Book Description
John Ruskin, Victorian England's greatest writer on art and literature, believed himself to be an adopted son of Venice, and his feelings for this beautiful, melancholy city are nowhere better expressed than in The Stones of Venice, a collection of essays first published between 1851 and 1853. This abridged edition, which contains Ruskin's famous essay "The Nature of Gothic," captures the essence of his masterpiece, offering readers a marvelously descriptive and discursive tour of the glorious city of Venice before it was transformed by postwar restoration. As Ruskin wrote on his second visit to Venice in 1841, "Thank God I am here, it is a Paradise of Cities."
Customer Reviews:
This is only a VERY SHORT EXCERPT!!!!.......2007-01-12
This is misleading...not even 5% of the Ruskin masterwork is printed in this book.
Dover 3 Vol. edition is UNABRIDGED.......2006-08-19
Amazon frequently mixes reader reviews of various editions of a given classic work. Such is the case here. Be advised that if you are now veiwing the Dover 3 vol. edition of Ruskin's The Stones of Venice, it is the UNABRIDGED edition of this work. Not a single word is missing. As such, this is the ultimate edition to own.
A Needed Clarification.......2005-12-17
Hey, guys! A lot of the reviews of this book are complaining that the text is abridged. No! This book is the first of THREE VOLUMES which, together, make up the entire "Stones of Venice." To get the whole thing, you need to buy Volumes 10 and 11 as well, not just Volume 9. (N.B., "The Nature of Gothic," the best-known part, is in Volume 10.) It's all there. You just weren't looking in the right place.
That having been said, it's a shame that one has to spend about $300 to get the complete text in a nice, hardbound format. But it's still a worthy investment.
Material Left Out.......2005-09-24
As much as I appreciate and respect the work of the editor, I was distresed to find that passages in which Ruskin addressed labor reform were left out. This was in Chapter 6. In the original, Ruskin argued for preserving the integrity of individual workers. I found that this edition left out pages that concerned labor reform, making the work appear to concern architecture alone. If you are interested in Ruskin's views on society, then, be cautious of this. For my part, I ended up resorting to the Norton Anthology of Literature for the text I needed.
In the "Gothic" passage of SoV Ruskin wrote quite forcefully in defense of labor. He emphasized how important it is for buildings to show the work of individual workers. Signs of their work are an essential part of the architecture, he contended. Much of this argument does not appear in this edition.
It remains a wonderful work for those who are interested in the architecture alone.
an architecture page turner.......2001-06-12
This is an abridged version of the original 3 volumes, but a delightful book -- both for the opinions expressed and the wonderful pomposity with which they are presented. It's impossible not to learn about art and architecture from this book, but it also (perhaps not intentionally) makes Woody Allen's or Steve Martin's New Yorker pieces seem like downers. The man has no humility and there is no opinion other than his, yet somehow the clarity and vitality of his description allows you to continue reading. I was fortunate enough to pick this up in Venice, so I was able to search out his examples of the 5 worst buildings in Venice, and similar Ruskinisms.
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The Stones of Venice - Part 2 (The Complete Works of John Ruskin - Volume 10)
John Ruskin
Manufacturer: Classic Publishers
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ASIN: 1582013500 |
Amazon.com
Guido Brunetti, the protagonist of Donna Leon's brilliant series about crime in high and low places in Venice, Italy, is back in a smart thriller about a murdered street vendor, one of the illegal immigrants who sell fake fashion accessories outside the tourist mecca's high-priced boutiques while trying to stay one step ahead of the law. Someone had a reason for wanting the nameless African man dead, and the search for the killers and the men who sent them to Brunetti's beloved and beautifully evoked city shortly before Christmas leads the thoughtful, multifaceted and uxorious Commissario to the unfamiliar Venetian milieu where the vu cumpra live. In the cramped, airless room where the Senegalese vendors manage to find shelter, Guido discovers a fortune in so-called "conflict diamonds" hidden among the murdered man's meager belongings. But finding the diamonds' provenance and the killers who were seeking them proves to be an exercise in bureaucratic misdirection. Warned off the case by his boss in the name of "national security," Guido nonetheless persists with his investigation, in the course of which he discovers what--and who--really matters to him. Leon depicts the city she also clearly loves with such skill the reader can almost hear the watter lapping at the edges of the canals and smell the espresso beans roasting in the crisp cold winter air. A tour de force from an author whose reputation for skillful plotting, extraordinary descriptive powers, and complex characters has earned her a loyal base of fans; if you haven't discovered her work before this, Blood from a Stone will only whet your appetite for her extensive backlist of titles featuring Brunetti and his colleagues. --Jane Adams
Book Description
Blood from a Stone brings Donna Leon's celebrated character Commissario Guido Brunetti back on the scene: On a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The closest witnesses to the event are the tourists who had been browsing the man's wares before his death-fake handbags of every designer label. The dead man is one of the many African immigrants purveying goods outside normal shop hours and trading without a work permit. Like everybody involved, Commissario Brunetti wonders why anyone would kill an illegal immigrant. But once Brunetti begins to investigate this unfamiliar Venetian underworld, he discovers that matters of great value are at stake within the secretive society. Warned by Patta, his superior, to resist further involvement in the case, Brunetti only becomes more determined to unearth the truth behind this mysterious killing. Reluctant as he is to let this event be smugly relegated to the category of "not worth dealing with," how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky subculture in this illegal community? Blood from a Stone is an exquisite and irresistible mystery offering an unexpected take on life in contemporary Venice.
Customer Reviews:
Should it be considered a mystery?.......2007-08-24
I have mixed feelings about this book and I would have given it one star if it weren't because she touches a very important theme, although she does it in such a pathetic way that you are left with that 'Orwelian' feeling that things are just getting worse!
It didn't take more than 50 pages for me to begin to get impatient with this book. The plot unravels so slowly and, granted that Brunetti's bosses want it that way, Donna Leon wasted precious opportunities to keep the reader's interest. Her characters are dull, her descriptions of places and characters border on the cliche, in short, she does not make you grow fond of the characters. Brunetti's character is simply lame. There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about him. It almost seems that is wife would be more equipped for his job than he is. He seems insecure, shy and untalented. She introduces 'phantom' characters of sorts who don't bring much to the table. I read she is a famous and known writer because of her insight on Italian life and ways. However, her insight on Venice, apart from constant reference to various landmarks, is minimal. I kept on wondering, has this woman ever been there or did she just read about Venice on a guidebook? I cannot say this was a distinctively Italian mystery. Brunetti seems more like an American blue collar worker to me.
I have to say though that the way the plot unravels is different and surprising. Pity she didn't use it to her advantage. She could have touched on the intricacies of the plan, and in the end the reader is left with the notion of what happened but with a few questions unanswered...
Coming from a background of Agatha Christie mysteries, I don't consider this worth my time or that of a serious mystery reader. Brunetti, like Paris Hilton, is famous for having done nothing. He just makes a few calls and that's it. No insight. No "little gray cells". No brains whatsoever, pure speculation and "pulling of strings". I do understand not every murder can get solved, let alone given justice. However, her idea was grand but her execution pathetic. Folks, don't waste your time with this one.
Perfect Pacing and Delicious Accents in David Colacci's Reading.......2007-08-06
Books full of psychology and verbal sparring rather than action benefit from being listened to rather than read. The professional reader (or author) is able to use timing, pace, and pauses to bring inaction to life and invite you deeper inside the mind of the narrator. I found that David Collaci's reading of Blood from a Stone upgraded this book from a four-star effort as a personal read into a five-star listening experience through the unabridged CD.
The main character in Blood from a Stone isn't Commissario Guido Brunetti, but rather the city of Venice. If you know and love Venice, you'll add one star to your experience with this book or CD by being reminded of your great experiences there.
The book is a near-literary-quality novel, even though portrayed in a police procedural format. Ms. Leon is much more interested in having your think about what it means to be a good human than in intriguing you with her mystery and exciting you with her plot. The book raises fundamental questions about our connections to every other person on the planet, our colleagues, friends, loved ones, and family members. Although the book will seem preachy at times about one view or another, Ms. Leon leaves plenty of room for you to draw your own conclusions. But you'll definitely find your sensitivity honed as you think about more dimensions of relations with others . . . and their consequences for you and others.
As the book opens, two assassins stalk and kill an illegal street vendor who is a black African. The police don't rush to the scene and don't find any helpful information to identify the man. Commissario Brunetti makes slow progress through a combination of Signorina Ellatra's computer and persuasive skills, his own snooping around, and Sgt. Vianello's willingness to provide loyal shoe leather and silence. A visit to the abode of the victim yields more clues, but no identity. The clues raise disturbing questions that don't belong in a police investigation.
Soon, Vice-Questore Patta is telling Brunetti that he should go through the motions and not find the killer. The pressure to ignore the killing grows. Brunetti plays along while pursuing a hidden investigation that features his trustworthy colleagues, friends, and family in off-the-record activities. Why is the fix in? Brunetti can only speculate until late in the story.
The book's conclusion leaves Brunetti with an interesting dilemma, one that you should think about as though it were your own before you find out what Brunetti does.
The strength of this book is in its superb portrayal of the ambivalent attitudes and relationships among the illegal African street vendors, the police, the vendors' customers, ordinary citizens, and the vendors' landlords. Ms. Leon does a wonderful job of getting across the full range of perspectives and experiences. Ultimately, she wants you to decide what the crimes are and who the criminals are in the illegal set-up from a moral rather than a judicial perspective.
If, however, you just want an intriguing and fast-paced mystery, you'll wonder what all of the side trips into philosophical questions are all about.
One of her best.......2007-03-09
I think this is one of the best that Leon has written. Maybe I'm somewhat influenced by a recent trip back to Venice and lots of encounters with the "vu cumpra" (mostly Senegales who sell fake Gucci, Prada etc.). But it was a good read with a fairly complex plot that managed to tie together the murder, the locale and the good Commissario with international themes of terrorism and systemic corruption.
Venice Lover.......2007-02-13
I thoroughly enjoy Donna Leon. Her sense of place, her characters, her menu descriptions and her stories. Bon appetito!
Not Her Best.......2006-06-19
I love the Brunetti books, but this one just seems to miss the gondola, as it were. It's a mystery in which which Brunetti seems to be more of a spectator than the solving sleuth. Even Leon's usually amusing interchanges between Brunetti and his boss Patta lack spark here. About the only thing in which this book excels is Leon's descriptions of Venice. Armed with my map of the city, I follow all the action canal-by-canal, calle-by-calle. So, mainly for the travelogue I give it three stars. Donna Leon is a superstar in my book and I guess she is allowed to occasionally boot one. Hope her next book regains the artistry that her previous offerings do.
Average customer rating:
- A picture book
- Tops for Ruskin redux
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- Ruskin's Venice
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Ruskin's Venice: The Stones Revisited
Sarah Quill
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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The Architectural History of Venice: Revised and enlarged edition
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The Stones of Venice
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Venice Observed (Art and Places)
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Venice for Pleasure
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A History of Venice
ASIN: 1840146974 |
Book Description
Of the many foreign travelers who have written about Venice there is none to surpass John Ruskin, the great nineteenthcentury writer, artist and critic, whose massive three-EDITION work The Stones of Venice (1851-3) remains one of the most influential books on art and architecture ever written. Known and read all over the world in Ruskin's lifetime, the Stones surveyed the buildings of Venice and developed an aesthetic and intellectual argument which is still at the heart of the debate on the meaning of architecture and craftsmanship. To mark the centenary of Ruskin's death in 1900, Sarah Quill has compiled an illustrated guide to The Stones of Venice, linking Ruskin's descriptions of individual buildings with a contemporary photographic record of the architecture and sculpture as it is seen today. This abridgment excludes interiors and paintings, concentrating on the exterior architecture and sculpture of Venice, all of which may be seen from the street or from the water without entering a building. Much of Ruskin's splendid prose is reproduced, together with many of his drawings and watercolors and a number of nineteenth-century engravings of the period. More than 200 photographs taken by Sarah Quill during the last years of the twentieth century identify the details described by Ruskin and show the extent to which the city's architecture has survived, or changed, since publication of The Stones of Venice 150 years before. The opening chapter by Alan Windsor provides informative introductions to Ruskin's involvement with Venice, and to the periods and styles of Venetian architecture. Ruskin, a superb draftsman, wrote that he wished life were long enough to illustrate his books more fully. The photographs included in this edition redress that balance and the modern reader will find that Ruskin is still an eloquent and persuasive guide to the architecture of this unique and fragile city. Contents: Introductions, Alan Windsor; Before "the Stones": Ruskin's early impressions of Venice, documented in letters and reminiscences; The Stones of Venice: Byzantine: Torcello-Murano-St Mark's-Byzantine palaces; The Stones of Venice: Gothic: Gothic palaces and churches-The Ducal Palace; The Stones of Venice: Renaissance: Early, central and "grotesque" Renaissance architecture; After "the Stones": Ruskin's later engagement with Venice; his views on the restoration issues; Glossary; Bibliography and recommended reading; Index.
Customer Reviews:
A picture book.......2007-01-12
A beautiful book, but it is principally a very short compendium of the Ruskin book assorted with awesome pictures!
Tops for Ruskin redux.......2004-09-01
I am a yearly visitor to Venice and an amateur of Venetian history. I have tried to read the original Ruskin several times and always got bogged down in it. This book does a lovely job highlighting Ruskin's voluminous work with wonderfully detailed photography. I was in Venice 2 weeks ago and having read this book greatly enhanced my appreciation of the architectural details of many buildings. Highly recommended for anyone desiring to take the time to study the exquisite fine points of this jewel of a city.
The stone that the builders rejected.......2000-08-01
I read an original copy (circa 1890), a three volume set with beautiful, color stone lithographs and (of course) no editorial abridgment. It became a gift to a friend wanting to learn about architecture as the best possible starting point. I cannot condone abridgment of this work. Particularly as Ruskin's illustrations really clarify his presentation.
But if one is willing to overlook unnecessary editorial wiseacreing, this book is obviously a classic. It is a marvelous experience to be able to look at a building, any building, when driving or walking down a street, and know the history, name, and significance of each of its facets and adornments.
Unless you happen to live in an area with considerable architectural variety, you will find your newly acquired skills only serve to confirm your opinion that we live in an age of totally bland and meaningless construction.
I cannot recommend this book (at least in its original) highly enough.
Ruskin's Venice.......2000-03-17
This is a deeply inspiring photographic account of Ruskin's commitment to Venice. It serves as a remarkable and revelatory companion to Ruskin's THE STONES OF VENICE and, to any one who cares about this city, it is an entirely necessary book. It is difficult to imagine how it might have been done better.
Book Description
Volume II, The Sea-Stories, examines the Byzantine era and the brilliant architectural developments of Venice's Gothic period. Readers will find no better guide to the spiritual content and aesthetic pleasures of architecture. This is the only unabridged edition in print, with all of Ruskin's original drawings. 20 plates, 38 figures.
Customer Reviews:
The very foundation of architecture.......2006-12-28
No architect ignorant of "The Stones of Venice", or incapable of understanding the message which it carries, should ever be issued a diploma, or allowed in any way to ply his trade. Regrettably, few architects have heard of it, fewer still read it, and one wonders how many out of those have actually grasped its message. Yet, the root cause of the emotional desolation and the essential depravity of modern architecture lies, without a doubt, in the ignorance of this great work. Let us hope the return of the complete edition of The Stones after a century-and-a-quarter of absence engenders the long overdue change. So far as the layman, these volumes will teach him a new language, so that he will be able to hear the stories the great buildings are eager to tell him. Unfortunately, he will also hear so much more clearly the incomprehensible gibberish of those countless stillborn, crippled, and otherwise malformed edifices that should have never seen the light of the day in the first place.
Book Description
Ruskin surveys the great buildings of Venice, applying the principles enunciated in his The Seven Lamps of Architecture in a three-volume treatment. Volume I, The Foundations, presents a short history of the city and discusses architecture's functional and ornamental aspects. There is no better guide to the spiritual and aesthetic pleasures of architecture. 21 plates. 72 figures.
Customer Reviews:
The very foundation of architecture.......2006-12-27
No architect ignorant of "The Stones of Venice", or incapable of understanding the message which it carries, should ever be issued a diploma, or allowed in any way to ply his trade. Regrettably, few architects have heard of it, fewer still read it, and one wonders how many out of those have actually grasped its message. Yet, the root cause of the emotional desolation and the essential depravity of modern architecture lies, without a doubt, in the ignorance of this great work. Let us hope the return of the complete edition of The Stones after a century-and-a-quarter of absence engenders the long overdue change. So far as the layman, these volumes will teach him a new language, so that he will be able to hear the stories the great buildings are eager to tell him. Unfortunately, he will also hear so much more clearly the incomprehensible gibberish of those countless stillborn, crippled, and otherwise malformed edifices that should have never seen the light of the day in the first place.
Book Description
More than 150 years after its first publication in 1851-53, this massive work by a great Victorian writer, critic, and artist remains one of the most influential books on art and architecture ever written. In this third volume, he discusses the Byzantine period and the development of Venetian life in its brilliant Gothic period. 20 plates. 38 figures.
Customer Reviews:
The very foundation of architecture.......2006-12-28
No architect ignorant of "The Stones of Venice", or incapable of understanding the message which it carries, should ever be issued a diploma, or allowed in any way to ply his trade. Regrettably, few architects have heard of it, fewer still read it, and one wonders how many out of those have actually grasped its message. Yet, the root cause of the emotional desolation and the essential depravity of modern architecture lies, without a doubt, in the ignorance of this great work. Let us hope the return of the complete edition of The Stones after a century-and-a-quarter of absence engenders the long overdue change. So far as the layman, these volumes will teach him a new language, so that he will be able to hear the stories the great buildings are eager to tell him. Unfortunately, he will also hear so much more clearly the incomprehensible gibberish of those countless stillborn, crippled, and otherwise malformed edifices that should have never seen the light of the day in the first place.
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Stones of Venice
Lionello Puppi
Manufacturer: Vendome Press
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The Stones of Venice
ASIN: 0865652457 |
Book Description
It is the meeting of stone and water that creates much of the magic of Venice, the solidity and permanence of the former and the evanescent fragility of the latter. What these elements have done, however, is to wear away surfaces, making the simplest brick wall an object of contemplation and giving a special patina to the expensive marbles used from a staircase to a masterpiece of sculpture.
Following the Byzantine tradition, multicolored pieces of marble and semiprecious stone covered the floors of a religious building in a magic mosaic. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, multicolored marble tombs climbed up the walls of the city's churches and great artists made magnificent stone statues in all sizes for church and state as well as for the great patrician families.
This beautiful, specially photographed all color book on Venice is a thesis on the texture, color, shape and endless uses of stone in the hands of sensitive artists and a source of inspiration for designers and craftsmen in all areas.
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The Stones of Venice: Volume 1
John Ruskin
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
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Binding: Paperback
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The Stones of Venice: Volume 2
ASIN: 1421244063
Release Date: 2001-03-13 |
Book Description
This Elibron Classics book is a reprint of a 1900 edition by George Allen, London.
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