In April of 1989, I reviewed Morton
Newman's Standard Structural
Details for Building Construction, a
350-page compendium of generic
construction details taken from the
author's files. The present slimmer
volume focuses on the concrete
details. Companion books are available
on wood, masonry, and steel.
A brief text outlining strength,
ingredients, stress design methods,
and reinforcement opens the book.
This is followed by detailed drawings
for various kinds of continuous
footings, grade beams, basement
walls, retaining walls, concrete
joists, spread footings, slabs, steps,
caps, and precast walls. Each page
contains one or two details and a
short caption. The facing page, in
every case, is a piece of graph paper
for "notes and ideas." (Hence the
book's page count is rather exaggerated.)
In most