This is a great overview, and one of the original great surveys of major league ballparks everywhere. To this day, there are parks listed in this book which cannot be found anywhere else. Despite the fact that it's a bit outdated, it remains an essential reference volume.

This is a very thin volume, but a must-read for people interested in the dynamics of a stadium and its surroundings. Given that the Twins have a very small -- and very urban -- location, they would do well to investigate the principles and theories advanced by Mr. Bess.

It's also a very quick read, despite the fact the the writing is very, very densely packed (and the type is pretty small for the super long footnotes).

This is the story of the first "retro" park from start to finish. All of the gory details about building a park from a new paradigm are covered here. It is no wonder that so many copies have been built. This book shows how hard it is to forge something new when all the momentum is to build something like what has been done before.

The strongest leson here is that someone -- anyone -- must have a vision and the political skills (within their own organization and with the architects) to see it through. Without vision, every decision moves toward the banal. Sometimes bold steps must be taken, and the story of the warehouse is truly amazing. There was so much pressure to tear it down that it's positively a miracle it survived. Can you believe it?

It's also a very quick read, and worth the time to see what may lie ahead for our team's management.

This amazing book gets at the heart of what makes a great baseball place. It does so by following up on all the great parks you've heard of, what they meant to their teams and communities, and how they met their demise. They are mainly sad stories, but they highlight what a great park can mean to a franchise and a city.

Reading this book alone will convince you of how important decisions made during this process will be to our grandchildren.

This is a very serious book, full of stories about urban development as it fueled, and was fueled by, ballpark building. There are many detailed stories here that are entertaining, but also get at the heart of a ballpark's place within the history of its community.

The subtitle, "The Evolution of the Ballpark -- From Elysian Fields to Camden Yards," gives a good indication of the tone and focus of the park profiles.

Some have quibbled about facts and figures presented here which cannot be cross-checked with other ballpark books. To my mind, that indicates an author who was not starting by reading other books on the subject. His research is thorough, and the prose (though a bit dry at times) is filled with a love of the game and its venues.

I haven't read this book, but we're all familiar with Stew Thornley's encyclopedic knowledge of Minnesota baseball. This has been very warmly received, and any discussion of the next generation ballpark must begin with the community context into which it will be built.

My copy is on its way!