Average customer rating:
- Like No Book You've Ever Read
- thought-provoking
- Polo Ties Khan in Filosofical Final
- I bet I know the reason all the cities have women's names.
- This book is a masterpiece for me.
|
Invisible Cities (A Harvest/Hbj Book)
Italo Calvino
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Classics
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Italian
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
| Alternate History
| Anthologies
| Arthurian
| Contemporary
| Epic
| General
| Historical
| History & Criticism
| Magic & Wizards
| Series
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
If on a winter's night a traveler
-
Cosmicomics
-
Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings (New Directions Paperbook)
-
Difficult Loves
-
The Baron in the Trees
ASIN: 0156453800 |
Amazon.com
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which "has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be," the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.
Book Description
Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. “Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant” (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Customer Reviews:
Like No Book You've Ever Read.......2007-09-18
In architecture school, I had to draw these cities from Calvino's descriptions. His amazingly descriptive and yet vauge recollections made for a great jumping off point.
Each chapter of 'Invisible Cities' is an evocative recollection of a fanciful and fantastic city. The descriptions are perfectly distilled, strikingly vivid, all-enveloping prose dream-photographs.
Loosen your ties to reality and let this book take you. Read it uncritically and let the scenery wash over you. There is no plot. There are no characters. This is a book about the intersection of reality, language, and the senses. It isn't to be missed.
thought-provoking.......2007-07-07
Great book, the kind you can read many times and still come up with something new. Worth not just reading but spending time thinking about.
The only reason it's not five stars is that I felt it limited women (who tended to be somehow half-sequestered in windows and verandas and what not) to a single role while men seemed to be the explorers, the out-and-about-ers.
Polo Ties Khan in Filosofical Final.......2007-05-27
Back in the days of my wasted youth I was really into ZAP COMIX. For those readers unfamiliar with that august publication, the content was "highly varied" but almost always politically incorrect. One kind of page aimed at readers who did not flinch from inhaling certain controlled substances. There would be, for example, a house and garden in a cartoon box. In each successive box, a little bit more would disappear. In the next to last box, there would be a tiny circle, made into a `yang and yin' design and in the last box it would go "plink" or "poing !" and there would be nothing at all left. INVISIBLE CITIES brought these stoner cartoons to mind, because what you get out of the book (or the cartoons) is mainly what is already inside you. Marco Polo regales Kublai Khan with endless tales of the different cities he has visited while travelling round the great Mongol Empire. Each city bears a woman's name and some possess modern features never seen in the Venetian's lifetime. The description of each city gives some kind of philosophical essence, so that what we are really reading is a kind of compound of Calvino's imagination and deep thoughts melded together into a kind of literary pill. It's up to you if you want to swallow it. "Futures not achieved are only branches of the past: dead branches." he intones. "The unhappy city contains a happy city unaware of its own existence." There's hundreds of mantras like this, kind of literary Chinese fortune cookies written by Khalil Gibran. In the end, Marco admits that he's made up these descriptions, but says that if the two of them did not "think the cities and their inhabitants", they would not exist. The Khan agrees. If such sentiments and literary directions are your bag, then this could be a very interesting book. I note that the majority of reviewers were people who liked the book. This is not always the best guide for surfers with questions. For my part, I grew tired of the repetitive format, the somewhat shopworn philosophy. To each his own.
I bet I know the reason all the cities have women's names........2006-12-01
He's describing women he's known, in a kind of code, describing them intimately without giving away details. Why cities? Because when you fall in love, you are immersed in a whole new geography of mind and heart and place. Khan is the part of him that just tallies his conquests, Marco is the part of him that encounters them as real individuals. Ultimately they both admit they're not real, which means that the "cities" are the only reality.
This book is a masterpiece for me........2006-10-21
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.
Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?
Book Description
"An American storyteller, like Ray Bradbury, like O. Henry."—Neil Gaiman
With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction's greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as "tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself." From ancient buildings "barnacled with laughter and stained with tears" to the subways, "humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails," Will Eisner's New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished "out-takes"—a treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible. Introduction by Neil Gaiman.
Customer Reviews:
Start spreading the news........2007-09-06
This book collects four of Will Eisner's comic books. I hesitate to use the term "graphic novels" because these aren't novels, they are short stories. Some of them are very short, being one page vignettes. The books collected are New York: The Big City, The Building, City People Notebook and Invisible People. Will Eisner was truly one of the geniuses of the comic book artform. This book tells the stories of regular city dwellers. Some of their stories are funny, some of them are tragic. But they are all worth reading. Highly recommended.
Book Description
In the shadows of the city waits an invisible frontier—a wilderness thriving in the deep places, woven through dead storm drains and live subway tunnels, coursing over third rails. This frontier waits in the walls of abandoned tenements, hides on the rooftops, infiltrates the bridges’ steel. It’s a no-man’s-land, fenced off with razor wire, marked by warning signs, persisting in shadow, hidden everywhere as a parallel dimension. Crowds hurry through the bright streets, insulated by pavement, never reflecting that beneath their feet or above their heads lurks a universe.
Led by its two founding agents, L. B. Deyo and David “Lefty” Leibowitz, Jinx is a stylish urban adventure out?t known for its daring—if sometimes ridiculous—forays into the hidden wonders that lurk above and beneath America’s greatest city, New York. In Invisible Frontier L. B. and Lefty chronicle Jinx’s dramatic—if sometimes absurd—exploration of a Dante-esque New York, from the depths of the city’s underground Hell (abandoned aqueducts and subway tunnels) to the pinnacles of its Paradise (rooftops and bridges) and everything in between, capturing the genius of the city’s engineering, the vibrancy of its found art, and the elegiac beauty of its ruins. Here is a true series of wittily narrated adventures into the hidden world beneath a great civilization.
Customer Reviews:
Horrible, horrible book........2006-09-28
As someone very interested in urban exploration (especially in the subways) I wanted to check this book out upon hearing of it. After reading many of these Amazon reviews though, I opted out of a purchase, and took it out of my Bronx library instead. Thank goodness as I only wasted valuable time, and not any money.
This book is a sham. It is obviously mostly fiction. And it's boring fiction at that. The book is divided into chapters, each chapter a new "adventure."
I read the subway one first, where the "explorers" take the 6 train around the loop at the end of the line, to see the City Hall Station, which opened in 1904 (NYC's first station) and closed in 1948. The station is located on the loop of the 6 train, that makes the southbound trains go back up north after the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge. First of all, anyone can go on this "adventure." Just stay on the train at the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge, and that's it. Despite the author's attempt to make this sound risky, no conductors walk through the train to see if anyone is on (like they really care), just sit down. The author created some "European tourists" that inadvertantly stayed on the 6 after the last stop, and the author even tries to create some mystery by saying "are we on the wrong train?" Well, unless all those huge "6" signs that are lit all over the train are difficult to read, then you probably got on the correct train. The author also fails to mention that the MTA used to give public tours all the time through this station (and others like the 18th street on the 6 and more) but stopped after 9-11. This chapter was a joke. (UPDATE: The MTA now gives tours through the original City Hall station again.)
I started reading the other chapters, and saw they were no better. I then started to breeze through the book. One thing that is very obvious - no photographs of the adventures are in the book at all. This, despite the fact that on page 67 the author states, "Josh takes out his camera and snaps away at every pipe and puddle..." But no photos of their "adventures" are in the book. Why? Because it's fiction.
There are photos of what they are supposed to be exploring, sure, that's easy. There's even one pic of one of these clowns hopping some fence somewhere, ooo. Buit no pics of the actual "adventures." I guess "Josh" lost all those pictures when he went to CVS to have them developed.
The funny thing is, you can save yourself a lot of time by just going online and viewing pictures of these things for yourself. Especially the City Hall station, there are tons of pictures of it available from the people that were in there during the tours.
Just stay away from this sham of a book, it's really a huge waste of time.
disappointing.......2005-07-13
If the writing and adventures could match the inflated perceptions that the authors have of themselves, this would be a great read. Unfortunately, the writing is downright pedestrian and the urban adventures are either lackluster and/or poorly described. Also, the flow of each chapter is interrupted with uninteresting asides and juvenile commentaries on a scattershot laundry list of topics.
A typical example of this is the uninspiring breakin of an abandoned Harlem row house. The author starts off with a truncated textbook-like history of Harlem that lasts a few paragraphs. Once that boring bit of exposition is done with the writer and his friends drive around a little bit and then enter an abandoned building. They look around a little bit (not exactly thrilling) and then attempt to leave via the fire escape. Here, we are presented with a another aside about the author's 'love' of fire escapes.. "What, in fire escapes, do I admire?... their constancy... firm as Gibraltar... like Ulysses to his barque.. supporting, as Atlas, the gravid snows of winter". Ugh, at times like this you wish the author would have consulted with an editor.
Not everything is terrible. Things pick up here and there, there are a few interesting tid-bits of history, but overall the book does not live up to it's potential.
Well, there's four hours of my life I'll never get back........2005-02-22
This book was a tremendous disappointment. Many of the "missions" are laughably boring and/or carried out in a stunningly inept fashion, much of the writing is markedly narcissistic in its tone and yet inconsistent in content, and perhaps most disappointing the descriptions of the places where the authors go are remarkably poor.
First, the missions. The mission to the UN mostly involves trying to get inside by asking for an interview. Wow, it's like working for my high school newspaper all over again. Once they're shot down, one member of the team briefly sprints past a barrier and `explores' a plaza outside the building for less than a minute (the main point of which is to hold up the Jinx flag while his friends take his picture). Another involves staying on the subway even after the conductor announces passengers should get off! - oh the bravery and cunning!. This is made all the more ridiculous when two non-English speaking tourists inadvertently do the same thing and when the authors do not even get off the train once it's stopped at the abandoned subway station they had planned to explore. Later, they go into an abandoned house, where they discover that a lot of other people have also done this over the years.
Second, the writing. Much of the text focuses on how cool they look in their "uniforms" (dark suits and sunglasses), how cool they look walking to their missions, how cool they look on their missions, how cool it is when they all get together and how everybody else in New York are mindless zombies who don't appreciate what is around them because they are trapped in their sad, meaningless lives. The whole uniform thing is particularly stupid. There's one throw-away sentence explaining that they wear these uniforms because otherwise "scientists" and "philosophers" will not take their "empirical data" seriously, but you simply can't shake the feeling that they just want to look like they're either in "Reservoir Dogs" or "The Matrix" (particularly when the ridiculous `uniforms' keep attracting attention when they're trying to sneak into some place.) Throughout the book the authors bounce between stressing that they explore places for the scientific, empirical value of doing so and that it is not at all for a sense of adventure, only then to talk later about how much fun the adventure of it all is (including one author's admission that he believes the other has a death wish and that is why he engages in so many dangerous activities while exploring). In addition, much space is taken up with various diatribes on the evils of modern life (including a particularly passionate rant against the United Nations that comes totally out of nowhere), and all the horrible twenty-somethings of the world who spend their lives drinking iced coffees (which is a particularly hollow complaint when - a few pages later - the Jinx crew sits down to iced coffees after having screwed up the UN mission). You almost get the sense that after trying in vain to improve the writing, the publishers finally decided to spin the writing as "witty" and hope that people fell for it.
Finally, the descriptions are no better than what you'd get if you wrote down what you think the locations look like without ever actually going. The Croton Aqueduct is dark and slippery. An abandoned subway station is eerie. When you're on top of the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River looks a long way away. And that's about as good as the descriptions get.
Don't waste your time or your money.
Urban Exploration Farce.......2004-08-15
I was so excited to receive this book, and can not believe how dissapointing it is!! The people aren't urban explorers (UErs for short) - they are children who dress up in costumes and give each other "gang" names and then proceed to perform daredevil-like stunts which are not very impressive.
The book starts out talking about two of the teams failures - City Hall Place and the Croton Acqueduct, which makes you want to put it down and watch grass grow instead. I've been past City Hall Station many times on the downtown 6 train, even with my Mother, it barely even qualifies as daredevil. Their train stops while looping through the station and they are standing right there, but decide not to jump off - don't write a book about it then!! Croton acqueduct is equally as sad - they walk through the tunnels for hours, then stop before the actual bridge (the goal) because they are tired - go back the next day and do it right, or don't write a book about it!!
Any yes, there are no pictures, although they refer to their pictures all the time.
The writing is pretentious and annoying and pointless for the most part - I want to read about "Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York" not about your evening spent in twin donuts looking like freaks and scaring people!!
Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book - there are better books about urban exploration, particularly ones about the NYC area.
Minimal pictures.......2004-08-01
Very interesting subject; wish authors had provided more substance. Very disappointed with lack of photos especially with constant reminder of photographers who were amongst group of explorers. I too also have my doubts regarding editors/publisher of this book.
Would NOT recommend purchasing.
Average customer rating:
- Siimply, Wow!
- A Photographic Elegy To New York City's Technological Past
- Quite simply, a beautiful book...
- An excellent study of virtually unknown parts of N.Y.C.
|
Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City (Creating the North American Landscape)
Stanley Greenberg
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Architectural
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photographers, A-Z
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Photo Essays
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Travel
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Mid Atlantic
| United States
| Travel
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| New York
| States
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
| Aerospace
| Automotive
| Bioengineering
| Chemical
| Civil
| Computer Technology
| Design
| Economics
| Education
| Electrical & Electronics
| Energy
| General
| Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems
| Management
| Marine
| Materials
| Materials Science
| Mechanical
| Nuclear
| Patents & Inventions
| Petroleum, Mining & Geological
| Power Systems
| Reference
| Research
| Special Topics
| Telecommunications
| Welding
General
| Building Types & Styles
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Engineering
| Specialty Stores
| Books
| Aerospace
| Automotive
| Bioengineering
| Chemical
| Civil
| Computer Technology
| Design
| Economics
| Education
| Electrical & Electronics
| Energy
| General
| Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems
| Management
| Materials
| Materials Science
| Mechanical
| Nuclear
| Patents & Inventions
| Petroleum, Mining & Geological
| Power Systems
| Reference
| Research
| Special Topics
| Telecommunications
| Welding
Look Inside Art Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
New York's Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway
-
Waterworks: A Photographic Journey through New York's Hidden Water System
-
New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City
-
Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York
-
Underworld: Sites of Concealment
ASIN: 080185945X |
Amazon.com
There are many surprises among the 53 black-and-white photographs in Stanley Greenberg's hymn to the hum of the city that never sleeps. There is a revealing shot of the roof structure above the curved vault of Grand Central Station's night-sky ceiling that shows where those light bulbs are screwed in to form the delicate constellations commuters see every day. The anchorages of several city bridges--the chambers where the powerful cables that hold up the roadways are fastened down--are exposed to view, peeling paint, trash, and all. There is a gleaming shot of a working Con Edison turbine and a cluttered view of a derelict power station at Floyd Bennett Field, the city's first municipally owned commercial airport.
The pictures possess a certain sameness after the first 20 or so, but New York has been immortalized by many of history's very best photographers, so Greenberg has a tough act to follow. He has good company as he searches for a new angle, however, including Laura Rosen, whose Manhattan Shores is an equally quirky but richly satisfying and illuminating trek around the edges of the island, and Horst Hamann, whose New York Vertical has become an instant classic. Anyone who likes the idea of exploring the city's underpinnings instead of the subways, piers, or buildings themselves will love Invisible New York, which also contains an index in which Greenberg imparts fascinating information about each site. --Peggy Moorman
Book Description
Invisible New York is a photographic exploration of the hidden and often abandoned infrastructure of New York City. Inaccessible and unknown to most New Yorkers, the structures and machinery captured in Stanley Greenberg's luminous black-and-white prints deliver the essential services that a city's inhabitants usually take for granted. Many of these vast and imposing facilities have in recent decades been neglected or fallen into disuse. Others remain intact and in continuous use. Greenberg's dark and poetic images document how a city works, its technological evolution since the 19th century, and the toll that deterioration and years of deferred maintenance can take on the soul of a city.
With a 4 x 5 monorail view camera and using only available light, Greenberg photographed sites in all five of New York's boroughs, many now permanently sealed in the interests of national security. Among the invisible places recorded are the massive valve chambers in the water tunnels 300 feet underground and other features of New York's extraordinary water system; the anchorages of the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Verrazano Narrows bridges; the dry dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; the derelict power station at Floyd Bennett Field; the elegant, turn-of-the-century steam turbine in Brooklyn's Pratt Institute; crumbling ruins on Ellis Island and Roosevelt Island; hidden sections of Grand Central Station and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; the West Side rail yards in Manhattan; the secret Nike missile silos in the Bronx; one of the last remaining manual switch rooms in the New York subway system; the faded grandeur of the City Hall Subway Station, its bronze chandeliers and leaded glass ceilings still largely undamaged; and the vast Brooklyn Army Terminal, once the world's largest warehouse.
Greenberg's photographs of this hidden city uncover long-forgotten engineering feats, magnificent examples of skilled craftsmanship, and fascinating clues about New York's industrial past, as well as reveal the increasing aesthetic apathy of today's builders. His images chronicle both the beauty and the banal necessity of this rich legacy, threatened by public ignorance and bureaucratic indifference. Invisible New York offers a unique perspective on one of the world's great cities and alerts us to the hidden sites and essential facilities found in all cities which are slowly and secretly decaying or disappearing.
Customer Reviews:
Siimply, Wow!.......2006-06-25
Invisible New York is one of the three or four most treasured books in my library. Greenberg's black and white photography is beautiful and lush. To me, the book's one shortcoming is that it's not longer! Greenberg has a sharp eye for reading and presenting spaces. A treat for all of us who wonder what lives down there under the manhole cover or over there behind that fence.
A Photographic Elegy To New York City's Technological Past.......2002-03-30
"Invisible New York" is a splendid collection of photographs which pay tribute to New York City's technological past. Stanley Greenberg's large format camera yields dignified, poetic images of long-forgotten historic structures throughout the city. These range from beautiful pictures of bridge supports and hidden passageways to a deserted building at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, once the city's primary airport. Although others have found New York City's architecture to be a rich source of photographic imagery, few have been as tenacious as Stanley Greenberg in creating stunningly beautiful visual poetry. I must commend Johns Hopkins University Press for publishing this beautiful tome of black and white photographs and keeping it in print. I eagerly look forward to seeing Greenberg's next book, which I think may be on a recent project documenting New York City's water supply system. He is surely one of the most distinguished photographers ever to have graduated from New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School.
Quite simply, a beautiful book..........2001-12-04
I have an obsession with abandoned buildings. They are a place I know I can go to be alone because no one visits them anymore but the spirits of those who brought life to the buildings as more than just concrete and steel still linger.
It gives one a time to reflect on the temporality of our lives and the finiteness not only of our beings, but of our dreams and visions. It gives us pause to reflect on what is important and profound about life.
When we are in these places we are really inside of parts of ourselves we don't recognize.
An excellent study of virtually unknown parts of N.Y.C........1999-06-11
This book lived up to my expectations with it's beautiful photographs, insightful comments about each location photographed and rich, deep printing. A great book for anyone interested in wonderful black and white location photography, or in learning more about New York City and its' surroundings.
Book Description
Enjoy the dazzling adventures of film director Luc Besson's Arthur and the Minimoys and Arthur and the Forbidden City together for the first time. Join Arthur as he embarks on a journey to the land of the Minimoys, a tribe of people less than one inch tall, to find his missing grandfather and a stolen treasure. Arthur joins two Minimoy friends on a trip to the forbidden city of Necropolis, where they battle the evil wizard Maltazard.
Now a major motion picture brought to life by Luc Besson himself.
Performed by Jim Dale
Customer Reviews:
This is as good as it gets in audio books.......2007-05-01
Jim Dale is the most brilliant audio book performer in the world. He is as wonderful here as on the Harry Potter audios. I enjoyed this story immensely. The three main characters - Arthur, Selenia, and Beta - are all engaging. The story has an endearing sweetness. I just loved this and would very highly recommend it.
Book Description
For those wanting to explore Italy's rich artistic heritage beyond the usual tourist attractions, this unique guide is the answer. Presented are the more authentic, less-crowded locations and works, including tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and gardens, that are often the favorites of Italian art connoisseurs. An introduction to the huge "Tapestries of the Month" in Milan, which occupy an entire banquet room of the Castello Sforzesco; the vibrant and surreal "Dante Room" at the Casino Massimo, Rome; the Ancient Instruments Collection; and many other hidden treasures set this true art-lover's guide apart from the many guidebooks that cover the usual well-worn attractions.
Customer Reviews:
An artful and art filled book.......2002-03-23
Artful Italy is a wonderful book. I checked out Florence and Venice first because those are the cities that I really know. I was daring Artful Italy to come up with something I didn't know. And it did.. The Stibbert Museum which sounds like a delight I missed entirely. But the thing I really regret is not knowing about the Bomarzo Gardens, a bit of a trip from Florence; as a teen I was always after the odd, hidden statuary that you turned a corner and came suddenly upon.. Both sound like winners and make me eager to return to a place I thought I knew well.
Artful Italy's prose hits just the right tone, conversational without being condescending, funny without that guidebook jokiness that can be so off-putting. And it sometimes can take your breath away. When the 17th century architect , Borromini is compared to an origami master, suddenly we see again how Mannerist architects have turned stone into paper - to give just one example. And you have a nice discursive air that proves always to have a real point to it. The book is unique and a pleasure. It will make those who know Italy start looking for cheap air fares, and even those making a first trip to Italy will find the book valuable.
Italy the way it ought to be seen.......2002-01-31
Even if one never travels to Italy, there'd be no harm in reading this book. It is well-written, entertaining, and loaded with fun and interesting facts. I disagree with the notion that this is a tour or travel guide; what it is in fact is a semi-scholarly appreciation of Italy off the beaten path. (It is meticulously researched and documented, to boot.)
Ann Brandon must be a kick at a cocktail party. Historical examples trip off her tongue and add just the right humor, import, and context for each bit of art appreciation. Reading this book is not a necessity for travel planning; the volume is a standalone orchestration of Ms. Brandon's love affair with Italy.
I have a few qualms with the book, but they are merely intellectual disagreements with some of its premises. First, I would not focus so much on art, but on the whole invisible lifestyle of the Italians, the life that "turisti" probably never see. I would also go beyond visual arts, and talk about music, as well as the culinary and design arts. Even in the visual arts there is so much architecture that one could find off the main trails. But Brandon promises more books in this vein, and will no doubt address these topics.
Second, I do not feel that the Parco dei Mostri qualifies as a hidden treasure. I consider it an excellent yet run-of-the-mill tourist attraction. A lot of people go there.
Finally, I disagree with the glowing assessment that Vasari's "Lives of the Artists." I have always considered this book at best uneven. It apparently draws its inspiration from Diogenes Laertius' "Lives of the Philosophers," which suffers from a similar spottiness in insight and accuracy. If I had to recommend a book that does what Brandon purports Vasari's does, it would be Burkhardt's "Civilization of the Renaissance."
All these quibbles aside, anyone who wants to learn about Italy should buy and read this book. It does not disappoint. I learned so much from this book, and it was as if Ann Brandon was telling me what I learned in a personal conversation. So warm is her style of writing that it just makes for a quick and delightful read!
Artful Italy is such a treat.......2002-01-22
This book is for all visitors to Italy-even the jaded few who feel they have seen it all. Ann Brandon has covered
so much art that most of us have neither seen nor heard of. I was totally captivated by just reading the book, Ms. Brandon has great writing style and wonderful detail covering all of the pieces. What I found most exciting was visiting sites that I hadnt been to before-expanding upon the content. This book isnt just about museums!!-
Bellesimo!.......2002-01-10
A work of art! You don't need a plane ticket to see what's inside some Italy's great churches and museums. Chock full of interesting details and artifacts, I was given a wonderful tour of Italy's "hidden treasures,'' many off the beaten path. As one who once lived in Italy, I would say this book is an essential guide for anyone who plans to visit one of the world's most beautiful countries.
The Ideal Guide.......2002-01-08
I am recently back from a visit to Venice, where I used this outstanding new guide. I found it the ideal guidebook: highly readable, gets you off the beaten path to a combination of less mobbed attractions and some quirky fun places, and (my favorite) includes lots of fascinating historical and personal backgrouind on the sites and artists. This book is sure to enrich greatly your visit to Italy's major art destinations. And it's fun to read even if you are just dreaming about visiting Italy.
Average customer rating:
- Great for Second Generations
|
Invisible Minority, An: Brazilians in New York City
Maxine L. Margolis
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Northeast
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Rights & Liberties
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Race Relations
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Cultural
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Emigration & Immigration
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Little Brazil
ASIN: 0205266878 |
Customer Reviews:
Great for Second Generations.......2001-11-04
This is an excellent book for second generation Brazilians who would like to learn more about the Brazilian expereince in the US. It has a fantastic range of subjects.
Average customer rating:
|
Making the Invisible Visible: A Multicultural Planning History (California Studies in Critical Human Geography , No 2)
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Criticism
| General
| Regional
| Themes
| Women in Art
Regional Planning
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gender Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Human Geography
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Rural
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Urban Planning & Development
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Geography
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Urban & Land Use Planning
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Geography
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Cosmopolis II
-
The Deliberative Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes
-
Explorations in Planning Theory
-
Planning in the Public Domain
-
Readings in Planning Theory (Studies in Urban & Social Change)
ASIN: 0520207351 |
Book Description
The history of planning is much more, according to these authors, than the recorded progress of planning as a discipline and a profession. These essays counter the mainstream narrative of rational, scientific development with alternative histories that reveal hitherto invisible planning practices and agendas. While the official story of planning celebrates the state and its traditions of city building and regional development, these stories focus on previously unacknowledged actors and the noir side of planning.
Through a variety of critical lenses--feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial--the essays examine a broad range of histories relevant to the preservation and planning professions. Some contributors uncover indigenous planning traditions that have been erased from the record: African American and Native American traditions, for example. Other contributors explore new themes: themes of gendered spaces and racist practices, of planning as an ordering tool, a kind of spatial police, of "bodies, cities, and social order" (influenced by Foucault, Lefebvre, and others), and of resistance.
This scrutiny of the class, race, gender, ethnic, or ideological biases of ideas and practices inherent in the notion of planning as a modernist social technology clearly points to the inadequacy of modernist planning histories. Making the Invisible Visible redefines planning as the regulation of the physicality, sociality, and spatiality of the city. Its histories provide the foundation of a new, alternative planning paradigm for the multicultural cities of the future.
Average customer rating:
|
Invisible City: The Architecture of Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Neapolitan Convents
Helen Hills
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Religious Buildings
| Building Types & Styles
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Periods
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Baroque
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Italy
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Church Institutions & Organizations
| Ministry & Church Leadership
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Women's Issues
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Specific Congregations & Orders
| Congregations & Orders
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Monasticism
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Arts & Photography
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
History
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Religion & Spirituality
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0195117743 |
Book Description
More than any other European city, Baroque Naples was dominated by convents. Behind their imposing facades and highly decorated churches, the convents of Naples housed the daughters of the city's most exclusive families, women who, despite their cloistered existence, were formidable players in the city's power structure. Invisible City vividly portrays the religious world of seventeenth-century Naples, a city of familial and internecine rivalries, of religious devotion and intense urban politics, of towering structures built to house the virgin daughters of the aristocracy. Helen Hills demonstrates how the architecture of the convents and the nuns' bodies they housed existed both in parallel and in opposition to one another. She discusses these women as subjects of enclosure, as religious women, and as art patrons, but also as powerful agents whose influence extended beyond the convent walls. Though often ensconced in convents owing to their families' economic circumstances, many of these young women were able to extend their influence as a result of the role convents played both in urban life and in art patronage. The convents were rich and powerful organizations, riven with feuds and prey to the ambitions of viceregal and elite groups, which their thick walls could not exclude. Even today, Neapolitan convents figure prominently in the city's fabric. In analyzing the architecture of these august institutions, Helen Hills skillfully reads conventual architecture as a metaphor for the body of the aristocratic virgin nun, mapping out the dialectic between flesh and stone.
Book Description
Even before fully finishing his degree, the brilliant young Roland is offered a job in the Center for Cartography of Sodrovno-Voldachia. He climbs the ladder rapidly. Roland, who must, like his colleagues, live almost like a recluse within the huge center, meets a mysterious young woman whose body seems covered with strange lines which he can barely perceive. Soon, the Center is visited by Marshal Radisic, supreme leader of the country, whose expansionist politics leave little doubt as to the goal: all means will be employed to rebuild the "Great Sodrovnia."
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Indeed.......2004-11-16
This book is pretty much a must for lovers of Euro-comics. The series (LES CITES OBSCURES, here translated as "Cities of the Fantastic"), while regretably not entirely available in English, stands as a classic of sophisticated Euro-comics. But each also stands on its own, so you needn't worry about about ever being lost.
This volume's story focuses on a young, capable but not brilliant character amidst a time and place of historical and cultural turmoil. Be prepared to ask yourself how cartography influences culture and cultures' manifest destiny. If that's not a question you can imagine contemplating, this isn't for you; if it is, this is a delight.
Of course, you can always whip over to amazon.fr and get it in the French original...
-- Julian Darius, Sequart.com (for sophisticated study of comic books and graphic novels)
Books:
- Invisible Man
- Jane Austen: The Complete Novels, Deluxe Edition (Library of Literary Classics)
- Jane Eyre: An Autobiography (Collected Works of Charlotte Bronte 2 volumes)
- Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children
- Love in the Time of Cholera
- Madame Bovary (Oxford World's Classics)
- Middlemarch: Part 1 (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)
- Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics)
- Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle
- Mrs. Dalloway
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Home Inspection Business from A to Z: Real Estate Home Inspector, Homeowner, Home Buyer and Seller S
- Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
- Beyond the Chindwin
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones
- Hemingway And the Mechanism of Fame: Statements, Public Letters, Introductions, Forewords, Prefaces,
- Explorama's Amazon - A Journey Through The Rainforest Of Peru
- Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2002-2003 Edition
- Complete Camcorder Troubleshooting & Repair
- Compulsory and flexible retirement in the American economy
