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4 comments about Tao Magic: The Secret Language of Diagrams and Calligraphy.

1. excellent resource for tattoo designs.Very imformative on the Chinese Art of the Occult.



2. I purchased this book for "high quality artwork" and depictions and translations of chinese charachters. The artistry is poor to say the least, and the amount of information leaves a bit to be desired. I did not find this book to be a source of artwork worthy of being applied to the skin as a tattoo either. Overall I found the book overglorified.



3. I have read some Chinese books on Taoist magic and I think this is a fairly first-look for Westerners. On the down side, it isn't comprehensive in any aspect, as such one cannot perform any Taoist magic based on the information in this book. It provides interesting and correct information, but the information is not enough.

   I think some of the readers have misunderstood the purpose of this book. This book is not to be used as a source for tattoo designs. Taoist charms/talismans often comprise Chinese calligraphic characters and in addition, various symbols eg. 3 dots written horizonally which has symbolic meanings. A taoist magician knows such symbolisms and the associated chants (if it needs a chant to "activate") of the talisman/charm. I was burnt by a talisman and it took me a few years for the scar to heal completely. I was a disbeliever then. Now, to me, it is not a matter of whether Taoist magic works but rather, based on what that makes it work... this book does not cover this even at a beginner's level. It is just a sort of "entertainment", light-reading about Taoist magic.

   For people looking for Chinese calligraphy for tattoos, this is not for that purpose. It is about Taoist magic, not Chinese calligraphic designs!!

   This book is a first-look at Taoist magic only. Do not expect to be able to perform any magick after reading it... as it requires much more information and understanding than provided by this book. In fact, in chanting spells, it is also a requisite to pronounce Chinese words correctly and also knowledge of the various deities in Taoist folklore.




4. This book is a sheer disspointment, as the talisman are just copied from the Dao-tsang. It does not reveal how the talisman is drawn, the rituals involved etc... It's just a collection of talisman bound together with narrations and nothing more.
   
   I would suggest you guys to read instead "The Secret of Taoist Talisman Revealed" ISBN 983-3206-00-X By Wilson Yong.

No comments about Print Index: A Guide to Reproductions (Art Reference Collection).

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1 comments about The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher/a Revealing Look into the Life and Work of the Most Astonishing Artist of Our Time.

1. Probably the best book written about dutch graphic artist MC Escher (by Bruno Ernst, an admirer of Escher that would become a close friend). Not only the book contains a great deal of graphic material, but there are also details about Escher's life not known elsewhere. The books covers a great deal about his early life, his travels to Italy in the 1920s, his life there, his exile into Switzerland after the fascists imposed uniforms on his children, his return to the Netherlands right before the Second World War. Remarkably, this artist revered by mathematicians for his representations of different types of symmetry and mathematical concepts, knew little math himself. He was a rather introverted artist, who had an ambivalent opinion about his own work.

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