Customer Reviews

Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Books)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been keenly interested in the topic of natural swimming pools for about 5 years, but have been frustrated by the lack of information in English on the topic (there are several books in German - the homeland of the concept - but only a single manual in English).
Mr. Littlewood's book added substantially to my knowledge, gleaned from various websites, a handful of articles and research into conventional swimming pools, ponds and lake management.
But the book's value lies not so much in the (limited) technical information it provides as it does in thoroughly introducing the concept and presenting it beautifully. Mr. Littlewood is a distinguished landscape architect, and his book presents natural pools, in hundreds of beautiful pictures, in the context of landscaping.
But he doesn't focus solely on the aesthtic aspect. You'll also learn why these pools work so well without chemicals and concrete, making them environmentally friendly and a pleasure on the skin and eyes when you swim in them, and why they require less maintenance than conventional pools.
It's possible that some hard-headed American readers will be put off here and there by the author's environmental leaning and not-always-critical stance to the theory and practice of the natural swimming pool's Austrian and German pioneers, most of whom now offer patented systems that they are primarily interested in marketing.
But these are minor quibbles. The fact is, natural swimming pools are practical and make sense, and their pros (water quality, aesthetics, ecology, reduced maintenance, winter aesthetics/use) far outweigh their cons (greater risk of contracting water-borne illness, greater space requirements). Some 5000 have been built in Europe, including dozens (it might be up to hundreds) of public pools that satsify stringent German health requirements.
I think anyone interested in ecological or simply innovative or beautiful landscaping would enjoy this book.
But if you're interested in building a pond (especially for swimming) or a swimming pool (especially with alternative water sanitation), this book is an absolute must-have.
The author of this review is an American ex-pat who has lived in central Europe 14 years.

This large sized book covered the subject exceedingly well in lots of color photos with explanations and, more importantly, in lots of diagrams and nuts and bolts descriptions. I only read sections here and there but what I did read clearly indicated to me that you could actually use this book to build a natural swimming pool. At the least, you could definitely make a solid decision whether or not you could build or would want to build such a pool on your property. These pools are basically like salt water aquariums in that you have to make a biosphere and monitor it. In some ways it's not as easy as it sounds but also not as hard as it sounds. However, start up takes time and it can be tricky to finally reach environmental stabilization. I am not going to build a natural pool but I still found this book very useful. At the end this book are MANY pages of water plants and trees recommended for certain types of water areas. There are zone maps of the US included for reference. So even if you just want to make a little ornamental fountain in a big pot on the patio deck or a pond or a bog out back, this book has a VERY comprehensive set of plant lists you will find exceedingly useful. 18 pages of them. Categories include Submerged Plants, Floating Plants, Floating Leaved Plants, Shallow Marginal Plants, Deep Marginal Plants, Moisture-loving Plants, Bog/Marsh Plants, Waterside Plats-Trees & Shrubs, Ferns, Grasses Sedges Reeds and Rushes. Botanical and Common Names are listed along with height, spread, water depth, flower color, flower period, foliage, position, comments and plant zone. It's the best I've seen in any book so far.

I have been interested in the idea of natural swimming pools or swimming ponds for years, but I found information almost impossible to obtain. Until now. Littlewood's book is the best resource out there, hands down. Anyone interested in creating such a paradise in there own backyard will find this book invaluable. This is a 200+ page coffee table style book with hundreds of amazing photos. Friends not even interested in building their own love sitting down just to browse.

Any who wish to learn how to build a natural swimming pool and any library catering to homeowners needs Natural Swimming Pools: A Guide for Building. It walks builders through all stages of understanding the system, plumbing, and maintenance of a natural swimming pool, covering techniques and using detailed scale drawings to impart specs on a range of project ideas. Add color photos throughout and a wide variety of options and you have an outstanding reference.

Thumbing through the book will make you want to move to Austria or Germany where beautiful "natural" pools are somehat established. Why is the U. S. so environmentally backward? Unfortunately, the text is awkwardly translated at times such that one has to struggle to figure out what is meant with limited success.The assumption is that one is swimming only in the summer, but in California we may want to swim year round. Useful especially since so little information is available. Can't understand why the publisher didn't insist on professional proofreading.Buy it for inspiration, or wait for the next edition, or wait for one more applicable to your area. It does provide info in the back about two U.S resources, one in CA.

Simply put this book is a MUST READ for anyone intersted in any aspect of Sustainable and Ecological Design. It should be read right along with Permaculture by Mollison, the Passive Solar Handbook by Mazria, Rainwater Harvesting by Lancaster, and ecocities to Living Machines by Todd. Even if you aren't specifically interested in making a swimming pool (which you will be after reading it) the insights into the workings of hydro-ecologies and how to design natural systems are invaluable!

If you aren't interested in the whole range of sustainability but just this particular topic of pool design then this book is STILL A MUST READ. If you're an ecologist who wants to make a pool, or a pool designer who wants to do something ecological this book provides an excellent layman's understanding of ecological design, with good technical and artistic advice for how to do it, and good technical and artistic advice for swimming pool construction.

I would still advise you to also purchase the book Poolscaping as a companion to this one.

This is an all around excellent book buy it now.

The fantastic photos go on and on. The architectural plan and section views are very helpful. This book has all the information you need to come up with a good plan and list of needs/desires. You'll need to convert to metric and also research specific climate concerns, like temperature and regionally appropriate plants - everything listed in the book is for Europe.

I thought this book was a little confusing. It gives a little more insight but it's by no means a technical guide for building natural swimming pools. Some of the drawings are helpful though.

NATURAL SWIMMING POOLS: INSPIRATION FOR HARMONY WITH NATURE offers a wealth of insights and tips on how to construct - and maintain - a natural garden pool. Surprisingly they are less costly to maintain than traditional chemical pools, save on water, and beautify a garden area more than less ecological offerings. Full-page color photos throughout illustrate such pools, surveying a range of designs and options and discussing biological conditioning, ecology, regeneration zones, and construction choice alike. It's the multitude of options and in-depth coverage on these options, paired with the color photo coverage, which makes NATURAL SWIMMING POOLS an extraordinary survey.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I eagerly anticipated this book, since there is so little published information on the subject, but I was disappointed when it finally arrived. It appears that it was never proofread. I read a lot, and this is the worst job of editing/proofreading I have ever seen in a book. This may sound like nitpicking, but there were places where I could not figure out what information the author was trying to convey it was so garbled. It is FULL of typos, grammatical errors, and garbled sentences.

From a substantive standpoint, some of the basic info was helpful, but the pools shown in photos were somewhat 'cookie cutter' in appearance, and there wasn't the variety in pool designs I had hoped for. Maybe my hopes/expectations for the book were too high, but for whatever reason I felt let down.