Average customer rating:
- Disappointing Ending
- Con artists, assassins, rare book collectors, and the Camel Club
- Kept my Interest
- What's With the Cartoon Characters??
- "Right now seemed a good time to end her collection of lost chances" (2.5 stars)
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The Collectors
David Baldacci
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baldacci, David
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Hardcover
| Baldacci, David
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 044653109X
Release Date: 2006-10-17 |
Book Description
People are dropping dead in Washington, D.C. First the Speakerof the House falls victim to a hitman in a carefully orchestrated murder infront of dozens of the city's power elite. Next, the director of theLibrary of Congress's Rare Books Room dies in a book vault, but no oneknows how. Caleb Shaw, Camel Club member, nearly falls victim, too. Acrossthe country, a gifted con woman assembles an A-list team to pull off one ofthe most audacious scams ever, against one of the most dangerous men in theworld. When the worlds of Washington and the elite con collide head-on, theCamel Club finds itself teamed with a person they don't really trust butwhose skill helps them unravel a secret that threatens to bring America toits knees.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing Ending.......2007-10-08
I enjoyed THE COLLECTORS and didn't want it to end. But then, it didn't....really. Tsk tsk to Baldacci on the cliffhanger. That last line was a resounding thud. But, I'll buy the next book in the series and probably enjoy it just as much. The Camel Club characters' complementary talents are interesting, with a little bit of comic relief amid the rapacious killing. In addition to the disappointing ending, I found it pretty weak to have the conservator/bookstore guy sort of spill his guts for several pages, in such a nice, friendly way.
Con artists, assassins, rare book collectors, and the Camel Club.......2007-10-06
This is not the best novel on the market, but it was entertaining and held my interest. It is really two plots which come together through one of the main characters. Annabelle Conroy is a con artist out to make a big score by conning an evil man from her past (this is somewhat like "The Sting," but not quite as good). You do learn a lot about con games, from Three Card Monte to counterfeit ATM cards, to stolen and altered checks, to pulling chips at casinos, to Internet wire fraud. It can make a person cautious, and explain why casinos have high levels of security. Just don't try this on someone like Jerry Bagger - he may break your kneecaps if he doesn't kill you.
The second plot links Annabelle to the Camel Club as they become involved in espionage - people are selling intelligence secrets to bad guys in other countries. I thought this plot was a little off the wall at times, but who knows - sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. You will learn a lot about rare books and the obsessions of some collectors. The story does have a lot of action and violence, including some torture.
The novel does not come to a complete end as an evil person is still trying to track down Annabelle.
Kept my Interest.......2007-10-02
A collector of lost chances; a collector of a personal item from each of his murder victims. The Speaker of the House is murdered; the Director of the Library of Congress Rare Books dies suddenly; his neighbor is shot dead; a skilled con artist pulls off a big-time con on an Atlantic City casino owner. The Camel Club guys (yes, this is a sequel of sorts) and others get into big trouble. This skillfully told story comes together neatly and leaves the door wide open for the continuing saga. There's plenty of action, and it's well-written. My review cannot do it justice...buy the book.
What's With the Cartoon Characters??.......2007-10-02
I've read every book Baldacci has published (well, at least the ones that have made it to paperback) and loved them all up until The Camel Club. It struck me while reading The Collectors this past week that the characters in this book are about as well developed as cartoon characters. Too many unbelievable people doing unbelievably stupid things to be taken seriously. Bagger is the worst of these, but all of the characters are extremely flawed. This goes to a large extent for The Camel Club book also, although it is not quite as egregious there. The whole setup of the four main characters strains any semblance of believability.
This has not been the case with the previous books I've read of his, and is very much a disappointment. I understand that fiction is by its very nature not true, but I prefer fiction that has the depth that allows me to believe it could be true. The Camel Club series fails this test miserably.
Hopefully this is not a turn of events that infects his other non-Camel Club output. While I will continue to buy his books in the future, The Camel Club series is off my list.
"Right now seemed a good time to end her collection of lost chances" (2.5 stars).......2007-09-29
I had a great time reading "The Camel Club" and I was looking forward to this new book featuring four unusual but engaging characters. Sadly, this novel's quality does not even come close to most of Baldacci's other efforts. There are two main plots that come together midway through the book, and while one of these is enthralling and fast-paced, the other one bores us to death.
Annabelle is a witty and seasoned con artist, and she is putting together a team to try to pull-off a series of cons that would make them millionaires, and at the same time provide her with a long-expected revenge. This story is fun and engaging, with well-crafted and clever cons that lead us to read non-stop and leave us wanting to know what will come next. Meanwhile, the Camel Club gets involved in a situation consisting of the murder of the Speaker of the House and the head of the rare books division at the Library of Congress. This is where Baldacci goes awry, with a story that drags its feet and characters that do not come even close to being as interesting as they were when we first met them. Sadly, when the two story lines connect, the quality remains at the level of the Camel Club portion of the plot.
A contrived ploy, with spies and complex motives for murder do not salvage this novel. The only reason why it gets 2.5-stars is because of the parts having to do with Annabelle and her team, since the story there is really outstanding. There is one other thing that bothered me. One of the main uncertainties from the story was left unresolved, and the book ended in something resembling a cliff-hanger. Usually, when I read a novel I expect to have the main plot lines come to some sort of conclusion, and Baldacci, in an effort to sell his next book, pulls a trick on us. I would not recommend this book unless you have already read "The Camel Club" and want to know what happened to the characters. But even if you fall into this category, beware: you are not going to find exactly what you seek.
The Camel Club
Book Description
Put imaginative, fresh ideas at your fingertips with this comprehensive collection of exceptional recipes from America's favorite brand name companies!
Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook: Collector's Edition makes serving magnificent meals a snap. Clipping recipes from food labels has become an American tradition and now you can collect all your favorites in this marvelous compilation¾without your scissors. Jam-packed with over 1600 kitchen-tested recipes, you'll discover innovative ways to prepare tempting appetizers, refreshing salads, savory soups, elegant entrees, homemade breads, decadent desserts and much more.
Special chapters feature ever-popular pasta, glorious brunch dished and family-pleasing pizza. With over 500 full-color photographs, you'll be inspired to create delectable dished for family and friends that are sure to win rave reviews!
Customer Reviews:
Easy, resturaunt quality food........2007-01-11
This book has a good variety of dishes to choose from. They are easy to prepare and most don't require a lot of preparation time. Every thing from the main dishes to the desserts are delicious. Even though every recipe has a name brand ingredient, store brands work just as well in their place.
great recipes........2006-12-14
I thought the above comment was absolutely ridiculous. What people want to know is if this is a good cookbook. I don't think anyone is interested in if brand names are going to be the future of culinary arts. Broken down: good recipes, use generic if you are opposed to "brand names." The recipes range from fast and tasty to complicated and savory. I love this cookbook.
Great recipes!!.......2006-09-22
I have owned this book for years now and have never made anything from it that was not yummy!! I usually ignore the actual brand names and just use the brand that I like or that I feel is the best quality. My mother and sister also own this book and they both love it, too.
Do you want your brands served up by the marketing department?.......2006-03-30
With all the new channels for distribution available and considering all of the innovations in communications (both message and medium) the stakes are not only increasing rapidly -they have been moved. My opinion, the future will very likely be populated by brands that are defined less by big marketing firms and more by real people. This book seems to be ignoring the future.
Book Description
Harry Houdini and his exposure of the fraud spiritualist, spirit photography, spirit slate writing, ectoplasm, clairvoyance, and other quakery and cons perpetrated on the gullible, by the likes of the Boston Medium Margery, the Davenport Brothers, Annie Eva Fay, the Fox Sisters, Daniel Dunglas Home, Eusapia Pallandino, and other con artists of their ilk.
The whole country got excited by Houdini's campaign against faking spiritualists. He careened through the country, offering money for spirit contacts he couldn't duplicate by admitted magical chicanery. It was a heyday not only for Houdini but for the spirit-callers and there was an equally famous protagonist who thought the spirits could indeed be contacted, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A photo at the front records a meeting between Houdini and Doyle and Houdini gives Doyle his own chapter. There's an earlier chapter on Daniel Dunglas Home, the English engineer of spectacular paranormal effects. Houdini raises hell with spiritualists who were giving their (usually paying) clients a vision of heavens to come, and shares the methods used to practice "fake" and sensational spiritualism.
Houdini was nothing if not unrelenting. As a taste of things to come, he ends his introduction with the words: "Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains."
Customer Reviews:
Something to ponder before heading down an endless road.......2001-02-12
Even though Houdini's book refers to spiritualism tricks,the book could be a must read for the many gulliable people out there more than ready and willing to part with their money for a chance to talk to their deceased loved ones.In today's "psychic" world we are bombarded with cold readers without any aids other than there rapid talk and generalistic "messages from the other side" yet Houndini's book is a warning of sorts and we could use his help in today's world with these so called "psychics". Houndini's work is not complete since we need other talented and honest individuals such as he to face off with the charletans we have now a days.I'll say that Houndini's work is extremely valuable and I highly respect him for giving of his time to investigate fraud.
Houdini exposes mediums' and spiritualists' methods.......1998-06-06
Houdini spent a long time and much anguish trying to contact the spirit of a dead family member. Mediums were very popular in his time. This book is his exposure of them as frauds. Great anecdotes, interesting methods described, amusing and fascinating. Highlights include his role in the Scientific American investigative committee, and the many interactions with Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle. Easy reading.
Product Description
Since 1942, the Handbook of United States Coins has been the annual reference used by U.S. coin dealers to make buying offers. Its price listings offer a real-world look at the coin market, gathered from dealers around the country. Edited by Kenneth Bressett.
Customer Reviews:
blue book handbook of u.s. coins 2007.......2007-05-12
A very useful manual for selling our old coins.
How to get in contact with US coins.......2007-04-03
I'm from abroad and I'm fond of US coins, expecially for quarters. This guide is full of details to get more confident with US coins.
A consistant guide.......2007-03-12
Love this book! It is a great resource for tracking coins and to be able to know the accurate value of the coins. Easy to understand and read. This books is a must for all coin collectors!
The Official Blue Book Handbook of United States Coins 2007 (Handbook of United States Coins) (Handbook of United States Coins (.......2007-03-09
Received the book when stated and in excellent condition
The "Blue Book".......2007-02-09
The Blue Book "Handbook of US Coins" 2007, 64th. edition is a complete price guide to what a dealer will pay for your coins. The information is based on recent dealer coin purchase history. Anyone in the business of purchasing coins for resale or those selling to dealers should have this price reference.
This is a companion book to the "Red Book" "A Guide Bood of US Coins 2007, 60th. edition" that lists the retail sale prices of US Coins.
Both books give the collector or coin dealer a comprehensive reference to coin pricing.
Each book is published annualy and back copies should be saved to help the collector and dealer watch for price trends on specific coins.
Book Description
American Southwest Indian artists working in metal, clay, wood, textiles, and paint have proudly left their individual hallmarks on their work-and until now there has not been a comprehensive source for identifying the marks. Barton Wright, the pre-eminent historian, curator, and proponent of these native crafts-people, has filled that void by collecting and organizing these hallmarks into a useful book. Compiled over many years of work with the craftspeople, and with the cooperation of one of their main organizing bodies, the Indian Arts and Crafts Association, Mr. Wright has with this book both made a useful tool for identification and left an important record of the work of these talented people. The information is alphabetically arranged with important personal data, tribal affiliation, working dates, materials used, and facsimiles of their marks.
Customer Reviews:
Hallmarks.......2007-05-26
We have had previous editions of this book by Barton Wirght for years. This up-dated edition is just more current, but overall it is a very helpful bood to us.
Hallmarks of the Southwest.......2007-03-20
Although the exchange process was easy, both copies of the book that Amazon sent had pages either missing or hugely out of order. I wished there was a way for Amazon to check the copies, under such circumstances, before sending them out.
I've waited a long time for this book!.......2006-12-27
This is the eagerly-awaited second edition of Hallmarks of the Southwest; as a longtime collector of Native American jewelry, I'm happy to finally have a copy of this book.
Naturally, not every craftsman can be represented in such a comprehensive work, and complicating this is that not every piece is stamped with identifying marks. (Some of my favorite jewelry isn't stamped at all, even with "Sterling.") Many of the references are a carry-over from the first edition; since silversmithing is often a family tradition, certian respected craftsmen working today may not be represented but their families are.
It's a valuable overview, and leaves the reader [me, at least] wanting more.
Excellent reference - but a work in progress.......2006-01-11
I have been using this book since this edition was published. It is an excellent compilation of summary information about makers of Native American jewelry and other collectible wares. I expect that this has - to this point - only about one-third or one-half of the people listed who make jewelry. I annotate mine with added marks for unlisted jewelry makers, together with summary information on them. When I can, I ask the artisan to autograph the book, preferably near the added information.
Hallmarks of the Southwest.......2001-06-30
This book is an excellent reference to anyone who collects or sells Native American Jewelry. It shows the mark of the well know artists in Native American silver jewelry. The Navajo , Hopi , Zuni Indians are all included in this book. Very detailed, I highly recommend it.
Customer Reviews:
Weakest of the Drizzt Series.......2007-09-04
This series was perhaps the weakest of all R.A. Savatore's Drizzt adventures. I was excited to see a return to the Trilogy format that appeared to be centered around a common theme. Unfortunately the 3 books turned out to be a long and boring tale that did not evolve well over the series and ultimately did not resolve with the conclusion of the 3rd book. R.A. Salvatore's new book due out this Sept. could very well be book 4 of this series and not warrant a "Transitions" title as it appears to continue right where the previous book left off with no major advancements in the characters or story line. I also feel as if R.A. Salvatore's heart is elsewhere since the passion for his most famous character seems to have faded into an ongoing marketing push for Wizards than any real progression in story line.
If you take a look at the first two trilogies you can feel the danger and excitement of inventive and out of this world dangers that the heroes get exposed to. They have fought much more dangerous enemies than a bunch of orcs and yet it seems that they get their butts handed to them in this book so many times it makes you feel like they have lost their edge. Its almost as if the heroes are in their senior years and the challenges they face are watered down and boring.
Its time for Drizzt to evolve beyond Ice Wind Dale and the team that tags along with him from book to book. Its time for this hero to really shine and reach his full potential. Stop the re-hashing of old story lines and love affairs gone wrong between Wulfgar and Drizzt. Its almost teenish in its description.
Get darker. Get richer. Get more imaginative with these characters.
Salvatore at his best .......2007-07-13
Okay i have brought all the seperate book sets, wanting to have every book of the series seperatly, but when I received this series its was the one collectors book. i was mad didnt want but i read it anyway, and i must tell you that I'm glad that I did get the coolectors book. This series IS the best ever. You have so much going on with the fighting and such but you still feel every hit, you smell every smell, you see the fine detail of Drizzt's weapons through the detail in which these books were written, If you claim to be a fan you must buy this series NOW.
Three books in one.......2007-07-04
The Hunter's Blades Collector's Edition consist of all three books of this series, Thousand Orcs, Lone Drow and Two Swords. I enjoyed the series quite a bit although I was bit surprised by the end of the third book. This series contained the best and worst of R.A. Salvatore's writing and they are kind of mixed up from book to book, chapter to chapter and story line to story line.
The main characters are the stars here and even although they all have near death experiences, that is close to the end they get. However, Salvatore killed off secondary characters like the wave of black plague or something as everyone who is anyone likable in the series died off. That I thought was his weaker side where he wiped out hordes of under deveoped secondary characters. On the positive side, his writing is still smooth, the story flowed well and his books are never boring to read. It could be possible that his main characters are so well entrenched that the author find it impossible to kill any of them off.
The series ends with more questions then answers. The final solution is not yet available and even after three books, this may only be the first of several series regarding Forgotten Realms.
wow.......2007-05-29
I am thourghly impressed by Mr. Salvatores work I just hope this isn't the end of Drizzt and co. Its a series that grows on you and i would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the forgotten realms.
DRIZZT!!!!!!!.......2007-05-19
In this book Drizzt finds he can't escape the "hunter" inside, in fact, it is good that it's there at times. He also gets involved with another woman, an elf, and it makes him a LOT more "human". There are more than the usual share of bad guys, a few surprises and some parts where you want to scream at him that his friends AREN'T dead!!! There should be more, to continue the thread at the end of the book, and I can hardly wait!
Book Description
When Twilight Threatens, Prima Guides the Way
·Includes Cloth Overworld Map
·The complete Twilight Princess compendium
·Exclusive maps for every dungeon in the game, plus all hidden dungeons mastered–including the infamous Cave of Ordeals!
·All Golden Bugs, Poes, Pieces of Heart, Fairies, Rare Gold Chu locations, dig spot caverns, overworld and dungeon treasure chests, and every major Rupee location in the entire world revealed!
·Complete walkthrough showing the optimal path to take! Grab all the best items at the earliest possible points!
·Outrageously fast times, cunning techniques, and secret unlockables for all mini-games!
·Written specifically for the Wii version
·Multiple methods for fighting against all of Hyrule's dark denizens!
·Learn when and where to search for every item, upgrade, character, and dungeon. Includes how and where to fish for the legendary 27-inch Hylian Loach!
·Dozens of combat, gameplay, and healing tricks, plus easter eggs you won't believe!
Customer Reviews:
Totally Awsome.......2007-09-10
Im a big Zelda fan, and with the Wii I now own all the console releases of Zelda. This book is a must have. Its very well built and a collectors item for sure. Minor complaint, the gold leaf pages were stuck together and take some time to break apart so that the book can be thumbed through freely.
A True Collector's Item.......2007-08-24
If you love Zelda and want to play Twilight Princess on the Wii, this is a MUST HAVE. The game is so extensive that a strategy guide is really called for to get every last drop of fantastic game play. This is the hardcover Collector's Edition with beautiful gold lettering on the cover and even the page edges are gold.
For the money, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this book and I will add it to my library when I am through with the game.
Never came...........2007-07-23
This isn't a dig at amazon, but the first copy of my guide never got here. Ups man took it to someone else's house who was kind enough to keep it, instead of bring it to me.
Get this guide.......2007-07-16
This is much better for novice gamers common to the Wii system. Allows you to walk through each part of the game step by step. We read it after we have finished up a section to see what we missed. Zelda is our first video game and the Wii makes it easy enough to play without a guide the guide just helps you see what you missed.
Good for some.......2007-06-27
If you want a guide that will get you from point A to point B that you'll use throughout the entire game, then this is the guide to get. If you want a guide just to consult when you get stuck, don't get this one. Yes, there's a tiny index in the back, but it only references the guide's own titles. This is more helpful for dungeons than the overworld. The real shame is the lack of any complete lists - there is nowhere, for instance, to look up all of the Golden Bugs and their locations. You have to flip through the guide until you find what you're looking for. The Heart Piece list, also, doesn't give page numbers; you're only given "Faron Province" and you have to flip through that section yourself. Sometimes that's okay, but overall it's very disappointing.
Book Description
Don't Pay Too Much - Don't Sell for Too Little!
The Firearms Price Guide That Gives You MORE
· More Photos!
· More Detailed Descriptions!
· More Values!
Now in its 17th year and completely updated for 2007, this edition of the world-famous Standard Catalog of® Firearms is bigger and better than ever. With entries for virtually all of the world's commercial firearms from the percussion era to the present day, Standard Catalog of® Firearms is the only book you need to identify and price collectible rifles, handguns and shotguns.
For the collector, for the shooter, for the enthusiast, Standard Catalog of® Firearms is the most detailed firearms price guide on the market. If you buy, sell or trade collectible firearms, this is a must-have.
New for 2007:
· "Sleepers": Collectible firearms that are outperforming the market
· Value Trends: Real-Life auction reports showing value ranges
· How to buy and sell on the Internet
Customer Reviews:
A good reference but..........2007-09-08
Not as updated as it would have you believe but still a good reference if you don't already own an earlier version and it does have a lot of photos.
Great visual aid.......2007-05-18
While not the end all of reference guides, when used in combination with other reference guides the book is very useful. The pictures have proven to be invaluable for identifying a certain model or type of firearm.
Helpful & Useful.......2007-05-16
Very useful and full of information. We buy a new book every year to keep up with the pricing, but also to see how our investments have done!!
Good Book.......2007-05-13
I have purchased this book since they started publishing it. I collect guns and this is a great pricing guide. This issue is a little below the standards of previous years. They seem to have changed some subtle things that won't affect the first time buyer but for the perpetual purchaser are disappointing.
Excellent resource.......2007-05-13
Excellant resource however, you still need military gun resource to compliment this as it is deficient in this.
Book Description
There’s a special comfort in collecting, in surrounding yourself with familiar objects and building a store of assets. The allure of money is especially strong. Coins represent real value. The warmth of silver and the weight of gold are irresistible to some. Coins travel throughout the world and through time itself, representing and absorbing history as they pass from one person to the next. Oh the stories coins could tell if they only had voices.
Coin-collecting is a relaxing and inexpensive (although it can be very expensive!) hobby. If you buy properly, coins can be an excellent place to park your money for a rainy day, and if you buy the right coins and the market improves, you may even be able to make a profit on your collection. In fact, numismatics (the fancy term for coin collecting) offers more riches than you may realize. This rewarding hobby also opens the door to some serious life skills, such as
- History
- Geography
- Observational skills
- Organizational skills
- Analytical tools.
This book is designed to appeal to collectors at every level, from beginner to advanced. This is not a hardcore coin book; rather, Coin Collecting For Dummies is a great general reference that points you in different directions for further investigation. Perhaps the most important goal of this book is to get you excited – and to keep you excited – about coin collecting. Coin Collecting For Dummies covers all these topics and more:
- Deciding what to collect
- Storing your collection correctly
- Finding out about repaired, restored, and recolored coins
- Pricing world coins
- Finding a good coin dealer
- Buying at auction
- Understanding that condition equals value
- Exploring the wild side with rare, expensive, and esoteric coins
- Selling your coins
No one needs coins, but if you decide to collect them, you certainly need this book. Coin collecting can sometimes be a confusing maze of choices sprinkled with little traps along the way. Sure, you can go it alone, but why not make your journey into numismatics a lot easier by picking the brain of an expert collector and learning from the mistakes of others.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Purchase.......2007-10-09
I purchased this book for my nephew who showed an interest in coin collecting. I started reading it before giving it to him and I learned a lot! It was written in a straight-forward method, clear concise. (I gave it to him a week later)
Great broad overview for new collectors...........2007-05-27
I intended audience for this book is people getting into the hobby of coin collecting. As such, it covers a lot of ground in about 400 pages. It is written to be interesting, engaging, fun and informative. It accomplishes these tasks and gives anyone a good grounding in coin collecting. While there are other books I would get a along with this one, this is a wonderful place to start for people of all ages.
Typical Dummies book-For Newbies only.......2006-11-10
Yeah, its a Dummies book, but if you could only see how many of these books I own! This is good for beginners. I needed it to learn the basic terminology of my new hobby. It worked for me, but even a newbie quickly gets beyond the Dummies stage and wants more.
An Introductory Book From One of the Numismatic Greats.......2006-07-10
If you've ever considered coin collecting, or you've already gotten started and want to learn more, this is the single most important and easy-to-understand primer on numismatics. You'll find yourself referring back to this book again and again as your knowledge grows. If coin collecting becomes a passion for you, then consider the more in-depth texts by Guth.
Beginners book.......2005-10-13
This is a good book for young or beginning coin collectors. It is also a great tool for any coin collector to refer from time to time. The description of the book is accurate. Everybody has to start somewhere in their hobby of choice, and this is a great way to learn more about many different aspects of numismatics.
Book Description
Words from the wise: insiders' tips on how to navigate the art market like a pro Art is about life, the art market is about money. —Damien Hirst
Whether you're an art fan, aficionado, or collector, this completely unique book should be on your required reading list. Like a textbook for a class given by all of the world's leading experts, Collecting Contemporary is the one and only book to teach you everything you ever wanted to know about the contemporary art market. The introduction explains the ABCs of buying art on the primary and secondary markets, at auction, and at art fairs and gives an overview of the world art scene and its social circles. The main body of the book brings together tell-all interviews with the biggest players in the global art market: the Critic (Rimanelli), the Dealer (Boesky, Deitch, Gagosian, Gladstone, Hetzler, Rosen, Shave), the Consultant (Cortez, Fletcher, Heller, Segalot, Westreich), the Collector (Brant, Broad, Joannou, Lambert, Lehmann, Miller, Pinault, Saatchi), the Auction House Expert (Cappellazzo, de Pury, Meyer), and the Museum Curator/Director (Dennison, Eccles, Heiss, Peyton-! Jones, Lowry). Rounding up the book are chapters on the year in art collecting—giving a timeline of the most important annual auctions, exhibitions, fairs, etc. around the world—as well as a glossary of terms every art savvy player should know. The text is illustrated by the work of the hottest artists in today's market, including Matthew Barney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Lisa Yuskavage, and many more. Do the math: all in all, these elements add up to the equivalent of an invaluable and privileged real-world collector's education—all between the covers one book.
Customer Reviews:
Buy art, not this book...........2007-08-20
Starting with the positives: you can read the entire book in about 15 minutes.
Here's the bottom line: buy what you like and can afford.
Dealers and critics try to make artists famous because that is how they make their money.
If you buy something from a dealer and later decide that you don't like it, it is considered hoyle (by dealers) to give the dealer first dibs on the re-sale.
Instead of buying this book, save your money and buy a work from a local artist you like - all will be better served.
A Veritable Education.......2007-08-12
Knowing very little about the contemporary art scene, I bought this book to prepare myself for the Venice Biennale. I found the format of interviewing various experts in the art world--from gallerists to collectors to auction houses to museums--extremely helpful and enlightening. It was fascinating that these seasoned insiders often had violently different opinions on the same topic. I'm grateful to Adam Lindeman for pulling back the curtain in Oz to let us glimpse how this complex microcosm really works.
An insider's view.......2007-06-05
The aim of this book is to give an insider's view of the contemporary art market, through interviews of major players (collectors, auctioneers, curators, art critics, museum directors)who, often in a candid way, deliver their own opinion on this peculiar market to the author who is himself a collector.
Why and how do collectors collect, how does an artist's career pick up, what is it to be an art dealer,what link is there between museums and the market, this is the type of question the book tries to answer. Many books have recently been published on this subject (no doubt because of the current boom of the market and the arrival of many new collectors), and I would say this is the one that gives the best insight on this often opaque market.
Very interesting book.......2007-04-03
This is a very interesting and informative book for anyone interested in contemporary art, specially collecting it.
The Meaningful Multi Angle Perspective of the Art World.......2007-02-08
Although Adam Lindemann has obviously his own strong opinions about the contemporary art world and market, he shows enormous restraint in this book in bringing forward the opinions of many people having a view on the subject from very different angles. I learned a lot. What I appreciate the most is a writer not shoveling information down my throat and wanting me to think like him/her but a writer who respects the reader and allow the reader to make his/her own decision, the same way as opinions about art might vary widely. It would be my pleasure to fill my evenings and thinking moments in the presence of people like this author who dares to take a fresh approach.
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