5 comments about A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians of Eastern & Central North America (Peterson Field Guide Series).

1. The book is great. Wonderful range maps, nice pictures, generally good ID characters. Could use some more info on larval amphibian identification though.



2. I have had this book for several years and absolutly love it. Not only is it nicely informative, it holds up well in the feild. I can not begin to count the number of times I have slipped (I generally keep it tucked in my waist band) in creeks on outings. After years of abuse, my cover is a worn, spine wrinkled and paged stained, but it's still solidly bound.



3. Thank you for your timely shipping of this brand new book. I ordered it for a friend who is looking forward to getting it soon.



4. This book features clear plates with apparently well painted views of probably all the species of amphibians and reptiles occuring in Canada and the USA east of the Rocky Mountains, apparently also including those of Puerto Rico and introduced ones. Unfortunately, the plates of the third edition from 1998 are printed badly, with the colour dots not completely blurring in front of the reader's eye, and the pictures are a little tiny anyway. On the page opposing the plates are the common and scientific names given, as well as some important details of their appearance. Many species are represented with several images (e.g. from the side, from below; adults, juveniles), but this would probably be warranted for even more species.
   The species accounts are, however, usually much too short, giving almost no detail about biology and life history of the species. Among them are, however, some colour photographs, whose printing resolution is usually also somewhat too bad, though.
   The range maps are in colour and show the different subspecies in different shades, yet they are also somewhat confusing, because water bodies like the sea or the great lakes are not shaded differently from the land, so that their borders look like the state borders, and because the range borders have also be drawn in black (maybe for copying?).
   Laudable is the existence of a general section about amphibians and reptiles and their catching, handling and captive care. This section would be worth expanding, though.
   The third printing (1998) is/was, as already stated, not very good because of its low colour resolution and its maybe somewhat too small size, and it is/was bind only as paperback with relatively thick pages throughout.



5. I live in North Carolina and I have been able to identify all the snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs that I have found using this book. Good descriptions and photos to help you tell the difference between different species.

3 comments about Confident Color: An Artist's Guide To Harmony, Contrast And Unity.

1. I've always had problems with color in my paintings. I don't seem to have a color sense so my work BCC (Before Confident Color) didn't always have the most harmonious color. However, after reading Confident Color I have a much better understanding of how color can create an effective painting. Using examples from a wide variety of artists, the book breaks down the colors used and explains why these color combinations are so effective. It also presents different types of color wheels to give the artist a wide range of harmonious color ideas to work with. By using the color information in this book, you can express mood and pull more viewer interest. What's really nice is that the author uses work by both well-known artists and those who aren't well-known -- but all are excellent at what they do. The book would be good for quilters and fabric artists as well, or indeed anyone who wants a better understanding of color theory.



2. I have spent the week-end feasting on Nita's new book Confident Color. I am excited and inspired as I go from chapter to chapter in this book. Nita has done it again! She tells it all, and in a way that relates to each one of us. I love the format of this book - easy reading - takes you right in and makes you a part of the process. Each page is loaded with exciting information and a "Try it" portion to include you in the journey. I can't wait to get started on my own color swatches. I have already prepared a box and sample cards to get started. This book is for the beginner and advanced alike. All of the Artist's works included in this book are examples on what Nita is explaining in the process. I would highly recommend this book to all Artists who are interested in perfecting their skills and would like to learn to use color with confidence. I certainly do.
   
   
   
   Joan Crawford Barnes
   www.joanbarnes-wc.com



3. Great book! Very useful and interesting.Confident Color: An Artist's Guide To Harmony, Contrast And Unity

5 comments about Creative License, The: Giving Yourself Permission to Be The Artist You Truly Are.

1. I think a dissenting opinion is in order. I was looking for a book on unblocking ones creativity, not a book on being like Danny Gregory. The book seems to be more about how Mr. Gregory expresses creativity than about how to become more creative. If I wanted to learn to draw I would have purchased a book about drawing. If I wished to become a writer I would have sought books about writing. Mr. Gregory seems to be saying in this book that the only way to become a creative person is to draw and write first, which is how he expresses creativity. If I have to force myself to draw and journal I am not becoming more creative, I am simply following what someone else thinks is creativity. Further, Mr. Gregory's drawings are ugly to my eyes. I am amazed that anyone would want him to illustrate anything. The type used in the book is hard to read and some of the print was so small I could not read it. This book was definitely a waste of my money and time. If you are looking to unleash your creativity through some medium besides drawing or writing, you should probably look elsewhere for inspiration.



2. Remove the block to your creative drive and find yourself once again enjoying your own drawing, painting, writing, crafts, or whatever it is that brings you joy!
   
   The Creative License: Giving Yorself Permission To Be The Artist You Truly Are is all that the title claims. Own it and you have (one of) the keys that will open the door back into the world of your own creativity, unfettered by a need to be perfect.
   
   Be you. Create what you want. Be happy.
   
   What a concept! What a book!
   
   Highly recommended!



3. I am really enjoying Creative License written by Danny Gregory. I actually am now on my second reading! After finishing the book I began to read it from back to front! It is a lovely book written with humor, sensitivity and just plain good sense. I got a sort of kick-in-the-pants start from some of his "encouraging" push starts. The quotes are wonderful and often eye-opening. I do have some trouble reading the strange font lettering sometimes - but that is very minor. I loved the book and reccomend it to anyone stuck in their forward movement in the art of their choice.
   A.M.C.



4. I love this book! I've been drawing since I was little and painting for over 20 years, I'm just now learning to do quick sketches. I had gotten away from drawing and now I'm back and love it! Danny is so inspiring and gets you drawing right off the bat! His sketches and ideas are fun to do and you'll be wanting to sketch everything you see, and you can! He shows you how to make time to sketch and shares my belief that everyone can draw. This is a keeper!



5. I have been drawing for a few years now and have just about every book on the subject. When I need inspiration or encouragement this is the book I reach for every time. Gregory becomes a drawing coach. He holds your hand when you need as you start out and also admonishes you when you come up with lame excuses as to why you are not drawing. His drawings are free and without expectations. If you don't think there's enough drawing in the book, I think the whole point is to get you to start drawing and develop your own style, not copy his. Even if you don't draw, you will want to after reading this. I think this is a great gift for anyone who "needs something" in their life. This book helps open up new avenues to explore and one never knows what wonderful things you may find waiting.

No comments about Claude Monet, 1840-1926 (Basic Art).

5 comments about How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist, 5th ed.: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul.

1. Lots of great, helpful information. A reference book for anyone becoming an artist. One tip in the book is worth the price. Don't think twice about getting this good resource.



2. I purchased this book about five years ago while just getting out of undergraduate school. The practical tips and ideas about developing work helped out immensely. The writing is pratical advice which helps anyone who is starting out, to cut out at least six months to a year of bumbling mistakes one would normally make when approaching the beginnings of an art career. Along with all the good advice, the lists of institutional information in the back of the book is worth the price of the book itself. I have reccomended, and lent this to many of my friends to read and plan to re-read this with the completion of graduate school and a new body of work.



3. Book is good for painters who want to deal mostly through galleries. Not good for other artists or photographers and not good for artists who want to avoid the gallery manipulations.



4. Since retirement, I have been exploring the arts as a business opportunity. This book is a real eye opener about what questions to ask and where to look for assistance. It appears that artists are the talent and others may just be users of the talent without respect for the talent. Newbies should learn what to expect and safeguard their interest as they develop a business. Business is not emotional and artists are usually emotional about their works and talents. Developing business skills is critical to building those safeguards that can lead to a the artist having a good experience both with the art and the business.



5. Not quite what I expected. Third of the book is lists of resources. Really only useful if you live in the US. Some interesting points about the relationship between art galleries and artists and a fair attempt at empowering artists. Still, not the book for me.

5 comments about Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists.

1. I have been watching the development of processing and the processing community for a few years but until now haven't explored it much.
   I create live visuals for musical performances - mostly within the chiptunes music scene (people using game console hardware to create new music). Originally I did all of my work with PureData, GEM and other libraries but then decided to move to performing with handhelds, writing code for the GP2X and Gameboy Advance (because unlike newer machines, the GBA has video out).
   
   For an upcoming project, I decided that I wanted to create a web "playable" version of the software that I have created for the gp2x (where the visuals react to the joystick, button presses, etc) - enter Processing!
   I decided that Processing would be the best tool for this job because it is easy to deliver on the web, has functions for interactivity (key presses, mouse actions, etc), and is open source which is important to me.
   
   After looking at the Processing.org website, I decided that while there is a good reference there, a book might be nice. I was pleased to find the book "Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists" written by the creators of Processing, Casey Reas and Ben Fry and thought that no matter how useful it would be, it was good to support the developers of the project.
   
   The pleasant surprise was that book is great!
   I was expecting something like an extended reference book but it is much more than that. For one, this is a book that teaches programming concepts regardless of the language used to implement them. Although I have previous programming experience, I know that I could give this book to someone with no previous experience and they would be able to follow along and not only learn Processing, but learn programming. Sure, you can learn programming by reading C (or name your favorite language here) tutorials, writing text to the screen, reading and writing to files, etc. but ... I think that for some people it's much more exciting and motivating to see cool things happen, shapes moving, colors changing, etc. when they type in commands, learn about functions, conditionals, objects and so on. This book does that.
   
   Another interesting thing about the book is that periodically there are interviews with visual artists who create with software - and not all with processing but with various types of software. I liked these and could imagine seeing more (or just new ones) in future editions of the book or online. I'll admit that I only use open source software so I am biased, but could imagine seeing more mention of Pd (Pure Data) as alternative to Max/Jitter.
   
   [...]
   
   Overall, the book is very well written and enjoyable to read even when you aren't in front of a computer (I read much while traveling) - the authors make reference to many pioneers of computing, visualization, motion graphics, film, etc. and I had fun looking up those whose works I wasn't familiar with. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in creating visuals with computers.



2. So far (hey!, its a big book, and dense material) this is an excellent book covering the basics of processing. I plan on spending some quality time with this on my vacation.
   
   I hope to post some video on it later, as well as some examples of programs I make on my blog.
   
   Tim



3. This is a great text, from the authors of the software itself. I'm only through the first hundred pages or so, but it's a fairly well-presented volume of information split into easily digested chapters, on everything from the command structure for creating graphics to the math that governs such efforts. The authors cover not only the rationale behind their own programming language, but also touch on the thinking behind digital graphic and artworks as a whole...
   
   While the chapters are a little scattered for the linear reader (e.g., certain of the mathematical function chapters are broken and split into chapters that would flow a little better with no break between them), the authors are fairly clear in their intro and table of contents that the text is meant to be read and digested in a variety of ways, linear being only one method.
   
   There are a few problems with the explanations of some of the syntax and command structure, but overall, the book is a sound investment for a newby like myself, who hasn't visited programming in a number of years, and needs a primer/refresher, as well as a source for the more advanced coding artist. I recommend the book without reservation.



4. This book is, quite simply, a godsend. If you are an artist that enjoys tinkering with all things technological (especially an artist that enjoyed mathematics or beating up your computer in high school lab class) than it's certainly for you. If, on the other hand, you are the type of person that hopes to breeze though this and start applying "techie things" to your video art, then you are in for a let-down...it IS a bit tough for someone that has never played with a computer programming language. No way around it, you're going to have to WORK!!
   
   But, that's the thing. You're supposed to work, massage, twist, graft, apply, subtract and otherwise mangle these functions and commands until they do some (random, unexpected) beautiful thing. This is exactly what the authors want you to do. Take their simple equations and use your imagination to change them up a bit and make your own.
   
   And, a big plus is how the whole book is structured. It starts with simple enough topics and progressively increases in difficulty, BUT, and here is the stroke of genius for artsy types, it does so by switching the topics here and there from shapes, to type, to math, to random, to trig, to type again, back to shapes...etc. So, you see, it's structured (if you read from cover to cover in a linear fashion) in a way that will NOT bore the reader in any way. It's as if Reas and Fry knew that most of us artsy types were (completely and hopelessly) ADHD and needed this kind of variety to keep our interest (lord knows they probably wish they did, coming from artistic backgrounds before entering MIT as grads). And, as an added bonus, if you are the kind of person that likes the topics all neatly together, there is a second topical index behind the main index so you can jump through the book by topic.
   
   In closing, Reas and Fry have done us "new media" types a great service by developing a trimmed-down form of Java programming so that we don't have to do the heavy work and learn full-blown Java or C++ on our own (though, after using this language, the hope is that it WILL get us "artsies" to learn those higher level languages and make genre-smashing art). So, get going!
   
   P.S. The only thing I wish this book had were MORE Exercises at the end of each topic. Or, a workbook that had more problems to solve, like my old Calculus text that had 30 problems after each section. Guys, could we, just maybe, extend the problem sets in a future edition, from three to maybe 10? It would be much appreciated! :)



5. What can I add to the previous reviews praising for this book?
   I wonder nothing... or little...
   
   But lets list some important issues about "Processing", at least for me. (1) The errata shown in the processing site (www.processing.org) is already corrected in the current printing. (2) My goal in reading this book is to learn enough Processing to be able to give an impulse to my child -- which loves arts, and spends much of hers Net-surfing time in deviantART -- to learn and develop programming skills. (3) The book is itself a piece of art. (4) It has a nice and beautiful hardcover package. (5) Greetings to MIT Press and the editor(s) of the book for achieving such a nice product. (6) Although having about 700 pages, the book nevertheless has a size which allows one to read it at bed, before going to sleep. (7) In a few weeks, interspersed with the many other readings I have to do each day, I managed to read already almost 1/3 of the book and plan to go till the end. (8) Finally, Processing is a Java/C/C++/C#/Python/Perl... kind of language, what makes the absorption of the language semantics and syntax very easy for a veteran like me.
   
   And perhaps one of these days I become a digital artist :-)

5 comments about Fisher Price Let's Go to the Zoo Lift the Flap (A-Lift-the-Flap Play Book).

1. I really like this book. Each page has so much stuff to keep my daughters attention. The colors are bright and theres a lot of flaps. Its cute and teaches colors, shapes, counting. Ive bought other Fisher Price books like this. Definately recommend.



2. I love this book and our 10 month old daughter does too, only there are so many flaps in this book that they are smaller and harder to open. Our daughter can open most, but not all. The illustrations are very bright and the book teaches things like opposites, counting, etc. I think this book would be great for an older child.



3. All the Little People Lift-the-flap books are great, but this one is by far my and my 2 1/2 year old's favorite. We enjoy playing "peek a boo" with each animal under the flaps and talking about their colors, and what they're doing, and what noises they make. The farm one is my second favorite, followed by the transportation and school bus books.



4. My 21 month old daughter loves this book. It gives her many flaps to open and be surprised by. Fun rhymes to say, colorful pages and the little people are great too!



5. This is a very fun book with lively pictures and colors, but somehow, it's become her favorite bedtime book! She can identify all of the animals, except the camel and prairie dogs. She would make a jumping movement (sitting on my lap) for the frog, blow raspberries for the elephant, say "ooh-ooh" for the monkey, and roar for the lion, tiger, and leopard. And she would say, "waaaaah" whenever she opens the flaps with the many animals hidden under. I'm trying to work on counting with her, but she'd rather keep flipping the flaps. Maybe it offers her so much stimulation that it tires her out for bed!

5 comments about Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.

1. While Prof. Jamison's previous writing has inspired me and also given me insight to the potential pitfalls that face someone with bipolar disorder, I found this book to be a bit more technical. Perhaps a little too technical.
   
   Regardless, Kay Redfield Jamison is a brilliant author. Her honesty, insight, and ability to open her world to you as a reader is amazing. Blunt. Honest. Thought-provoking.
   
   Look up her other works and you will NOT be disappointed, particularly "An Unquiet Mind". You won't regret it.



2. Over the years.....for as long as I can remember - I sit alone and let my mind soar to the most incredible heights. My mind hears, sees and feels ....original music that tragically will never be heard. Motion Pictures that will never be seen. Eroticism that would make even the most sexually creative blush - never be felt.
   
   My mind went too high...too often that made life too difficult to bear when the stars tuned to clouds.
   
   Before the medication, early on a Sunday morning - I would play my piano into the early evening......with only vague recollections of my wife's voice mentioning something about lunch. Never being satisfied with what I had played over the last 12 hours. Vainly trying to fight off the anxiety and depression. The waves of original music I had just played while my body covered in goose bumps and those encompassing waves not dissimilar to a sexual orgasm..only giving way to the frustration and damning myself for the melodies that did not come. Regardless of the niceties bestowed upon me by neighbors at cocktail parties who overheard while watering the lawn or walking the dog.
   
   Mens sana in corpore sano - A healthy mind in a healthy body is something madness will not allow.
   
   My children and I thank you Dr. Greenfield and we thank you Pamela for continuing to lead me past the open windows. I love you both from the bottom of my heart.
   
   ....and thank you Kay for the validation.



3. As mentioned by others, if you are looking for the actual process of how depression is seen to predispose certain people to be creative then this book is not for you. The fineline between madman and genius is still poorly understood. Jamisons book is a treatise on what information is known along with citing studies and statistical analysis. It is aimed more towards scientists etc. studying the phenomenon as opposed to individuals looking for answers as to why they are prone to depression and the creativity that depression brings about.
   However, with the above in mind, Jamison has done a good job. I feel it to be incomplete as it doesn't really get in to the nitty gritty of what exactly is happening to cause the madman/genius scenario. Alas that isn't a failing of Jamison, more a case that currently no one knows with any certainty as to what is going on. Is it hereditary?, Genetics?, a social failing, artists taking advantage of societies perception of the madgenius-artist?, being predisposed to being more emotional and just feeling the highs and lows of the human condition to a greater degree? etc. etc. Hopefully one day soon the underlying causes may be know but not today. And in a way that is a plus for this book - Jamison for the most part appears to be impartial to the theories and merely collects them together for the reader to to review. There are some biographies of certain artists/writers/poets/musicians etc. with Lord Byron being the greatest study. They make for very interesting reading, along with the lists of well regarded artistic types and their battles with mental illness.
   If you are someone looking for answers this book isn't for you. But if you are looking for the current state of affairs in this field then you will find much here to dwell on. My background is science so I found the delivery of the book to be standard scientific fare and had no problems reading it. It may come across as dry to a reader not so well versed in this manner of writing. As I am now a writer and an artist I found the book to be very interesting - I didn't learn much beyond what common sense will tell you but it was useful to have all the current studies in one tome. A book in a similar vein worth reading is Anthony Storr's "Churchill's Black Dog".



4. HOw much of the creativity of fiery individuals is due to mood disorders? This book explores the connection of many who have been artistic and successful with mood disorder. Is there such a thing as an artistic temperament?



5. This book was too hard to follow. The author assumes that the reader (me) understands or has a dictionary is hand at all times. Which of course I did not.

No comments about Luis Royo (Art of ) 2009 Calendar.

1 comments about Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Carryalong Treasury (Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).

1. This book is a nice idea with the handle and hard cover. The stories inside are abridged versions of books that we already have, so that was a little disappointing. However, my daughter loves anything to do with the Clubhouse friends, so she didn't mind.