4 comments about Design Secrets: Products (Design Secrets).

1. If you are interested in Product Design, then this book is quite interesting. It gives you a summary of the design process for famous products.
   
   However the fact that it is a summary is a downside, as I would have loved to read more information from the designers mind.
   
   In this book you have good examples of "What the customer wanted", "What the designer suggested" and "What was the outcome".
   
   I would suggest making volume 3 with 10-20 Products and giving each product 10 pages, rather then the 4 pages on this one.



2. Well I was looking for a book with some hints for design, and this book is the perfect one with a lot of that goodis.I recommend it strongly for everyone who is looking for a good book in art and design.



3. I recieved my book in fine condition and within the designated shippment time frame.



4. THis is an interesting book about how some very good product designs were done. However, I was not satisfied with the level of detail of each story: not only did each case study make it appear that an optimal design was acheived, but it undercovered the human and organizational dramas that underlie such design processes. In many instances, there is a whiff of the true complexity and it made my mouth water, but then didn't go deep enough. As a result, the whole process comes off too logical and rational, too panglossian if you wish.

   From my own experience, I know that the design process is far more difficult than the reader would glean from the book. Designers, like artists, are high strung people who live for and in their work - if you criticise their work, you are criticising them personally and they react. Their egos are as big as their talents. Bitter fights result with engineers and the holders of the corporate largesse, the purse strings that make or break an experiment. THere are difficult compromises, often political, and plenty of ongoing acrimony. How should they be handled and nurtured? Does a separate group need to be insulated? Should they just grow up or would that kill part of the creative process? None of this is sufficiently covered in this book and they all represent key management issues. Moreover, there is not enough about the companies in the book - who they are, what they believe in terms of philosophy, how they calculate and market themselves.

   Nonetheless, the stories are exciting and the photography is excellent. Certain common techniques also emerge, such as the importance of rapid prototyping and marketing shortcuts that don't ignore cumstomer needs but rather find way to tap into new ones. These too are fascinating issues that require deeper treatment.

   Recommended, but only as a start.

5 comments about Boundaries.

1. This book accomplishes for me what Maya Lin set out to do - it provides a well of knowledge that I keep coming back to. I have shared her philosophy with friends and family providing a direct and intimate dialogue with her work.
   I first came across 'Boundaries' while doing research on public controversy and sculpture. I felt that I was listening to Lin's voice and began to understand why she depicted the works as she did. I was drawn to the simplicity of her designs that left space for human participation. When the book had to be returned to the library I had to have a copy for myself to continue my understanding of her works.
   The aesthetic set-out of the book draws the viewer into the designs with more understanding. It is not just a coffee table book, but one that encourages one to rethink and revalue ideas.



2. After days of a dry spell, in trying to figure out a design problem; I started to flip through this fabulous book. Maya Lin's Boundaries; is a book that is food for the soul of an architect. Ironically, the title of the book is Boundaries, but the whole essence and poetic journey allows for one to see the world with out "Boundaries".
   
   Traveling through each project, Lin is able to take us from her thought process through a complete execution on each project. She is so delicate in describing each event, from growing up, the Vietnam memorial, to her goals in the future. The reader can travel with her, through each process, struggle, and creating architecture that is able to resonate within it's setting.
   
   Thinking with her hands, Lin describes each event, each challenge, and solution, allowing for the the reader to gain an inside, touching the souls of what every architect and designer needs.



3. Maya Lin's "Boundaries" is both creative and stimulating.
   
   This book is not an autobiography and it is not an art book, but rather an extension of Lin's work. Many know Lin for creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and like the memorial "Boundaries" provides a medium-both public and private-to observe and interpret what we sometimes don't even consider.
   
   If you like photography, architecture, or simply wish to know more about an idea behind one of Lin's works then this book is for you. I love the format. It is easy to read and the pictures are of high quality. The pages are numbered from 1:00 to 12:00 and each chapter starts with a new hour. "Boundaries" is refreshing- it's truly unique and inspiring.



4. There are two ways to read this book, as Lin points out in the preface. First is just as a coffee table picture book. In that role, "Boundaries" gives a photographic tour of many varied monuments and installations. Lin is best known for the Vietnam Veteran's memorial. At the time, it was an unprecendented look and a deep controversy. Since then, I think it has become what Lin had hoped: one of the most personally involving war memorials ever. Lin has moved on since then, and this book shows many of her more recent works.

   Although her family heritage is Chinese, Lin identifies herself as American. That gives her the freedom to use concepts from many Asian traditions. Many of her later works show a sense that I see as Zen-like. They are centered on stone, water, earth, and light. Like that first memorial, they invite the viewer to touch and become involved in the work. "Waves", for example, is a large-scale earthwork to be explored, offering surprising privacy in an open, sunlit lawn.

   The second reading of this book comes from its text. It explains Lin's approach to her work. I was quite surprised to fined out how important collaboration is for her. Most of her installations are undertaken with archtitects, writers, or preparators of various kinds, quite opposite the 'lonely artist' stereotype. I was also surprised to learn that her first conception of most pieces is narrative, not pictorial. To me, translating word into image and structure is a complete mystery. My own thoughts work in the other direction. That difference intrigues me.

   The book itself is a pleasant artifact. It's well printed, well organized, and displays some thoughtful, unusual typography. It's a vehicle well suited to the material it carries.

   "Boundaries" was printed in 2000. That means that the catalog of Lin's work has developed since then. More of her work surely exists that was locked out by the publication date. I look forward to the next book documenting her work, and I look forward to her future development as an artist.




5. Sometimes I felt really sad that I don't have enough money to bring this book home.Maya lin should be an architect who can be also known as a good writter.Her writting had combined both beauty architecturally and verbally,like a stream of purity norished readers'heart,explained her designs with pleasure of sights.She got similar passion as her famous aunt lin huiyin,composed a melody of life,mastered the way a human being might uneasy to see.I am appreciated her way of representation.That she inheritaged from Lin's family.She absolutely knew that poetics in their family traditions,a symbol of very special abilities.

1 comments about Perrault's Fairy Tales.

1. Charles Perrault was a French civil servant in the late 1600s. He had a little son, and decided to write down to old French folk tales that he heard the servants telling and retelling. These include Cinderella, Blue Beard and even Sleeping Beauty.

1 comments about The History of Gardens.

1. Christopher Thacker would be a delight to meet in any historically significant garden. Thacker's luscious use of writings and poetry interspersed with historical detail and visuals give the reader a lavishly satisfying overview of the history of gardens.
   This book enriches our knowledge of cultural diversity and the exciting significant historical figures who lay hidden in the gardens. Thacker inspires us to go explore the garden with all our senses like appreciating the look, bouquet, taste and personality of a fine fruit wine.

5 comments about On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity.

1. I bought this book while buying Gelb's, "How to Think Like Da Vinci,' from the AMazon suggestion selection of, 'Other's who bught this book also bought ...' Generally I have had good luck with this. Not this time.
   
   I stayed with this book On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativityfor 100 pages trying to figure out where it was going -- to no avail. It may have been written well -- technically -- but all I seemed to gather from the book was how well the author thought she 'mindfully' painted horses and her dogs.
   
   Others may find it useful, I didn't.
   
   Leon



2. I do wish people who know nothing about the reality of being an artist would stop supporting all the useless ideas that are floating around in the arts. It's all so easy and wonderful! The worst part though is her reference to Ingres "mistake"!! I assume her ignorance regarding visual language led to that conclusion, well and good that she doesn't understand but please stop writing books about what you don't know. I am sorry for anyone who picks up this book wanting to learn about painting. It is deadly.



3. There is some value in this book. It offers a helpful emphasis on being attentive to the task at hand, being wholly involved with it as it really is. By looking at your own work without preconception, it becomes possible to grasp the happy accident or to use the flow of creativity to the fullest. Working without concern for what everyone else will say, it becomes possible to enjoy the moment for what it is, not for what someone says it should be. That much I can go along with.
   
   I just can't agree with other parts of this book's message. Somehow, Langer's "mindfulness" has a mindlessness about it that I can't accept. Many kinds of art demand thorough planning and preparation of a kind that Langer seems to discard. Even painting for fun can benefit from thought and organization, without demanding iron-bound rigidity in following one's plans. Discipline, the antithesis of Langer's meandering, free-flowing "mindfulness", helps a beginning artist develop skills that eventually translate into fluency. When the brush becomes a natural extension of the hand, then the artist can focus more deeply and fully on the artwork and less on the mechanics of making a mark. I agree that criticism can be discouraging, but I also know that high levels of achievement demand a clear-eyed ability to spot the weaknesses in one's own work. That crucial faculty of self-critique can only be learned by engaging in critique, of one's own work and the work of others. I have to conclude that the artist to whom Langer wrote this book is a casual hobbyist or a dabbler. No one who wants to make a living in fine or applied arts can afford the looseness of the approach described here, and the dedicated amateur will fast outgrow it.
   
   My profoundest reservations, however, are tangential to the main thrust of the book. For a working academic, I found her massive reliance on her own unpublished writings odd. Peer review is no guarantee of quality work, I know, but is this work really so hard to get accepted into print? If so, why? And, despite her experience in clinical psychology, her description of suicidal thought in terms of excess criticism is simplistic at best.
   
   There are lots of other books out there on developing the artist's skill and spirit - those will probably serve you better.
   
   //wiredweird



4. For an artist, increasing creativity may mean a lot of different things. It may mean finding new ways to look at the world that can then be transformed into a work. It may mean developing techniques that allow the artist to convert what he see into a work. It may mean removing some psychological obstacle that is preventing the artist from looking at the world in a particular way, or transforming that vision into a work. Or it may mean allowing oneself to get started in the entire process. "On Becoming an Artist" seems to be aimed at this last situation.
   
   The author, a psychologist, believes that anyone can create art if they are mindful, as she defines that term. Being mindful appears to mean having an open mind that is continually ready to consider the world anew. If individuals creating art are mindful, Langer says, they will, among other things, be authentic, not consider evaluation, not worry about mistakes, be free of rules, not be concerned about comparisons, and not worry about talent.
   
   While I have not read Langer's other books about mindfulness, this goal does not seem to be just about dealing with phobias, but rather about adopting a method of living one's life akin to a kind of secular Zen Buddhism. While it may be beneficial to practice mindfulness, I had the feeling that this book developed out of her own prior work on mindfulness and her personal experience as a painter, rather than out of a sense that she could help artists to be more creative. What she urges is adopting art as a form of pastime for the benefit of the artist without any concern for the message or the audience. There is nothing wrong with that, but practicing artists who are interested in extending their creativity will be interested in going beyond self-indulgence.
   
   I also found the sub-title "Reinventing Yourself through Mindful Creativity" to be a little misleading, It suggest that Langer will tell the individual how practicing art will make one's life fuller, but what she tells is how to practice art without certain hang-ups that may or may not be useful to the creative person.
   
   For Langer's fans this book will probably allow them to explore the concept of mindfulness in greater depth. There probably will not be much here to help the practicing artist to be more creative.



5. There is so much fear associated with performing, creating, or expressing any artistic endeavor. Langer holds up a mirror to these fears by describing many scientifically based experiments that reveal where the real problems lie:
   1. Being critical of others prevents us from being vulnerable enough to be moved by something unique and wonderful. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable makes artistic expression more meaningful.
   2. Assumptions about "prodigies," "talent," and "real" art, are often based on one experience, or one comment we may have overheard. The people we compare ourselves to may not claim to be any more of an expert than we are.
   
   I am completely inspired by this book! Perhaps if enough people let go of their critical, doubtful selves and begin expressing themselves artistically, they would begin to understand how invaluable the arts are. Rather than talking about the arts as a core subject in schools, books like this convince me that "the basics" and all of general education would gain tremendously by learning from the arts.

No comments about Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic.

5 comments about The Pot That Juan Built (Pura Belpre Honor Book. Illustrator (Awards)).

1. The Pot that Juan built by: Seth K
   
   If you want to know what pottery evolved from read this book. I think it's funny but one part is disgusting, Juan uses cow manure to make a fire to harden the pots. A potter Juan and his burro are the main characters. Juan lives in the village of Mata Ortiz. Juan loves to make pottery and rides his burro up the mountains to get the clay to make the pots. Juan also makes the paint out of rocks and uses hair to paint the paint on to the pots. I recommend this book to people that like funny and a little nasty stories and who are 8-10 years old. The genre is realistic fiction because it actually could have happened. This book won the Pura Belpre Honor book award. If you want to learn about Mexico and how they make pottery, read this book.



2. For those in the know, the book suffers for want of careful editing. It is flawed, for example, by illustrator David Diaz' arrogance in placing his own designs on Quezada's pottery. Had this book been about van Gogh, Picasso or any other well-known artist, it is unlikely he would have portrayed their art with no concern for what it looked like in reality. This puts down Juan Quezada. Diaz also carelessly depicts Quezada building a pot by the continuous-coil method of the Indians of the American Southwest rather than by the distinctive method that he innovated and for which he is known. Better editing would have caught these problems with the illustrations as well as a multitude of minor inaccuracies that occur in the text, nearly one to a page. For example, in speaking of using a bean to burnish pottery, the author comments, "Of course dried beans can be found in any kitchen in the village." The bean in question is an inedible wild bean, the chilicote-not the kind that would normally be found in anyone's kitchen. Such editorial problems do not, however, detract from this production as a children's book. They are the sort that only one in the know would see.



3. The absorbing subject matter of this book, presented through catchy rhymes and alliteration and strong, colorful illustrations, has completely captured the imagination of my four-year-old. For three days now, he's been "Juan" almost exclusively, following ants to a vein of "the very best clay, all squishy and white," pretending to make vessels for every conceivable purpose, and peppering me with questions about Mexico, pottery-making, and Juan himself. I've had to draw the line at cutting my hair for paintbrushes and gathering the "dried cow manure" left by the neighborhood dogs. "The Pot That Juan Built" appeals to pre-schoolers' burgeoning interest in rhyme and other aspects of language; making things out of simple materials; and the world around them generally. I give it my highest recommendation!



4. I'm appalled at the lack of love for this book! I am a teacher of a 3rd grade classroom in California where my children are learing about how humans use the world around them to create their life and build their culture. This book is a perfect tie-in to this concept. The illustrations are beautiful and I found the rhymes to be intelligent and descriptive. Two thumbs up from me, and 48 thumbs up from my class!!



5. This is a beautiful book, in illustration and in content. It is the true story of Juan Quezada, a potter, and a celebratory tale of the village of Mata Ortiz, Mexico. Quezada's discovery of ancient pottery methods transformed Mata Ortiz from an impoverished village into a prosperous community of world-renowned artists. The story is cleverly told in the form of "The House That Jack Built". It is sing-song-y in it's rhythm and children will be enraptured by the story Ms. Andrews-Goebel has written and the beautifully vibrant illustrations of Caldecott Award winning illustrator, David Diaz. A more complete story of the famous pottery is told on the facing pages, providing intricate details of a fascinating process. A photo-illustrated afterward follows Quezada through the process of creating a pot, from the digging of the clay to the completed product. This book is a great addition to any child's multicultural library and informs us of one of the great contemporary and nationally recognized Mexican artists. DELIGHTFUL!!!

1 comments about The Shell: A World of Decoration and Ornament.

1. A beautiful coffee table book filled with great pictures and good information. If you enjoy looking at shells you will love it.

4 comments about Art Festival Guide: The Artist's Guide to Selling in Art Festivals.

1. "Art Festival Guide" has some helpful information and a light conversational tone. Unfortunately, the book needed a good editor. It becomes a little rambling and repetitive. Because of the dearth of information on Art Festivals I still recommend the book, but you should know that you might be skipping around to the sections that you find useful.



2. Maria Arango's Art Festival Guide is a fantastic book! I am a jewelry artist just getting ready to sell at festivals, and money is extremely tight, but I am so glad I purchased this book. Maria really gives you straight-forward advice about all things related to street fair selling.
   A million things and circumstances that you wouldn't really even consider if someone who's been in the business for 10 years hadn't pointed them out to you. Thanks Maria, for writing a very informative book! Hope to see you at an art festival!



3. This was just what I needed before participating in a festival for the first time. And it will be worth reading again after I do a few.



4. This book was a very easy and enjoyable read. Maria has a very conversational and humorous writing style. Even though I read it very new to the art festival process, I had done enough of my own research that I didn't learn as much as I had hoped from this book. I also found her resources a bit limited.
   
   Overall, it is a good read for those wondering if this is the way to go to sell their art. She definitely brings up great issues to consider if this is how you want to making a living at your art.

3 comments about I AM This Book PG: (One Show).

1. Some really good ads. Nice ideas. But I was hoping it would be full of ideas you wished you had thought of. Still inspiring.



2. If you plan on reading the creative in this book, you might want to invest in a Sherlock Holmes-esque magnifying glass (and maybe the hat for fun). Better yet, save your 40-some-odd bucks and pick up the Design Annual instead. Thoroughly, thoroughly disappointing edition.



3. Ok, we have a bunch of advertising festivals. Some are good, some are bad. I think the One Show is the best one around. It's annual book is really good. If you are getting just one advertising book this year, pick this one.
   I only wish that the dvd came with the awarded tv spots....