2 comments about The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250-1800 (The Yale University Press Pelican Histor).

1. Simply a spectacular book. The text is fascinating and the images are first rate. The art and architecture of Islam is elegant and beautiful, obviously when you think of Islamic Architecuture of this period you think of the Taj Mahal, which of course, is one of the most spectacular buildings in the world, but there are so many others. This book will make you really appreciate the Architectuere and Art of this wonderful religion. Highly recommended.



2. Testo fondamentale nello studio dell'arte islamica e in grado di mostrare anche ai meno esperti i tesori di un mondo troppo a lungo sconosciuto in occidente.

2 comments about Let's See: Writings on Art from The New Yorker.

1. A repackaged set of articles from The New Yorker. I liked the short form for each chapter of this book and many of the descriptive or explanatory insights, but think the individual articles probably had more impact when read closer to the event being described, normally a special art exhibit at some museum.
   
   The author, Peter Schjeldahl, certainly knows a lot about art and artists but comes across in this book as more interested in showing his erudition through a prose style that seems to be always in search of the obscure word or phrase towards the destination of a sweeping judgement.
   
   The back cover of the dust jacket shows a man who is as close to the "look" (beat up, buttoned-up rain coat with woolen scarf carelessly wrapped around a neck crowned by a head with wind-swept gray hair) of the stereotypical New York City intellectual as you might ever want to find. I also found the twenty questions (of course adoringly posed by famous art-world friends) format of the introduction annoying. My final minor annoyance is the fact that a one-paragraph only description of the author (located on the inside flap of the dust jacket) manages to shoehorn in the fact that he "has taught at Harvard University." How nice.



2. Schjeldahl's accumulation of reviews from the renaissance to recent contemporary art is a fun read once you get past the author's rather pedantic writing style. I don't think I have ever encountered "insouciance" more frequently in my life. His interview with gallerist Marian Goodman was better than some of the art reviews. He has strong opinions when it comes to contemporary art--and probably the experience to back them up.

No comments about New Media Art (Taschen Basic Art Series).

4 comments about Art History's History.

1. Minor has undertaken the impossible. Any historiography that is limited to 200 pages will undoubtedly be overly reductive. However, this does not entirely discredit Minor's work. While one may take issue with him in a number of places (particularly his chapter on feminism) he provides a generally well-balanced, user-friendly introduction to theories of modern scholarship. Minor is very cognizant of his own fallibility. He recognizes that his sketches of modern methodologies are inadequate. But he provides the necessary background for anyone who wishes to understand the state of contemporary art history.
   At the conclusion of this book the reader is left unsatisfied. Yet I think that this may have been Minor's intent (I realize I am being a terrible deconstructionist). His aim, rather, seems to be to ignite an interest in students of art history, that they might, of their own volition, continue their study of art historical methodologies. If this is indeed Minor's aim, he succeeds.



2. A plodding piece of literature in which the reader must wade through endless self-gratifying sentences in order to reach any material of artistic substance or value



3. This is a great little summary of the discipline of Art History. It's a concise & well-written overview of the place of Art in Western History and Academia, from Ancient Greece to 20th Century America. You'll find it to be an easy but very informative read. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Western Art, Philosophy, and/or History.



4. This is a great little summary of the discipline of Art History. It's a concise & well-written overview of the place of Art in Western History and Academica, from Ancient Greece to 20th Century America. You'll find it to be an easy but very informative read. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Western Art, Philosophy, and/or History.

5 comments about Celebrate Your Creative Self.

1. Celebrate Your Creative Self: Over 25 Exercises to Unleash the Artist Within
   Have not had time to use a lot of the activities, but there seems to be some really creative acitivies that interest me.



2. I really like this book. I own it and have given it as a gift to many of my artist friends and students. It has great idea starters that are open ended enough to allow for creative license. I also really like the spiral binding that allows the book to lay flat while refering to some of the techniques.



3. It was a very inspiring book. Lot's of great photos of artist work. I am an oil painter and still found it helpful and inspiring.



4. This spiral bound hardback book is GREAT! Color photos throughout enhance the step by step instructions to help you learn new techniques.



5. This book presents simple exploratory exercises for acrylic paints that create novel and brilliant effects. The text is closely tied to the pictures, rather than stating generalities. The author is perhaps sponsored by Golden Paints, who I suspect of mounting a highly diverse and slightly annoying public relations effort through workshops and "how-to" books. Nevertheless, I have already learned a lot fom "25 Exercises".

5 comments about Faeries (25th Anniversary Edition).

1. I had this book as a young person and loved it. this is a replacement of a long lost friend. The illistrations are exceptional and the stories wonderful.



2. When it comes to illustration books, Froud and Lee's collaborative "Faeries" is, quite simply, divine. This book captures the subject matter unlike any other work(s) from any other fantasy artists. The real magic and majesty of the "Faerie Realm" of British Isles and Irish mythology come to life within the pages.
   If you love great art, get this book. If you love great legends from ancient lands, get this book.



3. An amazing book, it totally takes me away when I'm reading it. Beautifully illustrated, the drawings are amazing, so detailed. This one specially is a superb edition, very well designed, and totally worth the price.



4. I totally love fantasy, folklore, and mythology, so this book was naturally of great interest to me. The pictures of various classes of mythical creatures were absolutely wonderful, and the text that described the myths upon which the pictures are based was interesting and fun to read. I would highly recommend this book for someone interested in a book about fairy folklore that's not overly academic.



5. I LOVE THIS BOOK ABOUT FAERIES. I READ IT OVER AND OVER.
   THANK YOU
   PEGGY BOND

5 comments about Life: Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime (Life).

1. The pictures in this book are gorgeous. I have become obsessed with traveling to these places.



2. This book is very disapponting. The 100 places picked most of the times are over rated and the pictures in it are poor. Also the list forgets about magnificent places in the world, one of them is Angel Falls in Venezuela, the largest fall in the world in the middle of the jungle. I think it must e reviewed.
   We all have opinions but I didnt enjoy this book at all.



3. I bought this book to get travel ideas. I was not disappointed. It included several terrific places that I've already gone to such as Paris and Cartagena, Colombia, several places I've already planned to go to such as Guilin, China and Kauai and dozens of beautiful places I had never known about before. Only 20 of the places are from the United States so it does a good job of depicting places from every continent except the south pole.
   
   The photos, for the most part, are high quality and beautiful. The only drawback is that there is only one picture of each location with only a one paragraph description of each place. Although you will have to do more research on your own if you are interested in actually going there, this is a very good place to get started.
   
   Another good book is "Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die" which only has 40 places, but has multiple photos of each place as well as a six to eight page description of each place. There's not that much overlap since only about 15 places are in both books.



4. First, it took forever to get this book shipped and then when I did receive it - what a disappointment. Most of the photos are poor, lots of "noise" in most enlargments - which is very surprising for "Life". Second, there is very little written information.



5. I ordered my copy direct from Time Life and it came in the mail yesterday; I was truly impressed; I heard about the Seychelles Islands, but who knew it was that lovely; the flat as pancake Maldive Islands impressed me as well; How they got through the tsunami is nothing short but a miracle; To see the pictures of these islands are beautiful. Closer to home, The Natchez Trace and how it started really impressed me to check it out; Of course, The Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty(which I've been to) was all interesting; Highly recommended for the wanderlust among us;

5 comments about Alberto Vargas: Works from the Max Vargas Collection.

1. Great pictures from his best work!
   If you are a fan of Pin Ups, this is the Classic!!!!
   Foreword by Hugh Heffner who published a lot of Vargas Work in his Magazin.
   Worth every penny!



2. Vargas inspired many people to do pin up art, his early work of the long torso's were great, I love his work



3. Perhaps my expectations were too high based on the many 5 star reviews. The book is beautifully done and anyone who appreciates Vargas will be pleased with the presentation of his work. But, it seemed to me that it was a much abbreviated representation of his best work. This collection lacks most of his previously published works; these being illustrations in the estate. However, what I think the book needs the most is editing. The pictures are in chronological order, but few offer any biographical information other than the title. On a practical note, the book is very large: 10.25"X13.25" which is over sized even for a collection of illustrations.



4. Si hubo alguien que capto como nadie lo ha hecho hasta hoy la belleza, la gracia y la delicadeza de la mujer, ese ha sido sin lugar a dudas el maestro Vargas; este magnifico volumen abarca todas las diferentes etapas de la vida artistica del artista, ambientado con varias de sus mejores creaciones; totalmente a colores, las imagenes hablan por si mismas, la reseña historica es la mas completa hecha del maestro hasta ahora, y gracias a las dimensiones de las paginas, podemos contemplar la preciosa calidad de cada pintura y hasta el mas minimo detalle de cada dibujo; desde sus primeros ensayos en los años 20 y 30 hasta los gloriosos dias con Playboy, podemos apreciar claramente la tremenda evolucion artistica de vargas y sobre todo, su gran amor por su tema artistico: la mujer.



5. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and reading about Alberto Vargas, his work, his relationships with his publisher(s) and his wife. The man was an amazing talent. The size of these illustrations were incredible, sorry to see a seam going down the middle ... If I could I'd take them out and hang them in poster frames!
   
   I wish there were even more drawings to enjoy.

5 comments about 1000 Journals Project.

1. If you have ever kept a visual journal or are thinking of starting one this book is a real inspiration



2. This was seriously a huge disappointment. I was hoping to see interesting art journal pages, but instead I found uninspiring, un-interesting journal pages. If you want to see what other average (mostly non-artistic) peoples' art journals look like, then read this book. But if you want to look at cool, exciting, interesting, artistic pages, then keep on looking...you won't want to see these more than once. I read this book once and immediately knew I would never look at it again. It's going on eBay sometime soon.



3. This is a very interesting piece, and an even better conversation piece. Leave it out at a party for your friends and family to view and then discuss. My girlfriend has a couple pages in this book. T.Z. Take a look!
   Enjoy!



4. After seeing the film doc I was excited to order the book to see many other entries that were made in the many journals.
   A simple little image book...lovely, I was surprised by the added feature of stitching on many pages...really made it feel like more of a homemade piece.
   
   If you're in to visual journals, buy this book! (It's priced way under value too.) Love it! So many ideas form so many people.
   
   Thanks "some guy"!



5. A wonderful book for those who think they have nothing to say, be it written or visual. All beginner journalist should take a good look at this book and take heart that you too can add to the conversation of art.
   If you wanted to say something to yourself and didn't know where to start, a journal is a great place to begin. You can look at this book and think, this is just someone elses ramblings, but it is the structure of someones unique thoughts on paper. Jump around inside 1000 Journals Project and elevate your own mind. Grab a pen, paint, crayons, whatever, and using this book start on your own journey. Many happy enteries.

5 comments about Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition.

1. The exagerated human forms in theis book really helps the artist draw the human body without the naked person drawing classes.



2. Hogarth has a lot of history/words that really do not matter to me, and can be found almost anyplace else in art history. Many drawings are in his other books. I think this is a good book but seems more a cameleon of his other books all combined together with some 66 pages of history. I would pass on this if you need raw meat to learn his techniques, and order his other anatomy books.



3. As an aspiring illustrator/artist/graphic designer/film maker/whatever I felt I had a grasp on drawing the human figure. I could more or less draw what I saw or if I could plan something well enough in my head I could put that to paper.
   
   However therein I came up against a limitation. I could only plan so well. My understanding of the human body - its proportions and limits of motion only reached a certain point. My figures always looked static and never seemed to leap off the page in the way that I intended.
   
   There's a multitude of conflicting information that I've read through before coming across this book - the human is six heads high, no, wait, seven, no eight and a half... if you've suffered this problem then I suggest you read this book. It gives you a base, or rather, flexible rules to work from. Reading it you feel the only step beyond it would be actually going to study life drawing at University.
   
   I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to add a sense of 'life' to their figure drawings, be they cartoonish or realistic styles. Especially if you've suffered the 'conflicting advice problem' as I have. It also aids in being able to invent dynamic figures rather than just understanding what you're seeing.



4. the book met all my expectations regarding its detail and content.
   the pictures show the human body in all its musculature glory.
   some of the bigtures are repeated throughtout when describing the human form and that was rather disappointing but overall the deatil and particular style of anatomy drawing is dynamic as the title suggests. buy this and a standard science text book and you will have enough source material to work from



5. Definetely a must have. Wonderfful drawings, perfectly explained. You will learn anatomy in the most romantic way you can imagine. I love it!