About Us
A message from Peter Mann, President, Micro-Press.com
Since 1986 Micro-Press.com has been publishing high-quality textbooks and eBooks that focus on the areas of MicroStation software, Architecture and Construction, and Blueprint Reading techniques. We market to individual readers, colleges and universities, and specialized trainers and resellers. We also feel that our customers should be able to purchase our texts at the lowest possible cost. To this end, all our paper books for colleges and schools are comb bound and have paper covers, the most cost-effective method of publishing. We avoid the costly glossy-covered and glue-bound bindings that would significantly increase our book prices. Our eBooks for retail clients are a cheaper alternative to paper books and contain exactly the same content.
If you have already browsed this site you have noticed that the fourteen textbooks and the distance- education courses are written by myself. You should also know that I am a retired professor in the Building Sciences faculty of Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology.
To provide a little more information that might help in deciding whether the books will be of benefit in your own education or your teaching assignments, I have listed below some of my reasons for writing the books.
MicroStation Training Manuals, 2D Levels 1 and 2, and 3D Level 3
These three training manuals, available in separate Connect, V8i, and V8, versions, are designed to direct you through the complexities of MicroStation so that you fully understand how the software works and that you develop a full range of practical skill sets. There are three levels because of MicroStation’s complexity. The contents of each will take 40 - 50 hours to fully complete, making them ideal for typical classroom courses lengths, while individuals work at their own pace.
The books are written as self-paced courses, and instruction is presented in step-by-step sequences that allows you to easily retrace or repeat your actions. I have also presented the information in a natural progression that builds and reinforces skill levels.
Illustrated Residential and Commercial Construction
This book is written specifically for my Architectural Technicians and Technologists students to assist in their architectural design, construction materials, and estimating courses. It is also directed at the general public wanting to gain considerable practical knowledge applicable to residential design, construction materials, and construction techniques. The information is tightly focused and intensely practical. The entire book is hand-drawn and lettered in ink on mylar drafting film, but I am slowly transferring the entire text to a digital format.
Blueprint Reading for the Construction Trades
This, my first book (now updated in a 2nd Edition), is directed primarily at tradespersons whose immediate need is to understand how blueprint visualization works, not the more intricate rules and practices of drafting. While anyone can look at a blueprint and identify construction items and dimensions, the significant skill is to visualize the building's shape, size, and complexity in three dimensions and as it will look on the job site. The thrust of this book is to develop that visualization skill, first through the use of simple orthographic and isometric exercises, then through the included set of residential blueprints. Along the way, students not only learn to visualize, they also learn to hand-sketch, read scale rules, and acquire a little construction knowledge. You don't, of course, have to be a construction tradesperson to benefit from this book!
Please feel free to contact us without obligation if you require further information.