5 comments about The Book: A History of the Bible.

1. Finally, after reading several non-fiction books of great interest but lesser quality writing, a good match of both subject and quality.
   
   The Bible as a book is the subject of this history, which is not explicitly (or explicitly is not) a religious or spiritual work, and the author announces his intention not to declare his personal spiritual intentions.
   
   However, by the end of the book, when he has examined recent archaeological manuscript discoveries that historically place the original of the some books of the New Testament back to 100-125 BC, he is certainly secure that these are real books written at the time they claimed.
   
   Further, he concludes that the Bible as translated and transcribed through the many centuries for many reasons, is remarkably accurate to the originals, which of course we know to be due to the hand of God over His perfect Word.
   
   It is also just plain fun and interesting to see how the Bible came together as a book, not just a collection of disparate writings. Probably the most fascinating "Bible" is a picture Bible that just told the Bible events with pictures (no captions). Apparently the value of a picture of the time (I believe 1100-1200 time frame) was devalued from a thousand words, because captions in Latin were added after the book was written and bound.
   
   Then, the book was taken to Asia on a missionary/discovery expedition, where it was used to witness to Kubla Khan, who was so intrigued by it that he had his scribes write captions below and around the Latin captions based on the explanations of the pictures by the missionaries. And there's more! The book was brought back, and sent on another trip to the Middle East, where it was annotated there in Arabic, around the Chinese and Latin!



2. The Book : A History of the Bible
   
   This is a fabulous book! Beautifully written, illustrated, and packed with countless details to make it a surprisingly exciting read. This is best Bible history I have seen.



3. First things first, the very title of this book may generate unfulfilled expectations.
   
   Here is the author's statement of what this book is about: "This is the history of the Bible as a book. It is the story of a literary artifact. This is not an account of the writing of the Bible, or of the events in the ancient Near East and in Palestine which are described in the text of the Bible itself. The title, which has evolved several times during the writing of the text, is The Book, a History of the Bible, but it could as well be The Bible, a History of the Book...." [Page viii; italics omitted by reason of Amazon's technological limitations.] This book, then, is concerned with a series of tangible artifacts, words reproduced on various media and known collectively as Bibles.
   
   The author is identified as "the Fellow Librarian of Corpus Christie College, Cambridge." For 25 years, we are told, "he was responsible for all sales of medieval and illuminated manuscripts at Sotheby's in London." He has a doctorate from Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Society or Antiquaries. His previous publications are a book on Bible texts and two on manuscript illumination.
   
   Mr. de Hamel is a manuscript man and a bibliophile. That is plain enough to see. What his religious beliefs, if any, might be, I haven't a clue, for he takes pains never to explain them. Perhaps the closest he comes to revealing himself is in an offhand remark toward the end of the book to the effect that in spite of centuries of diatribes, vitriol, finger pointing, and viewing with alarm, the competing texts of the Catholic and Protestant translations of the Bible are remarkably similar in meaning.
   
   The contents of "The Book" are nicely summarized by the headings on its contents page:
   Introduction
   1. Latin Bibles from Jerome to Charlemagne
   2. The Bible in Hebrew and Greek
   3. Giant Bibles of the Early Middle Ages
   4. Commentaries on the Bible
   5. Portable Bibles of the Thirteenth century
   6. Bible Picture Books
   7. English Wycliffite Bibles
   8. The Gutenberg Bible
   9. Bibles of the Protestant Reformation
   10. The English and American Bible Industry
   11. Missionary Bibles
   12. The Modern Search for Origins
   Bibliography
   Index of Manuscripts
   General Index
   Photographic Acknowledgments
   
   As can readily be seen, even a book with 329 large pages of text and illustrations can provide only a very broad overview of a subject that consists of innumerable examples scattered over thousands of miles of space and more than two millennia of time.
   
   As it happens, the author comes down from the mountaintop only once, in Chapter 8. There, he takes out the microscope of scholarly research to examine the astonishing Gutenberg Bible. And it is quite remarkable, to me at least, just how much scholars have gleaned from intense examination and close analysis of that book. By a series of convincing arguments, we deduce what niche in the market Gutenberg aimed to fill. We read an account of his marketing strategy from no less a personage than a future Pope. We examine his printing procedures, involving four separate compositors (and maybe four presses). We determine the date of his printing (sample pages ready to show to potential buyers in February 1455; a complete copy bound on August 24, 1456.) We take note of the increase in his print run mid-way through, probably owing to unexpectedly high sales. And we calculate the probable size of this first edition of all printed first editions: about 140 copies on paper and 40 on parchment.
   
   An earlier Amazon reviewer has written of "a slightly dry text." That is true enough, but I think that Mr. de Hamel has provided us with about as sprightly a text as we could hope from any serious treatment of his subject. That aside, there can be no dispute about the many illustrations. They are beautiful, with pride of place going to a wonderful, two-page spread devoted to a Gutenberg Bible flung open and displaying all its typographic glory. With, I think, the single exception of a still from Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," all the illustrations are in full color, even those reproducing monochrome images and texts.
   
   For all the things I have mentioned so far, I would be happy to assign a full five stars to this book. However, there is another consideration. This is a book about manuscripts and printed books, some of them of magnificent quality and spectacular beauty. This book, this tangible object of the printer's and bookbinder's craft, does not measure up to its subject.
   
   The binding of the hardbound edition is typical of the cheesy stuff dumped into the market these days: far from robust, almost flimsy; devoid even of cloth, simply paper pressed into boards. The paper within the book is smoothly coated, very white stock. It is as well-suited for photographic reproduction of images as it is terrible for displaying text. This is a picture book, you see, and the text is no more than a vehicle for the display of imagery.
   
   Printing was accomplished by some sort of offset process. Shiny ink lies absolutely flat on the surface of the shiny pages. While reading the book, one is often obliged to shift it around in order to avoid unpleasant reflected glare.
   
   The book is a large, squarish quarto. Its text runs 42 lines per page, just as in the Gutenberg Bible, something not likely to be a mere coincidence. This forces a comparison with that two-page spread I've already mentioned. Against such competition, this book appears very feeble indeed. The Gutenberg--as well as many of the illustrated manuscripts and printed books--lies symmetrically on its two pages, providing a serene balance of text against margins and dark printed letters against warm, creamy paper. This book has its single, wide printed column arranged asymmetrically, so that each page has a wide left-hand margin for notes and a narrow right margin. The paper is too white for extended reading comfort. The printed columns are too wide to take in with a single glance, requiring a reader to be shift gaze along each line. (The old scribes and the earliest printers knew better than to make that mistake.)
   
   The typeface is quite unsuitable for such a monumental work. It is some transitional serif font that I do not recognize, quite similar to the Times New Roman so familiar to users of computers, but with slightly wider separation between letters, thinner vertical strokes and idiosyncratic designs for the lower case "k" and the "6." Considering the size of the pages and the wide spacing between the lines, the font could and should have been two or even four points greater in size. Considering the subject, it should have been a darker, more decorative, old-style font, perhaps Garamond or Goudy.
   
   The book was printed in China with the English author's text generally edited to American standards and spellings. The printed text is set with ragged line endings on the right-hand side. I'd be willing to bet that it was composed on a computer with a minimum of adjustments from a human hand or eye. The ragged ends are far more mechanical and irregular than any manuscripts of the medieval scribes.
   
   For a book about the most intensively proofread book in the last two millennia, there are an annoying number of typographical errors. Some of them are the sort of thing characteristic of computer spell checks, such as an inability to pick up "that" when "than" is intended or vice versa. Others are just plain slovenly, "Boywer" for "Bowyer."
   
   Finally, there is the matter of the page numbering. The Introduction begins on the unnumbered page vi. It continues to page xi. Chapter I begins overleaf on an unnumbered page that is immediately followed by an unnumbered full-page illustration. The text continues overleaf on what is finally identified as page "14." Now, THAT is bush league book making!
   
   Since this otherwise admirable book falls (as an artifact) well short of the standards of the very subject with which it deals, I reduce my rating to four stars.



4. Christopher De Hamel offers up a detailed history of the most influential book ever. No, he doesn't get involved in the complexity of theology or the arguments of veracity and soul. What he does is to give the reader a chronology and background of the Bible, how it has evolved, yet maintained its wondrous significance over the millennia.
   
   For those of you who maintain a strict fundamentalist view of the Bible, you might be disappointed to learn of some of many translations and iterations that have given rise to different interpretations and beliefs inherent to the Judeo-Christian tradition. But to Mr. De Hamel's credit, he deftly sidesteps any issues as to who is right and who might be wrong. His is a historian's view, not that of a theologian.
   
   The illustrations of various Bibles, lushly printed from copies generously made available by various libraries and monasteries will give you some idea as to the love that was invested in each version. They balance what can at times be a slighlty dry text. All in all it makes for wonderful history, without denting any of my beliefs in the process. Thank you Mr. De Hamel!



5. This is a beautiful book to look at,but what I really loved,was how it answered my question "how did we get our Bible"? It has strengthened my faith even more to learn that manuscripts,cunniforms,and even the wrapping on an Egyptian mummy,some items dating from as early as the 2nd century BC coincide(with only slight differences) with the Bible as we know it today! It is so awesome,that this is true,despite the age or location where the artifacts were found. The author also lists where these artifacts now reside,which museums,libraries,the Vatican,private holdings,ect.Wonderful work.

No comments about Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures, 1971--2005.

1 comments about Seeing the Newspaper.

1. People don't read every word in newspapers, they "get into them every morning like a hot bath," Marshall McLuhan is quoted in this book as saying. Kevin Barnhurst describes that hot bath in this very readable book, which presents what academics are learning in this field in terms the average person can readily understand. The newspaper is an environment, and its layout, design and photography shape our perception and absorption of the news. The medium may not be as totally determining as McLuhan believed, but the form certainly shapes the content, and it does so it ways that even people in the business (as I have been) don't really understand. Seeing the Newspaper helped me to understand why this matters, and how it occurs.

No comments about The Great Escape.

2 comments about Hot Rods and Custom Cars: Vintage Speed Graphics.

1. I LOVE vintage hot rods and custom cars. This is one of the best (if not the best) book of it's type that I've seen. Mostly all-color VINTAGE photos of cars from the fifties and the scene that surrounded it (covering other aspects like magazines, models, stickers, t-shirts, record/book covers, etc.) Wow! The photos are amazing. This is the real stuff. And there's no text to gunk things up (just a nice introduction). It's a smaller book - digest sized - but oh so cool! Any Rockabilly or Rat Rodder will love this.



2. All of these photos are the real thing from long ago. Thus, it's a completely authentic experience of just what the cars, girls, hot rods, fashions, dragsters ,etc looked like back then. Scant text except for captions but that's not a minus. These great old photos speak for themselves. A great little book!

5 comments about The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction Art Techniques.

1. When you first look at the book, you think that it would be a disappointment... However, this book is a great reference about many aspects of fantasy art with very nice tricks... It also has a section about different media you may use... Also the visual examples are very well explained and helpful...
   
   Unless you are a professional, this book is an always-reliable reference...



2. Way back when I was first interested in seriously improving my skills, this book was about the only thing I could find anywhere. Maddening to look through a dozen similar books on watercolor flowers when you wanted to do knights and dragons. Now, at last, there are a lot of books on the subject, but this book is still one of the best. Not just how to, but a collection of inspirational sources for experimenting with.



3. I would more call this book an overview of fantasy and science fiction art techniques, for it does not have the scope or detail included to merit the title "Encyclopedia". Art tools and materials are covered so superficially as to not really merit inclusion at all. Certain basic drawing techniques such as characterization and perspective are covered briefly in 2-4 pages, but are only really useful to those with some basic drawing skills already.
   
   What this book is perhaps best used for is as a source for inspiration, giving some nice examples of work by many masters of the field such as Jael, Jim Burns, David A. Hardy, and Boris Vallejo. Different subgenres of fantasy art are covered from space art to horror, and it is nice that the images are all reproduced in color (unlike some art books which try to save money and reproduce most images in black and white.)
   
   This volume alone will not turn someone into a master fantasy artist overnight, nor is it one of the better overviews of the field that I have seen. Still, for someone just looking to explore the field of science-fiction/fantasy art in more detail and curious about some of the techniques and styles used, this is not a bad volume to add to your collection.



4. Every book has some points or knowledge that will help us do better, but to expect a book by Vallejo or Michael Whelan to turn us into an artist of their caliber is asking a bit much. The most one can expect is to pick up some techniques or helpful hints. This isn't a bad book, it just can't be the book. The Artist's Manual, The Illustrator's Bible, and a variety of good artistic anatomy books are well worth the penny for even people who want to draw or paint in the Science Fiction or Fantasy mode. Keep in mind that good art is just that, good art, regardless of pigeonholing things into categories. A lot of us would like to just get the shortcut to no sweat greatness, but that usually is more of fantasy than anything else. Look at non-specialized technique books as well as ones with Science Fiction or Fantasy on the covers.



5. The authors (artists) give you interesting lesson plans for drawing Fantasy Art in diferent techniques. Unfortunately, a lot of their examples come from comic book art. While I feel that comic books are an art form (probably one of the most difficult ones to master) I wanted more traditional fare, like Frazetta, Boris, pen-and-ink pulp, and like that.
   It's still fun to follow the lesson plan. Give it a try.

2 comments about Gibson Girl Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art).

1. Just got my copy yesterday. What a disappointment! I bought this, thinking that it was, well, all Gibson GIRL artwork, but it's not - there's children, and men also, which would have been fine, but it seems the majority of the women included can also be found in Women: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources (Dover Pictorial Archives), which I already own. However, that book (which is lovely) doesn't have a CD with it.



2. "Gibson Girl Illustrations: 200 Royalty-Free Designs" showcases the turn-of-the-century illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson who became renowned for his ability to capture the style and spirit of the American woman in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth society. Drawn from period advertising, catalogs, posters, newsletters and other Gibson projects, this is a 'must' for students of American art history as well as costume designers and students of American women's fashions.

5 comments about Barcelona Lab.

1. I am very dissapointed with this Amazon. I had been looking at cookbooks by the likes of Charlie Trotter, Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz when this book(Barcelona Lab) was offered in conjunction with a book I was purchasing. I purchased it thinking, mistakenly, that the title refered to Mr Adria's lab in Barcelona, El Taller. Whoops. Instead it is a book about those that have been groundbreaking in a huge variety of different areas, each of them calling Barcelona home. While it does mention Mr Adria, it is limited to 1 small page and 2 pictures. Big dissapointment. DO NOT BUY if you are looking for a cookbook.



2. not a cook book. This book was recomended based on the fact that I order a number of cookbooks. The picture display makes it easy to assume that it is also a cookbook. Not the case. A cool book if your into photography, nothing to do with culinary arts.



3. Hopefully you are reading this review. This book is not a cook book. It's some sort of hipster who's who of barcelona. B.S.! They should not be marketing this to people with cook books. Maybe amazon will let me return this stupid thing. BIG waste of money!



4. This book is sold in the cook book list but in fact it isn't. I bought it thinking to find informations about all the restaurant doing "molecular" or contemporary cuisine but was very disappointed to find Lab/Laboratory of anything from fashion to art etc. addresses and few infos.
   Very bad advertised and a very poor purchase.



5. I don't know why Amazon, and other members -in their "special list of kitchen"- have this book among them, this book, just have more photographs than information, about interesting people from barcelona (and that's it). The guy in the photo of above it's "another guy among them...."
   
   I'm very dissapointed with the book -and the recommendations-, i thought it was going to be a little bit more focussed in cooking
   
   ---------------
   
   No se por que Amazon, y otros miembros recomiendan en sus "listas especiales de cocina", este libro, que no tiene nada que ver con cocina, si no, con gente interesante de Barcelona, y basicamente es eso, muchas fotos cool y poca informacion. De hecho el tipo que sale en la foto de arriba, no es la portada, si no, uno mas dentro de los que hay, en este libro
   
   Muy decepcionado con el libro -y las recomendaciones- crei que iba a ser algo mas enfocado en la cocina.

No comments about Data Flow: Visiualising Information in Graphic Design.

2 comments about Complete Kagan: Vladimir Kagan--A Lifetime of Avant-Garde Design.

1. Fantastic book on the life and work of a great artist of modern furniture. Well written, lush with photos and perfectly laid out. If you are a serious student of mid-century modern you need to own this book.



2. Highly recommended book for coffee table or reference! Kagan's New York Collection is stunning, but the Classic pieces are simply awe inspiring. Vladimir Kagan should be respected not only for his legendary furniture designs, but for his extremely kind and grounded personality. To know such a person is a rare occurance. Buy his book, buy his furniture.