Illustration Books

The applets on this is just great for understanding many physics concepts. It covers most topics (mechanics, waves, electrostatics, magnetism etc), it has interactive menus so you can change the parameters in the experiments and it logs the output and plots them for you.

Highly recommended for any high school student and even university students. An excellent teaching and learning tool. I highly recommend it to my students since it moves abstract concepts closer to the concrete stage.

If you are a parent, this is a MUST have for your child to aid their learning of physics concepts.

The downside is some of the applets do not work but they are a small minority. Note you need to enable the java function on your browser, just go to Sun Microsystems website, it should work.

This book is an attempt to teach modern physics to students by enabling them to visualize various physical phenomena via Java applets designed to demonstrate various physics concepts - thus the name "physlets". The book and its accompanying CD contain around 250 such physlets that span a broad spectrum of physics courses, although the emphasis is on quantum theory. The book has some discussion of the concepts involved, particularly in the context of the parameters of the particular Physlet being examined, but this really wasn't meant to be a textbook. It's just a supplementary text for a variety of physics courses in which visualization of a concept is a real roadblock in learning. The book has 200 exercises, and they are not what you would expect in a physics book. The problems largely consist of running a physlet and answering some questions about your observations, or you are asked to change the input parameters to a physlet and explain what you observe versus what you observed when the default parameter was active. At no point does the author assume you are a Java programmer yourself and ask you to code up your own physlet, although if you know how, that would probably be a very educational activity. The following is the table of contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Physlets

Part 1: Special Relativity
Chapter 2: Space and Time in Special Relativity
Chapter 3: Relativistic Mechanics

Part 2: The Need for a Quantum Theory
Chapter 4: From Blackbody to Bohr
Chapter 5: Wave-Particle Duality

Part 3: Quantum Theory
Chapter 6: Classical and Quantum-mechanical Probability
Chapter 7: The Schrödinger Equation
Chapter 8: The Free Particle
Chapter 9: Scattering in One Dimension
Chapter 10: The Infinite Square Well
Chapter 11: Finite Square Wells and Other Piecewise-constant Wells
Chapter 12: Harmonic Oscillators and Other Spatially-varying Wells
Chapter 13: Multi-dimensional Wells

Part 4: Applications
Chapter 14: Atomic, Molecular, and Nuclear Physics
Chapter 15: Statistical Mechanics

I am a professional graphic designer and I learned many things from this book. I purchased a copy at the Cooper/Hewitt Design Mueseum store in New York City, then left it on the plane, after reading all but the last pages. Now, I have to buy a new copy! It is one of my all-time favorite design books, and I have many. Among other ideas, she has an original way of describing gravity's influence on our perceptions in a picture plane. That alone is worth the money and time for this wonderful book

This book is a gem to be treasured by all elementary teachers for their Art library. Molly Bang demonstrates the use color and shape to inspire creativity and emotions in the minds of young students. I had the privlege of attending her demonstration lecture some years ago at a Children's Literature Conference. There I was delighted to discover the subtle simplicity of her ideas; I even put them into practice with my preschool class. This book will open a new world of enjoyment and enrichment activities--especially in the study of fairy tales--while introducing basic artistic principles. I highly recommend it!

A kid's book with a gentle life lesson about giving and letting go. Sweet and imaginative, concise yet full of wisdom. For once an easy to digest message that we can all learn from- and super loveable enough for even my youngest.

This book is so delightful! The story is sweet and teaches a great lesson to children, and the illustrations are excellent! I love how it portrays rats in a positive light too :-) A sweet, endearing, and wonderfully imaginative book!

Archie Dickens, Gil Elvgren, and Rolf Armstrong...they make up the "Holy Trinity" of glamour and pin-up artists. There isn't artist working in the pin-up field today that doesn't owe something to these men. Pin-up Dreams focuses on Armstrong, the earliest of the trio, born in 1889. Armstrong's prolific career included over 200 magazine covers for publications such as Photoplay, Screenland, and College Humor, and over 200 calendar images. Armstrong would begin his art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907 and this book features some of Armstrong earliest charcoal work from the period. Armstrong moved to New York to pursue a career as a commercial artist when he got his first credits illustrating covers for long defunct magazines such as Puck.

Due to an injury suffered as a child, Armstrong was unfit for military duty in WWI but made his contribution in other ways such as by painting recruitment posters. In the 20's, Armstrong was doing a great deal of commercial work, illustrating his beautiful women hawking products such as Orange Kist and Nehi soft drinks, Tudor Plates, Blue Bird grape juice, and many others. Throughout the teens and 20's, the bulk of Amstrong's women were done in facial portraits. As we move into the 30's and 40's, Armstrong has now developed the glamorous pin-up style he's most well known for. The Armstrong woman is beautiful, demure, and always stylish. The thing that stands out about his work to me has always been that his women are painted in the latest fashions. His work from this period is my favorite. Page 109 of the book displays one of my most favorite Armstrong paintings entitled "Song of India" showing a semi-nude, raven haired beauty dressed in wispy, silky robes, fluttering in the wind against the back drop of ancient India. It's a striking, evocative piece.

But less you think that Armstrong was strictly a pin-up artist, this book shows otherwise. There is a marvelous pastel of The Frankenstein monster, done during the filming of Bride of Frankenstein that is just a treat to behold. There is even a photograph of Boris Karloff, in full Jack Pierce makeup, posting for Armstrong. Other celebrity portraits in the book include Constance Bennett, best known for the Topper movies; Mary Astor of The Maltese Falcon, and James Gleason, a great character actor who appeared in over 125 films in his career. Armstrong himself road the celebrity circuit and counted actors James Cagney and Henry Fonda among his friends. While the authors make the clear distinction between glamour and pin-up artists, Armstrong did certainly do his share of risqué pin-ups, including many nudes. One great piece in the book is "Hold Everything" showing an embarrassed brunette clutching her dress close to her that has just fallen off. There are a number of great WWII era pin-ups just like this one in the book.

This is a fascinating look at one of the true giants of illustration. The book features over 300 full color paintings by Armstrong, printed on heavy stock paper. An outstanding book from Watson-Guptill.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book is not just a biography of Rolf Armstrong, it is also a commercial art history and fashion history of the first half of the 20th century. The book takes the reader through the decades in text and pictures. It is extremely well written-I got so caught up in his life story that I even got a little teary-eyed when he died. Especially interesting to me were the pictures of the advertisements of the time. Rolf Armstrong was beginning his career when color printing was starting to be used for magazine covers. The pictures of Armstrong's work are fabulous! Due in good part, I'm sure, to the fact that Armstrong's work itself was fabulous. The pictures of his 3,000 pastel palette were almost as interesting to me as his artwork, although most of the pictures he posed for, he posed with a brush and paint palette because he thought it looked better. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in art and/or the early 20th century.

I love the Dover Pictorial Archives Series and this book is a fine example of the copyright-free images that Dover offers in these books. Jammed full of beautiful black and white drawings in fine detail this could be the one book in your library to cover all your botanical needs. But it won't be. Once you see this book you'll want to add more Pictorial Archives Series books to your library.

This is a terrific book. I purchased it with the companion book on Animals. It is a "must have" for anyone interested in art, biology, or just a good coffee table book. It will keep youngsters quiet for hours with the facinating illustrations. Very high quality. You just can't beat the price either. I highly recommend it. You, too, can be botanically correct!

I enjoy many of Judith/Michael's novels for their fine descriptive writing of various settings and character development. In Possessions, we travel from Vancouver to San Francisco, to the Place des Vosges in Paris and the golden, languid South of France. The theme is building - whether it deals with the Hayward family's construction empire or the elements of what builds or destroys a family.

We first meet Katherine Fraser as a plain housewife caring for her husband Craig and their two children, Todd and Jennifer, in Vancouver. Startling events after the disappearance of her husband lead Katherine to discover Craig's intriguing past that he had since their marriage successfully hidden from her. All of the scandalous press attention associated with Craig's disappearance leads Katherine to the powerful Hayward clan in San Francisco - the family that Craig had left years ago - the family that believed him dead in a tragic sailing accident.

Katherine moves to San Francisco with her reluctant children, still confused over the loss of their husband and father. Both Katherine and the Haywards are immediately wary of each other and after one confontation, Katherine declares that she will survive on her own. With the help of a good friend, she provides for her children and eventually becomes more serious about her hobby of jewelry design. She slowly learns the power of image and knowledge, and how to take control of situations instead of having them control her as they had all her life. The Haywards become curious, and slowly draw her into the family.

Katherine meets Victoria, the matriarch, stern and distinguished; her brother Tobias, the literature professor, with his ever ready supply of quotations and witticisms; dark and foreboding Derek, and kind-hearted Ross whose solid dreams of building towns are demolished by his family that is falling apart. Katherine is shaped by each of her encounters with this wealthy, worldly family. Nonetheless, her own true self emerges, as she rediscovers life, love, and fulfillment.

I have read all of Judith Michael's books and loved them, but this one was my favorite. I had read it years ago and I am planning on reading it again.

This compelling art book contains beautiful images, illuminating details, and thumbnail sketches of modern art movements. The section titled "Posters and Reality" includes vivid posters and explores the ideas of expressionism, realism, and surrealism in an accessible, yet scholarly manner.
"Posters and Society", however, remains my favorite section. Tracing the evolution of the poster through travel, theater, and liquor ads, Barnicoat explains the significance of outdoor advertising in modern cities. Posters also seem to lend themselves to an ironic, comic style.
Yet the classic posters from World War I and II show that governments can also develop ideas in the popular medium. Wartime posters played a critical role in recruitment of soldiers, selling War Bonds, and instructing civilian populations to conserve precious supplies.
Barnicoat also seems fascinated with the use of posters by communist (Soviet Union, Mao's China, Castro's Cuba) and fascist dictatorships (Nazi)to create "consensus" and the illusion of mass support. He juxaposes these propagnda efforts with the students' posters of May '68 saying "these were attempts to produce a genuine pattern of popular art." (While few propaganda posters have become popular collectibles, wartime posters and protest posters from the 1960s command good prices these days among vintage poster collectors.)
Written in 1973 in a belated celebration of the poster's 100th birthday, this classic art book does show its age - both in the evident leftist sympathies and ignoring recent trends. Posters: A Concise History, however, remains the best introduction for art lovers, graphic designers, and poster collectors.

A delightful little book that has something to please everyone: an extensive collection of poster graphics from just before the turn of the twentieth century to the present -- Toulouse-Lautrec to Warhol, and then some -- and solid historical and cultural background information as well. Well written, well researched, well illustrated, well worth the money.

This was our text at the School of the Art Institute class in Scientific Illustration. The author/teacher was demanding and giving. He was the Head of Icthyology at The Field Museum in Chicago. Lucky to study with him and lucky to meet such an extraordinary professional. His book reflects these qualities. Zbigniew Jastrzebski was a remarkable teacher - one of a kind.

I studied for three years with the author in Chicago. I recently picked this book up used and read it for the first time. I felt like he was in the room with me. The detail in his descriptions of how to render a subject are excellent. Clearly he went to great effort to describe in words what a scientific illustrator does when he or she works. I think this is one of the clearest guides for any person interested in materials and techniques of illustration. The only downside to the book is that the publisher did not reproduce some of the illustrations well. It was the only disappointment that I remember Mr.Jastrzebski mentioning regarding his book and I agree fully with him. Nevertheless the book is written so well it is worth it regardless.

As a homeschooling mom I am always on the look-out for captivating books. This book is hand printed and ilustrated extensively in Maryjo's delicate watercolors. A "living book" that will enhance your scientific look at seeds, flowers, leaves, trees, and fruit. Her informative articles merge with her botanical illustrations like a Naturalists nature notebook. Perfect compliment to Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Comstock and Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden. Beneficial to all ages.

An absolutely gorgeous book-I cannot imagine why it has gone out of print! It is a great resource for artists and needlecrafters, as well as full of interesting information.

Jane Martineau, formerly Curator and Editor in the Exhibitions Office of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, has made an outstanding contribution to Shakespeare, theatre, and art lovers alike.

"Shakespeare In Art"with over eighty paintings accompanied by descriptive essays and enriched by eleven scholarly essays is a veritable panoply of paintings by artists who selected Shakespeare's characters as their subjects.

With Hogarth's representations of Falstaff examining his Troops, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and many more we are reminded of the then burgeoning relationship between theatre and painting. It is noted that "The illustrating of Shakespeare, which was to reach gigantic proportions by the end of the eighteenth century, had begun very modestly in England in 1709........"

George Romney, we learn, was obsessed by the story of King Lear throughout his life. Romney's magnificent King Lear in the Tempest tearing off his Robes is apt testimony to this artist's predilection. William Blake's pen and watercolour "As if an Angel dropp'd down from the clouds" from Henry IV is unforgettable.

"Shakespeare In Art" is not to be hurriedly scanned but leafed through at leisure and forever treasured.

- Gail Cooke

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This book or "exhibition" (a collaborative effort of many, many people including private collectors, museums, and galleries) tells the story of how William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616) and his works had a profound influence on every artist, writer, and composer around the world from England to Germany, France, Italy, and Russia in the period "from circa 1730 to 1860." As well, "this is the first exhibition in London [,England] since 1964 devoted to Shakespeare's impact on the visual arts" and explores "the influence of Shakespeare on eighteenth-and nineteenth-century literature, theatre, music, and printmaking."

The guiding principle when reading this book is to realize that "Everyone agreed that [Shakespeare's] plays were untranslatable and yet everyone tried to translate them."

This book consists of two combined parts: text and images.

The text consists of eleven surprisingly in-depth essays each written by a different person (although two are written by the same person.) Each essay has mainly color figures (paintings, engraving reproductions etc.) to highlight the text.

Then we have the images (paintings, etc.) in the form of color "plates." (A plate is a full-page book reproduction of a work.) These are truly magnificent and stunning to look at. Each plate is accompanied by an explanatory text (and in some cases a figure) and this text is headed by particulars about the plate. For example, the cover of this book (shown above by Amazon) is actually a plate in this book. Here are the particulars of this plate [with my accompanying explanation]:

82 [this is the eighty-second plate in this book]
Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A. (1829-1896) [the artist's name, birth and death date]
Ferdinand lured by Ariel ("The Tempest," 1. ii. 387-402) [title of work and its inspiration]
1849-50 [date the work was made]
Oil on panel [type of work]
64.8 X 50.8 cm (25.5 X 20 in.) [work's dimensions]
Makins Collection, Washington, DC [work's present display location]

This book contains just over 60 figures and almost 90 plates.

I will give the titles of each essay, the number of figures in each essay, and the number of plates that follow the essay (if applicable):

(1) The Shakespeare phenomenon. 5 figures.
(2) Shakespeare and the British print market (from) 1700 to 1860. 6 figures.
(3) "Our divine Shakespeare fitly illustrated." Staging Shakespeare (from) 1660 to 1900. 9 figures.
(4) Shakespeare and music. 5 figures.
(5) The early illustrators of Shakespeare. 2 figures. 4 plates follow.
(6) Shakespeare and the sublime. 9 figures. 18 plates follow.
(7) The Shakespeare galleries of John Boydell and James Woodmason. 4 figures. 7 plates follow.
(8) Theatrical painting from Hogarth to Fuseli. 7 figures. 32 plates follow.
(9) Shakespeare and Romantic painting in Europe. 8 figures. 10 plates follow.
(10) Bardolatry. This deals with paintings etc. of Shakespeare himself. 4 figures. 5 plates follow.
(11) Shakespeare and Victorian art. 3 figures. 12 plates follow.

This book does not have images of scenes from all of Shakespeare's plays. As well, there are not only images of scenes from the plays but images of other things (such as of Shakespeare himself).

The scene and character images in this book are from the following plays:

The Tragedies:

Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (my personal favorite), Othello, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens.

Comedies:

As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, All's Well that End's Well, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tempest.

Histories:

Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), Henry VI (Parts 2 and 3), Henry VIII, Henry V, Richard III.

Finally, even though not completely necessary, I recommend being at least familiar with Shakespeare's plays (especially the most popular ones like Hamlet or Macbeth). This will enhance your appreciation of the images.

In conclusion, this book is a fascinating combination of text and images of Shakespeare & his plays. Essential reading for anyone interested in Western Culture!!

(first published 2003; forward; 11 chapters; main narrative 245 pages; bibliography; lenders and photographic credits; index)

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