A very clear and concise presentation of the basic material (as stated in the title) for all architecture, construction science, and interior design undergraduate students. The three tier conceptual approach, presented at the beginning, really helps the students understand the structure of the presentation. The "key ideas" section at the end of each chapter helps the students study for my quizzes too. I have found that the appendices and bibliography are very helpful for graduate students - further study. At the beginning of the semester, an undergraqduate ID student ask me what the relevance of the story about Easter Island had for her. By the time we arrived at the chpaters on "Lighting", she told me she got it. The biggest problem with using this book in a undergraduate lecture course for design students is that the studio instructors can no longer say that the students "said they didn't get" both the sustainability issues and technical information needed to have a strong basic understanding to apply to design thinking. Now they will be forced to invent other reasons for why students are not required to fully integrate by 4th year studio and beyond - and still develop strong conceptual ideas. Among other reference text, I also found that Allen/Iano's "Studio Companion" as a supplement is helpful for further visualizing the HVAC systems and their direct application to building design thinking. The major technical weakness/omission is that it is missing one good chapter dedicated to water - hence the 4 star instead of 5 star rating in my opinion.
