1 comments about Chris Burden.

1. I actually bought this book for myself, because my dad and brother had both bought it and I couldn't stand not having my own copy to spend loads of time mulling over. This book is a great retrospective book, full of pieces and images of pieces you may not even know, shedding new light on an already amazing artist...It also has some really great critical essays.. enjoy...

5 comments about Altered Board Book Basics & Beyond: For Creative Scrapbooks, Altered Books & Artful Journals.

1. Lots of inspirational pictures by the author and other artists, but there is little description of how some of the more interesting techniques were done, like accordian board books and other binding techniques. Found it overall a little disappointing, but at least it wasn't too expensive. Also I wish there was less use of scrapbooking supplies and more use of original background techniques or art papers.



2. This is one of the worst books on bookbinding it has been my misfortune to purchase. It lacks detailed information on techniques and substitutes what is generally a "go out and buy" attitude. It encourages the purchase of materials such as premade scrapbooking items rather than giving ideas for an individual to make and incorporate in the creative act.
   
   Altering books is one of the crafts that affords the integration of everyday materials in a way that is fun and INEXPENSIVE. This book should have a shopping list in the back and get it over with.
   
   Showing examples of other artist's work is fine but if that is all there is the author could just put together a book of "other people's ideas".
   
   There are numerous other books on altered books and journals and I would encourage anyone interested in engaging in this craft look to those instead.



3. Overall, I think that this book has a lot of information, great photos of lots of examples. The only reason I gave it four stars was that I think it could be better organized. It jumps around a bit and does not explain how some of the books are constructed. That may be simplistic for non-beginners, but this seems to be a beginning book! I found myself enjoying the pictures of the books, but wondering how some of them were made with rings, etc. This book is actually a very good value, but I wish there had been some photos of a book in progress, instead of jumping right in to finished pages! Overall, I am glad that I bought it, even though the instuctions are pretty general.



4. Although the size of the book is not large, the scope is great. It is full of solid text and ideas supplemented with wonderful illustrations. It combines how-tos and inspiration in meaningful ways. A true source of ideas for anyone who pursues, or would like to pursue, these crafts. Thanks to all her contributors - there are some great creations presented.



5. Altered Board Books provides tons of inspiration and creativity for the altered book enthusist who is seasoned or who is trying the techniques for the first time. Combining personal memorbellia with outstanding, easy to accomplish technqiues, Jan Smiley has created a book that is worth the investment.

2 comments about History of Men's Magazines, Vol. 1 (Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines).

1. I already have Volume 2 of Dian Hanson's encyclopedic _History of Men's Magazines_, detailing what I believe to be the golden age of that genre (the 1950's), so I was really looking forward to getting Volume 1. This volume is presented just as beautifully as the other five volumes in the series, with lots of gorgeous full-page color and B&W photos.
   
   However, there is a very big oversight, not to say error, in the material contained in this volume. Let me explain; Volume 1 bills itself as covering the history of men's magazines from 1900 to the period immediately after World War II. OK. So where are all the pictures from 1900 to the beginning of the 1920's? Certainly, there weren't very many magazines specializing in girlie art or photography before the Roaring Twenties, but France did have several, most notably the famous "La Vie Parisienne", which started publishing in, I believe, the 1870's and ran almost continuously for seven or eight decades. There was a LOT of first-class girlie art in that 'zine from the 1870's to the 1910's (including some classic art produced during World War I) that Hanson could have located and reproduced. Also, what about the Gibson Girl in "Life"? That's not strictly "girlie" art within the parameters set by this series, to be sure, but she was such an iconic figure that she should have gotten at least a couple of pictures. Or what about all the "French postcards" of the Gay Nineties and after? Those directly adumbrated the later girlie magazines, and also go unrepresented, at least in the pictures.
   
   Furthermore, Hanson errs seriously in putting a large number of pictures from the 1950's and 1960's in a volume that is expressly _not_ dedicated to those decades (the 1960's, in fact, get two volumes later on in the series). She may have intended to show how girlie photography developed over the decades, but there was plenty of room later on in the series to do that. The space misappropriated to those pictures would much better have been allocated to the kind of imagery I described in the previous paragraph.
   
   Sorry, Dian. I really like Volume 2. Volume 1, however, is a rather disappointing introduction to what should have been a definitive reference work on a little-studied genre.



2. I can't think of another publisher, other than Taschen, who would risk publishing a six-volume, extravagantly produced history of men's magazines and who better than Dian Hanson to write it. She has had plenty of experience in this section of the magazine trade.
   
   This volume covers the fourteen years from 1945 and really it is not too interesting until Hefner starts Playboy in 1953. Until then the market was basically down-market cheesecake and burlesque oriented magazines though there are chapters devoted to John Willie's 'Bizarre' and Lenny Burtman's 'Exotique' but these were hardly mass-market titles. Chapter three, nicely, features titles from Argentina and Mexico and chapter six covers England. Playboy was the title that makes this history interesting, unique when it first came out but not for long, titles like Nugget, The Dude, Swank, Rogue and others made this genre of publishing sort of respectable.
   
   The seventeen chapters follow the same format, a few hundred words of copy and then pages and pages of covers and spreads from the various titles. Chapter sixteen features the Top 5 Cover girls, Diane Webber, June Wilkinson, Jayne Mansfield, Bettie Page and predictably Marilyn as number one. Chapter seventeen is a neat finale, devoted to the tacky ads that appeared in the back of many men's titles. Major advertisers totally shunned most of this market for obvious reasons.
   
   Fascinating though the book is I do have a major disappointment (so four stars) and that is the paper, a matt stock that soaks up the ink so that none of the covers sparkle. I've bought several other pop culture Taschen books this year and they have all had semi gloss stock that reproduces covers and illustrations so well. There are a few hundred color covers in 'The History of Men's Magazines' and frequently the whole page ones look soft and grainy, they are, after all, reproduced from something already printed, a different paper would have mostly avoided this. Another slight annoyance is the three-language text (English, French and German) all set in the same typeface so at the end of a column one naturally goes to the next column and it is German. To my mind it would have been preferable to run each language in its own text block.
   
   Apart from the paper I thought the book was well worth having and if you
   read the Product Description you'll see what the other five volumes cover.
   When complete I think this will become the definitive work about this
   corner of the publishing world. I'm already making shelf-room for the set.

No comments about Best of Black and White: Erotic Photography.

5 comments about Legs.

1. Talk about 'Judging a book by it's cover', DON'T. Out of all the photo's on this book, the best looking one is on the cover of this book. This photo's of this girls in this book were probably taken at a run down W****House which most of this women are not natural beauties. Some photo's on this book were badly taken and really does not describe the name of this book at all. I bought this book to see some natural beautiful LEGS on women, but the majority on this photo's were women with split teeth, fat elephant legs, and some of this women had minor bruises on their legs which the photographer tried to hide by having this women covered there bruises with black stockings. Again, 50% of this book has great photo's of good looking women, but if you want to see photo's of womens "LEGS" in this book, I would NOT recommend you to buy this book at all.



2. as a model I thought this book would be full of wonderful outstanding photos like the cover shot In my opinion the models and the photography wasnt that great :(



3. I throughly Enjoyed this Book !!!!!!!!!!!! Great Cover Pic !!!!!!!!! Being a Big Fan of Womens' Shapely Legs, especially when Covered in Nylons and wearing heels, this was a Great Book!!!!!!!!! Lots and lots of Pics of Pretty Ladies wearing Pantyhose, Stockings, Heels,barefoot and Bare-legged. A Must Read for All the Leg-Men and Nylon Guys out there.



4. This book contains professional nude/seminude photographs, primarily of homely and 'sturdy' looking models. The cover represents about ten percent of the book's content.



5. I've purchased much better photo books for alot less money. If you like pantyhose, stockings and garters, you'll love this book. If you like nude bare legs, you'll hate it. Also has some chunky and not at all attractive models.

4 comments about The Japanese Pottery Handbook.

1. I teach pottery and always have at least one Jananese student in my class. (Some times they speak very little English)
   This is the most basic pottery book. There are no color photos but what wonderful step by step instructional sketches, the sheer number of forms and different designs is truly Awesome.
   This book is written both in English and in Japanese. I can't tell you how much this book has help bridge the language barrier (I speak Zero Japanese).
   My students both Japanese and American love the book. Worth every penny.



2. This is an excellent book for the price! Simple and straight forward, it's a great learning tool and gives you some good basic info.



3. A very basic handbook if you are looking for pottery techniques, but invaluable for the English/ Japanese translations and terminology in hiragana, katakana and kanji for the Western potter who travels to Japan. Not many books around that gives one access to this terminology to enable one to discuss ceramics with the Japanese potter.The terminology regarding forms, descriptions, glazes, underglazes, etc are exellent, with helpfull maps on kiln sites and the different wares found in the different regions of Japan.



4. This informative and delightful book is a must for any potter. With charming and clear illustrations the authors provide information on tools, workshops, forming, decorations, kilns, etc. Even common problems are illustrated! Towards the end of the book, drawings of various forms will prove a valuable resource to many a potter. This book has become a constant reference in my own studio. Please note that two languages are used in the book, Japanese and English, accenting the visual delight of this well designed book.

1 comments about Bad Girls Hotel.

1. I adore Bob Coulters work! I love how he uses colors and sexual fantasy. Not many photographers can put together the camp, kitsch, gloss and lustre that this man can. All of this would be a steal... With the big Amazon discount, you might feel guilty for getting so much for so little. go out and buy it! END
   Great, great, great!!

No comments about Warman's Hummel Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides).

1 comments about Art History: A Critical Introduction to Its Methods.

1. I had to buy this book for an art history course in college. Nevertheless, if you want a comprehensive background on the development of the field of art history and the different methodologies that go into current art historical analysis, this book is for you!

5 comments about The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (Star Wars).

1. Take the artistic talents of acclaimed production artist Ralph McQuarrie and the writing skills of prolific author Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy Trilogy) and you get The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, a coffee table book that gives readers a glimpse of the various planets showcased in George Lucas' original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-83).

   Using McQuarrie's production sketches and paintings for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and other Lucasfilm projects (including the Endor-based television specials of the mid-1980s plus preliminary sketches for the 1997 Special Edition updates), Anderson takes readers on a grand tour of the most important planets seen in the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader half of the Star Wars Saga. Starting with Tatooine, the desert world that is the home world to both Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke and ending with Alderaan, the planet where Princess Leia was hidden from her father and was doomed to be destroyed by the Death Star, eight planets are described in individual chapters, each told not by one omniscient narrator but by eight different observers, each with his or her point of view and/or political agenda.

   For instance, while the chapter on Tatooine is an anthropologist's dispassionate and scientific report on the desert planet's hostile environment and its hardy inhabitants (ranging from the nomadic and hostile Tusken Raiders and scavenging Jawas to the resilient human moisture farmers and their homesteads), the description of Coruscant, the massive city-planet which was once the seat of power of the Old Republic and is the capital of Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire, is a pro-Imperial propaganda article authored by Pollus Hax, the Emperor's chief public relations expert and "spin doctor."

   Although much of the artwork featured in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe has been published elsewhere (either in the various Art of Star Wars books relating to the Classic Trilogy or in McQuarrie's Star Wars Portfolios), this combination of production paintings and Anderson's vivid and imaginative text works wonderfully and adds detail and background to both the movies and the post-Episode VI Expanded Universe novels, including Anderson's own JedI Academy trilogy and Darksaber.




2. Awesome Illustrations and enjoyable narratives to go along with them. Lots of fun.



3. Ralph is one of the Best Illustrators that i know.His work is very inspirating for me.If you are true fan of Star Wars you just need this book.Excellent printing on high quality paper.Don't wait and buy this piece of art.



4. This incredible book help you feel like all the Star Wars universe and its planets are real. You read the accounts of the "writers" and you think that they really exists.
   It helps to understand all the story and the beutiful pictures help to get into.
   A MUST book for a Star Wars fan.



5. This book really showcases the beautiful artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, who helped establish the look of the Star Wars films way back at the dawn of the story as we know it. In this book we see fascinating early visual drafts of things that we would later see in the movies. Most of it was impossibly fantastic to ever get filmed at the time but maybe we'll see some of it in the next two movies.

   The chapters on Alderan and Bespin are particular fascinating and beautiful.