a frugal, thoughtful, clever design. This book is none of those things. This book does rail against McMansions and the whole philosophy of "bigger is better" and the American Dream of a big house in the 'burbs with the boring fenced yard and blah blah blah but really, don't most people already know how wasteful and miserable a giant generic house in the 'burbs is? Yes, I think they do. None of the architecture or design is especially clever. There is no "WOW!" moment when you see how a corner or hallway or overhead space gets converted to some crazy useful space. The houses are almost entirely devoid of creativity or personality. In this book, a small house is about high design and expensive materials. Frugal, eco-consciousness has nothing to do with it. This book is mind-numbingly idiotic and made me want to grate my face on a 3,000 square foot brick wall.