5 comments about How to Draw Cars Like a Pro, 2nd Edition (Motorbooks Studio).

1. Motorbooks tends to put out some pretty skimpy titles. Lots of flash and little substance is often the case. This book seems to be an exception. As a total non-artist this book really helped me develop some skills in the area of automotive art.
   
   A lot of good information without a lot of opinion. Nice drawings for you to use for reference and motivation. Good coverage of the different types of media.
   
   I'd buy it again.



2. I find it that this book covers most of aspects you need to know to draw cars "properly". I recommend this book for anyone wishing to learn or hone their skills on car drawings, because it is quite difficult to understand such thing for some people like me :D



3. My 11 y/o son is into drawing and into cars, so naturaly he started drawing cars, but he needed some help. I for one don't know what to do (not an artist), so I got this book for him, and so far the drawings he brings me are soooo much better. They are as good as the ones in the book, but it sure did give him a few pointers here and there. He loves looking at the tips, and hints in the book. All in all it made a difference to his drawings.



4. This wasn't so great at how to draw cars, but there is a lot of good stuff on how to render them realistically, which is why i bought it.



5. The books delivered were brand new. No problrms with the binding or the pages.

5 comments about Jewels of the Tsars: The Romanovs and Imperial Russia.

1. If you like books about royal jewels like me then this book is for you. The pictures are beautiful and the book is full of great information.



2. While the subject of the Imperial Crown Jewels has not yet been exhausted, and this book assembles for the first time a large portion of the former collections, Prince Michael of Greece is not an Historian, gemologist, or specialist in decorative arts.
   
   While this book, like his others, has a romantic and lyric chronology enhanced by the ruthless dropping in of uncorroborated family lore, these personal titbits are less interesting that the pieces themselves who have been done a disservice by inadequate research and fact-checking.
   
   Page after page of this book are riddled with errors, inconsistencies and projections. Aigrettes are called brooches, diadems called chokers, the immense value of colored diamonds emphasized, which the actual stones shown are foiled to impart color. Members of the family are misidentified, the structure of the Diamond Fund misstated, and recreations misrepresented.
   
   Do buy this books for the marvelous photographs, many taken orginially for inclusion in the "Jewels of the Romanovs" Show catalogue at the Corcoran Gallery, but which was never published in full.



3. Very beautiful and well written. Lots of information on Russia's history and beautiful pictures of the families and jewels. If you are interested in Russian history and gem stones, this is a very good book.



4. This is an excellent look at the jewels and other fine objects of the Tsars and their families. The quality of the paper and the feel of the book is rich too. A pleasure to read and enjoy.



5. I have not seen the book but wanted to comment on the editorial comments.
   Prince Michael's Grandmother was Queen Olga of Greece, born a Grand Duchess of Russia but she was not a sister of Nicholas II. Olga's father and Nicholas II's grandfather were brothers. Thus Olga was a cousin to Nicholas II's father, Alexander III and therefore Olga and Nicholas II were second cousins. Prince Michael is a Prince of Greece and Denmark as his grandfather, King George I of Greece (Olga's husband) was born in Denmark as the second son of King Christian IX of Denmark and was elected King of Greece in March of 1863, thus becoming the King of Greece as a 17 year old prior to his father becoming King of Denmark in November of the same year, 1863. The Great Powers of Europe were looking for a new King for Greece when Vilhelm (his Danish name) was noticed at the March 1863 wedding of his older sister, Alexandra, when she married the Prince of Wales, son of Queen Victoria, and later King Edward VII. King George also had a sister (born Dagmar in Denmark) who married Alexander III of Russia, and were the parents of Nicholas II. This Michael's father Christopher was a first cousin to King George as well, making Michael a second cousin to Tsar Nicholas II through his father. Obviously one needs a "score card" to keep track of European Royalty as most of them are related to each other one way or another as in the past royalty was only allowed to marry royalty. Fortunately that has changed over the last several generations and it would appear that ALL of the heirs to the crowns of Europe have indeed married for love, and almost all of them have married commoners.

5 comments about Writing Mysteries.

1. I used this book as a way to refresh my perspective on a mystery novel after finishing a second draft. I highlighted perhaps a dozen relevant/useful passages in the entire 300-page book. There are a handful of interesting ideas, but the biggest challenge I encountered is that the quality of the advice is entirely dependent on the author of each chapter - so, if what you want to learn about happens to have been written about by an average advice-giver, you're out of luck. For a better treatment - more concise and productive, and of better quality throughout - consider Hallie Ephron's "Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel."



2. I have other books concerning this subject. What I like about this book is that it contains chapters by different authors. There is nothing like hearing advice from the very authors that you enjoy reading so much.



3. Mystery Writing is an art in itself. It requires a lot of planning and preparation in order for the mystery story to work. Planting 'red herrings' and false clues in a story is an art that novice writers will have trouble in achieving with their first attempt. That is the reason why this book is so good -- it brings together the creative geniuses in the field of Mystery writing -- and these writers tell you their secrets to producing mystery. Definitely worth the money.



4. I found the book to a helpful review of everything from the unwritten rules of writing a mystery through the submission process. Personally, I enjoyed having different people present their views. I can see that it might be annoying if you want just one point of view. My advise is to read whatever section you are interested in and skip sections that you do not care about. Good job!



5. While I agree with the previous poster that one has to do a certain amount of mining with this, and other Writer's Digest anthologies, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I actually had an opportunity to talk about the book recently with Sue Grafton, who edited it, and she said her goal was to take readers from idea through publication, employing the voices of experts in each area. For example, the chapter on series characters is written by Sara Paretsky, whose V.I. Warshawski is a classic demonstration of what she's talking about. In all, I enjoyed and appreciated the disparate voices perhaps more than I might have appreciated the same advice in a monolithic voice.

5 comments about Charles Reid’s Watercolor Secrets.

1. This book, Charles Reid, author, entitled "Watercolor Secrets" was picked by an instructor at Washburn University for a class on watercolor. I am taking the class and find the book weak on instructions, but good in presenting the
   variety of work this artist has done. It certainly could be written in a more instructional style.



2. Charles Reid is a wonderful artist. I enjoyed reading the book but it falls short as an instruction manual as it is very difficult to understand from the text and illustrations how Charles actually achieves his very loose wet in wet effects.



3. This book is not intented to deliver technical help. It's a book full of tips
   & tricks about general aspect of Mr. Reid approach to painting, with
   differents conditions and subject. It's a great bed time reading.



4. The title of this book is rather misleading. I had thought I was going to get some real expert tips on watercolor painting but instead this book is just a reprinting of the artist's watercolor "NOTEBOOKS" with VERY little in the way of useable and tangible tips about painting in watercolor. The book is slender, sparsely laid-out and over-priced at that. It struck me as just an excuse for a book with a cleverly disguised title to market and sell it (everyone wants the "secrets", right?) . Save your money!



5. Put 'Watercolor painting techniques' into Amazon Advance Search and you'll come up with well over a thousand titles. I'm sure most of these are worthy books but I'll stick with anything by Charles Reid. I have five of his books and 'Watercolor Secrets' together with Painting Flowers in Watercolour are probably the ones I look through most often.
   
   All of the books, of course, show what a stunning artist he is though I much prefer his watercolor work rather than oils. It's his studied casualness that I love, colors define shapes, they merge into each other, large areas are just left blank and look unfinished yet the overall effect is controlled precision. His work is totally convincing and rather unique.
   
   The five chapters in this book throw up lots of interesting techniques for the established painter*. I particularly liked the Demonstration pages in each of the five chapters. Each shows a step-by-step series of paintings from the original drawing to the finish with comprehensive captions to each picture. There's something for everyone in the book: figures, landscape and seascapes, flowers, buildings and more.
   
   Another reason I like this book is because it's so good to look at. Visually it is based on a landscape sketchbook and nicely each spread has part of a used sketchbook printed in the spine. The layout and typography are first class (a tip of the hat to Wendy Dunning) and how refreshing to find a publisher that is prepared to go that little bit extra for the reader.
   
   If you like Charles Reid get this book for some excellent examples of his work and positive thoughts on watercolor techniques.
   
   *Just starting out? Have a look at Reid's Painting What You Want to See (Practical Art Books) which has some very basic instructions, especially on drawing.
   
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5 comments about Flip Dictionary.

1. My husband just bought a second book for his office. Turns out that the Flip Dictionary makes sense to him when a regular thesaurus is too complicated. Since he has to write a great deal of correspondence, as well as personnel reviews and standardized procedures, finding the right word is terribly important. With dyslexia, finding the right word, and then writing the right word can be very challenging. He has decided the Flip Dictionary is a tool he cannot work without. If you need a simple thesaurus, this is the one.



2. As a journalsit, I never found Roget's Thesaurus to be of the slightest use, but I turn up Dr Kifner's Flip Dictionary at least once a week. Evan Whitton



3. I've had this book for over a year, and it has been helpful one time. It never has what I'm looking for.



4. I keep the Flip Dictionary right within my reach whenever I'm writing, along with my dictionaries and thesaurus.
   The Flip Dictionary is a great source of information if you're looking for just the right word to use. It should be on every writers' book shelf.



5. There is nothing much helpful here. The Reader's Digest Reverse Dictionary has been around much longer, and provides better definitions. This has a few more modern words, but most of them are either too obscure, or too well known on the other hand, to be useful in writing.

1 comments about Latin American Graphic Design.

1. Fantastic book, it fills a much needed gap in the knowledge of Contemporary Latin American Graphic Design

No comments about Chinese Calligraphy (The Culture & Civilization of China).

5 comments about LogoLounge 2 (mini): 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers.

1. Lots of pictures of different logos and the book is arranged in a very orderly manner. Excellent book!



2. I'm very impressed with the wide array and organization of this book (and the others in the series). Such great colors, and layout... everything just makes me want to study every last detail on every last page. I've bought the first two... and have added the third one to my wish list. If you want to be a good logo designer but experience "designer's block," this should get you over that hump. Thanks, Bill Gardner, and all the fabulous designers who were featured in the book!



3. Well printed, well edited and an excellent resource for designers and creative individuals.



4. Great for idea gathering and inspiration. It keeps you up to date with the newest logo designs.



5. Logo Lounge 1 is a must-have in my design library - I refer to it often. Unfortunately Logo Lounge 2 seems lackluster, uninspired, and disappointing. While it contains the same quantity of logos as the first book, the solutions are much less imaginative and the profile section at the beginning is too long and the designers profiled, and their work, are difficult to relate to.

3 comments about Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation.

1. this is an excellent book for any artist or intellectual interested in modern art. Deleuze understands the canvas better than bacon,creating powerful justifications for the modern approach to art .
   though people criticize him for unintelligable thinking,i feel it is more appropriate to say deleuze wages a war on the cliche, which includes our habitual methods of thinking...to understand deleuze is to graduate from the sterile plane of habitual thought and enter a zone of creativity ..a zone that deleuze recognizes as the arena of art..



2. Gilles Deleuze is one of France's most important philosophers, and in that role he has influenced many branches of the arts with his scholarly investigation of the subjects he chooses to investigate.
   
   Deleuze here writes about the 'sensational' aspects of Francis Bacon's art, art which he knows well, living with several of Bacon's works in his home. His exploration of the inspiration of Bacon's various trademark strokes and subjects grows naturally out of his applying philosophical musings on visual subjects: this book is a thesis on aesthetics for which Bacon is simply but powerfully the nidus.
   
   Though the book was written in 1981, it remains one of the more fascinating books on aesthetics and the influences on Bacon's work along with sidebars on music, film, and writing that make the work more of an informed 'novel' than simply the intellectual volume it is. For this reader the addition of more visuals would have made more of an impact, but the writing (or translation from the French!) is so seethingly seductive that soon the visuals would become secondary. This is a tough read but a most important one. Grady Harp, July 06



3. in this book, deleuze demonstrates that modern knowledge is no longer powered by dialectics or rationale, but by human sensuality. bacon's work is a good example to show that how art owns the ability to go beyond discourses.

5 comments about Photography: A Cultural History (2nd Edition).

1. 
   
   great condition thanks
   
   Photography: A Cultural History



2. I found photography a Cultural History a very hard to read book. The author seems to jump from subject to subject and from photographer to photographer without any cohesive meaning. The chapters get harder to read as you move towards the later chapters, unfortunately. I don't see what is the sense to mentioning what a photogrpher did or said in a 2 or 3 sentence paragraph, then jump to another photographer and do the same, then jump to another one and do the same and so on and so on. Also, why is the photographers years of existence printed next to each photographers name in parenthesis ? This only makes the book even harder to read. I bought the book because I'm a photography student and the book is mandatory for one of the required courses, but if it was up to me, I would rather use and purchase "The History of Photography" written By Beaumont Newhall even though it is out of date. This was the book originally used in the past, but a few years ago allot of schools decided to switch to the Warner Marien book which I think was a big mistake.



3. An exellent source. The price was unbeatable. At school a smaller version of this book was over $100 and I paid less than $50for a more complete book!



4. i had to buy this for class, and for once it isn't a "textbook" ! finally an art textbook that doubles as a coffee table book, and one you can read. very good text - easy, and not too "academic." highly recommend.



5. This text was hardcover and gorgeous.. and over 1/2 off what the bookstore at my school was selling it for.. Thank you