Art History Books

When relying on a computer all day, this book lets you return to how it all began. Get creative! Draw, doodle, color, cut, create and interpret this into your latest computer-aided design.

This is a fantastic resource filled with great examples of handmade design masterpieces. There are a few sections of illustrations that are already starting to look very dated, but a lot of the featured designs are timeless in their inginuity and beauty.

Whether you are already using hand-made techniques in your work, or you are searching for some inspiration on how you can get a more hands-on tactile feel with your designs in this age of InDesign, Photoshop and stock graphics, this book is great.

If you love handmade and mixed media this book is for you. It is an inspirational collection of graphic design with a handmade look, very creative.

This is such a lovely book! Nice layout, easy to follow. Full of fantastic examples.

I bought this along with 8 other design books- and this was by far the best purchase. The book leaves you wanting more, but the examples it does have are excellent. There is a good variety of media, style, and artists. There were no examples that i thought were a waste of ink.

I really enjoyed this fictional portrayal of the woman at the well. Her strength came alive, not just her shortcomings. It made you think, about your past, present and your future. And it most important lesson of all was that it is not where you are it is where you are going. My thought process was challenged by Hendricks portrayal of Christ which was as I found out later his intention.

This book is wonderful. The women's guild at my church featured it as a topic of a book discussion last year. We had the pleasure of taking part in a telephone conference with the author Obery Hendricks. He was very gracious. It was a wonderful experience. The reader gets an understanding of how women and minorities were marginalized in society during Biblical times.

This is a touching story of a young womans journey from her joy of life to near-death despair around to a greater joy of life.
It truly celebrates the strength of womanhood. The descriptions were vivid and the personalities so real, I felt I knew all of the characters. Because all women have experienced Maryam's life in some form, this story will touch your heart in an unbelievable way. I loved this book!

In this glorious tale of redemptive love BEFORE we know what it is, Maryam flowers despite the heartships and trials of her life. Hendricks is a master storyteller who gives us the depth of anguish from both the men and women, while not excusing the pain that the men are causing the women in this Novel. Given to me by a Pastor who shares the stories of women in the Bible with his congregation, I read it from front to end without stopping, finding the message that God loves us even when we don't see it. Worth reading, but more, worth its use as a Bible study tool. Wonderful story with a dynamic ending!

This is a gripping, at times lusty, tale based on the life story of the Samaritan Woman. LIVING WATER is not a stereotypically lightweight, biblical novel. It's for readers who are ready for a challenge and willing to look for truths presented in nontraditional forms.

Author Obery Hendricks, a seminary "professor of biblical interpretation," calls this, his first novel, "an African American retelling of the New Testament story of the woman at the well who was married to five successive husbands at a time when women did not have the right to choose either marriage or divorce." Ethnic overtones are evident in some characters' nicknames (Sonny Boy and Big Mama) and patterns of dialogue ("Oh Lordy, we're in trouble now" and "Don't he talk sweet"). But there are deeper parallels: The ravages of slavery and harsh control influence the heart of the story --- the Samaritan men being humiliated and beaten down by the Romans; the women being powerless property of the husbands who have lost respect for themselves and take out their frustration on their women.

The book opens with a short, startling death scene of the Samaritan woman's fifth husband. Then Part 1 is a flashback, from prenuptial childhood up to that pivotal, bloody mess. She --- her name is Maryam, though significantly we aren't told this for 250 pages --- is a spunky, in-your-face kind of kid who sadly learns, from her kindhearted grandmother, Ma Tee, that spunk is not acceptable for girls. "Atop the coarse woolen tunic that is [the girl's] usual attire is now draped a stale, heavy garment of carefulness. Ma Tee has tried her best to craft it to her size, yet it does not fit. Still, she will dutifully struggle to wear it, though its weight will sag her heart to its knees." And this narrative comment comes even before she's married to and beaten down by her first husband and abandoned by numbers two, three, and four.

This is a feminist story, but not drastically so; it is egalitarian more than man bashing. The big cast of characters --- five (or is it six?) husbands, three father figures, a brother-in-law, Messiah Jesus, and more --- include bad men and good; similarly with the Samaritan women. In a supplemental reader's guide, Hendricks explains that the Samaritan woman's journey "to be free of male domination and mistreatment was also my own journey to free myself from the roles of dominator and mistreater."

Theologically conservative readers may rankle at some feminist theology, but, again, this is not as radical as it might be. Hendricks interprets biblical passages (mostly from Proverbs, once from Luke) that personify Wisdom (a feminine Hebrew word) as being descriptive of "the woman-side of God."

For a novel that is replete with social commentary applicable to any age --- including a chapter on an itinerant, fraudulent faith healer --- LIVING WATER is an engaging read. Part 2 --- in which Maryam claims her name, takes up with a man who loves her and treats her well, and becomes a disciple of Jesus --- includes powerful scenes of redemption, even unto the last page, which drew a tear to my eye.

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

This is an excellent book. While not a true biography, it does take a look into Webb's personal life because Webb was such a workaholic that it had an effect on all that he did and who he was.

Unless you're an old time radio fan like me, you may not know that Webb started early and young. He had many outstanding shows before Dragnet and even Dragnet started in 1949 on radio. For a while, it was on both radio and television at the same time.

Webb was in many ways a brilliant man. Yet he had many failures --- both in his business life and certainly in his four marriages.

To say he was an interesting man may be an overstatement. But his body of work is so extensive, that one has to be impressed.

I started to become interested in Webb when looking for metaphors for my own writing. I didn't want to use stuff that everyone knew. And I kept hearing them on his old radio shows --- especially the ones written by the incredible Richard Breen.

I liked Webb's delivery and unemotional approach to acting. In most people, that would be considered bad acting. But somehow with Webb it was something special.

This book makes Webb and his entire career, his stock of actors and his many incarnations come to life. While his life was short, he accomplished so much.

Dragnet started on radio in 1949 and still today, in 2007, I know of no one who doesn't know what it means to hear, dum - de-dum -dum. And few people do not know of Dragnet and at least seen it on television. To me, that's amazing.

This book dwelt mostly with Webb's body of work and not his personal life or his personality. It does deal with it to some extent. But if you're interested mostly in that area of Webb's life, you might prefer another book.

The book has an excellent and exhaustive appendix that included a list, along with dates and other valuable information on each show on both radio and television. The appendix also includes other valuable informations. Well worth saving.

For Dragnet fans and Webb fans or those who are interested in radio and/or television history, this is a must-read. Oh, it has lots of great photos too.

Highly recommended.

I found this book to be an OK read. The only problem I had was that toward the end the tone of the writing shifted as the author sought to be a Jack Webb apologist. There are excuses made for the way the Dragnet of the 60s portrayed drug users, and there's almost an indignant tone taken over Dragnet spoofs such as the Dan Ackroyd film and even Nick at Nite promos!

The reason the Dragnet of the 60s became such a ripe ground for spoofing (besides the rapid fire patter) was indeed the portrayal of drug users. The series basically equated marijuana use with LSD and heroin, which is a laughable premise. The author's defense of the "Blue Boy" episode was particularly humorous. I remember seeing one of the participants of the drug party in that show actually physically trying to climb the walls. Talk about heavy-handed and unintentionally funny!

That said, I still found the book worthwhile reading, I'm a fan of Dragnet, both for Jack Webb's innovative style of shooting and the campy humor. It was interesting discovering things about Webb's radio show and some of his films that I had not previously known. I was easily able to overcome any minor annoyances with the tone shifting at the end.

I bought this book expecting fluff based on the reviews. I am a big fan of Dragnet the radio show but did not think the book would cover much of it in depth. I was wrong. Although it spends more time discussing the television series and movies, I was happy with the information on the radio show.

This book details the Dragnet radio show, both Dragnet television shows, and Mark VII movies. It does this through the central person in all of these productions, Jack Webb. However, the reader also learns about the regulars on the shows, and we get to know a bit about them as well.

"My Name's Friday" does not claim to be a biography on Webb and if that is what you are looking for, this is the wrong book for you. If you are looking for a bio of Jack Webb, there are many other books that you would probably enjoy more. However, If you are interested in the multiple incarnations of Dragnet and Pete Kelly's Blues, this is the book for you.

In addition to the main text, the appendixes include titles and brief descriptions of each Dragnet radio and television show in addition to police terms used in the shows and movies.

Great,great,great that's all that can be said about this book on ol' Jack Webb. Definately recommend that you get it,causes it's truly Dragnet A to Z. Buy it and remember when T.V. was new.

This is a must if you are collecting the radio shows, original TV series, or the '67-'70 version. A lot of the 50's series is on DVD, but they are scattered on all sorts of compilations. This book helps keep track of what you've got. I particularly enjoyed hearing from the extras that Webb used religiously.

But beyond Dragnet, there's a lot of interesting stuff here, how Webb was a jazz nut, including his foray into recording with his spoken-word "You're My Girl" album.

I think it's very interesting how he worked with ex-wife and her husband on Emergency! Many paramedics credit Emergency! with inspiring them to join this service. He obviously loved police and emergency services and his hometown. It makes you wonder, if Webb had lived, what his creative reaction to say the LA riots and the OJ trial would have been.

This is the definite cluetrain (doc searls et al)for broadcasTV news. Much the same way cluetrain sparked a marketing revolution, this does the same for broadcast journalism.
I first meet the author when she was interning for Florida Today in Cocca Beach.
Every point she makes in this book is vaild. The take on "fox fair and balanced" tells me she won't be on the O'Reilly factor anytime soon.
I found only one sort of error. FYI> Matt Lauer does have a broadcast journalism background on the local level. He came out of the same environment that former NBC correspondent and current talk show host (WBUR Boston) Robin Young did, PM Magazine at WJAR TV 10 in Providence Rhode Island. That's the only small flaw I could find in the book.
The suits at CNN don't want you to read the book. They are not happy campers and with good reason. The hollywood suits trashed the network big time, and with than came the opening for Fox news to fill. Rick Kaplan is currently doing the same thing for MSNBC that he did for CNN take it down the pike.
It's a fast read but once you start you wont' want to stop.

Finally---an insider with enough intestinal fortitude to call a sham a sham!!! One can just imagine the 6 o'clock news being primmed, powdered and perfumed with just enough tear (or smile) to make it palatibly entertaining. Ms. Anderson, with her years of experience and credibility, still believes that the American citizenry is due the news, the whole news, and nothing but the news. Reserve the spin and "holy cows" for the baseball commentators! If the media execs remain stoically entrenched in the annals of the entertainment world, then let them be reminded of the old radio classic, Dragnet, where the byline was...."the facts, Ma'am, just the facts".

Bonnie Anderson's book has brought to the light of day what I have felt has been a problem with the media for some time. Many of the newscasts are more concerned with form, not substance; how they look and not what they say. Her book is a very good read and pulls no punches in pointing out the way many in the media are more concerned with entertainment than hard news coverage. Her description of this type of coverage as "Infotainment" is right on point.

News Flash brings to the reader another big problem influencing news coverage which is how mega mergers are affecting the coverage that is being presented to the viewing public. Unfortunately the impact is not good and these large conglomerates are proving the old adage "bigger is not always better" to be very true.

From her experience at CNN as a reporter, managing director of a news division and Vice President of Recruitment and Training, Anderson offers the reader a unique perspective as to what goes on inside a large news organization. She provides an in depth look at what takes place behind closed doors when it comes to hiring, firing and staffing in today's media corporations and much of what she reveals should be quite disturbing to the viewing public. This book provides some very interesting statistics about the media and its management which I am sure most of us were never aware of.

While Anderson points out numerous things that are wrong with today's TV media and its management, she also brings out the good that the true journalist can and should do. At the end of the book she offers her thoughts on what the media can do to provide the viewing public with quality news coverage. She should be commended for taking a stand and bringing to our attention the problems and proposing solutions to get TV journalism back to the quality we need and deserve.

In light of Anderson's criticism of the TV networks and cable news channels, it will be interesting to see if any of the media will afford her the same opportunity to present her views as they did when Bernard Goldberg published his book on bias in the media. If they do not, shame on the media, again.

News Flash appears as a rising meteor against a field of weakening stars. Ms. Anderson's book takes the reader through the shenanigans of the TV news broadcasters in their unadulterated striving for place and profits while leaving behind journalistic investigation and integrity. Her words turn out to be an exciting journey of personal experience and incisive exposure.
As a long time news journalist Ms. Anderson sets a fair bar for news organization to reach. Her experiences and reporting often show just how good news organization can function. The same intimacy exposes the petty, inexcusable machinations of networks in journalistic decline.
Ms. Anderson's news flashes exposes the perfidy of CNN's executive wing in its Tailwind scandal, the staging of news as presented by NBC's Dateline story on General Motors in 1992 and the apparent homophobia of Roger Mudd given his attitude toward AIDS victims. But indeed, Ms Anderson is not a muckraker. On the contrary, hers is to excite the industry to better, to reset the standard of TV journalism. She gives as examples her own series on drought and famine in Africa bringing a change in American policy on humanitarian aid, or of CNN's initiative in covering the return of twenty-four U.S. Navy spy plane crewmen held in China. While these could be considered scoops, her admiration for her industry is best held by her words on the, "spectacular breaking news coverage of the 9/11 attacks."
Ms. Anderson words border on the requirement for broadcast journalism to return to its traditional values and to assure the public a clear and unbiased presentation of the news. Ms. Anderson carries the fight to those in the industry already sullying news broadcasts as entertainment and who have diluted their own professionalism for money, position, or simply hubris.

From her insiders view of the whole industry, Bonnie
Anderson delivers a searing indictment of our corrupt,
sensationalistic television news. She lays out fact
by fact, and name by name, just how, why, and most
importantly who is to blame for this once esteemed
institution's downward slide into the very muck it
used to deplore. For years, Noam Chomsky's theories
about the corruption of the news media have grown less
alarmist and eerily more prescient as the
infotainment age reaches its belligerent maturity.
But while Chomsky was lecturing about it, Ms. Anderson
was out in the field living it. She recounts, with a
journalist's eye for detail, all that went astray
within our large media conglomerates. The cast of
characters are all to familiar, Browkaw, Jennings,
Schwarzenegger, Striesand, O.J., Clinton, Leo,
Lewinsky, and Lettermen, as Ms. Anderson makes a
compelling case for the media's distortion from a
revered source of accurate information to an
increasingly grotesque and obvious fountain of
entertainment. "If it bleeds it leads" is the mantra
of newsrooms of our day, and may truth and rational
perspective be damned. Everything of value is
jettisoned in light of shocking and sensational video
footage about any subject, no matter how irrelevant
and trivial. No one will hear about the latest civil war in
Africa when every second of news time is dedicated to
footage of a shark attack in Florida, human interest
stories, a surfing cat, or another excessive
Hollywood wedding.

Poortvliet provides an unexpected delight in his telling of the Noah's Ark story through the prism of his youth and memories. The drawings are remarkable in their humanity. He has created a book that is a must have for adults, particularly animal lovers, and children to share.

One of the most beautifully illustrated books ever. The artwork is superb and the narrative sublime by someone who appreciates the design in nature. I cant imagine anyone not really treasuring this book, for young and old alike.

The illustrations in this volume are amazing. I love the format. It's much like a personal journal with sketches to enhance the artist's viewpoint. I will definately consider purchasing everything that is available by this author after seeing this beloved work of art.

I have had the larger, original version of this book for thirty years or so, and I wanted to get it for my grandson's fifth birthday. Unfortunately, the larger version was no longer available, but this one filled the bill nicely. It is a perfect size, and it has perfect content for bedtime stories. Plus, none of the excellent pages was left out. Rien Poortvliet is a magnificent artist, and a thoughtful one, at that.

AWESTRUCK is the only word to describe my reaction to this magnificently beautiful book! It is a huge collection of Poortvliet's master quality artwork in a stunning coffee table book. The thoughtfully executed art gives evidence of the artist's heart toward the subject matter. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

I had the privilege to study the history of the Germanic languages from a photocopied version of the manuscript for this book back in the day. Though the title makes it seem targeted at students of Old English, it actually gives equal weight to all of the Germanic languages, notably Old High German, Gothic, and Old Norse (Icelandic).

Each chapter begins with the parable, "The Sower and the Seed," in the language of the chapter. This text was chosen because it's actually found in the existing manuscripts - - the Bible tended to be translated into the vernacular early on, and disseminated widely - - and because this story has a goodly amount of grammatical action. "A sower went out to sow seeds" gives you three variations on the basic stem of , and you can see how that idea is reflected in each language.

Using the same text also makes for great pedagogy. After a few chapters, the student *sees* the differences immediately, and automatically starts thinking about the language at hand.

It would be easy to make a book like this a collection of reference grammars with a boring list of similarities and differences from one language to the next. Robinson avoids this, and writes in a lively and interesting style. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in the history of the Germanic languages.

This is a wonderful book, and I doubt if any serious reviewer will give it less than five stars. It is exceptionally well-written by an author who wears his immense learning lightly. Devoting a chapter to each of the known early Germanic languages -- e.g., Old Germanic, Gothic, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, etc. -- Robinson shows how the languages developed, how they shared common characteristics and developed new ones, and how they to some extent must have cross-fertilized one another. In the process, he shares some fascinating information, such as the development of "Futhark," the runic alphabet in which Old Norse was originally written, and makes a cautionary remark which explains that we may know a good deal less about early Germanic writings skills than we think we do: "It is easier to write a letter on a stick than on a stone." He also tackles some deep linguistic issues, such as the reasons why the idea of a language-tree may be misleading, and why the analogy of biological taxonomy to language typology can be problematical. When biological species diverge, they never re-converge. But tribes, armies, villagers, etc., my split up, rejoing, form new groups, etc., so their languages may diverge, reconverge, borrow, meld, and otherwise demonstrate a more complicated history than a "divergence from a common ancestor" model might suggest. For example, Robinson concludes there never was a "common language" which could be called "West Germanic."

Robinson also points out the limits of our knowledge -- so much of our reconstruction of these ancient languages depends upon translations of the Bible and other religious texts that we know very little about the idiomatic usage which surely characterized the "everyday" use of these tongues. We have to be grateful to Robinson for a book which is unlikely to be equaled, much less surpassed, anytime soon.

This book was my first introduction to Germanic linguistics. The book begins with a chapter entitled "The Germanic Language Family." Although the discussion is, for obvious reasons, framed in terms of the Germanic languages, this is incidentally the best and clearest exposition of the principles and techniques of historical linguistics that I have ever read.

The next chapter, "Germanic: A Grammatical Sketch", lists those features of phonology and grammar which characterize the Germanic languages, richly illustrated with examples, mostly from Gothic. That's because Gothic is considered to have preserved more archaic features than the other languages surveyed, and to best represent what proto-Germanic must have been like.

There follow chapters on each of the following languages: Gothic, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian, and Old High German. Each chapter begins with a short history of the tribe(s) which spoke that particular language, usually 4-5 pages worth.

Following this is a short listing of texts from which we derive our knowledge of the language. This obviously varies from language to language. In the case of Gothic and Old Saxon, the texts are few and are listed in their entirety. In the case of Old Norse, Old English, and Old High German, the number of texts which survived is too numerous to list them all, so the corpus is merely described by genre, with a few outstanding representative texts listed.

Next are two short readings in the language. These are limited by the scope of the texts that survive in the language in question. The first is usually the Parable of the Sower and the Seed from the New Testament, to allow for easy comparison between languages. The second is usually from a text unique to the language: for example, the second text in Old Norse is the story of Thor and Skrymir from the Edda; in Old High German, it's from the Muspilli; in Old Frisian, it's from a Frisian legal code.

Following the readings, there is a glossary of all words contained in the readings.

Next there is a short grammar of the language, which covers spelling and pronunciaton pretty thoroughly, and offers a less thorough treatment of grammar. The author clearly states that he did not intend to present a comprehensive grammar for each language. The intention is to give the reader the noteworthy characteristics of the language being considered, and especially to illuminate how it is similar to, and how it differs from, the other early Germanic languages.

The next section for each language covers some topic in Germanic linguistics; the author chooses a general topic which has special significance for that chapter's language. For example, for Old Saxon, he discusses Germanic alliterative poetry. This is particularly relevant to Old Saxon since our main representative text in that language is the Heliand, an alliterative epic retelling of the events in the life of Jesus.

Finally, there is a bibliography for each language, usually containing about 10-12 items, which directs those interested to further reading. The lists are relatively short, but I have found some real jewels there; McDonald-Stearns treatment of Crimean Gothic, for example.

The author concludes the work with a discussion of the grouping of the Germanic languages based on grammatical and phonological features, together with a chart listing some of these features and the early Germanic languages which exhibit them, for ease of comparison.

This is one of my most treasured books. I purchased it 10 years ago, and still keep it by my bedside. I've read it innumerable times from cover-to-cover, and also enjoy opening it at random.

This book is an exceptional piece of literary work. This book compares old English to it closest continental relatives. I particularly enjoyed the preamble at the beginning of each chapter that discusses the history surrounding the people that spoke such languages as old Saxon, old Norse, old Friesian and other Germanic dialects. This would be a valuable tool to the student or to the armchair Etymologist/early medieval historian.

Orrin Robinson has done what many suggested could never be done -- or done well at any rate: he has constructed a useful, solid introduction to the whole of early Germanic linguistics, hitting all the high points, with concision, without merely paying lip service to each language. It's a terrific starting point for comparative Germanic linguistics -- from which you can move on to more exhaustive works on the individual languages.

Robinson covers seven key Germanic languages here, each in its own chapter: Gothic, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian, and Old High German. In each chapter, he situates the language in its proper historical context, discusses its development from Primitive Germanic, explains its phonology (useful crib notes to refer back to when you need to remember how to pronounce Old Saxon or Gothic! :), talks about the key literary texts in the language, offers two or three reading samples in each language -- with glosses and cognates in the margin and a short glossary following, provides an overview of the grammar, and more. Each chapter also concludes with a Further Reading section, telling those interested in learning more where to turn next.

This is quite a lot to have accomplished in such a relatively short book (c.300 pp.). Robinson's writing is a model of clarity, and the book never plods or becomes too overwhelming or too dry. I've read this book more than once and I refer to it often, which is a compliment of another sort. Very highly recommended indeed!

I heard ABC WILL cancel ONE LIFE TO LIVE as of JULY 16. The press of daytime soap operas is not telling viewers and put the information about it in the Magazines. Write to ABC DAYTIME in New York please!

The other 2 reviews were right about ABC daytime canceling ONE LIFE TO LIVE in July 16,1999!,to make room for a new soap opera, PACIFIC CITY.Please right to ABC DAYTIME about this, they aren't going to tell the public 'til OLTL is cancelled. Don't let this happen, like what happened to NBC SOAP ANOTHER WORLD. Write to ABC DAYTIME about this, why?

I HAVE BEEN A BIG FAN OF OLTL FOR 25 YEARS. THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING I COULD WANT IN COVERING MY FAVORITE SOAP OPERA. THE INTERVIEWS, PHOTOS, RESEARCH DONE MR. WARNER IS OUTSTANDING. IT BROUGHT BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES FROM THE PAST 25 YEARS. ALL FANS OF ONE LIFE TO LIVE AND SOAPS SHOULD OWN THIS GREAT PIECE OF WORK. A WONDERFUL BOOK DEDICATED TO A WONDERFUL SHOW THAT FILLED MANY OF MY AFTERNOONS. A MUST READ.

This book is a wonderful historical memoir of one of the most daring and well-written shows on daytime.

Not only does it chronicle the show's rich history, it includes wonderfully bright and vivid color photos of many of the most-loved actors/actresses/characters that have been on the show.

I highly recommend this book to all fans of OLTL!

This book has all that any fan of 'One Life To Live' would want. You can relive the storylines through all of the recaps. The book features listings of every character to ever appear on the show, along with many pictures of past and present greats from the show. It is definitely a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
The book did a wonderful job of cramming 30 years into something that is totally enjoyable. I really can't think of anything that was missed.

Michael Troyan has a gift for biography. I hope he can collaborate with Turner Classic Movies to produce a video on the life of Greer Garson.
This book makes me wish I could have known Greer Garson. She loved and respected her mother, she loved her husband, she loved children and orphans and the disabled and disadvantaged. She loved her dogs, ranching in New Mexico, history, and she loved Texas...makes me love her even though I never met her. Good job, Mr. Troyan.

Modern actors and actresses don't seem to have the charisma, style and elegance of yesteryear's stars. Maybe that's because most of today's actors are really nothing but pitiful celebrities striving to be what once was, when Hollywood was golden.

I long for yesterday when it comes to film stars: Betty Davis, Myrna Loy, Katherine Hepburn Ginger Rogers, and so many more. Oh, yes, and that includes Greer Garson. The beautiful and talented woman we thought was born in Ireland in 1908, was really born in London in 1904.

Author Michael Troyan delves into Greer Garson's life, as much as anyone could, given that she was an extremely private woman. He carries you through her intense desire to succeed as an actress, her `discovery' and career struggles to resist being typecast, all the way through her marriages, and to her death on April 5, 1996 at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital with Van Cliburn at her bedside.

I'd always thought of Ms. Garson as a brilliant actress who could get any part she wanted. I had no idea of her struggles with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. One of my favorite films is the record-breaking "Mrs. Miniver." I get chills thinking about her Academy Award-winning performance.

And while it felt a bit like voyeurism looking in on her life, I'm glad I visited it through Troyan's eyes. It was a satisfying trip. And the author did a marvelous job showing us a small part of the woman who was Greer Garson.

For a compelling look at one of the best actresses to ever grace the stage, big or small screen, read A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a wonderful slice of our American film history.

All too often, celebrity biographies are depressing catalogs of scandal and hedonistic, self-destructive behavior. Not this biography. When you finish it, you are sad, but it's because Greer Garson is no longer with us and you will never have the opportunity to meet her.
This fascinating biography is full of vignettes that reveal the character and personality of this woman who overcame chronic illness and many other obstacles to become one of Hollywood's most respected actresses. Examples of her warmth, sincerity, and decentness abound. As her beloved husband of more than thirty years to whom she is devoted lies near death in a Dallas hospital, she stands by his bedside with an old friend and recites from memory her favorite Psalm. Asked to read the Bible at a church service on Easter she realizes she has forgotten her glasses. She composes herself and ad libs for the congregation a beautiful and memorable message of her own.
She contributes millions to fund libraries, build theaters, establish scholarships, and support medical facilities. At the College of Santa Fe to which she has donated millions, she can be found on occasion pulling weeds and tending favorite rose bushes. She was so admired and respected in Texas where she had a home that she was formally asked to run for the U.S. Congress.
One hopes that Mr. Troyan or some other writer will gather Greer Garson's letters and publish them and that the A&E Network will finally remember her in an installment of "Biography." In the meantime, Garson fans should buy this book. It will inspire you and enrich your life and your appreciation of this beloved actress will only deepen. A richly detailed, superbly written biography of a truly lovely human being!

This book on Greer Garson I highly recommend. It's very balances and tells of the good and bad times in her life about her career andher fmaily. Though i must admit I wished it had mentioned more about her interests and personal life off screem. But overall it's really well written and interesting book about alovely screen actress. Greer Garson really had class
and a wnderful grace about her in all of her films

An excellent read if you're into details. For me, the details got a little overwhelming, but I so much wanted to learn more about this actress that I admire greatly. Sadly, as the author himself stated, it was difficult to write a biography because Greer Garson was a very private person and did not give many interviews or express many personal opinions in public. However, he richly details her movies, her public service, and others' opinions of her (and a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold). I have always enjoyed watching her many films and am tracking down as many of them as I can on DVD so this made for a fine addition to my collection of her work. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading and loves any of her many films.

Tarkovsky's 'Sculpting in Time' offers a fascinating glimpse into this master's theoretical and poetic approach to his craft. Reading it alongside with 'Time Within Time', his diaries collected, the text casts a new light upon the work and mind of this artist of truth and sacrifice - A true must for art lovers worldwide.

I was introduced to Tarkovsky's work about 20 years ago during my time in film school, and The Sacrifice was the movie that turned me on to his outstanding cinematic legacy. The more I saw, the more I wanted to learn about the artist. Then I came upon Sculpting In Time; a cinematic memoir which has forever changed my life, and my artistic visions.

This book is nothing short of inspirational. I highly recommend it even if you are not familiar with Tarkovsky's work. Each chapter is loving written, eloquently detailed and profoundly insightful on topics such as the importance of sound, story and visual aesthetics in filmmaking. Tarkovsky's ability to, quite literally, sculpt cinematic moments in time in each of his films is nothing short of genius.

Thames & Hudson have triumphed with what collectors might regard as a limited edition, artist's book.This isn't the place to start chipping into Tarkovsky. It is more the devotee's piece - a touchstone which alludes to the magnificent ediface of his films: all which return the viewer to their world with a deeper, more spacious vision, an expanded present moment. In 'Rubelov','Solaris', 'Stalker', and,'Sacrifice', to name my favourites, he re-invented the epic with sustained inquiries into our transience without heady verbalism or vanity. To grapple with his own thinking about his achievements and how he positioned himself as an artist, one should seek out,'Sculpting In Time,'penned towards the end of his relatively short life. Recently, French documentary-maker, Chris Marker('Sunless') compiled a stunning homage to this Russian cinematic master. Bits of Tarkovsky's aforementioned book, and excerpts from his diaries appear with the reproduced polaroid snaps(the present book's theme)which fall into two geographic zones, Italy & Russia and are bookended with short tributes by two Italian friends. Every effort has been made in layout to convey the darkened atmosphere in which the illuminated materiality of these world's float to the viewer's eye. And in images barely larger than matchboxes this scale has some of the hallucinatory power of his movies. The layout & medium insist on episodic, fragmentary framing. Tarkovsky's films privilege the same exquisite framing with a sensual appetite for textures above narratives that makes us feel newly arrived at a primary experiencing of the world. These polaroids could have served as his flexing towards film projects: even their outtakes.

Sculpting in the time represents one of the most expressive eloquents statements of one of the supreme masters in the cinema art as Andrei Tarkovsky was .
All long this book you will read several aspects of the man , the thinker , the poet and above all the unvaluable reflections about the art in general and his craft in particular .
Tarkovsky makes an account about all his filmography ; making a detailed and exhaustive explanation about every film .
You will understand in all his wideness conceptual some concepts derivated about the role of the cinema in the actual world . The influence of ancient directors , his opinions about the role of the artist in the world , and some mesmerizing photos from his films as Ivan' s childhood , the Mirror , Nostalghia or Andrei Rubliov . There are some poems from his father Arseni Tarkovsky who were part of films such The mirror in the Spanish Civil War and the poem from the poet from Nosthalgia for instance .
It's a must for you to acquire this book . For me it was a delightful surprise to get this text in New York in 1995 .
Fundamental artistic legacy from this russian ( 04-04-32 / 12-29-6 ) master: in memoriam!

"Sculpting in Time" is truly an amazing work of art in its own right. Certainly filmmakers have written books about their artistic styles in the past. Philosophers have written elaborately on the subject of aesthetics as a whole in the past as well. And yet "Sculpting in Time" offers those with aesthetic interests something truly unique.

It should be forewarned that Tarkovsky, like Ingmar Bergman, was heavily interested in aesthetic philosophy. In fact Tarkovsky's ideas regarding art borderline the metaphysical (as this book is often used in higher level philosophy classes), and yet - through the tone in which the book is written - "Sculpting in Time" manages to appeal to the average Tarkovsky or cinema studies fan in such a way that no other aesthetics book has managed.

Tarkovsky's self-written "Sculpting in Time" is an amazing supplement which describes the brilliant filmmaker's use of filmic techniques but also goes a step further by explaining (at great length), why the filmmaker believes those techniques are significant. The value of his tried efforts to create a meaningful work of art directly relate to Tarkovsky's view of art as a whole.

Tarkovsky's views of art are complex and yet are reiterated for the reader so simply they stand out in "Sculpting in Time" like a gem. For instance the underlying theme in Tarkovsky's writing is the idea of an "absolute truth" of art which can be derived a given piece of art. Without giving too much away, Tarkovsky's beliefs, as expressed in his chapter "Imprinted in Time" mostly, is simply that art done for the right reasons - containing some form of objective truth within it - serves to link us (subjective beings), with an "absolute." From that blooms Tarkovsky's entire creative aspect fans of his films know and love him for.

I have to recommend this book to anyone interested in aesthetics, cinema studies, or Tarkovsky. I think this is a nice supplement to have when watching Tarkovsky films as well, so it might just serve to spark the interest in a philosophy buff to check out a few Tarkovsky films! Enjoy!

Dear animation lover. This book will restore your faith in the power of passion. With a never failing belief in the craftmanship of delivering a great story Pixar showed the possibilities of a good marriage between art and technique. Off course, some luck of being in the right place at the right time counts as well.

The book starts with the original background of the pixar machine as a calculating machine to the point where Disney takes over.

I also have almost every Pixar art-of book there is, but the movies described in the book (including all the shorts) are mostly viewed from a Pixar company point of view. This way you get a great overall view.

As it is my dream to come close to the Pixar company, this is probably the closest you can get the heart of Pixar when you are living far away...

Great book,
have to read a lot but very very interesting.
Great image quality and edition.
I'm loving it!


Martina,
Buenos Aires
Argentina

If you're at all a Pixar fan, or even an animation fan, this book deserves a place on your shelf!

very insightful look at the fascinating studio that pioneered the animation industry into the 21st century.

The content of the book is as high quality and colorfull as the company it describes. Also the author did a good job at documenting the history of the company.

However, in the making of this book someone made a couple of mistakes. There are tens of images which have unacceptable 'pixelation' (i.e. blockiness due to overstretching of digital images). Especially the full page spread on p. 220 jumps out with pixels blown up to almost milimeter size!

This is quite dissappointing to me, especially as it is the artwork of a company which spearheads the way in digital imaging! I can imagine this is a slap in the face of some of the artitst and it would definitely not pass through their quality system if the book was produced by Pixar.

Overall the majority of the images in the book are very well reproduced, so I take the couple of handfull of bad apples for granted.