Customer Reviews

Seattle Then and Now (Then & Now)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book could not have been written by a Seattle native - it simply contains too many errors and ommissions. Several items are mislabeled and the dialog for each picture is vapid.

Additionally, it would not have been that difficult to match the "now" to the "then" photos. Many of the "now" pictures were taken at different angles and with the wrong lens.

A good concept but poorly executed.

Casually thumbing through this book at a book store one glaring error exploded off page 87. Although it is captioned as being a photo of Third Avenue, it is obviously a photo of First Avenue (note the Alexis Hotel).

Look through this book while in your dentist's waiting room, but don't use it as a resource for your junior high school history project. Instead, you should use "Seattle Now and Then" by Paul Dorpat, which is a compilation of articles written and published over many years by the Seattle Times (AISN 0961435704).

This book is a nice idea, but does a pretty bad job of execution. I don't know if it's just this one in the series or the whole of them, but I wouldn't buy them. In fact I'm glad I picked it up from the library to see if it was worth getting. There problems range from outright errors, a picture of 1st avenue labeled as 3rd which is almost exactly the same as one used of first avenue. Did the book even have an editor? Other issues are less erroneous, but overall more objectionable, including 90% of the modern photos being of poor quality, bad angles not matching the originals, or just uninteresting subjects. The only good point so far as I'm concerned are the old photos themselves, which is what I'm really looking for and have to imagine exists out there somewhere.

Like many of the other reviewers, I found it frustrating that the descriptions lacked depth and that the "now" photos were taken from different angles entirely.
Interesting coffee table book to flip through casually.

The book shows pictures of Seattle then and now covering a lot of areas like Pioneer Square, First Hill, Belltown, Fremont and some of the water front. Though I wish more of the water front would have been covered. There are a lot of historical buildings that are no longer there shown in the book. A description is given for each picture of what area it is, what the pictures is of and when it was taken. The book shows a lot of change that has occurred in the city and that fact that the Brooklyn has probably changed the least. It's a fabulous coffee table book and a great conversation piece.

The book shows pictures of Seattle then and now covering a lot of areas like Pioneer Square, First Hill, Belltown, Fremont and some of the water front. Though I wish more of the water front would have been covered. There are a lot of historical buildings that are no longer there shown in the book. A description is given for each picture of what area it is, what the pictures is of and when it was taken. The book shows a lot of change that has occurred in the city and that fact that the Brooklyn has probably changed the least. It's a fabulous coffee table book and a great conversation piece.

Interesting history and pictures of a city often visited. It has a reputation for being green and it does live up to it. Have been to many places in the book but will make sure to investigate others.

The historical photographs in this book are outstanding, and it provides some outstanding background for major points of interest in Seattle. It should almost be retitled to "Seattle Then and Then" however because the "Now" pages refer to a Seattle almost ten years ago, before certain changes to the city and plans for the future evolved. For example the book refers to the upcoming monorail system, and suggests that the bus tunnel is a "novelty" and won't be part of a future transit system (the monorail project stalled and the bus tunnel is the downtown hub for the city's new light rail which replaced the proposed monorail). It shows King Street Station before the restoration to the clock tower and the Rainier brewery before Tullys gave it the horrible paint job. Some of the "Now" photographs can be somewhat uninteresting, such as a photo of an intersection from street level instead of the wider view of the area afforded by the "Then" shot having been taken from several stories up. My main disappointment is not enough shots of pre-condo Ballard. All in all a great concept for a book, and it shows the varied history of an extremely interesting American city coming to age in the not-so-old West. An outstanding coffee table book!

THIS BOOK WAS RATED IN GOOD CONDITION....ARE YOU KIDDING???? IT WAS LIKE NEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR THE WONDERFUL BOOK AT A FABULOUS BUY. I WILL GO THRU AMAZON ANY DAY VERSES NOBLES AND HASTINGS!!! WHAT A GREAT WAY TO AQUIRE WONDERFUL BOOKS AT A FABULOUS PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!

I bought this book for my daughter. We both enjoy it. We have spend serveral hours together pouring over the book.