5 comments about Digital Creativity: Techniques for Digital Media and the Internet.

1. I've looked at most of the introductory books for digital media, even wrote one a few years ago that was published by Prentice Hall. Some books seem to be written by technicians and some written by artists. I think this book is by an artist, for an artist. The technical info may not have depth but beginners don't need that anyway, the fundamentals of understanding media and creating media are in this book in ways that technical books do not typically include. The chapter on creativity and the creative process are an excellent introduction to a very logical sequence of information for the designer and the technician. The book is dated in some technical information and style but the wealth of insight in this book still make it well worth reading.



2. I was reading the January issue of Yahoo Internet Life magazine and saw that www.sva.edu/mfacad was chosen as one of the "Top 100 Web Sites of 2002" for Best Original Web Art. I was quite surprised that a graduate school department site was chosen over sites like Rhizome, the Whitney, San Franciso MoMA and other high profile Net Art sites. I visited the site and saw that the students did great work and had won over 60 other awards, including the 2001 Leonardo Award of Excellence, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's New Media/New Century Award, Prix Ars Electronica, Sundance Online Festival, SIGGRAPH and others. I saw that Bruce Wands was chair of the department and I bought his book. I found the book to be excellent, easy to read and very helpful on the creative side of new media production. The chapter on creativity was worth the price of the book alone. The book is now required reading in my graduate and undergraduate digital art classes. The interviews are with top people in the field (including Isaac Kerlow) and are really interesting, giving added dimension to Mr. Wands' writing. The book also has an excellent annotated bibliography for those interested in exploring the chapter subjects in depth. I also own the Pocock/Rosebush book and the Kerlow book. Both are highly technical books that are only about computer animation and do not have the breadth or the wealth of practical information the Wands book has. Based on Mr. Wands' superb track record with his students, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be more creative and develop quality new media content.



3. Test group rated this book very low: Primary Text = 1, Reference Text = 0, Companion Text = 2.

   We conducted a review of seven recent books on digital media for a large university here in Michigan. The criteria was to review each book as a possible text, reference or companion for pre-college and introductory college classes. We assembled a group of college and high school teachers as well as separate group of students.

   The panel of students responded very negatively to this book. Their expressed concerns were about the lack of structure and that it did not have enough ÒtechnicalÓ information. They did not find the personality sidebars interesting or relevant. Other students found the tone of the book "condescending." It received the lowest scores of all the books reviewed.

   Some of the teachers were more positive but their assessment of this book as a primary text was very low because it Òdoes not present facts or techniques in a way that allows the teacher to either assign specific reading assignments or to test students on the information.Ó Other teachers expressed concern that much of the technical information was not accurate or that it was too vague and not clearly presented. This book was not considered adequate to be a primary text in high school or college.

   On the other hand, the teachers that were relatively new to digital technologies were slightly more positive, finding the book "light and a easy to read." This group found the sidebars more interesting because they related to the questions about making the "transition to the digital relm." A subject that the students found to be "dated and boring."

   Our two highest rated books by both groups were far more technical and advanced; the Rosebush/Pocock ÔHandbookÕ and the second edition of KerlowÕs ÔThe Art of 3D Computer Animation.Õ In both instances the perceived value was the blend of scholarship and technical clarity. Students found both books relevant to their concerns and teachers were impressed by the presentation and excellent writing. These are two very valuable books that will be relevant resourses for many years.




4. This book gives a good amount of general information about the computer graphics field to the novice. It introduces concepts and explains job functions in a variety of ways. It is not meant for advanced users, and is certainly not a software manual. It allows a new student to find many important explanations (such as the difference between shaders and maps) in an easy to read format. Despite all the negative reviews here (some being personal attacks) I think the author did a good job.



5. This is the first book I have seen that actually guides the reader through the art of actual production of a project from start to finish. Having produced a number of projects I value to breadth of this work which focusses on the broad range of production options available for true creativity rather than a rework of software manuals and help menus. For any artist that actually wants to produce works using the full range of digital options available this book is invaluable. I know music production very well, but after reading through Wands' book I now can pursue video, photography, film and a number of other media that I would have had to struggle to deal with. In a word, excellent.

1 comments about Color Studies.

1. There are lots of books about color, but few include information directly pertinent to stitchers as well as to painters.
   
   Needlepointers will be familiar with Feisner as the author of Needlepoint and Beyond, an incredibly creative book from the late 70's. She is also the founder of the EGA Master Craftsman in Color program.
   
   The book is divided into four parts: Color Foundations, Dimensions of Color, Color in Compositions and The Influence of Color. Color Foundations cover the basics of color perception, color theorists, color mixing, and the different color wheels. Dimensions of Color covers the different aspects of color (hue, value, intensity, etc.). The section on color in composition discussed color in relation to different elements in designing a piece. Two wonderful chapters cover color interactions and the effects of illumination on color. The final section looks at the influence of color in two different ways. The first chapter covers color symbolism (religious and otherwise) and the second chapter looks at the use of color in fine and applied arts.
   
   Each chapter is lavishly illustrated with great works of art as well as color studies done by students in Feisner's classes at Montclair State University. There are also diagrams illustrating many of the principles discussed in the test. Several of the diagrams take the same composition and color them in slightly different ways, so it is immediately apparent what a particular technique (like adding a shadow) can do for a piece.
   
   There are also tables in the book which highlight particular techniques of use to artists of all kinds. One in the this section, lets you know how to make "metallic" shades without using metallic colors. Technical concepts are explained clearly and simply, but it's easy to move to other books which cover these concepts in more depth.
   
   Each chapter ends with a number of exercises covering the topics of the chapter. I really liked that the exercises don't assume that you will be mixing colors in paint, but leave the choice of media up to the student.
   
   The appendices of the book are a wealth of information. Appendix 4 is the most useful for stitchers. It matches various art media colors to Color-Aid papers, the standard color tool for most artists. Not only does she list several different types and brands of paints, she also lists the matches for seven kinds of thread (DMC and Anchor floss, Paternayan, Appleton and Medici wool, DMC Rayon floss and Au Ver a Soie silk. This listing is so useful that I ran out and bought the range of colors in Anchor floss and will be using them for all my exercises for the book.
   
   Have you ever had the problem where you really wanted something to show up against a background, but it doesn't? A final appendix, lists color legibility rankings, listing background and lettering colors. By looking for your background color, say blue, you can find that the most legible (distinct) color for lettering (or in our case the foreground) is white, the least legible of the choices is orange with yellow in the middle.
   
   In the past I have often been frustrated with commercially available books on color. They have often been written poorly, emphasized mixing paints, and gotten too technical too quickly. If you combined this book with Mary Shipp's Color for Needlework, you would have enough information to make you a color expert.

5 comments about The Doubtful Guest.

1. I picked up a copy of the Doubtful Guest because I heard Steven Speilberg optioned the rights to turn this into a movie. Not sure how he's going to do it, because there really isn't a story to tell. It's about a weird-looking penguin that shows up at a house and doesn't leave. Big whoop. I love the art. I like the whole idea of the story. And I'm sure at the time, it was what children's book critics would consider 'avant-garde' and a bit dark. But, it just didn't do it for me. I read it to my daughter. She was so angry that she grabbed the book out of my hands, took it over to the fireplace and threw into the fire. Then she went PFFFTHTTPT! Whatever that means! Maybe she was tipsy on the expired-date cow's milk she was drinking. Maybe it was because she was teething. Maybe it was because she's only a year old, but she didn't like it at all. Would I tell someone else to buy this book? Not really. Although, on a personal note, I may check out more of Gorey's work. This guy may have been on to something.



2. A macabre classic. Perfect for any collection. Adds a little whimsy to any day you open the cover.



3. Edward Gorey's humor is delightfully absurd. Although this particular tale is unlike any other Gorey story, the humor and pen & ink illustrations are beautifully done and unmistakably Gorey.



4. This is my single favorite Edward Gorey book, partially because of the amusing couplets it is written in, but mostly because of the appearance of the guest himself, which never ceases to amuse me. The concept of a strange creature who mysteriously visits and decides to stay (seventeen years) while exercising odd whims (like fits in which he removes all towels from the bath or hiding inside a soup tureen) is particularly suited to Gorey's odd brand of humor (although it is not one of his more unusual books, by any stretch of the imagination.)
   
   I have liked Edward Gorey since I was in my teens, and still find him as unique and entertaining as ever. This is my very favorite Gorey book, and would make an excellent introduction to one of the oddest cartoonists of the twentieth century.



5. You will not be doubting this book as a guest on your shelf. The Doubtful Guest is a Gorey masterpiece in all its pawky nature. If you find that you are fond of it, you might drop it in the pond, as the doubtful guest does to things it's fond of: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." You'll surely be all wet if you do, because you'll want to fetch it out for a read quite often.

5 comments about The Artist's Reality: Philosophies of Art.

1. This book has a wonderful introduction written by the Mark Rothko's son Christopher Rothko. He explains the way some years after his father's death the manuscript was discovered, and edited. Mark Rothko never finished the work but rather left it off in draft form, perhaps as his son speculates because he became involved in his principal work, painting, again.
   The book consists of a series of short essays on such subjects as 'The Artist's Dilemna' 'Art as a Natural Biological Function' 'Art as a form of Action' 'The Integrity of the Plastic Process' 'Art Reality and Sensuality' 'Plasticity' 'Space' 'Naturalism''Subject and Subject Matter'
   'Beauty' ' The Attempted Myth today'.
   Rothko considers the artist's ultimate reason for doing what he does. He rejects the idea that the first reason is the desire for immortalization. He rejects the idea that the artist " wishes any charity in regard to his self- assumed sacrifice" He claims instead that the Artist " wants nothing but the understanding and love of what he does."
   Rothko writes profoundly and often movingly.
   A highly recommended work.



2. this is basically a personal journal. The artist's ruminations about art and life - very dry reading. Rothko often contradicts himself. There are several books available (such as those published by Taschen) which are much more readable and are filled with beautiful illustrations of the artist's work.



3. Mark Rothko wanted the viewer of his work to engage in the metaphysical. Yes, his paintings are beautiful colour works, yet the impact on ones pysche is where Rothko wanted to communicate. Colour was his tool. Philosophically he was a profound man and this book has given great insight into how relevant [important] Rothko is to annals of Art History. When an artist expresses the spiritual, emotional, academic, through colour and the scale of the painting, he engages the viewer on so many levels. This book gives insights, and is a worthwhile acquistion to the understanding of the man, Rothko!



4. In rummaging through Mr. Rothko's diary we admit to a certain thrill of impatience, one not far removed perhaps from the eagerness of a child confronted with a cake crammed full of delicious fruits and nuts. The words of a sensitive and accomplished individual come at us, after all, in The Artist's Reality, with the rapidity and variety characteristic of a fertile mind at play with a vital business. And a delightful morsel it turns out to be, this work which has been recalled to life following a miraculous rescue from an old trunk, as its editor informs us, and bearing witness from its very title to a commendable regard for the real.
   
   While a thorough analysis of this work would take us far, we will confine our remarks requisite to the limitations of space. Let us applaud, to begin, Mr. Rothko's generous consideration of the topic of abstraction, a term which he believes should be applied in a broad sense to any distortion of surface image rather than restricted to works divorced throughly from representation. Such recognition is most productive, we believe, toward an avoidance of the common practice of the assignation of creative works to one camp or the other. The more refined observation of the existence of works of art along a continuum of abstraction contributes to the achievement of an understanding of the universal underpinnings of their production. Even supposedly abstract works of art, insists Mr. Rothko, are rooted in and vitalized by the sap of life arising from the beating heart of reality: "It may be that abstract art does not employ subject matter that is as obvious as either the anecdote or familiar objects, yet it must appeal to our experience in some way." Rather than the conjuring of an artist's unbridled imagination, abstraction is the manifestation of earthen tethering as the creative individual commands the complete truth-- that is, renders reality. Painting, to restate the foregoing in Mr. Rothko's words, is "a corporeal manifestation of the artist's notion of reality."
   
   Second, we direct the thoughtful reader to the chapter on subject and subject matter. Mr. Rothko, to state his interesting analysis in brief, distinguishes between a painting's "subject matter" and its "subject." The former consists of the recognizable elements-- existing in their replication at whatever degree of distortion, as we have already seen. The latter, which the author equates with "design," is "what the artist intends in the picture." And that, to carry the matter to its end, is simply the final result of all creative labors: "The subject of a painting is the painting itself." One need stretch that proposition but a short way to deny the existence of any method save one for the successful restatement of the full content of a painting: that is the redoing of the painting. That the well constructed painting is its subject incarnate is a truism with which we will never quarrel, save to appeal for the application of this verity to the entire array of the arts. Let us recall Leonard Bernstein's statement that "the only way one can really say anything about music is to write music."
   
   Mr. Rothko's work possesses a stylistic charm brought to the surface, we believe, by a persistent ability to marry the subtleties of reflection with an astute manipulation of the linguistic gears. Let us remind ourselves that the words of artists are to be given the greatest reverence as they represent the best image we have of the flame arising from the nexus of anvil and creative hammer. The Artist's Reality, in particular, must be recognized as resident of the very top of that heap of illuminating works which by a peculiar level of insight become Rosetta stones to the secrets of the artistic mechanism.



5. One of the commercial reviews indicates that this book is a "period piece" and that description probably best describes the book. It was written in a period of time long before Rothko was working his signature style and had achieved any success.
   
   It also didn't help that the Introduction, by the late painter's son, Christopher Rothko, was unnecessarily portentious. The later parts concerning the history of the manuscripts, also written by Christopher Rothko, do tone down the excess language and are quite interesting.
   
   The essays themselves seem incomplete, pedestrian in spots, and extremely dated. As others have noted, Rothko doesn't talk about his own work.
   
   Who is the audience of this book? Completists? Researchers? It can't be that many people.
   
   Something like the publicaton of Kurt Cobain's Journals in book form several years after his suicide had relevance to that artist, even if it was a bit like peeking into somebody's diary. "The Artist's Reality" has almost no relevance to most fans of Mark Rothko and certainly none to those who appreciate his more famous style of painting.

5 comments about Creating Textures in Watercolor.

1. Most books are like a three-course meal, a beginning, a middle and an end, to make sense you have to read them that way, this one is like a box of chocolates, you take the lid off and just look for the ones you like.
   Best of all, you don't have to take in everything at once, I found I was using bits from it within an hour of receiving it.
   Designed to aid the more experienced watercolorists (my opinion, the author may not agree with me) it is not a book for the raw novice since it assumes a certain level of skill, but if you are looking to add an edge to your work, to lift it from the ordinary, this may well be the best dollars you will ever spend.
   Buy and Enjoy



2. Texture is a needed element in a painting and there are many in this book that you may not have tried. Directions are easy to follow and results add such interest to your paintings.



3. Cathy Johnson's book was recommended in a college level class. With full-color representations and concise directions one receives guides to painting virtually every texture ever needed. Choose the bound version that one can open flatt, for easy referencing, if available. It is small enough to carry along but large enough to see clearly.
   I have been trying to represent glass for years and Ms. Johnson's directions were so easy to follow my first attempt was successful!



4. I just started watercolors recently and this book is a great resource as I am self taught except for a few tips picked up from acquaintances who have been painting for years. This book was recommended to me by another new to watercolors and I love it!



5. This book is a wonderful "teacher"....the author takes you through step by step on every detail of creating textures....it is my "watercolor bible." It has helped me immensely with golf course paintings.
   
   Carole D.
   Arlington VA

4 comments about The Artists Sketchbook (Quarto Book).

1. This a well-round art technique and media book for any artist level. I have over 300 art tecnnique books. I considered this book exceptional. I would have given 5 stars, but the printing is too small. If you can read the ingredients on a tube of toothpaste, you will be able to read it. I had to purchase a plastic square magnifying sheet.



2. This book provides excellent examples in a variety of media. It is the kind of book I look for to provide my students with good examples, things to try out, and the quality they should strive for. If you are an absolute beginner there are other books that will provide you with more basic how-to information than this one does, though I personally think this book is very good in this area as well. I would recommend this book to those people already aquainted with sketching, but wanting to explore visual journaling and using a variety of media.



3. This is a nice little book--very attractively designed and with lots of gorgeous sketches and samples. I think this book is for artists, though, not beginners. But beginners may find enough inspiration in the examples to want to investigate the techniques further.



4. This is a great book! It explains about keeping a sketchbook in various media, and how to use it to make finished drawings and paintings. Great for everyone, no matter how well you draw now.

4 comments about Stencil Pirates.

1. Awesome book, Highly recommend it as a must buy for anyone into the street art scene, It has a detailed guide on how to make & use your own stencils & gives a history on the subject & also introduces the reader to a few of the best artists that use this medium. Great book, A wonderful addition to my collection,and anyone who gets it!!...



2. In the flood of recent books about graffiti - this is one of the only books to seriously take on the 'function' of illegal public markings in society. There must be 50+ well-distributed books about graffiti that manage to suck out most of the political implications of graffiti in exchange for ego boosting. Additionally, the descriptions and history of graffiti in the global south make it quite unique and equitable.
   
   From page 36 " At their best and most cryptic, stencils are signs that are both hollow yet simultaneously pregnant with meaning. They are signs without signifiers, images or statements with no clear or fixed meaning..."
   
   MacPhee infuses the graffiti research process with the semeotic and anthropoligical tools that are necessary for interpreting urban space. I highly recommend this book



3. From my New York Press review of Stencil Pirates, 11/04 (vol. 17, issue 45):
   
   A FEW YEARS AGO, while walking down a sparsely traveled block in my old Brooklyn neighborhood, I came across three-foot-tall, carefully rendered cursive on an otherwise blank red wall: "Cap'n Jazz" in silver spray-paint. I did a triple take. Who'd bother to apply the name of a little-known early-90s punk band from Chicago to a Brooklyn wall in 2001, and why? I didn't much care; those shimmering letters brought on a surge of memories from my years in DC punk; it was as if a long-lost friend or secret admirer had left me a note. Though "Cap'n Jazz" swiftly vanished under a fresh coat of paint, those same memories slip into mind every time I'm there, three years later-that block, to me, transformed.
   
   The power of street art, namely stencils, to shape public space, and the ways in which it does so, is the subject of Chicago artist Josh MacPhee's Stencil Pirates, a handsome publication that both documents and casts a critical eye upon a thriving art form. Early on, MacPhee quotes artist Russell Howze: "Traditional art is usually a static experience... Most traditional art is found in galleries, chosen by someone else and viewed by a select group of people... Even when thousands of people see larger exhibits, traditional art's exposure is still limited by the price of admission at the door."
   
   Stencils, however, to the joy of some and consternation of others, are the great equalizer: With the help of basic, affordable materials, the same work of art can reappear throughout a city, cities or countries, meeting with a broad audience and reception. Some stencils remain for months or years on a sidewalk or wall, insinuating themselves into a neighborhood's character and landscape. What prompts residents or city workers to paint over some and not others can be as intriguing as the work itself. (What causes some stencils to fade before others, on the other hand, is a simple matter of paint quality, which MacPhee discusses in the practical, informative "How-To File" section.)
   
   MacPhee parses out Stencil Pirates according to several dozen themes. In "It's Official," he explores the influence of industrial stencils; in "Argentina," the revival of the stencil as a tool of communication and political expression after the country's 2001 economic collapse. Intentionally succinct in narrative and commentary, MacPhee devotes page after page of Pirates-quite a few of them full-color spreads-to more than 1000 images. Plenty of the work in Pirates, if noteworthy in message or placement, is rudimentary, skill-wise.
   
   But just as much of it is gorgeous, sometimes awe-inspiring in its intricacy. "Are We Free Yet," a collaboration by JSO4 and Sevenist, is a painstakingly executed multicolor mural of telephone wires, tiny birds, two bright kites and a placid, curly head on a floral pillowcase. Upon the sleeper's torso, this text: "Only in my dreams is my memory restored, so I sleep all the time so I don't forget how 2 live." In an example of "stenciling as civic duty," artists Scout and Stain created moving color portraits of neighborhood children on abandoned buildings and boarded-over windows throughout decaying downtown Albany, as, according to Scout, "an offering to the people who live there."
   
   One section presents snapshots of stenciled poetry-reproductions of well-known verse as well as stenciling as self-publishing. And all over, from Argentina to San Francisco, stencils have a vibrant history as public service announcement, whether it's "Dyke March 1996, Market & Castro, Saturday June 29, 7 p.m.," or markings from the 1989 Anti-Nuke Port Stencil Project, which organized a team of stencilers to create anti-nuke images that included their exact mileage from a proposed nuke-equipped Staten Island Navy base. Pirates shows that even a single word or phrase can adorn a wall, lovely, depending on factors such as placement or use of typography.
   
   For MacPhee, all of this is "liberatory." Decrying the highly regulated state of public space in America as a forum where homogenous, calculated corporate messaging rules, MacPhee says that "encouraging people to think off the conveyor belt of work, shop, eat, sleep, work, shop, eat is downright revolutionary." Indeed, the book overflows with stencils that shout their message as loud as the paint allows. Other images are subtler, even cryptic. Anton van Dalen, who worked mostly in the 70s and 80s, shot for the subliminal, aiming for his stencils "to operate as traffic signs, you absorb the meaning before you even know it."
   
   Of course, not every stencil artist is inhaling toxic fumes for the sake of art, political beliefs or to convey any particular message. Shepard Fairey has used his Andre the Giant stencil to launch an industry of "Obey"-branded clothing and posters; he also designed Radiohead's noxious "Hail to the Thief" stencil campaign. MacPhee explains corporate forays into stenciling as an attempt to garner street cred for their products-and of course, to move product. Even when corporate patrons have been revealed, the ensuing hubbub "is better exposure for their advertising than money could possibly buy."
   
   MacPhee doesn't delve far into the history of stenciling; his focus is on modern-day work. He does, however, outline its past-from Egypt and China and Greece to the Soviet Union and Nicaragua, South Africa, Mexico. Over thousands of years, the basic technique of applying paint over a design cut out of a solid material has endured. The word "stencil" has its roots in the French estenceler, "to decorate with bright colors," which in turn comes from the Latin scintilla-"spark."



4. highly recommended! this book is beyond your pretty picture book. the author's essays give an excellent overview of stencil graffiti, and his list of bibliography and end notes provide the best starting point ive found for further research.
   
   it's missing one star simply because i find tristan manco's "stencil graffiti" more interesting in terms of the art work selection.
   
   these 2 books are essential for stencil graffiti lovers!

5 comments about How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover Letters.

1. Beyond fundamentals of letters, this valuable resource has great guidance on what to say and not say, to whom, and when, in pursuit of publication. This being my current (and not previously accomplished) aim, I am deeply grateful for the assistance in not shooting my chances in the foot.



2. I wish I'd read the other reviews here before I'd bought this book. I wouldn't have bought it.
   
   The biggest problem, not mentioned in another review: The book was originally published in 1996 and doesn't reflect the changes the internet has caused in the industry.



3. I'm a novelist, and this book did not live up to my expectations. Most of the book was written for non-fiction writers.
   
   I've read other query letter guides, which advise authors to
   
   - avoid using opinion to describe your own work (such as 'fast-paced')
   - avoid using adjectives and adverbs to describe the story
   
   And Mr. Wood agrees. In the short section on novel queries, he includes three examples of query letters that got the attention of their new agents or publishers. Two of them broke these rules.
   
   Mr. Wood proposes that we write a query such that editors and agents sit up and take notice, yet he does not explain how to do this without breaking the 'commandments.' So, if he agrees with the rules, but includes examples of query letters that break them, what's an author supposed to think? My conclusion is that Mr. Wood has no better idea than I do what constitutes a good query letter.
   
   I'll continue my search for a good book on writing query letters. This is not it.



4. I've rated this book based on it's value overall, not just it's value for me. In other words, I'm trying to be objective.

   This book would be a valuable resource for me if I were a non-fiction writer. The sections on non-fiction book and article proposals took up most of the book, with the section on the novel proposals, query letters and synopses taking up about a quarter of the book.

   On a positive note, the book does include good examples of things writers shouldn't do when writing and submitting these documents. Many books on the subject describe your formats, but don't show you an example of a well-written document.

   One thing I noticed immediately upon opening the book, was the large typeface. I liked this, as it made the book easier to look at. I've read entirely too many books with miniscule typefaces, only to come away with a headache from squinting at it once I'm done reading. I liked this, but then, the large typeface also made the book longer and made it look as though it contained more material than it actually did.

   I couldn't give it 5 stars for reasons mentioned by other reviewers, but if you are a non-fiction writer or a fiction writer in need of additional references, this is a good book.




5. First the author promises you the moon amidst reminders that your chances of succeeding as a freelance writer are virtually nil. He follows with 10 unbreakable commandments for a query letter, which are repeatedly and obviously broken in the subsequent examples of letters he recieved as an editor. No rules are unbendable, but his examples are so far from his recommendations in some cases that I wonder what he was thinking. For example, the author admonishes us to use provocative, snappy leads that grab the reader, then presents several queries that begin with wordy, boring personal introductions or whose leads are buried for several paragarphs. He warns us to concise, then shows a three-page query that he calls one of the best he ever received as an editor and which doesn't specify the topic clearly until the very end. Contradictions like this abound throughout the book. Make up your mind Mr. Wood.

   Overall, mostly a waste of my time.

5 comments about Book of Mr. Natural.

1. Funny stuff from the 60's. It was funnier then but it still brings a laugh and smile just in the art work by Crumb. Great as a collectable or light un thought provoking read to escape reality. Good stuff!



2. If--perish the thought!--all of R. Crumb's work except his Mr Natural comix were lost to humankind, we'd still have what I take to be his most important legacy. An entire college course could be taught--probably HAS been taught somewhere--with the Mr Natural comix as texts.
   
   Mr Natural is a guru who does exactly what good gurus ought to do: he shakes us up by refusing to act like we think holy people should act. He has a roving eye for the ladies, he cusses, at times he appears heartless or indifferent, and the advice he offers--when he does offer it, which isn't all that often--frequently comes across as whacky. He's so irreverent that it's easy to see him as irrelevant. But nothing could be further from the truth, because Mr Natural is like one of those Taoist sages who, dressed in rags and laughing uproariously, serve as living reminders for the rest of us not to take ourselves, our lifestyles, and our values so seriously. Self-honesty is what Mr Natural wants from us.
   
   As Flakey Foont discovers over and over in the Mr Natural comix, though, self-honesty is hard to come by, because self-deception feels so damn good, especially to us "booshwah" types. We deceive ourselves all the time about our seething sexual desires ("Mr Natural stops Talking," "The Girlfriend," and the marvelous Devil Girl stories). We deceive ourselves about our piety, pretending that what we want to believe is what we should believe ("Mr Natural Goes to a Meeting of the Minds," "Om Sweet Om," and "Sittin' Around the Kitchen Table"). We deceive ourselves about work and ambition ("It's a workaday World") and, in one of the best two stories in this volume, we deceive ourselves when we think about God ("Mr Natural Meets 'The Kid'").* In all these stories, sacred cow after sacred cow runs off into the sunset, mooing gaily.
   
   And as if all that's not good enough, R. Crumb gives us the definitive biography of Mr Natural--complete with early and rare photos--in this volume (pp. 42-44). This story alone is worth the price of the entire book.
   
   Truly, a great collection!
   _________
   * The other best story here is "Mr Natural's 719th Meditation."



3. If you want to focus on only a couple of R. Crumb's characters then this is the ticket. I would suggest The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book for an overall view of his work if you can only get one book. For the collector the Book of Mr. Natural is a must have.



4. While I laughed through occasional readings of Mr. Natural in the 60/70s, he was never amoung the Crumb work that I most admired. Indeed, I got little of what he was supposed to be a comment upon, in my reading how the 60s spwaned its own brand of charlatan, old wine in new bottles. Now that I sat down and read through the stoiries in this one, I found it rather callow. Mr. Natural is funny, but the story line is stretched a little too far beyond what it has to offer. Afterall, Crumb had to make a living sellling comics, so his output is not uniformly good. Mr. Natural basically rips people off - using his acolytes for money and other things - and plays the game of the wise guru to Flakey Foont's naivete.
   
   Don't get me wrong, he is one of America's greatest artists and social critics. In my opinion, his best work is elsewhere.



5. Man, this takes me back to the Sixties. It is great to have something that makes me laugh out loud every time I open and read it. Being a Crumb creation, this book is not "PC"--and thank goodness! Instead, it is a cartoon fantasy that portrays human beings in all their amusing and maddening reality. A spiritual icon (Mr. Natural) who likes to raid his devotee's refrigerator, get it on with bodacious girls, and who gives cosmic advice at cut rates, is a man for our times.

5 comments about The Writers Idea Book.

1. I bought this book in 2004 and I still use it to this day. It's witty and a fun read, not to mention inspiring. It isn't that I have a shortage of ideas, but I have a hard time putting it on papaer... and this book definately puts things in a new perspective for me!



2. A great book with a lot of writing prompts. Perfect for the fiction author, however as a writer of non-fiction I felt there was a lot of character development exercises. The trick for me was to try to turn the ideas into ones that would fit into non-fiction. The surprise was this book got me back into writing fiction which I had not done for many years.
   My recommendation is if you are looking for writing prompts for fiction, definitely buy this book. If all you do is non-fiction, this may not be the book for you, but it never hurts to look it over.
   It was quite well written and Jack Heffron certainly presented some good idea generators.



3. With over 400 prompts in this book there is one to suit every mood and these will not only encourage you to write regularly but get your creative juices flowing. What's more each of the prompts target specific areas of your writing such as story endings, developing character & plot. It also addresses nonfiction, poetry & screenplays...and I am using it to improve my blog writing.
   I own a number of books on this topic (including "What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers") but find the format and content of Jack Heffron's Writers Idea Book to be the most practical, inspiring and effective. Thanks Jack!



4. to add to the other reviews, I like this book because I'm the type of writer that needs an "assignment" to make sure I don't keep writing about the same things. With this book, it's easy to follow along and take out what you need and go back later to the other prompts the second or third time around. I'm a firm believer that a person should go through a book like this two or more times to get the full benefits.



5. Jack Heffron's "The Writer's Idea Book" is a very good specimen of a book of writers' exercises. It mixes "prompts" of various sorts (more than 400 of them according to the cover, and I believe it!) with short riffs of practical advice on a wide range of writing matters. While Heffron is a professional editor and does give advice regarding methods that he believes work best, he concentrates on writing for yourself in this book rather than trying to get published. This is just the idea phase after all--check out his later book, "The Writer's Idea Workshop," for practical advice regarding taking your idea from raw ore to refined metal.

   There are many prompts meant to help you mine your own experiences for ideas and plots. (As well as your likes and dislikes, your family, your home town, places you've visited, "public moments," secrets, dreams, and more.) There are prompts to help you explore different forms of writing, structure your story, and more. There are even good solid hints on dealing with openings and endings. The huge number of prompts in this book guarantees that you should be able to find something to spark your creativity no matter what mood you're in.

   In fact, about the only thing that bothered me about this book was the lack of the unusual. I love genre. Horror, science fiction, fantasy--I love the strange, and this book had a very "literary" feel to it. That'll make it perfect for many other writers out there, but it left me a little flat. I like to have a certain otherworldliness come into play when looking through lots of writing exercises and warm-ups. This book is meant to push you into finding inspiration from the ordinary rather than the extraordinary; I would have liked a better balance.

   It's certainly a fun book, however, and definitely a kick in the inspiration department!