Swimming Pool

this book is the least technical,yet, most informative book I have read concerning swimming pools. The quality of pictures and settings is second to none. As a matter of fact I used the idea of a post and beam cabana with a built in bar to incorporate into my own pool area. Pick up this book and enjoy.

The subject matter lends itself to an extraordinary pictoral essay. Griffith's publisher does it justice. The content is a bit generalized but well organized. More detailing based on geographic locations and specific plant matter would round this out quite well. The comment that "a (residential) pool 20' x 40' would be considered average" is indicative of the Grifith's ambitious nature; this book is for people looking to build and spend big. Here in Massachusetts, that's a "larger" pool. Anyway, it's a pretty good value for those needing a little incentive to get excited about a substantial investment in time and money. One thing I didn't see mentioned, though I may have missed it, was the fact that good pool contractors in NE need to be contacted nearly a year in advance; if they're reputable they bound to be exceedingly busy. Another thing missed in emphasis anyway: contact your landscape designer and/or architect with the pool contractor to produce a 'master plan" of your yard. This will create the correct sequence of productions - pool construction makes a mess of any yard but is more painful when extensive landscaping was done recently. Finally, from a formatting perspective, the body copy/editorial content of the book is set in a somewhat elaborate typestyle making it a little slower read. It would seem approriate for chapters & titles but maybe not the body copy.

We are installing an inground pool this year and have used this book extensively for ideas in design of pools, the different kinds of inground pools, and pool decks and patios. We knew nothing about pools before reading this book, but now feel quite knowledgable.

This is a good book and well worth reading; however, I feel it falls short of its ambitious title. I got the impression the author feels you should hire a pool contractor. I was specifically looking for information to prepare me to contract it myself, since I successfully did so with my house. Nevertheless, there are useful nuggets of information sprinkled throughout.