Rare & Collectible Books

Archive for the ‘Rare & Collectible Books’ Category

Communicate! (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

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Perhaps this book is considered, by some people, to be a college-level volume, but the simplification of the subject is of the most demeaning of sorts. It begins by teaching you the most basic of ideas, the communication process (entailing the meanings of words like context, participants, messages, channels, noise, feedback, and so on), drudges through some page-filler slush about why we should communicate, and finally, in chapter twelve, gets [...]

The Laramie Project

Moises Kaufman

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I am the 61-year-old father of a 24-year-old son who appeared in The Laramie Project two years ago, when he was a college senior. I sat in the front row of the theater in the round in which the play was produced. The play did not “get to me”–it dragged me into the worst What If a parent can have: what if my son were gay (he’s not), what if [...]

Understanding Art

Lois Fichner-Rathus

Rating: 6.0/10 (1 vote cast)

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I went to a multimedia school where I took a class on the fundamentals of art & design. Understanding Art was the required text book. Little would I know that I would still be talking about Understanding Art and recommending it for years after that class! (Just don’t let my teacher know that!) The book takes you throughout the history of art, starting from the earliest forms, throughout the middle [...]

Seven Days in the Art World

Sarah Thornton

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Sarah Thornton’s book offers an attentive, ethnographic eye to art, artists, and the world in which they exist. She writes clearly and with great attention to detail not only to the art, but the people and super-sized personalities that they house. This and her access to many of the major art events in the world (Basel etc.) kept me turning to the next page. At one point I was a [...]

Candide

Voltaire

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Ever since philosophers began thinking about the meaning of life, a favorite question has been “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. In Voltaire’s day, this issue was primarily pursued either from the perspective of faith (everything that happens is God’s will and must be for Divine purpose) or of reason (What do these events mean to you, as you interpret them subjectively?). Infuriated by the reaction by some [...]

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures

Robert K. Wittman and John Shiffman

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Very much a page-turner. Wittman’s got a lot of great stories to tell about why we should appreciate art, how some government agencies have a warped sense of priorities and of course the fascinating ways in which some of the most infamous property crimes in history have played out and his role in them. There are suave characters, misfit gangsters and plot twists that can make you laugh or cry [...]

In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing

Walter Murch and Francis Ford Coppola

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OK I can’t believe the guy who was looking for tips on how to put a scene together. I have been a film and commercial editor for 25 years and Mr. Murch’s work is what all who have ever wanted to be an editor look up to. The joy of this book is that it doesn’t delve into the nuts and bolts of editing-which is the worst part of my [...]

Architectural Graphics (Architecture)

Frank Ching

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Those who have panned this book weren’t looking for insight into the thought process of architectural design. This book is not a cookbook, but a primarily graphical introductory intended to start the architecture student thinking how architects think. I’m not technically an architecture student, but rather an architecture design “hobbyist”. I found this book very useful as far as helping me to look at the design process in new ways, [...]

Pygmalion

George Bernard Shaw

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It is not very likely that George Bernard Shaw knew he was writing the play that would become one of the seminal romantic comedies of the 20th when he penned `Pygmalion’. The play is delightful, with borrowed elements from many genres. There is comedy and romance, above all, but there is also a very clear social critic — and even a Marxist idea of class struggle. What only enhances the [...]

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]

Julia Cameron

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Funny, most of the reviews on this book are either ecstatic or disgusted. I see both sides. True, this woman DOES think she has reached it and knows absolutely everything; she tries to put the artistic process (for any artist, amateur or professional, in any medium) in a box; she tries to deny that being an artist has to involve any real work; she teaches you to be selfish; and [...]