4 comments about Living with Art.

1. The book arrived promptly and in the condition described. I am satisfied with my purchase.



2. As far as the course I'm taking is designed this book fills all of my needs.



3. This textbook is so full of pictures and stories, history of art and the artist. It does have acid-free paper so the pages are shiny which makes looking at the pictures under light harder to see.



4. In looking for textbooks for my daughter, I'm always looking for a deal. I thought I had found it here (it was nearly $40 less than the campus bookstore). It arrived earlier than expected, which was great and in new condition. The downside is that the next day, someone told me about [...] where the same book was $68 cheaper than I paid here!!! Live and learn....I still got a deal here and the seller did a fabulous job. The textbook review part won't come from me....I just bought it for a class requirement.

5 comments about Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History.

1. Despite the countless books and films on the Holocaust, those of us who have thankfully never faced these horrors still struggle to understand what happened. It is easier to become numbed by it all. The brilliance of Maus is that it recasts and distills a seemingly over-familiar story into a more manageable one, a son struggling to understand his Father's life, though this in no way diminishes the horrors and struggles that occurred. And any thoughts that a graphic format somehow cheapens the message should be discarded. The pictures at times say far more than words could; such as those of crowds of doomed Jews (the mice) herded to their fate by the Nazis (the cats).
   
   This is a valuable and well told story.



2. The book was in very good condition and it came in very fast, within one week.



3. Maus is one of the captivating page turners I've every laid eyes upon. The story is Art Spiegelman the author writing his fathers tale and what exactly was involved in surviving the holocaust.



4. Art Spiegelman's critically-acclaimed graphic novel chronicles both his father Vladek's misadventures in Hitler's Europe and a rocky relationship between father and son. Depicting the Nazis as cats and the Jews as mice (and the Polish as pigs, a hot-button topic in an already controversial piece), Spiegelman's illustrations actually gives "Maus" the type of appeal that couldn't be achieved in any other medium except this one, as well as lure readers who wouldn't have picked up the comic otherwise. The story itself reels you in but "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," Spiegelman's comic-within-a-comic about his late mother, offers even more insight on Spiegelman and his family history despite its contrast with the main story. This is truly the stuff survival stories are made of.
   
   This comic is unrated: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations.



5. I really thought that in this point in my life I had learned all there was to know about the Holocaust. I've been to the museums, seen the movies, seen survivors speak, and studied the awful events in school. I didn't expect to gain a new sense of understanding from this survivors tale.
   
   Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History was a shocking, at times truly disturbing account of a family trying to survive day to day during the Holocaust. This is not a cut and dry tale, it is artfully told through a graphic novel.
   
   I went into this novel wondering "why mice?". As you can see from the cover, the center of the swastika is a cat face. Art Spiegelman has used symbolism to portray a cat and mouse game. The jews are all mice, forever foraging for food and shelter, trying to outsmart the cats that want noting more than to destroy them. The use of this idea in his artwork makes the novel that much more interesting.
   
   I imagine that I could learn something new each time I read this book. There is so much depth, and raw descriptions of what occurred to the authors father and his family. It goes one step deeper in showing how it has affected their lives beyond their time struggling to survive the Holocaust.
   
   A powerful and deeply affecting graphic novel that is an absolute must read.

5 comments about Thinking with Type: A Primer for Deisgners: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students.

1. Great book. Articulate, broad, yet concise. Wish it were longer. Would love to have more depth. Using this as a textbook for Graphic Design 1.



2. As Paula Scher (Pentagram partner) says in her review: "This beautifully designed book in understanding typography fills a big void..."
   
   Which means there's really no books like this, is a practical how-to for those who want to understand and use typography correctly.
   
   My full recommendation,
   
   Regards!



3. It arrived within a week late. The book was used as I ordered. It was still clean. The information is somewhat helpful for editorial design.



4. I got this book during my typography class and I really liked it. Very helpful to have! I definitely recommend it.



5. a good intro on how to work with type and what mistakes to avoid when formatting type

5 comments about Building Construction Illustrated.

1. Excellent condition for a used item and for the price too. The books from Francis Ching are always very pleasent to read and to have.



2. This book includes details for virtually every imaginable situation in architecture. It is not only useful for creating details for your own project, but will also help you decipher the details in other people's projects. A necessary supplement to any Materials and Methods course.



3. awesome book with everything one could need to get a well rounded idea of how structures are put together. this book was recommended by many of my professors and is especially useful when trying to understand and draw interior and exterior details. it is a must have in any interior designer or architects library!!!



4. From my title, one would assume that I mean that this book has few illustrations. Quite the contrary, it has many illustrations, some of which are important, but the problem is that the book does a fairly poor job of giving enough detail, both in illustration and writing, on any given aspect of building anything.
   
   The whole book reads more like a survey class at college where one learns that all these things exist but couldn't for the life of themselves describe any one thing in any useful detail. For those of you who've been to college I think you know what I mean. I purchased this book in the hope that it would help me better understand the scope of some larger projects I may have coming at mid-summer, but I was astonished to find that most of the information was so elementary that it was worthless.
   
   This book will not tell you how to really truly build a building. If you are clever there is enough information that you could do the job right, but it says nothing about the real-world situation of a project. There is not nearly enough information about how and when an electrician or plumber should come in, or a finish carpenter, and how they would best be helped to improve communication and timing of the project. There are some key things that can be gleaned, but by the title of the book one would not be far off in thinking that it was a book about building. It is not. This book is about the General Ideas behind construction of residential and commercial sites. Think about it. There would need to be double the pages to cover both!
   
   I'm sure for something down the road I will be able to get something useful out of the book, but for now it is mainly on my shelf for show. The price should come down to about $20 as well because there is nothing in here that cannot be found out online or elsewhere. Its just a summary of the ideas of others.
   
   Finally, there was some chatter about the new materials that are used in modern construction; where? Where in this book does it tell us of any specific types of these "new" "green" products or techniques? Name one?
   
   Before buying please realize this book is for future project managers that are half the age of their wiser employee's. This information is for 18 year old college kids.



5. Smooth transaction and great price. The packaging, however, is a little too much. I am not really sure why a used book was shipped in a big box filled with bits and pieces of styro foams. It's a little messy.

5 comments about Meggs' History of Graphic Design.

1. SUPER FAST SHIPPING!! book looks brand new not a single scratch or mark on it!!



2. This is a good textbook for giving you the bald facts. When reading it I felt much the same as I felt reading all of my textbooks in college: Bored as hell but just interested enough to keep reading. I did learn quite a bit from this textbook, however. I will say one thing, this text book is an explosion of example pictures. I don't think I would have learned nearly as much had these not been an integral part of the layout. It makes sense when discussing the history of graphic design to use photos to back up your descriptions, but I've definitely read some textbooks that rely heavily on text and not enough on reference pictures and other visual material. That's part of what keeps me going when trying to dredge though textbooks like these. Overall I'd say this ranks higher than most textbooks I've been subjected to.



3. I purchased this for the kindle app on the iPad and was extremely disappointed in the sample images that are included throughout the ebook. They're low resolution, the image where timeline is showed, the text is barely readable.



4. I am using this book for my online classes. It has all the material and references needed for the course.



5. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FLAD999FRUP4 This book is a must have if you are taking any graphic design courses. If you are already a graphic designer this book is also a must have. My class is long over and I wont sell this book, that says something considering I am a starving student, well maybe not starving.
   
   I bought this for a class and I ended up reading it just because the information presented is both interesting and also very digestible to the average reader. It is a very interesting book that you can keep long after the class is over. One thing is it makes a fantastic coffee table book. It would not be out of place in the lobby of your design firm.
   
   Content (+)
   The content of this book covers from our earliest designs all the way to modern design and the impact it has on our lives. The content of this book does not shy away from the controversial to the mundane.
   
   Images (+)
   I made the video clip so you could see the great artwork in this book. Many full color images are wonderful references that can be used when you are designing. "Good artists copy, great artists steal", Pablo Picasso
   
   Text (+)
   As I was saying this is not just boring text droning on and on. It, in fact is very interesting to those that are into graphic design or art. Any art is graphic design, and all graphic design is art. You really get that feeling after reading this book.
   
   Overall this book is a great value at what I paid for it which is twice what it cost now. Get this BRAND NEW and you will have this book for many years.

5 comments about Living with Art.

1. The book I received was in better condition than I ever expected. Thank you so much!!



2. I ordered the 8th edition and got the 9th addition. I don't think this will be a problem for me but it may be for some people. It would be smart to deliver on what you advertise, especially in terms of college level books.



3. I have received the book and it appears to be in much better condition than I expected. Although the cover is a little bit old, the inside is clean and good :D and good price also. I saved over $100 tho'. Fast shipment also



4. This book came in a timely manner for my daughtes summer class. It was in very good condition. I t really met her needs and the price was the best. Thank You!



5. It's a textbook I had to have. I got for a tenth of what my school was selling it for.

5 comments about Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began.

1. The book does not pull any punches, and it is particularly honest in its portrayal of the author's difficult relationship with his father who is shown as a rather mean spirited and manipulative old man. The book also examines the author's difficulties in composing the narrative and trying to understand exactly what his father and mother experienced. I recommend these books (or the one combined version here ) to everyone. If you don't think you can take the pain, you can, in this presentation. If you think you've heard it all, you haven't. If you think you'll never forget, just wait. This will ensure it. On an aesthetic level, this book is beautiful. The illustrations are simple and yet show a great eye for perspective.



2. From my blog review:[...]
   
   For those unfamiliar with this project, Maus tells two stories. Predominantly, it is the story of how Vladek Spiegelman survived the Nazi regime and Hitler's concentration camps. Interspersed throughout, though, is a present day depiction of the interaction between Vladek and his son, Art. Art expresses both admiration for, and exasperation with, Vladek. This is, for me, the most meaningful part of Spiegelman's story. We have a habit of reducing history to a one-dimensional existence in our minds. The Jews who were targeted by the Nazis were all pitiable victims, the Nazis were all inhuman monsters, etc. What Spiegelman has done with Maus is show that the survivors were admirable...and that they were much more than that, as well. It turns out, they were also human and got on their children's nerves the same as nearly every other parental generation. Rather than undermining the dignity and resilience of Vladek, Maus makes him more relevant because he's a whole person and not a cardboard cutout.
   
   Spiegelman took an awful chance bringing his father's story to the medium of graphic storytelling in the 1980s. Even in 2009, the same year that a movie adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen (long considered unfilmable), the notion of telling of a holocaust survivor's story in comic book form seems destined to offend. The fact that Spiegelman presents ethnicities as animals (i.e., Jews are depicted as mice, Germans as cats, etc.) would seemingly further remove from the story its proper sense of weight. Remarkably, Vladek's story is perhaps even more striking told through Art's presentation. There is, strangely, a heightened sense of humanity throughout "Maus" that I often find absent even in History Channel programs drawing on actual video footage of the described events.
   
   Simply put, I cannot offer a higher recommendation than the one I give to Art Spiegelman's "Maus: A Survivor's Tale." Originally, Maus was serialized in Spiegelman's comic anthology series Raw; I read the two volume collected edition. Since then, the entire work has been collected in a singular volume. Whichever incarnation you find available, I urge you to take the time to read the tale of Vladek Spiegelman.



3. In this second installment of Art Spiegelman's comic, the author continues to chronicle his cantankerous father's tale of survival in Nazi Europe. The comic also follows Art as he is torn between his admiration for Vladek Spiegelman surviving the horrors of the Holocaust, and his frustration with Vladek's failure to survive in present-day America. Once again, Art chalks up a black-and-white comic that is anything but.
   
   This comic is unrated: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations.



4. This was an excellent book. I received the first one for Christmas, and completed it within a day.



5. It doesn't get any better than this.}
   It's almost beyond giving it a "review"....Both I and II are so important and so good. An honor to the six million and more.

5 comments about Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.

1. Picked this up by chance and found one of the best books I have ever read. The writer really is thoughtful which gives the book depth.
   The book is a facinating story of an incredibly talented family living in a small town where the family lived for generations. An amazing American story.
   I would love to see this on high school reading lists too because it is a coming of age book.
   Don't shunt this aside on the LGBT section, it is a univerasally appealing story.



2. I'm fairly new to the "serious" graphic novel scene, having only read a few fiction titles before. Alison Bechdel effectively conveys her feelings and memories of a difficult childhood growing with powerful imagery, carefully chosen words and many literary allusions. A very quick, enjoyable read.



3. Well, all I can say is that I didn`t like it. The story is so boring I couldn`t even finish it. And I didn`t like her drawing style either.



4. Fun Home is both thoughtful and amusing with many allusions literature and popular culture. The simple line drawings are good and add agreat deal to the text.



5. To call this a "coming of age tale" would be inaccurate. Written as a memoir, Bechdel describes how her self-discovery and acceptance of her sexuality helped her understand her father and his demons. The artwork is absolutely excellent, both humorous and thoughtful. The reader feels as if he or she is flipping through an old family scrapbook. The intimacy of the story, language, and pictures creates a strong connection between the reader and the characters. Bechdel is able to balance some of the gut-wrenching moments in the book with humor that does not negate the sorrow but alleviates some of the pain.
   An excellent story about family and the journey to self-discovery. As Bechdel begins to accept the fact that she is a lesbian, she is able to find greater compassion and understanding for her father who (though in a heterosexual marriage) is also gay.

5 comments about Prebles' Artforms (9th Edition) (MyArtKit Series).

1. Well written, easy to understand, and well chosen works used as examples. Used as text book, would recommend.



2. It was in the condition I expected which was good and it was the exact product I needed for class. It took longer than I would have liked but was within the time frame given.



3. Awesome for a used book. Everything in readable condition. Better than I expected. Will purchase items again!
   
   Mahalo Nui!



4. Product was delivered on time and in the described condition, the cd had not even been used. Very good.



5. The book was quickly delivered and exactly what I needed. Have used it daily on homework, tests, and journal entries-the text is clear and very straight forward. condition is good. definitely a good buy

5 comments about A Short Course in Digital Photography.

1. I used this book for my intro to Digital Photography class and love it. You learn basic techniques using a DSLR, the way that a camera works and finish the book knowing which settings to choose and WHY. The text also gives an mini-lesson on how to mat and frame.



2. I have been working on teaching myself how to better utilize my DSLR camera and this book has come in very handy. Lots of comparative pictures and clear writing.



3. I bought this book because it was recommended for a class I am taking. I don't know why a book like this was recommended to experienced photographers. If you're new to DSLR and have a need to learn the basics including aperture, shutter speed, exposure than this book is for you but for any photographer with at least a basic knowledge of DSLR photography this book is a waste of time.



4. The London-Stone book A Short Course in Digital Photography is an excellent example of a seriously refined book for the beginning photographer. In an age when so many photography books attempt to avoid obvious and critical links to analog photography precedents, the authors safely navigate the student from the crucial examples of the past into contemporary practice. The references to traditional photography, or whatever one may wish to call film, are valuable for students of any age and any background. Also, by introducing Lightroom and Aperture, but not trying the impossible task to cover them completely, the authors encourage further research into more advanced program guides. Indeed, this is an excellent all-around short course book.



5. I first came upon this book at my local library. Having perused the insides, I decided to get my own copy. Clear and concise, tons of visuals and clarification for some of us no-brainers who relate to graphics and diagrams over pages of mind-boggling dry text. This is basically a text book I guess, the reason for the high price. Anything to improve my art, hence, well worth the expense, and I do love my photography. I have a half dozen digital photography books on my shelf, but this will be my go-to book. Overall, an excellent first guide for digital photographers.