Literature in Art Books

This is good book that briefly describes the events of Episode I in a picture format perfect for young and non-readers

this is the best book you can look at to see all the details put into episode 1! there are pictures, quotes, and much info about each character! it truly is a good buy!

I just bought this book and I just can't get over how amazing it is. I learned who played Darth Maul finally and I found out a lot of things about the movie I really didn't noticed when I watched it.

When I got this book, It was totally AWESOME! there are a lot of pics and COOL stuff that you couldn't of had guessed...I mean is was "THE BEST" I couldn't stop reading it...it's REALLy good...trust me!

This book is really great. I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know before! For example, it explained more about the Jedi council and other characters.

I picked up this book simply because I have enjoyed Benjamin Lloyd as an actor. I never expected that he would also be a wonderful writer. In addition, Lloyd provides an insight into the joys and struggles of an actor and will help anyone contemplating a career as an artist. It should also be a must read for the parents, spouse or friend of the "struggling artist". ( And, almost by definition, they all must have their struggles. )

Fortunately, no one need struggle as they read this book. It will capture you from the first through the last page! I loved it.

Duane Malm

Acting and teaching acting is revealed in an unusual form: fictional letters between a struggling New York City actor and his Quaker grade-school acting teacher. In adopting the letter format, the pitfalls of an actor's life and the realities of success are more easily captured. It's rare to see such a blending of fiction and fact, but The Actor's Way: A Journey Of Self-Discovery In Letters provides an excellent, realistic survey in a form students can more easily digest.

This riveting book using the letters of the 2 main characters wonderfully developes the interplay between acting, openness, fragility and trust. Using the theater metaphor, lloyd details feelings, emotional interplay, and community building as the constant themes of bringing the "spirit"and "life" into our temporal life. His chosen world of acting and directing demonstrate the ephemeral in our concrete denotative world,AND also brings out the eternal through the incorporation of the impact of art on the observer and the participant. Poetry, music, and drama become meaningless exercises without the emotional and spiritual transportation of performer and audience to a new "weltanschaung".
The specific techniques described are beyond my experience but resonate clearly with similar techniques of relating and isolating specific aspects of relationships in my medical career. I was always amazed by the change in surgeons personalities when they were wearing a mask and when they "out of costume". No question that the mask provided a screen for their persona. The arrogant but friendly and understanding selves disappeared behind the mask replaced by the distant focused martinet.
Most beautifully handled is the spiritual growth within a community that is open and loving and unavailable in a solo setting. "Alice" "walks the talk" and the handling of her "Spiritual Inventory" as she accepts her death while remaining involved in her community. Community, to me, is where someone lives that I am uncomfortable with. The fictional letters create the "uncomfortable" person as part of each character. The modulation of the uncomfortable actions become facets of each person, preserving the "whole" of the person as loving person with demons not seen by others. The curse of secrecy, hiding the "wounded" parts leading to community and personal diminishment. This love of secrecy is the basis of the innate mistrust of most people to Scorpios. The Scorpio demands loyalty but needs his chamber(cave) private, precluding open communication without advance contemplation and strategic analysis, Iago is a classic example of a Scorpio knowingly headed into destructive course aware that he will be destroyed as well.
The incorporation of the Quaker blend of high abstract intellect welded to a belief based on an emotional/spiritual experience (The Gathered Meeting) adds the necessary "vertical plot" necessary for living characters facing life each day.
Many thanks to B. Lloyd for writing such a clear loving book.

I can't stop reading this book! I'm not an actor or a theatre teacher, but I love going to the theatre and try to imagine all the work that goes into creating the characters that we see up on stage. There is so much art and craft to acting and this book helps you to understand it -- and understand the struggles and the growth in each actor, teacher, and director. It's written in a letters between people format which makes it real and lively. This is a book for everyone! Those who haven't read The Actor's Way have a huge treat in store for you!!

The charactor of Andy was genuine, and masterfully revealed in his correspondence with Alice. The relationship that was driven by their link to the theater was so much more than just theater discussion (which I have no experience in, but learned quite a bit)- it got to the core of why and how one chooses a direction in ones life. A book that should be on the reading list of every college student - not just those majoring in the arts! Ultimately The Actor's Way is about authenticty in ones pursuits in life. Want to know where Andy is now in his life. Next book due out???

The focus of Greek civilization, the Parthenon captures viewers imaginations even as it conceals its true meaning. In his ground breaking work, Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. author of ATHENA AND EDEN: THE HIDDEN MEANING OF THE PARTHENON'S EAST FACADE demonstrates that when Athena is seen to be Eve, then Greek mythology becomes narrative art. Consequently, the marble sculptures on the east pediment of the Parthenon relate the story of the origin of mankind, matching the Genesis account in detail.

Johnson asserts that scholars have previously been unsuccessful in identifying most of the figures in the east pediment because they have failed to connect Athena with Even and the story of Eden in the Book of Genesis. Through careful research, Johnson demonstrates that we do have the literature and art to serve as a source of reconstruction. Painstaking comparison demonstrates shows that the sculptures of the eastern pediment depict the Garden of Eden, the birth of Eve, the Great Flood. Furthermore, the goddess Athena, whom the Greeks worshipped as the one who brought the serpent's wisdom, is the same person the Book of Genesis calls Eve.

Johnson, a West Point graduate, author, teacher and public speaker based his research on surviving sculptures, the ancient writings of Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and others, plus myths, vase art and the work of numerous experts. His controversial approach will certainly garner attention from all who are interested in the classics, religion, art, and mythology. Indeed, Johnson's unique perspective will provoke avid discussion among academics for years to come, yet is easily approachable by any who hold an interest in our origins.

I don't profess to know enough about Greek history or archaeology to say that the author is right on target; HOWEVER, his theory does fit the facts of Greek mythology and Biblical revelation.

The author's premise is that Greek mythology is really the story of Creation, the Fall of Man, and the Great Deluge, except told from the side of Evil. There are a lot of photos of various aspects of Greek art to back up his theory, and he does a good job of explaining it in terms a novice can grasp. This work has piqued my interest and I'm going to have to do a lot of further reading.

One thing the author didn't point out, but which I've theorized for years, is that the portions of Greek myth typically referred to as "The Clash of the Titans," was a perversion of the true story of Lucifer/Satan being cast out of heaven. I'd like to see Mr. Johnson chase that rabbit in the future.

I have accidently seen this book in Tampa Museum of Art downtown, and intrigued by its title, I bought it. Little did I know how revealing this book is.....

I always pondered about the ancient fascination of womanhood, and modern condemnation of womanhood -- where and why it all changed?

Well, the author nicely connects the ancient female divinity emphasis and the one the Bible gives in the garden of Eden.

Indeed, because of Eve's choice to be seduced by the Serpent, humankind serenity of life ended. Later generation, perhaps out of deperation and mystic of new life birth, elevated woman again, and Athena (a-thanassos -- immortal) carries the symbols of woman 's fall from the garden, yet, in sense that through the Serpent she gave humanity freedom from God, and then presented a new connection through her outstretched hand.

So strange why females were so elevated back then----Cybele and Kaabala connection (Muslim worship of black stone just like in Ephesus Artemis and black stone)...

I am often shocked to see how ancient beliefs carry over to nowadays...

D.Barbara Zapal

Athena And Eden: The Hidden Meaning Of The Parthenon's East Facade by author and educator Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. offers the non-specialist general reader a unique, accessible, and provocative look at classical artwork and human spirituality. Athena And Eden focuses on the majesty of the Parthenon and its mystical connection to the Book of Genesis. Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs of Greek artistic treasures, sculptures, and pottery, Athena And Eden is an original, seminal, ground breaking, unforgettable, and highly recommended perspective that will be of particular interest to students of Hellenic art, architecture, mythology, and religion.

If you know who "the prince of the power of the air" is then you will probably find this book very interesting. I came across the book almost by accident on an Amazon list and found it to be very well reasoned and argued.

The author's main idea is that greek myth and religion consists of a retelling of the story of mankinds origins (familiar to us through the first 12 chapters of the Bible) from a greek or humanist point of view. Wow, he got me right there!

The book shows how many of the seminal events of human history such as the original sin, the murder of Abel, the flood etc. were depicted on the sculptures decorating the Parthenon. However, they have almost the opposite meaning and sentiment as the biblical depiction.

If you are interested in ancient history and how it intersects with the bible you will love this book. I bought the author's second book Athena and Kain. It supposes to make the same basic points looking at a wider selction of Greek myth than found solely on the Parthenon. However, as many follow up books do it spends a lot ot time covering material from the previous book. That's ok if you have not read the previous volume but tedious if you already have.

The book is also well illustrated.

Wonderful Degas photos illustrate ballet beautifully, I wanted one of them for myself.

My daughter has enjoyed all of the books in this series since she was about a year old. They were the first baby board books we sought out by author after seeing how much she enjoyed the Matisse one. This one is her favorite lately; she loves to dance around the kitchen when we read it.

Fun story about dancing, illustrated by Degas classics. My near 3 yo daughter loves dance related stories and she simply adored this book on the first read, "pretty pictures daddy". A great way to introduce art to your child, I look forward to the other books.

I have four of Julie Merberg's books and this one isn't a disappointment. Her books are fabulous introductions to art for little ones. The pictures in this book are beautiful Degas paintings. My daughter loves looking at the dancers and listening to the flowing text that goes with the pictures. All of Merberg's books are worth the price if you want to begin introducing art to your little one.

Our 7 month old daughter loves the books in this series and gets very excited when we get ready to read them to her. I can only recommend these to anyone that wants to introduce their kids to art in a fun and exciting way. The poems that accompany each picture are fun and relate to each painting, which also helps expand their vocabulary.

If your kids are really into cutting it might be ok but I think that the steps are not clearly defined.

I use this book in my classroom as we are working on geometry and fractions with students. They love the connection between math and art!

I used the ideas in this book with my gifted students, age K thru 3. They loved it and really came up with some wonderful pictures. It is a good art project that also brings in math.

This is a wonderful book for the kindergarten class I am currently student teaching in. We made the spring flowers while teaching circles, half circles, and quarter circles. It also made a bright spring bulletin board.

If you know someone who likes to do art, this is a great book. You need to have the time to organize the necessary pieces to create these pictures. The end result is always successful for children.

From the day my 5year old daughter got hold of this book and "I can draw animals" she is stuck with these. She completed 4 drawings at one sitting and always wants to do more. The best part is the simple visual instruction that shows the way without any adult supervision. Great book!

I bought this book for my six year old daughter. The book has simple steps for drawing that were easy for my daughter to make. My daughter has gained confidence and feels great when she has to make drawings for her book report. I also enjoy these drawings. We recommend the book.

..but don't know what to draw. It is full of ideas involving people and is easy to follow for children who cannot read.

Hours and hours of fun! My 4 year old daughter and my 4 year old nephew received these for Christmas. They both use these books for hours and we also do it as a family. These (I Can Draw Animals, I Can Draw People, What Shall I Draw Today) are the only ones we have so far, but they are super. Not only are these books teaching my little girl how to draw, but reinforcing time alone drawing, group activity, sharing and "Please pass the yellow", etc... Every child should have these books.

I Can Draw People is an excellent teaching book for young children. It teaches them how to draw in simple steps. It is easy to follow with pictures kids love. This book and series helps children gain confidence in their art skills.

This is not at all like the other books in the I Spy series - and at first I did not like it because of it. The other books have pages filled with tons of things, and you pick out certain items in the poem. This has a series of famous art pieces, and the thing to look for is very obvious... so from a "spy" standpoint it is not the greatest. BUT I do like that it is exposing our young children (5 and 3) to famous works of art. We have tried to make it more difficult by finding different things to seek out in each famous painting. Still, I don't know that I would totally recommend unless you really wanted to expose your children to famous art - your child would likely find a book from the regular "I SPY" series more entertaining.

This is a fantastic book. There is a different picture for every letter of the alphabet. Each picture is different in style, type, artist etc. There might be Japanese woodcuts, Picasso, watercolors and so on.

This is an excellent introduction to art and types of art and styles and artists.

Also, in each picture is something that goes with the letter of the alphabet. Ball for b and so on.

A great way to practice beginning sounds and letter recognition.

This is a lovely book with great pictures and there are many educational type things you can do while enjoying time with your child. Well worth the money.

Enjoy.

I highly reccommend this book--it is an excellent introduction to the arts. Some of the references are a bit vague in terms of everyday language, e.g M is for Magpie or H for the teeny heart on the playing card. But it is quite easy to make a substitution or let the kids find their own match. My almost 3yr old son loves it! Thank you for this wonderful intro to a much larger and beautiful world.

My son is autistic and has always been obsessed with the Alphabet. This book is one of his all time favorites. He carries this around with him constantly.

This is a lovely book with which to introduce the alphabet and classical art to your child(ren). Each two-page spread contains, on the lefthand page, the jingle "I spy with my little eye something beginning with ... " and the upper and lower case of a letter of the alphabet, while the righthand page contains a large reproduction of a work of art by one of the masters -- Rousseau, Hogarth, Picasso, Botticelli, Vermeer, Sargent, Renoir, Seurat, etc. Kids can think about the alphabet while being exposed to some great art.

Terrific idea!

Harold Bloom writes that what makes some authors great to the point where their work approaches the canonical is "strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange." This meditation on ruins will surely withstand the test of time as well or better than some of the memorials of history that it describes. It has piqued my interest in something that I'd never given much thought to. I have been within walking distance of a couple of places the author writes about, and passed on the opportunity to visit them. Histories comprise more than half of my leisure reading, but somehow I couldn't muster the curiosity to explore a historical ruin in the same way I would with museums & historic landmarks (that are still in one piece). This wonderfully written book has changed that for me. Highly recommended, a book that you will likely want to re-read every few years, and take with you on visits to Rome, Sicily, Wales and more.

To read In Ruins cover to cover is a continuous delight, but you could dip in anywhere and find yourself enthralled in an instant. Michael Woodward has a well-stored memory but wears his erudition lightly. He is now the director of the Holburne Museum of Arts in Bath, but his book surely reflects the five years he worked in Sir Hans Soane's museum in London. That incredible collection, housed in Soane's own home and left, by his direction when he bequeathed it to the nation, exactly as it was at his death, is a wondrous assemblage of antiquities. It appears chaotically haphazard but indeed was not, and the contents of this book have something of the same quality. Vignettes, quotations, anecdotes, reminiscences of journeys among ruins, romantic elegies, musings deeply felt, pour helter-skelter from Woodward's lively mind. The book has its structures; it has its themes. They are not starkly revealed but the underpinnings are there.
Woodward's opening chapter launches us, appropriately, in Rome. The Romans believed their city of 800,000 people was eternal and why not? Rome had walls ten miles long studded with 376 towers, crossed by nineteen aqueducts feeding more than 1,200 drinking fountains and close to a thousand public baths and the whole decorated with 3,785 statues - and all this dwarfed by colossal public buildings. How could such magnificence perish? The extraordinarily elaborate water supply provides the clue. The barbarians broke the aqueducts and soon the population was a poverty-stricken remnant, perhaps 30,000, huddled beside the Tiber. "From the fall of classical Rome until the eighteenth century" Woodward reminds us, "the only houses in the Forum were the cottages of lime-burners and the hovels of beggars and thieves." What were left were magnificent ruins and those ruins have inspired poets, artists, philosophers and theologians down the centuries. They even inspired the Fuhrer who after his first state visit to Rome decreed that all Nazi monuments should be built of marble, brick and stone - no concrete. The ruins of the 1,000-year Reich must be suitably grandiose - that is, like Roman ruins! And how grandiose the Roman ruins were! In the Middle Ages men thought the ruins of the baths of Caracalla were the work of giants. The chapter is chiefly devoted, however, to the Colosseum, and a whole series of characteristic reflections and vignettes, stories and quotations from literary visitors of different centuries. He also laments - not for the last time - the work of those who have destroyed an extraordinarily inspiring ruin in their efforts to preserve a monument. "Poets and painters like ruins, and dictators like monuments." The Colosseum was once a giant's garden haunted by owls and nightingales. Now it is sterile. It is a recurring theme. Ruins are important in their own right, not just because of what they once were, and should not be relentlessly cleaned up and re-pointed to make them permanently monumental. The trees, shrubs, creepers and flowers, are all part of the inspiration of ruins: "bare ruined choirs in which the sweet birds sing."
Through successive chapters we follow Woodward's schoolboy steps to Verulam (Roman St Albans) and share his disappointment that the walls were insignificantly low: Roman ruins but nowhere near so grand as the ruins of Rome. The older Christopher, however, sees them as an exemplar that reminds us of the mortality not just of Man but of his works. Francis Bacon, ennobled by his king, took "Verulam" as his title to remind himself that all pomp and state is but passing vanity. Woodward follows the footsteps of the tormented ploughman poet, John Clare, to a ruined arch and scattered stones, all that survives of a town destroyed in the Wars of the Roses. There he was inspired to write "Elegy on the ruins of Pickworth". Bitter at the inequalities of wealth he saw around him Clare was consoled by the "exemplary frailty" of men's possessions.
At first I marvelled at Woodward's courage in boldly inviting comparison with Rose Macaulay's justly famed The Pleasure of Ruins. He had nothing to fear. It stands the comparison very well. Late in the book he devotes a long admiring passage to Macaulay's extraordinary life. She was, he tells us, an early and potent inspiration and it shows.

Its' difficult to describe this book, or even what its about...but I couldn't put it down for two days (The time it took to read it). I suppose the best way to describe reading it is that is was like sitting down at a nice pub by the fire and listening to a very, very interesting person speak.

Woodward has that all too rare combination of being extraordinarily intelligent, thinking and feeling, and able to express it.

Have you ever looked at a ruin, and found your imagination running away? Have ever wondered why ruins seem to evoke more thought from people -from poets like Shelly (covered in the book) and artists of the Romantic period?

Short of going there and contemplating yourself, this book is the next best thing, in fact, i would recommend if before anyone goest to see

Everything you wanted to know about ruins but hadn't thought to ask. The role ruins play in the imaginative life of European culture: a reflection on mortality and the transience of civilizations, among other interpretations. Modeled after "The Haunts of the Black Masseur" it is often fascinating, consistently well-written but on occasion seemed to go on too long. The last chapter was the most moving as the personal histories seemed the most tragic and affecting. An intriguing cultural history, as told by an obsessed historian as a labor of love.

IN RUINS by Christopher Woodward is one of the most genteel, warmly evocative, yet scholarly extended essays about beauty that has appeared in a while. Only a true artist could 1) come up with the idea of meditating on ruins of past civilizations and 2) recreate historical places not only through his own perceptive eyes but also through the eyes and writings and drawings and paintings of artists for the past two hundred years. Woodward finds beauty in the "neglected" ruins, the old sites where nature has nudged the surfaces with wild flowers, mosses, crawling vines, and ground swells, preferring this respect for times past to the wild flurry of the preservationists who seek to 'restore' these treasures to their 'original glory' but often invite tourism with its adjunctive sales, stands, and souvenirs. He has visited the ruins of Rome, of Sicily, Cuba, England, etc and is distraught when he finds these various havens for poets sequestered with guardrails and other implements of distraction. "..the artist is inevitably at odds with the archeologist. In the latter discipline the scattered fragments of stone are parts of a jigsaw, or clues to a puzzle to which there is only one answer, as in a science laboratory; to the artist, by contrast, any answer which is imaginative is correct." "What [poet] Shelley's experience shows is that the vegetation which grows on ruins appeals to the depths of our consciousness, for it represents the hand of Time, and the contest between the individual and the universe." Of the 'Picturesque Movement' in England, Woodward writes referring to the latter day artist John Piper "I know perfectly well I would rather paint a ruined abbey half-covered with ivy and standing in long grass than I would paint it after if has been taken over by the Office of Works, when they've taken of all the ivy and mown all the grass." Woodward talks about even the transporting of ruins from, say, Libya to England (as per King George IV in 1827 importing the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna to his Gardens at Virginia Water). "A ruin is a dialogue between an incomplete reality and the imagination of the spectator." And finally in his thoughts on war monuments and memorials he writes "Is it ever possible to preserve the 'strange beauty' of war, to capture the moment of 'dust in the air suspended'?"

Each of these eloquently written thoughts and musings is unlike anything else you will find in books on art history, architectural history, or even philosophy. Christopher Woodward has graced our libraries with a little volume that holds dear the intangible, the corporeal transience, the lasting loveliness of man's time on this planet as protected by nature. This is truly a beautiful book that begs for moments of your indulgence, away from the madding crowd.

With an interpretation so rigorous and self-critical that it is almost cruel, Sass teases out the threads of experience joining madness to modernism. Unlike some who do this sort of work, Sass is well-versed not only in psychology and psychiatry but also in contemporary intellectual discourse, and makes sophisticated use of the work of figures such as Foucault and de Man in his reading. He argues provocatively, using literary, artistic, and autobiographical works as well as empirical data, that schizophrenia is not (as many say) a form of Dionysian primitivity but rather a kind of violent entanglement in the paradoxes of hyperconsciousness. This book is absolutely a must read for anyone interested in schizophrenia or in modernism. Luckily, Sass is a fine writer and makes the book quite an enjoyable read as well.

I appreciated the depth Sass's scholarly analysis of both the artistic, and sociopolitical associations with "schizophrenic thought". What I don't understand is how he flatly forgets that Western psychiatry is in itself a culturally-constructed phenomenon. It has only existed for less than two hundred years, which is a very short time in the history of humankind, and the history of artistic production. Psychiatry has its own language, terminology, system of determining "truth"---which is particular to itself, and not shared by all cultures, throughout all time. He embraces its "inherent truth" in all of his chapter titles which refer to psychiatric analyses of behavior, and in his neurobiological discussions as well. His interesting cross- cultural analysis of tribal societies begins to point out some of the gaps: the non-universality of psychiatric world-views...but he misses the chance to further explore it. Thousands of societies have cultural, spiritual and artistic traditions which involve a cyclic and transitory notion of time and spatial parameters. Millions of people within today's "crazy culture" throughout the world, myself included, choose to defend our right to think, communicate, and express our art as a distinct, legitimate culture. We are met, in response, with the language of psychiatry...which advocates that we be forcibly locked up, drugged, electrocuted, ice-picked and restrained, and brainwashed by medical professionals into believing our truths are false. These are tremendous civil-rights issues that stem directly from psychiatric philosophy. In this book, which I was originally excited to read, I find Sass has simply further "mystified" us into an anthropological freak show. He truly had an opportunity to advocate on our behalf, and missed it. For those interested, I highly reccommed the classic works of Dr. Thomas Szaz, and modern crazy culture authors, such as Irit Shimrat, Shiela Gilhooley and Persimmon Blackridge. Psychiatric insiders argue that we are NOT victims, delusional, or ill...and that our art is not "symptomatic" of disease. We are simply a culture....one of many, on a richly diverse planet.

This is one of my favorite books. As a work on psychological styles and the nature of rationality, I rank it right up with The Greeks and the Irrational, by E.R. Dodds. The basic argument is that madness is not irrationality, but extreme and excessive rationality, and that the totalizing reasoning of madness shows parallels to the totalizing reasoning of philosophical, artistic, and literary modernism. This is an intriguing view in its own right, and it is a valuable response to the romanticization of madness by those such as Norman O. Brown, who declared that "schizophrenia is the dissolution of the false boundaries of self."

I do have some reservations about this fascinating argument. First, I don't think Sass ever makes clear the nature of the connection between madness and modernism. Does he see the former as caused by the latter? Are both manifestations of the organization of an industrial society? Second, Sass doesn't seem to recognize that he is actually working within a well-established intellectual tradition. The psychological and aesthetic literature on decadence in the late nineteenth century, as exemplified by Max Nordau's Degeneration, saw both madness and avant-garde artistic expression as products of hypertrophy of the intellect. Third, there may be important differences between the deterministic world of madness and that of modernism. Specifically, the rationality of modernity can be seen as connecting causes and effects on a single surface of reality that neither reflects nor penetrates any other dimension. Madness, on the other hand, seems to work within a rationality of depth, giving thoughts and occurrences a metaphysical resonance.

While growing up I had several friends, and acquaintances, who were diagnosed as having schizoid personalities. I was curious, so I read several books on the subject and this is the only one that actually seemed to line it's theories up with what I knew from personal experience. Namely, that these were people who were hyperconscious. He did well in explaining how this could create distortions in viewpoint rather than enhancements. A few of my friends were even fans of the artists and philosophers referenced in the book as examples. His references to Foucault, his theory of the panopticon, and the empirical and transcendental doublet were also very insightful in explaining his theory.

Dr. Sass's thesis - regarding some aspects of schizophrenia being 'super-normal' as opposed to the conventional view that schizophrenia is a completely degenerative disorder - deserves to be made in a more compelling and direct way than is done in this book. It seems to me this important point is diluted with scattered digressions and marginalia, however interesting. I hope the core ideas in his thesis will be revived and seriously researched at some point, as they certainly deserve to be.

It's beautiful and teaches kids (and parents) how to appreciate art in a simple way. Lifelong lesson that demystifies art. Love it. It engaged my son since he was 3 and he's 4 and still loves it.

The story and illustrations are top-notch. This book is an excellent tool for children learning to appreciate art and artists. Every child should own a copy of this book!

Buyer beware -- these note cards fold to 3"x5".

My 4 year old granddaughter loves the book. I enjoyed seeing many famous works of art converted to elephant-views of the world -- a refreshing reframing of the familiar. All ages can benefit from this.

This is a review for the note cards. They are beautiful. The whimsical images lifted from the book are printed on decent/usable cardstock, and are definitely fine but the envelopes are much, much higher quality than you normally see in a product like this. The box itself is wonderful and will be something you keep long after the cards are all gone.