Book Description
A gorgeous gift and a landmark work that is an essential addition to everyone's personal library.
Never before have the four great works of Charles Darwin—Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845), The Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)—been collected under one cover. Undertaking this challenging endeavor 123 years after Darwin's death, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson has written an introductory essay for the occasion, while providing new, insightful introductions to each of the four volumes and an afterword that examines the fate of evolutionary theory in an era of religious resistance. In addition, Wilson has crafted a creative new index to accompany these four texts, which links the nineteenth-century, Darwinian evolutionary concepts to contemporary biological thought. Beautifully slipcased, and including restored versions of the original illustrations, From So Simple a Beginning turns our attention to the astounding power of the natural creative process and the magnificence of its products. Slipcased hardcover; 101 illustrations, map.
Customer Reviews:
Can't Beat It.......2007-04-03
I bought this book knowing very little about Darwin or his theories. From So Simple a Beginning was an easy read about a very interesting man. I would hope that not just supporters of evolution would read this book there is more to the man then just one theory.
Four classics.......2007-01-12
Excellent in every particular. Five stars in delivery time, condition, quality of the experience.
Wonderful writing wrong package.......2007-01-10
There is no gainsaying the writings of Darwin or the thinking of my favorite living scientist, E.O.Wilson. But the package is wrong.
Four books in one. Too heavy, too cumbersome. Discouraging.
Too big.......2007-01-05
This book is way too big to hold to read, so it is not useful. From the picture I thought I was ordering 4 different books in a book holder, not one giant book. I recommend buying them separately unless you have very strong arms and wrists.
From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, T.......2006-07-02
Good
Book Description
Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style” are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books.
Written by noted design authority Richard Hollis, this lavishly illustrated volume looks at the uniquely clear graphic language developed by such Swiss designers as Theo Ballmer, Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hoffman, Ernst Keller, Herbert Matter, Josef Müller-Brockmann, and Jan Tschichold. The style of these artists received worldwide admiration for its formal discipline: images and text were organized by geometrical grids. Adopted internationally, the grid and sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica became the classic emblems of Swiss graphic design.
Showcasing design work across a range of media, including posters, magazines, exhibition displays, brochures, advertisements, books, and film, this essential book shows how many of the Swiss designers’ modernist elements remain an indispensable part of today’s graphic language.
Customer Reviews:
Swiss Graphic Design.......2007-06-27
This is a nice, well made book. It's a great reference for designers or art directors that need to put a Swiss spin on things.
Tineline confusion.......2007-03-01
Hollis's book, while extensive in its documentation and admirable in its visual organization of the Swiss developments, comes to several conclusions which should be questioned. The first is the disproportionate and misguided prominence afforded Theo Ballmer as a prime influence stemming from his experience at the Bauhaus. Whatever Ballmer's influence as a poster designer in the 20s was, he had gotten his essential training in the Basel school, which underwent its own ongoing and largely independent modernist development, prior to Ballmer's very brief time at the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus influence is deemed minor by the emerging Basel school, and Ballmer's later influence in teaching photography and lettering has to be considered a lesser one.
Significant also is the confusion in reporting influences in development of the cutting edge Geigy Pharmaceuticals graphics program where the influences of Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder as educators of the leading Geigy designers are missing. While this is inferred on page 162 in the statement that "the Geigy style originated in the teaching at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule," the key influences in Basel--Hofmann and Ruder--are not mentioned.
Similarly, Hollis attributes Müller-Brockman's "conversion" to the influences of Lohse and Vivarelli, the evidence being the concert hall posters of 1951 and 52. While this is definitely a move in that direction from an earlier illustrative style, the most convincing change, and the style by which Müller-Brockman is widely known, emerged on the hiring of graduates of the Basel school under Armin Hofmann in 1955. This means that Hofmann and Ruder pre-date Müller-Brockman's mature style instead of being placed as p. 214 as a separate and later development--and not as a precursor feeding the larger Swiss development from a more humanistic perspective than the more constructivist direction of the Zürich school. One can argue about which contributed most to the international prominence of Swiss design, but Hollis's own statement p. 215 regarding the world-wide significance of Hofmann's Graphic Design Manual, Principles and Practice, on education is telling. Müller-Brockman's more objective approach was probably more influential in the world of corporate graphics.
Hollis betrays a bias, perhaps, in his strange analysis of Hofmann's Tell poster and omits such key poster achievements as the "Switzerland in the Roman Era" (1957). It is unfortunate that Hollis did not interview Armin and Dorothea Hofmann. They are few of the remaining key figures from the era of Hollis's investigation.
To go boldly with Helvetica.......2007-02-28
The 'Swiss style' comes alive in this fascinating and very comprehensive study. If you design for print and ever wondered how some everyday graphic principles and typefaces originated the answer is in these pages. The story begins in twenties central Europe with a merging of modern art, the Bauhaus, Russian constructivism, craft printing techniques, photography and strong cultural attitudes in German speaking Zurich. All of these influences produced a graphic language of simplicity and directness that spread across Switzerland and one would expect nothing less from a country associated with order and precision.
Interesting as the text is I was particularly impressed with the several hundred illustrations (all with extensive captions) and as this is a book about a visual style and basically a printed one the choice of posters, examples of typography and many spreads from brochures, magazines, books all work well to complement the words.
I was interested in the several pages devoted to the magazine 'Neue Grafik' (New Graphic Design) which was the flagship publication of the Zurich modernists. It only ran for seventeen issues (from 1958 to a double issue seventeen and eighteen in 1965) but was really the only opportunity for designers outside Switzerland to see what was going on. Strangely, despite the design aiming for clarity, reading the issues was a bit of a chore. Three languages were set in each edition in one typeface and one size with paragraphs stretching sometimes to hundreds of words with no par indents or line space. However each spread looked fresh and lively thanks to the publication's grid.
I think it is worth commenting on the book's production. Designed by the author it uses a two column grid but nicely many pages just have one column of text and the space for the other text column is divided into two and used for illustrations and captions. The many variations of these column elements really make the pages sparkle and I think many publication designers could learn something by studying how the text and graphics blend together throughout the book.
Richard Hollis is to be congratulated on writing and designing a book that will surely be regarded as the definitive study about the origins of the Swiss Style.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
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Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins (Islamic History and Civilization)
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
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Book Description
This volume deals with the methodological and theoretical issues of the study of Islamic origins. Each of the twelve articles examines a different aspect of Islamic origins: early Islamic history including the life of the Prophet, the Sunna and ḥadīth, tafsīr and the Qur'ān, and the rise of Islamic law. Both sceptical (or revisionist) scholars and sanguine (or traditionalist) scholars examine and employ the various contemporary theories on the development of Islam in the first 3 centuries A.H. In so doing, they seek to exemplify the sources and methodologies used to support these theories and to discuss their relative merits.
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- evolution of the mind
- A bit dry and overblown, but thoroughly delightful
- A Charming and Fascinating Evocation of Primitive Art and Humanity
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How Art Made the World: A Journey to the Origins of Human Creativity
Nigel Spivey
Manufacturer: Basic Books
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How Art Made the World
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ASIN: 0465081827 |
Book Description
By the charismatic host of the PBS miniseries "How Art Made the World," a compelling and gorgeously illustrated account of how humans made art and how art makes us human.
In the late nineteenth century, the first discoveries of prehistoric painting were greeted with incredulity. How could there have been such deft and skillful artists in the world over 30,000 years ago? Noted art historian Nigel Spivey begins with this puzzle to explore the record of humanity's artistic endeavors and their impact on our own development.
Embarking with the motto, "Everyone is an artist," Spivey takes us on a quest to find out when and how we humans began to explore the deepest questions of life, using visual artforms. With the help of vivid color illustrations of some of the world's most moving and enduring works of art, Spivey shows how that art has been used as a means of mass persuasion, essential to the creation of hierarchical societies, and finally, the extent to which art has served as a mode of terror management in the face of our inevitable death. Packed with new insights into ancient wonders and fascinating stories from all around the globe, How Art Made the World is a compelling account of how humans made art and how art makes us human.
Customer Reviews:
evolution of the mind.......2006-11-10
excellent show, actually better than the book. I watch a lot of documentarys and Non fiction films and this is one of the best I have seen for the tlelevision market.
A bit dry and overblown, but thoroughly delightful.......2006-05-28
The premise that "art made the world" is overblown. The text is often a bit dry. But the trip through the ages on the wings of art is superb. Of course, back 30,000 or so years ago, we don't know if the folks daubing walls and cutting into rock gave a thought to "art." In fact, we don't really have a solid clue as to why they did what they did.
A bit further into history, say a few thousand years ago, we know that people were attempting to immortalize their rulers, gods and priests. Again, we don't know if they were conciously creating "art" or simply communicating.
Art is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.
Whatever purpose may have been in mind, the images, carvings and engravings that have come down to us are mind-boggling and certainly, in our age, may be fairly considered art.
Nigel Spivey is certainly knowledgeable in his area, though he sometimes wanders off into unsupportable theory. The illustrations are magnificient and, frankly, I would preferred to have seen more of them and less of Spivey's text.
Overall a worthwhile book and, despite its occasional pomposity, delightful.
Jerry
A Charming and Fascinating Evocation of Primitive Art and Humanity.......2005-12-14
Nigel Spivey writes with eloquence and gentle humor and a rich understanding of his chosen topic - how art has informed life has informed art since the beginnings of history. This is one of those books that will appeal to all audiences, whether they be primarily interested in history, archeology, art, human studies, or mystery. It is all here in one splendid volume.
Based on a British television series by the same title, Spivey wanders through the most primitive art known from cave drawings, to ornaments, to early 'sculpture' or god figures, into the Renaissance. With very generous pictorial examples he clearly demonstrates how from the very inception of 'art', as we know it, mankind has tackled with the Big Questions - creation, life, death, and gods to God. He shows panoramas of cave drawings which address 'us vs. them', hunting, procreation, fertility, and symbols to ward off evil, be those mythical beasties or Satan or elements of nature confined to diagram, and celebrations and funeral rites. The permutations seem endless.
But in the end this book invites us to look at 'art' in a new way - as a manifestation of man's looking inward at himself, finding a rational universe out of his attempts to represent phenomena. It was then, it is now, and hopefully it ever shall be - Art. Wonderful book. Highly recommended! Grady Harp, December 05
Book Description
John Jude Palencar is a rarity among modern artists, mixing meticulous technique reminiscent of the old masters with a soaring, darkly surreal imagination. There are touches of Bosch and Da Vinci in his visual allegories of netherworld landscapes and doomed characters. His painted book covers and illustrations for works by Stephen King, Lovecraft, Tolkien, and many others have won him wide acclaim, but Palencar is perhaps best known for his covers to the fantasy novels of Christopher Paolini. Origins is a sumptuous tribute to his work.
Customer Reviews:
not just fantasy art.......2007-08-07
This is a fabulous collection of work, I have never come across this artist before and am thrilled to dicover him. Do not make the mistake of thinking of Mr Palencar as a Fantasy artist, although there are some fantasy elements in some of his work, he is an Aritist period. His work has an exceptionally strong figurative element and calls to mind the work of Odd Nerdrum.
The other great thing about this book, is the inclusion of many of the preliminary drawing the Artist has produced for each of the final works, this is a great aid to anyone who has also embarked apon the path of learning to paint and draw. I have no hesitation in recommending this book
Glorious reproductions of many works by a brilliant artist.......2007-04-02
I enjoyed Palencar's surrealistic cover art for years without knowing his name. I think the first may have been for Connie Willis (both her collections of short fiction). I remember stopping and studying the cover and thinking, "Wow, this is really, really something." I saw more work, recognizably "that artist's" work, on other covers--Octavia Butler novels, Charles de Lint books. Oh, "The Onion Girl", that's another one that made me pick up the book. He makes you do that-- stop, look. He makes you stare. He does things to your insides with this amazing unreal reality he presents.
Look at the cover of FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS? I remember being stopped cold in the bookstore for that one. "What does this mean?" It's eerily beautiful. Startling. It's something special.
And he is that. Really, really something special. There is a moodiness, a sort of solitude and mysticism, that you can feel in the artwork. I've gotten this same feeling enjoying the work of Remedios Varo--though without the consistent weight of Varo's symbolism, I gather-- that dazzling surrealist obsessed with alchemy. Palencar seems to be interested in the isolation of the humans in his worlds of wonder or terror. (The Lovecraft cover art paintings are very difficult to behold. Chilling, nauseating, as they should be.) (Then again, I could be totally wrong. This is, after all, just my impression, and I am neither an artist nor an art historian. I'm merely someone who loves SF novels and enjoys SF art.)
So, after years of enjoying cover art by JJP, I was delighted to discover that this book was out there. I have it, I've perused it, I sigh over it, and it will sit next to my other books on SF art, including my Richard Powers one. I'll be enjoying it for years.
What's inside? Well, open it and get to a fabulous two-page title page spread with a robed angel, all soft pale colors and that gorgeous face. (Palencar does faces with marvelous skill. Beautiful, dreamy, thoughtful, inward-looking, trance-y, aesthetically superb faces. And hands and feet, too. I love studying his painted feet and faces. He makes them beautiful.) ORIGINS: The art of John Jude Palencar. Turn the page for another two-page spread with the copyright info. A brunette woman with an exquisite upper back, bared by the robe that's fallen off her shoulders. Slim-fingered hands reaching out to the left, up to the right, strands meticulously painted at her nape. Again, pale colors, greys and whites,and the browns of the woman. That texture that you associate with Palencar--a graininess, like wood or granite or some other natural object with a FEEL to it. Turn one more page and you get to the painting used in ELDEST by CHristopher Paolini, and it is Paolini who pens the foreword, which he ends with, "Welcome, then, to this collection of one man's visions. You may find them thought provoking, you may find them awe-inspiring, but if nothing else, I hope you find them memorable."
I think they are memorable.
Turn the page again and you find the painting "Angelica", painted for the Sharon Shinn novel of that title. A brunette, eyes closed, face turned up, seemingly in prayer, a subtle moon to the right, unattached wings flying off to the left, and a dawn (or maybe dusk) palette of pale lavenders/grays/charcoal, and the soft and pale wings. Note the fingers and that exquisite bone structure. Opposite this painting is "Burning the Midnight Oil" : A biography of the artist, complete with photos.
After several pages of insight into the life and work of the man, the great stuff parades for you: sketches, fully realized works, titles. Page after page of the subtly painted, gorgeously executed, profoundly pleasurable art. Don't expect commentary. This is the only thing lacking in the book, although some may say it's not needed. Me, I love when works are commented on by the artist. What does it mean to him? Why that object? Why these colors?
But sans commentary, you still have paintings that speak well for themselves of wonder and the fictional or theatrical works they relate to.
Palencar just got nominated for a Hugo award for his art. I, for one, hope he wins. These paintings say he's already a winner, just by having this grand talent.
Buy ORIGINS and just abandon yourselves to his art. It's not a bad way to spend a few hours. Not bad at all.
[...]
A LONG OVERDUE COLLECTION.......2007-03-11
John Jude Palencar's art is beautiful and horrifying. Contradictory descriptions perhaps, but thoroughly fitting. Origins: The Art of John Jude Palencar, is the first collection of the artist's work. Palencar's work has been seen on hundreds of book covers as well as in the pages of magazines such as TIME, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. Even if you didn't know him by name, you've probably seen his work, and been mesmerized, just as I was.
The first Palencar cover I recall seeing was for the cover of the H.P. Lovecraft collection "Dreams of Terror and Death" back in 1995. This cover is included in the book and never has a title had a more fitting cover painting than Palencar's disturbing images of death and madness. He would also provide the covers for other Lovecraft collections: "The Road to Madness", "Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos", and "Shadows over Innsmouth." All of these covers capture the essence of Lovecraft's work superbly. These are some of the most disturbing Lovecraft images ever seen!
What is striking about Palencar's work is the strong feelings of isolation they convey, although not necessarily loneliness. A perfect example is the two-page spread of his painting "The Forest House" for the Marion Zimmer Bradley book of the same name. This painting depicts a Celtic woman, wandering in the moonlight of the foggy moorland with a Stonehenge-like ring of stones in the background.
Palencar has also tried his hand at the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, producing covers for each of the books of the trilogy for the Houghton Mifflin published editions. The most striking is his cover for "The Two Towers" showing one of the hobbits riding on top of Treebeard the Ent. The face of Treebeard was based on a photo of Tolkien himself.
One of the most simple, but effective pieces is Palencar's "Macbeth" depicting a horned, and skull-headed figure wearing a spiked crown with several small men impaled on the spikes. It's a gorgeous piece...
In all, the book features some 200 illustration in the 128 pages. Thank the good people at Underwood books for giving Palencar fans a long-overdue collection of his work.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Should appeal to SF / fantasy art fans .......2007-02-16
The general public is probably most familiar with Palencar's work via the portraits of dragons for the covers of the "Eregon" series of fantasy novels. Those illustrations are included in this book, as well as a number of other works, mainly designed for jackets for books in the SF / fantasy genre.
Palencar's work has a unique character to it, focusing on depicting human forms in contemplative poses against background landscapes often featuring intricately detailed tree branches and shrubbery. His color schemes rarely stray far from sepia tones and some whites and grays. The closest affinity he has to another artist is probably Edward Burne-Jones, the Victorian painter who also used a subdued palette and liked to place human figures against flat, high stylized backgrounds. Like Burne-Jones, Palencar is a skilled draftsman with expertise in rendering the human body, and his art combines realism with symbolism in an engaging manner.
Palencar contributes an interesting introductory essay in which he lays out his attitudes and opinions on contemporary art, the "artist Vs illustrator" debate, the workings of the fantasy book market, and the creative processes behind his images. Physically, 'Origins' is well-produced, with reproductions of very good quality. It should appeal to anyone interested in SF / fantasy illustration.
Customer Reviews:
A Skin of Shingles.......2000-09-03
An historical treasure, this book, The Shingle and the Stick Style: form Richardson to the Orgins of Wright, by Vincent Scully is a chest of Architectual masterpieces. Detailed descriptions, interior and exterior photos, and floor plans make this book a wealth of knowledge for anyone interested in Architecture. The book is laid out as most contempory Architecture books. It describes the perticular building, then has the number that corralates to the photo. There are so many historical photographs in this book, and it is all well explained. It takes you step though step from the beginning of the stick stlye to the evoloution to the shingle to the metamorphis of Wright. Ths book is so detailed it even has the architectual sketches of many houses build in Manchester-by-the-Sea at Cape Ann, Mass. For the price this book is a definate buy!
Book Description
Stained glass has always been an art of inspiration and devotion, infusing space with a warm, magical glow. This book is a comprehensive and lavish review of the history, styles, designs, artists, tools, and techniques of this much-loved medium. It begins with the art's early development in ancient Egypt and Rome, then traces its evolution through the Byzantine era, the Romanesque and Gothic styles, and to its revival in the hands of Louis Comfort Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright. Stained Glass also features the innovative work of 20th-century architects and artists.
Stained glass scholar Virginia Chieffo Raguin brings years of study and research to this sweeping survey. With more than 500 color photographs featuring both classic devotional works such as Chartres, Le Mans, and the Abbey at St. Denis and modern creations by Tiffany, Marc Chagall, John La Farge, and the Bauhaus, Stained Glass is the definitive single-volume history of this majestic art.
Customer Reviews:
Best overview in print.......2005-09-29
Raguin's overview of stained glass is the best available art historical overview of the medium, though it's not exactly exhaustive -- it covers the development of stained glass from early medieval time through the present day (though the examples of modern stained glass are comparatively weak), focusing on the evolving function of stained glass in its architectural context (as adornment, a didactic tool, an artistic medium). This is a reference book. You will not find patterns or techniques in it; and it does not examine any particular set of windows in depth; but it does frame the development of style and technology in an understandable narrative, and it has plenty of excellent photographs. Well worth the money.
Average customer rating:
- The definitive source material for computer history
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The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers (Monographs in Computer Science)
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 3540113193 |
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The definitive source material for computer history.......1999-01-06
There are a bunch of books about the history of computing, but this one is unique -- it reprints original papers from Babbage through EDVAC and EDSAC in the late 1940s. Some of the papers are a tough slog, since the terminology is unfamiliar, but there's no better way to get inside the heads of the people who invented all this stuff. And what's really amazing is that by 1948, they were designing recognizably modern computers. If it weren't so overpriced I'd say every programmer should have a copy.
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Origins of the Russian Avant-Garde
Yevgenia Petrova
Manufacturer: Walters Art Museum
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ASIN: 0911886567 |
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Features paintings as well as arts and crafts, toys, prints, textiles and toys.
Book Description
Growing up with the twentieth century, Alfred Barr (1902-1981), founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, harnessed the cataclysm that was modernism. In this book -- part intellectual biography, part institutional history -- Sybil Gordon Kantor tells the story of the rise of modern art in America and of the man responsible for its triumph. Following the trajectory of Barr's career from the 1920s through the 1940s, Kantor penetrates the myths, both positive and negative, that surround Barr and his achievements.
Barr fervently believed in an aesthetic based on the intrinsic traits of a work of art and the materials and techniques involved in its creation. Kantor shows how this formalist approach was expressed in the organizational structure of the multidepartmental museum itself, whose collections, exhibitions, and publications all expressed Barr's vision. At the same time, she shows how Barr's ability to reconcile classical objectivity and mythic irrationality allowed him to perceive modernism as an open-ended phenomenon that expanded beyond purist abstract modernism to include surrealist, nationalist, realist, and expressionist art.
Drawing on interviews with Barr's contemporaries as well as on Barr's extensive correspondence, Kantor also paints vivid portraits of, among others, Jere Abbott, Katherine Dreier, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Philip Johnson, Lincoln Kirstein, Agnes Mongan, J. B. Neumann, and Paul Sachs.
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