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Picture Perfect: Mowing Techniques for Lawns, Landscapes, and Sports | 
 enlarge | Author: David R. Mellor
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $50.00
Buy New: $31.95
You Save: $18.05 (36%)
New (21) Used (14) from $29.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 257311
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1575041510
Dewey Decimal Number: 635.9642
EAN: 9781575041513
ASIN: 1575041510
Publication Date: June 15, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Book is brand new with normal shelf rub.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"Some artists use canvas to create a work of art. David Mellor uses a baseball field. His patterns are so precise and imaginative, I call him the Rembrandt of groundskeeping."
--Bob Uecker, Milwaukee Brewers Broadcaster Now you can transform your sports field or clubhouse lawn into an envy-grabbing work of optic art. In this book, David Mellor shares the turf mowing and maintenance secrets that have made him one of the leading creators of elaborate patterns used on athletic turf nationwide. Articles about Mellor's work have been published in the New York Times and USA Today, and he is currently the director of grounds for the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club. In Picture Perfect, Mellor gives you the benefit of his years of experience along with simple-to-use techniques for creating playing fields that are without doubt a cut above the rest.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Picture Perfect is a Perfect lawn resource! August 14, 2007
Picture Perfect is a must for anyone who is serious about their lawn. I found this book to be extremely informative and helpful in achieving the ideal lawn. It is very user friendly and makes obtaining the perfect yard obtainable for everyone.
Picasso of The Playing Field July 2, 2007
Our lawn is looking great this year thanks to following the care and maintenance instructions in Picture Perfect. David Mellor's easy to follow guidelines on mowing make our lawn the prettiest in the neighborhood. Why do people scalp their lawns?
This book is not just about pretty pictures. David Mellor tells us about the facinating history of lawns. He shows us how to establish good grass from the ground up beginning with soil testing and fertilization and culminating with how to apply a distinctive design.
I am giving a copy of this book to my sixteen year-old nephew who started mowing lawns this summer. It will give him and edge over the competition.
After reading this book I see why David Halberstam called David Mellor "The Picasso of The Playing Field."
Perfect guide on a great subject June 25, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
David Mellor shares his particular expertise with authority and in a straightforward way. I wanted to learn how to "design" my lawn like the pros and I got that and more from this book. It's a great supplement to your favorite basic lawn care guide (Mellor's other book, THE LAWN BIBLE, is a good one) and will have you mowing circles (or diamonds or stripes) around your neighbor's lawns.
 Not Picture Perfect! March 9, 2007
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I wish I could recommend this book! I really do. You know when your 13-year old writes one of his/her first research papers and repeats him/herself in every other paragraph just to create "filler"? Well, that's exactly Mr. David R. Mellor's problem in his book, "Picture Perfect": he repeats himself over and over . . . and over again. Holy cow!
What IS a sign of a good "how to" book? Well, to me it is its thoroughness: you want to have all the info on the subject in one guide, right? (Or certainly, as close to it as possible.) Well, "Picture Perfect" is NOT perfect -- far from it.
There are many problems with the book. One, Mr. Mellor is a bad writer. His aforementioned repetition of many facts does not create an appreciation for diligence; it signifies a sense of belittlement and ineptitude. Furthermore, although his writing style is accessible for the most part, it is confusing at times during THE moments when it should be the most simple and easy to understand: in the chapter in which he describes how to actually make patterns, he is far too complicated in explaining a simple task . . . such as mowing parallel, adjacent lines in opposite directions! In the first few chapters, Mr. Mellor uses bullets and subchapters to enunciate clear and important points. Great! Yet when he finally gets to discussing the actual techniques of pattern making in Chapter 12, he lumps all points into one, making for a poor overview: the main points don't "stick" out. That's really too bad.
Two, the book is poorly organized. The first half -- yeap, half! -- is dedicated to A-Z lawncare. Come on! All he had to do was to state that there are many other books out there on lawncare, point them out, and get into the heart of THE subject. (That should have taken one paragraph.) And although very important, lawncare is NOT the subject of this treatise, right? (My favorite is Scotts.) Why try to outdo a book like Scotts in a few chapters . . . when the Scotts book covers lawncare brilliantly?! Makes no sense to me whatsoever! This IS, after all, a book on mowing patterns, NOT lawncare. All that Mr. Mellor had to do was to, perhaps, write an opening chapter of HIS advice, findings and nuances on lawncare, all of us having learned some from personal experience over the years. But no, Mr. Mellor tries to reinvent the wheel. In addition, to use black & white photographs in a book published in the 21st century is embarrassing! (No, not all photographs are black & white. But . . . ) Let me get this straight: this book deals with the visual sense, right? So wouldn't you want to use color photographs?! Get real! Furthermore, the illustrations in the chapter on making patterns are not used effectively: all mowing passes could have actually been shown in ONE illustration instead of several, thus making the instructions more accessible. Also, Mr. Mellor tells you that with practice, you will get better. OK, let me get this straight? I am supposed to pay $38.70 to be told that with practice I will get better at doing something? We already know that! That's the whole point of a "how to" book: it is supposed to teach you a subject so that you will decrease the amount of time for you to get good at something, right? Good Lord! (Nope, we're not done yet.) At the very end of the book, Mr. Mellor writes about some of his personal experiences when he worked at Milwaukee's County Stadium, one of which involved the chasing off of seagulls from the field. Again, let me get this straight: you are supposed to pay $38.70 to learn how another human being . . . chased away seagulls?! Mr. Mellor, you are very audacious! I thought this book is about making patterns on lawns? And finally, here is the greatest downfall of the book. The book is 160 pages long, yet ONLY 32 pages actually deal with creating lawn patterns. And actually, I am being too generous: only Chapter 14 deals specifically with pattern instruction which is . . . 18 pages long! So let me get this straight? You are expected to pay $38.70 for a book which only gives you 18 pages on that subject? Are you kidding me?!
Now, having made this last point, let's look at it from a different angle. What does the fact tell you that only 18 pages out of a 160-page book actually deal with the subject at hand? Well, it tells me that the subject matter is NOT all that complicated! Look, if you have, or even HAVE NOT, any gardening experience, but are practical and use common sense, you can create lawn patterns. Sure you can! It ain't that complicated as Mr. Mellor would lead you to believe. I was successful on my first try . . . and so will you.
Holy cow! Mr. Mellor, you need to seriously consider writing a second edition of this book in which you leave out the opening half on lawncare (and leave that to others), use color photographs only, and devote MUCH more effort and time to the actual subject: lawn patterns.
So, if you have ANY gardening savvy and do NOT need your hand held, then I highly recommend that you do NOT buy this expensive book. If you DO need to have your hand held, then buy this book . . . I guess.
Picture perfect: Mowing Techniques for Lawns, Landscapes, and Sports January 16, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The book is very small. I expected a larger book with lots of pictures. There are a few pictures, but the book itself was disappointing.
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