4 comments about Quantumscapes: The Art of Stephan Martiniere.

1. Stephan Martiniere is in demand for his bookcovers, character design and work in motion pictures. In this edition we get an expanded look at his creative process, as he shows us step by step how he works on a bookcover. He also gives us several alterate covers, and some explaination of why they were not choosen. I reccomend this book as well as his other book.



2. Quantumscapes, Martiniere's second book, is quite good. It has a good variety of artwork, from sci fi book covers to concept art for heaven. Images are clear and rich. The book itself is large, and is printed great quality paper. Binding is very good.
   
   A great book. I recommend it over Quantum Dreams.



3. Not as good as the previous collection from Stephan Martiniere (Quantum Dreams) because there was too many sketches & and not more finished paintings. Also some paintings deserved to be reproduced in a bigger format.
   The comments by Stephan Martiniere are very interesting though and I especially like the last chapter showing the various steps he went through to paint the image on the cover.



4. Muy bueno y mejorando al anterior, Quantum Dreams, además de paisajes, personajes, bocetos y una muestra del trabajo paso a paso.
   
   Totalmente recomendable

5 comments about The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin.

1. There is no lack of great vivid pictures to enjoy and the book is of high quality paper. The text is brief and has a nice flow. There really isn't much more I can say that other reviewers haven't already stated other than this is one of my favorite picture books :p
   
   If you enjoy celtic art or illuminated manuscripts this makes a fun addition to your library!



2. The Book of Kells is one of the most beautiful manuscripts in existence. This booklet enables those of us who are unlikely to ever see the real manuscript to feast our eyes on many of the illustrations as well as to learn a little of its history and preparation. Most of the illustrations are in colour and their vibrancy is still apparent across 12 centuries.
   
   I consider that this booklet is worth acquiring for the illustrations alone. It also contains a lot of useful information for those interested in the physical preparation of such manuscripts as well as the underlying historical significance of this particular manuscript.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   Jennifer Cameron-Smith



3. The book was just what I was expecting. Shipping was quick.



4. I was glad I had this book along with me when I went to see the real Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library in Dublin. The lines of tourists waiting to view this famous eighth century manuscript were about a quarter of a mile long, and the museum proctors were really hustling us through the area where a small sampling of pages were actually on view.
   
   (If you take the tour, be sure to check out the main chamber of the Old Library with its first editions of Newton and Darwin, plus the harp that is (alas, falsely) attributed to Brian Boru, high king of Ireland).
   
   The first facsimile of the Book of Kells was published in 1974, and although this book only advertises itself as 'an illustrated introduction to the manuscript...' it contains good color plates of many of the most famous pages, e.g. the symbols of the four evangelists and the beginning of the 'Breves causae' of Matthew, among others.
   
   Author, Bernard Meehan, the current Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College states that "the sacred text itself was copied in the Book of Kells with a remarkable degree of inaccuracy." It consists of the Latin text of the Gospels, illuminated in the very ornate Hiberno-Saxon style ('Hiberno' refers to the Irish, or Hibernians).
   
   Legend has it that the Book of Kells was produced by St. Colum Cille on the island of Iona off western Scotland. Although it was probably begun in the Irish monastery on Iona, it was taken to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, after a series of Viking raids. The monastery on Iona was pillaged in 795, and again in 802. According to the author, "In 806, sixty-eight of the community were killed in another raid. The following year, the survivors migrated to Ireland and began to erect conventual buildings at Kells..." where the illumination of the manuscript was probably completed.
   
   If you are interested in the historical background of the Book of Kells, the author devotes a whole Appendix to it.
   
   Alas, according to this book's second Appendix, "Losses, Additions and Marginalia," the Book of Kells has not remained intact down through the centuries. "At present there are 340 folios, but around thirty folios, including some major decorated pages have been lost." The monks also used blank spaces in the manuscript to record details of property transactions in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries.
   
   Meehan's book is definitely worth viewing and reading. It also contains a wealth of the smaller decorative illustrations that do not always relate to the sacred text, e.g. hares, dogs, horses, and at least one moth. The color and minute details of these decorations are a source of endless fascination, and the scholarly text, although a trifle dry, is also very interesting.



5. I like how the author gives various images of the book of kells, but gets really confusing and goes all over the place while writing about it. I think a lot could be learned from this book, but the author crams so many examples into the work that it starts to get annoying. Ever line seems to have parenthesis around something and folio this or that. For that alone i give the book two stars, multiple examples are good, just not when you plague every line with one. It hardly gives the reader a chance to understand the first few.

No comments about The Art of Clint Langley.

No comments about George Rodrigue Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne 1970-2007.

4 comments about Found Art Mosaics.

1. Suzan's book is a wonderful source of information on techniques to incorporate found objects into the mosaic process. The book is clearly laid out with concise steps and instructions (including patterns) for a variety of projects. People of all ages will enjoy the suggestions that Suzan offers for creating inspired mosaics.



2. I have many mosaic books but this one includes great tips, techniques plus very creative approach to using found objects to create some really beautiful, pulled together pieces.



3. I liked the way data was presented in sequential steps with information on the various methods of adhesion. Great photos.



4. This is a very eye catching book. It cries out for page turning from beginning to end. If anyone were to create mosaics without attending any classes this would be the way to go.

5 comments about Room Service.

1. Boring. I was expecting stories, but it's a very expensive book with just photos of very feminine looking boys.



2. I've seen lots of photographic art books of the male body, but this one is truly amazing. The lighting is perfect. The color and clarity of the images are crisp and natural. Special praise must be given to the publisher/printer for recreating them in book form.
   
   To say the men are beautiful is an understatement. They make the guys from the old A&F catalog look frumpy in comparison. Two particular models come to mind. One has green eyes that I could lose myself in and never find my way out. Another has the squarest jaw I've ever seen on a human being. The epitome of Scandinavian perfection.
   
   They were all photographed in hotel rooms. The captions for each photo has the model's name along with what room number they were in at the time. I've done only a little traveling in my time, but these hotel rooms represent an order of magnitude of elegance I've never experienced myself.



3. Yes, the pictures in this book are beautiful... beautiful men, beautiful lighting. But unfortunately there's no frontal nudity in the book -- it's all artfully concealed. So I'd say it's definitely high-quality photography, but unfortunately it leaves me disappointed.



4. The absolute stunning beauty of Adam Raphael's latest work reduces one to such primitive exclaimations as the above.
   
   The photographer has corralled his usual cadre of boys next door and photographed them in various locales of an upscale hotel. Aside from the luxuriousness of the setting, another difference emerges in this collection, the use of nudity. As an artist of unerring taste, though, Raphael presents nothing gratuitous or grotesque. The naked glimpses are of several shapely backsides and nothing more (and nothing more is needed). Raphael trusts the imaginations of his viewers to fill in any erotic gaps.
   
   The book's design is magisterial, the paper luscious, the lighting ethereal.
   
   Adam Raphael has entered the ranks of the masters. And in ROOM SERVICE he has produced not merely a masterpiece but the finest male picture book ever published.
   
   One would be wise to purchase a copy now, as it will no doubt someday be a collector's treasure on the order of Bruce Weber's early books (and of Raphael's own FRIENDS from several years back).



5. For those who appreciate this type of photography book; it is a must have and a must addition to the collection. It is absolutely stunning and a beautiful book.

5 comments about Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World.

1. I really love these books. I am fascinated by the technique used to get the 3-d affect. I have everyone out.



2. Images with an embedded three-dimensional image fascinate me. For a long time, I was unable to discern the interior image, but when I was finally able to do so, I was hooked. This collection of 22 images kept me busy for several hours as I went stared at each page until the image appeared. When you look at these pages from a distance, the colors appear to be ordered, but not structured. It is only when you look at it the right way that the true image appears. If you enjoy figures with embedded three-dimensional images, then this is a book that you will appreciate.



3. Yep, the first time those seemingly random sqiggles of color in Magic Eye leap into formation and you're staring down at an object under all that chaotic visual mess...it's a magic moment for sure. These books are a lot of fun and worth the effort it takes to get the knack of how to do it. It took me a few tries before I saw anything here, so if at first you don't succeed, stay with it because it's worth it.



4. If humans were truly telepathic, there would be little need to explore the ruminations of impressions that identify and create the discourse that produces harmony, vision, and processes that enable man to live together. What we think we see in another's actions is often unrelated to their actual thinking, and hence, the value of interaction is of great importance to humans. By having multiple options of movement, to be influenced by impressions, experiences, and by learning means that the quality and quantity of interactions always carries different meanings to different people, being measured or scrutinized by subjective means as they always are. Therefore, contextual science is inherent in achieving progress, the slow laborious process of acquiring common ground of meaning, objective, and resolution in any interaction, however brief. Since that requires a good bit of reading people's behavior, and processing intent, from the perspective of the "other" external to oneself, conjecture and breath of conjecture provides ample opportunity for success or mistake. The chipping away process of illusions to reach the depth of meaning and significance is a large part of what makes the content of human life. As if the graph existed that placed everyone upon a spectrum of spacial plots, some would be expected to be closer than others, which may or may not reflect the ideal, but may be more related to any given point in time, and attention.



5. This visual manipulation is sort of fun to engage in with youngsters who seem to have more enthusiasim for this 3-D -eye-foolery. When I read this book with my children years ago I didn't seem to have the patience to sit and stare at a bunch of randomly placed dots and come up with the correct image. I used to look at these things and start hallucinating and concocting images that were NOT there! If I waited long enough a younger, brighter mind would correct me and show me the real image. It got to be more fun than the book to see what I thought I saw. I swear sometimes I just never saw what I was supposed to see. Luckily they give you the "answers" on another page so you can cheat and look for what is supposed to just jump out at you. Maybe my eye was untrainable? This book is sort of fun for a break in activities with children but watch out for the dots before your eyes, you just might see them after the pages are removed from your vision. Fun at a certain level(and frustrating) but there are many more entertaining books out there.

3 comments about 1500 Decorative Ornaments CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Series).

1. This is a good collection, I just wish the images came in vector format. They are all in photoshop Tiff format.



2. This is a terrific clip art book however, Dover has sold this exact same book under the title, "Printer's Ornaments and Dingbats." So if you already own that book, safe yourself the money and don't buy this duplicate under a different title. What a bummer!!!



3. A wonderful and wide range of designs great for motifs and decorative design development. Don't miss it!

No comments about Natural Architecture.

5 comments about 500 Teapots: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design.

1. This is one of my favorite 500 books. It is the perfect book for those days when inspiration is hard to find!



2. I bought this book and looked through it with post its to label all the interesting teapot ideas I was drawn to. When considering this book, I wasn't particularly drawn to the cover teapot and wondered if I would be disappointed in the authors picks, but I wasn't. This is a great visual resource for my classroom and studio.
   
   As someone else has commented, I would have given this book 5 stars if the author hadn't repeated multiple photos of very similar teapots by the same artist.



3. A beautiful book on contemporary approaches to a traditional vessel.I am not into funtion as I am into form,but what a book! I am glad I bought it.Sometimes,I found that despite my aversion to making utilitarian things,there is so much I do derive from the pictures that I can adapt the notion of form and function to a sculptural work,independent of the notion of tea pot.



4. As a ceramics teacher who teaches her students how to build teapots, this book is a wonderful resource. The pictures are great and it helps give students a better understanding of what a teapot can look like.



5. But if I were a little teapot, I'd be one of the beautiful ones in this book. There are teapots both plain, and beyond description to fascinate, amuse and amaze you. If you know a little about firing ceramics, and glaze technology, the information provided will deepen your appreciation of each teapot. You may find that some of these artists are in your area, and have ceramics for sale. Or if you just like teapots, there enough teapots here in beautiful color photos to sate your appetite.