No comments about I Opened the Gate, Laughing: An Inner Journey.

5 comments about Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite.

1. I feel that this book seems, at first glance, to be much better than it really is. That is, when one picks up the book for the first time in a book store and flips through the pages, one gets the impression that it will actually be interesting to read, and will help in understanding Escher's genius. But really, the works themselves are the only things this book offers, the text is basically useless, shallow and uninteresting.



2. Maurits Escher, as an artist, needs no introduction. As a writer, however, he is not nearly well known enough. This short book collects some of his early writings from rather obscure journals, and presents a lecture that was never actually given.
   
   Escher is well known for his precise renderings, and we are blessed with writing in the same precise style. He wrote out the script for his lecture in full, before it was to be given. That means that, when a medical emergency forced its cancellation, the lecture was preserved in its entirety. Like his geometric woodcuts and his precise lithographs, the calm of the text belies the passion that lay behind it. Escher spent decades in poverty before his well-earned fame, and pursued visions for which he had no good words and certainly no companions. That same drive was what pushed his skill as a woodblock artist down to the limits of his hands and his materials, below the limit of his unaided eye.
   
   Although not trained in math or the hard sciences, he puts a human face on subtle mathematical concepts. The infinite and unbounded is a common idea, the finite and bounded is part of everyday life. These aren't his words, but he pursued the finite and unbounded, in tiled patterns on the surface of a sphere. He also sought out the infinite and bounded, and found it in the Cirle Limit pieces and other works.
   
   This book is the only inexpensive and easily accesible source of Escher's own thoughts on his work. It's not a catalog of his work - most of the reproductions so small that they only suggest the piece depicted, or remind a viewer already familiar with the work. It's not a biography, although it has a few biographical details. People with the wrong expectations are sure to be disappointed in this.
   
   I'm happy with it. It is a very enjoyable look at his cool manner of presentation. Like his Three Worlds litho, it presents a surface of meaning, but shows reflections of distant ideas and hints at his hidden depths.
   
   //wiredweird



3. I think I was under the impression that this was a bigger book or something, but I wish it had bigger, better pictures. This is a paperback with lots more writing than pictures. Small pictures and not a ton of them. Decent book from what I've skimmed.



4. this book contains notes and unheard lectures that escher had prepared, in which he explains the method of making his tesselations and patterns. after reading this book, i felt the mystery dissipated, but also inspired to try out some of the concepts (for example, for creating gradations from one figure to the next). i found it really interesting that he so openly acknowledged that he didn't understand much of the theory and text on crystallography, but found new directions in his own work after looking at some imagery from that field. i did find myself glossing over the text of the second half of the book, though, since some of the same thoughts he said were re-iterated, as well as the theme of loneliness in his life.



5. 
   As a longtime fan of Escher's work,I found this an excellent book.I have several books of Escher's work,a couple of jigsaw puzzles,and his "Kaleidocycles" of 17 full-color ,three dimensional ,folding models.This book is very interesting to any fan of Escher's work as it is Escher himself explaining his reasons for creating his art.
   For a long time, he was virtually alone in his field, that combines both graphic art and Geometric Mathematics.
   Reading the book is as close as one can get to attending lectures by the master himself. Escher prepared lectures that were accompanied with slides of his work that he intended to give to explain his work. The book contains the complete text of these lectures as well as pictures of the slides and his explanations.
   The book shows what great difficulty he had in gaining acceptance of his work ,which critics had great difficulty in catgorizing his work and thus tended to ignore it for many years.
   While the reproductions in this book are small,as other reviewers have mentioned,don't let that discourage you from getting this book.There are other books with much larger reproductions that show off his work much better.But, if you want to get a much deeper knowledge of this wonderful artist and understand his motives and life;you would have a hard time in finding a better sourse to turn to.

2 comments about Genius Moves: 100 Icons of Graphic Design.

1. This book illustrates the recurring ideas, themes, styles, and forms that graphic designers have used over the past century. It shows me that nothing is really new, but it takes a talented designer to make the old seem like never before.



2. For almost a decade, New York Times art director Steven Heller has contributed a column to PRINT magazine called "Separated at Birth," inwhich he features twin-like pairs of otherwise unrelated designs. In 1993, he and Julie Lasky wrote an entire book on "appropriation" in design, titled Borrowed Design: Use and Abuse of Historical Form (Van Nostrand Reinhold). This book is in part an extension of that, in the sense that it unearths and juxtaposes examples of graphic design that seem to be indebted to earlier efforts in art and design. It is shown convincingly, for example, that the abstract crosses in the work of the Russian Constructivists were probably inspired by the clerical garb of Russian Orthodox priests in the 15th century; or that the famous pointing hand in James Montgomery Flagg's "I Want You For the U.S. Army" poster (1917) was anticipated by a ubiquitous advertising display for a drink called Moxie (1911) and a World War I recruiting poster (1914) in which Lord Kitchener (in a pose identical to that of Uncle Sam) "points a finger" at unenlisted British males. For good or bad, this book has very little text: Other than a brief paragraph that introduces each icon, its only commentary is a well-written opening essay. But it offers an almost unparalleled wealth of more than 500 full-color illustrations of historic examples of graphic design. -Roy Behrens, Ballast

No comments about The Trade Card in Nineteenth-Century America.

1 comments about Hiroshige in Tokyo: The Floating World of Edo (Painters and Places Series).

1. 
   
   Nature was the primary subject of renowned Japanese printmaker Hiroshige (1797 - 1858). He painted birds, flowers, and legendary scenes, as well as contributing to the Ukiyo-e prints, which depicted scenes in the world of fashion and entertainment.
   
   Hiroshige in Tokyo details the background of woodblock printing which was introduced in Japan in the eighth century. At that time, its chief use was the production of inexpensive religious charms. Gradually the art of block printing grew into the masterpiece represented in this lovely volume.
   
   The author concentrates on two of Hiroshige's series of prints: "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" and "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo." These scenes, which are identified according to actual location, sometimes represent the Japanese view of nature. It was seen in its sheer simplicity as a means for an interpretation of reality.
   
   The scenes beautifully capture Tokyo during the Edo period, reflecting the seasonal changes in the countryside as well as the daily lives of Tokyo's citizens.
   
   With over 100 paintings, photographs and artifacts, Hiroshige in Tokyo is an important addition to the archives of Japanese printmaking.
   
   - Gail Cooke
   

5 comments about Obsolete Paper Money: Issued by Banks in the United States 1782-1866: a Study and Appreciation for the Numismatist and Historian.

1. This book is not your typical data book with only pictures and current values for each note (such as Haxby, etc). It is a history book of many notes issued in the United States. It covers the years 1782 - 1866 and is mainly focused on "obsolete notes."
   
   For those who only collect notes as a commodity, this is not the book for you. For those who collect to own a piece of history, this IS a great book for you. Given the large task that the author had, he has done a very nice job. If he were to cover every detail of every note, he would never finish. However, the final work is very nice!
   
   I give it 4.5 stars and not 5 because he did not (and could not) cover all notes and history.



2. Bowers has compiled a substantial body of material that traces the evolution of American currency from the wampum used by native Americans and early settlers to the broken bank notes that effectively disappeared after the Civil war. Even a tome this size is unable to cover that much ground in any real depth, but Bowers makes intelligent decisions about when to go into depth and when to trace the superficial edges. On the whole, this is an invaluable resource for the beginning collector who wants a lot of information in a single place.



3. if you are looking for a great history reference that shows how paper money fits into the history - this is your book, Mr. Bowers does a great job in researching his history and he shows how the currency and banking fit.
   
   If you are looking for a good paper money reference, you will find this book very frustrating to use. As a paper money reference I thought it to be very disorganized and frustrating for me to use. BUt this book is still a great addition to my library.
   
   Coverage of Northeast states like Maine, was excellent and probably better done here than elsewhere.
   What I can't understand is why Mr. Bowers tries to do everything, when there are still books needed in areas where he has the most expertise.
   
   I liked the book.



4. This will be the authority on broken bank notes and obsolete currency for years to come. Mr. Bowers is no doubt one of the very few individuals in the world that could bring all this material together and make an extremely readable and much needed volume available to numismatists and students of economic history.



5. Not what I was looking for. It sounded like there was pricing information in book, but there was none.

1 comments about Sounds.

1. There are and have been, of course, other poets who pay a heavy devotion to the aural aspects of their work in sacrifice of a literarily traceable constructed set of metaphor and message. Cummings comes immediately to mind. However, to my knowledge (and please write me if you can add any) there are none that create such a level of intrigue and pleasure so simply with such mundane tools. Here Kandinsky shows us the incredible wealth of metaphor and depth in the utterly everyday. To so deftly focus our interest on small phrases, a "hello," a "goodbye," is very difficult to achieve without appearing melodramatic and obvious. These are simple poems for thoughtful people. (As opposed, I suppose, to thoughtless poems for simpletons?)

No comments about Voyage to Paradise: A Visual Odyssey.

4 comments about Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Specialized Issues, Volume One (Standard Catalog of World Paper Money Vol 1: Specialized Issues).

1. this book is great in term for those who very very interested in world currency and pro in this field... it may be good to own a copy of this book cause it include a lot of world money that you and me were not born yet... especially note that impress me is the CHINA's CENTURY ... it is like amazing to see those kind of note that never thought of it would be called as "money"...

   anywhere this book is great... and if this book improving its' note with color than it is highly recommended...

   thank you...

   regards,
   Jason Yap




2. The value of this book is going to depend on what you collect - if you collect China, Mexico, Russia, Latin America, and certain British Commonwealth - then yes, this book is very good and very valuable - WHERE IS ISRAEL? Are you trying to tell me there are no specialized issues for Israel/Palestine - Theres lots of people who can help the editor - myself included. The standard Pick Book doesn' list any of the military issues, all standard issues, and none of the specialized issues, I've even emailed scans of notes to the editors - otherpeople have too. Richard Gatto, Bill Rosenblum, the Israel coin and currency c/ollectors group, the AINA, the INS all people who can help the editors, who don't read Hebrew - well sorry we know the notes trust us. We know what they look like - that is only one of many areas totally uncovered and what about Russia - you have 25000 uncataloged notes to go - why did you quit? work getting a little hard - want to do nothing and get an easy buck? that's what this is about - did yall even try to find the market values on these notes? maybe for some markets, I see htat - not every market. The price a note goes for at auction and what a dealer says a note is worth and gives it to Krause can be different. There are too many price differences, i saw notes listed for $125 from Costa Rica in this NEW BOOK sell for $1600 at auction, so explain to me the $125? is that because someone was hoping to buy one at that price? isn't there a problem here, yall think I'm crazy - I've heard this more than dozens of times. Why not be UNBIASED, report the true values, be accurate? Isn't that what a price book is supposed to be? Overall I like the book - but I'm pretty angry about how the editors dealt with me and other collectors about the Israel section they already had all the information and chose not to include it. They had some of it in the book before but took it out, why? The 3rd edition of Pick 2 has many notes currently not included, why's that? I know they work hard. It's either a great book or a lousy book depending on what you collect. Some things have no coverage at all. Maybe you need a Middle East specialist, these notes are non-existant in this book Did yall even ask Armen what he thought? I think you have too narrow of a group of people who give input into these books. Nobody asked me anything, and I know more about Isreal Paper money than a lot of people, but there are people who know more than me. Even the pre-established books weren't consulted. Seems like the editors think they are above everyone else or just plain working too hard, ok admit you can't do the job. Don't say this is everything when it isn't



3. This book is invaluable source of information for both collectors as well as dealers of modern banknotes. The major flaw, however, is the unrealistic UNC catalog values for most banknotes. The majority are exaggerated and no one can sell at even 50% of such CVs. However, the book stands as a unique source and a vault of invaluable information about all modern banknotes.



4. This book along with occasional use of the WEB has enabled me to identify currency from countries that not only do not use english style letters but the number systems as well. The text has both some color and a lot of black and white photos of currency along with a brief description of what the note is called. The pictures enable positive ID of a piece of Cucurrency. The book is a must have for the serious collector.

1 comments about Music: A Pictorial Archive of Woodcuts and Engravings (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. As a student teacher, I've been looking all over for resources to use in my future classrooms, and yesterday my friend and I came upon this excellent collection of illustrations. This is a wonderful selection of musical clip-art, ranging from serious pieces (such as composer profiles) to the very comical (such as the cat piano..erm, you'd have to see that one to do it justice!:-)).

   I would recommend this book to any music educator who would like to spice up programs, announcements, and assignments!

   Michael Clark clar9097@students.sou.edu