ePub The Choral Challenge: Practical Paths to Solving Problems by Michael Kemp in Arts-Photography

Review

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. This book worked very well for me.By michel m giassonGreat book - I used last years version of this book to learn revit on my own. You cant pick and choose though; you have to do the lessons in order. I am now completing projects for my office on revit; and use this version as a reference. Ive learned many CADD programs; and learning Revit was pretty simple using this. Also there are many humorous asides which this book that much more enjoyable.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. the concepts and step-by-step instructions were easy to understandBy CustomerOriginally; I planned on giving this textbook at least a 4 star review; since at first; the concepts and step-by-step instructions were easy to understand; follow; and grasp. However; as I progress through each chapter; Im noticing some very troubling patterns emerging that I want you to know about.First; the author does to an excellent job of creating a narrative that is fairly easy to follow. You wont get lost using this book. He takes you along the road to completion of the books project and helps keep the text free from sterile language. That said; certain limitations about a book like this become quite obvious.To begin; this isnt a book youd buy to learn Revit. Sound odd that Id say that; but its true. You arent LEARNING Revit here. Youre learning how to use Revit to complete a rote project. Theres a important distinction between learning something and learning how to get a result. This books purpose seems to be to get a result; not dive into the software and really know it.For example; if you follow along per the authors instructions; you will achieve success. Great! But now test yourself. Put the book away and try to do it again on your own. Trouble? Likely; since the author does not devote much of the text to explain why youre performing certain steps. Just that you have to and youll get a result. I wanted more "why do this"; not just "do this"; as learning software sometimes requires explanation of processes and correcting your own mistakes.Speaking of mistakes: When you make a mistake; and it will happen; its frustrating to have to rewind through the text to find where you "might" have made the mistake and correct it in your model. Sometimes you dont know if youve done something wrong until much later; and since the book is written in linear fashion (step 1;2;3...) for the entire project; its unclear how to fix things. There isnt much depth of discussion about correcting errors; just "do this and itll be done"!Further; the books publishing suffers from a bad case of "small graphicitis" where each figure shown in the book is printed at a low dpi and in b/w only; that its often very confusing to understand the authors graphic examples. There were many times I had to experiment to find out what line or point he was referring to in figure x.x. In other words; this book should have been printed on heavier weight paper (not newsprint) and in full color to help clarify the authors examples.Im using this book for a college introduction course in Revit. The instructor and my fellow students have found numerous errors; omissions; or foolish procedures already (approx thru chapter 8) that the author should have corrected or re-written. Im not saying the author is recklessly inaccurate; but it would serve students well to avoid rote methodology here.Bottom line: While Im sure its tough to write a solid textbook; more emphasis should be placed on concepts and compulsory practice; rather than a "just do it my way and youll have this cool building done" approach. I dont feel like Im learning Revit. I feel like Im making something in Revit; but I wouldnt pass any Revit cert testing.Advice: seek additional sources of knowledge in other texts or online if you really want to know Revit Architecture.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. If the student doesnt follow the steps absolutely meticulously they can easily wind up in some big problems but thats almost .By beezerminderI got this because its based on working through a specific project/ building; rather than just learn every command in way too much detail before you actually do anything that some textbooks have. It still DOES in my opinion go into more detail than necessary about certain commands that Ive never used in the workplace; when it should instead perhaps hurry up and get into some basic skills that everyone DOES need in the workplace. However; relatively speaking its mostly quite practical.Ive gotten through about 80% of the exercises. I am teaching a class using this as a text book. It has very few typos or things that just dont work - very few compared to a lot of regular academic textbooks Ive seen; some of which are chock full of errors. This is quite an accurate book.If the student doesnt follow the steps absolutely meticulously they can easily wind up in some big problems but thats almost always been user error; not book error. That said; for a lot of typical community college students it is very difficult. LIke most computer manuals it demands a high degree of literacy and concentration.Ive used the 2016 version of the same book as well; I cant see that they changed much of anything in the 2 editions and that might even be why some things didnt work in the 2016 version of Revit but like I said; minor and few issues. Good book.