Commercials Books

Don't be fooled by the somewhat bland cover of this book. The pages within contain lots of wonderful mermaid images. This book is a compiliation of mermaid art. It features mostly paintings but it also includes a few carvings, statues, jewelry, and others. Each page displays a picture along with a quote that relates to mermaids, to the sea, or invokes the spirit of either. These quotes are taken from poems, plays, journals, ancient writings, etc.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves mermaids or beautiful art. If you like this book, Mermaids (Magical Beings) is very similar. If you want to learn more about mermaids, I recommend Magickal Mermaids and Water Creatures and The Mythology of the Mermaid and Her Kin.

I think I have almost every Mermaid artbook available. This one is definetly worthy of your collection. It displays spectacular images, poems and literature. If you like this you will also love Mermaids by Elizabeth Ratisseau.

A curatorial masterpiece of 20th century magazine design. Well designed, copiously illustrated, another first rate addition to design research by Steven Heller. A must have for any serious practictioner of our profession.

This is not as I expected, a collection of vintage covers of old magazines, but a detailed and interesting history of how the avant garde expressed itself and produced original art in the process. It covers the 20th century well up until the zines of the 80s - 90s. It kind of stops there because, says the author, the web takes over. I may not agree with that exactly, but I believe this is a must book for anyone who is passionate about magazine design.

The book shows, excellent projects, process and goals.
How MetaDesign resolves design problems, how they produce elegant solutions and clean comunication of the concepts.

I have always been a fan of Meta design's style. This book is just what I wanted, a look into MetaDesign's world. The layout and the content of this book is really outstanding, it will be great inspiration to you.

This is a book of photographs of the interiors of Churches in Mexico, and their shrines and alters, and saints which adorn them.

Porter's photographs capture a religious grace which is direct, simple, beautiful, and moving. Seeing these pictures gives an outsider into a window on a world in which life may be difficult, but heart and faith are celebrated and strong.

Contiene una amplia colección de fotografías que muestran la gran variedad y riqueza arquitectónica de las iglesias de México, algunas de las cuales son poco conocidas, y que en cierta medida deben su esplendor al sincretismo cultural hispano-indígena. Las fotografías fueron tomadas alrededor de 1956, por el excelente fotógrafo, sobre todo de paisajes, Eliot Porter (quién abandonó la fotografía por la medicina).

It contains a large colection of photos that shows the great variety and arquitectonic richness of Mexican churches, some of them are not well know, and their splendor is in certain way product of the cultural hispano-indian sincretism. The photos were taken around 1956 by the excelent photographer, landscape specialist, Eliot Porter (who quit medicine for photography).

It's certainly unbelievable that nobody reviewed this book before (july 30 1999). Milton Glaser means to the history of graphic design what Michelangelo or Arcimboldo or Leonardo mean to the history of art. In a time when the likes of David Carson or any of the trendy computer BS designers reign, discovering Milton Glaser should be like a breath of fresh air. He represents a rare breed (almost extinct) of designers who master the craft of casting a good idea with the appropiate "visual language" in order to get the message across. His illustration skills as well as his thinking are always on the crest of the wave, regardless of who is "en vogue" at the time. He stands for excellency in the widest sense of the word. No designer who prides himself/herself of being one, should continue practising/studying without -at least- flipping through this book.

Since you've made it this far, allow me to briefly write about the book--the other commenter puts Glaser's personality so well in context. The book's content is graphic material, both published and rejected, complemented by Glaser's succinct explanations concerning any of the following: historic/social context, guiding professional principles, technique and process, interpretation, the tension between client and creator, etc. The text and the graphical works are very diverse, ranging from terse to lengthy, and simple to complex, respectively. All in all, the feeling of being in Glaser's presence (in class or studio) is likely to grow in you as you progress through the book.

If what you've read so far compels you to get the book, do so by all means, it's a 5-star! Otherwise, if, let's say, you are looking for for something akin to a cafe-table book, this one gets only 3 to 4 stars.

One of the greatest random books I've seen in a long time. What a great idea, compile all the quotes from the begining of the wired's into one book. Simply marvelous. Buy this, if nothing else, you will be dazzled by the artwork.

An amazing journey into a flight of digital art and design. Very compelling and provacative quotes that look and feel like Mcluhan's The Medium is the Massage of the 90's. An astounding eight color masterpiece.

I loved this book! Rarely have I read a book that combines the richness of Japanese architecture, history and culture with the personal experiences of an American correspondent who simultaneously adopted a Japanese son and eventually gained a 18th century Japanese farmhouse in the process. It is a lively and fascinating account of John Roderick's life over a 50 year period of living in this country that remains an enigma to most foreigners. This is a refreshing look at a bit of Japanese archecture and family life accompanied by a witty, candid, and entertaining writing style. I strongly recommend it!

Describing the loving restoration of an 18th century Japanese farmhouse by a well-known AP correspondent, this book also gives intriguing glimpses into Japanese culture of today and yesterday. John Roderick is careful to point out that he could not have accomplished the restoration without the Japanese family who "adopted" him. I found the book hard to put down, so skillfully is it constructed.

Enhanced with more than one hundred color and b/w illustrations, Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story by Michele Hodgson tells the story of Minnesota state house located in St. Paul. Architecturally designed by Cass Gilbert, this impressive building took nine years to build from groundbreaking to dedication. It's magnificent dome was modeled after St. Peter's in Rome and utilized marble from Italy, Greece, France, and Africa, while the granite for the Capitol's foundation came from neighboring St. Cloud, Minnesota. Gilbert commissioned some of America's leading artists to decorate the building (including the sculptor who would later create the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.) as well as featuring the talents of local artists such as painter Douglas Volk and sculptor Catherine Backus. Highly recommended reading, Minnesota's Capitol is as engaging and entertaining as it is informed and informative.

This is a great book for anyone interested in history. The writing is down-to-earth, with personality in it that makes it quite enjoyable rather than stuffy and boring. The layout is very nice as well.

Ms. Roethke did a great job for Minnesota.

each chapter is well written, not dry to read, easy to understand. although they should probably write a new version using office 2007 excel.

This textbook is the best intermediate to advanced statistics textbook currently available on the market today.The Excel instructions are self explanatory and include every step needed to apply a particular statistical procedure.The instructions for calculating joint probability tables and constructing tree diagrams are excellent and easy to follow.The example problems include all the steps.The notation used is simple,direct and straightforward.It will not cause any confusion for a student.The handling of p-values in hypothesis testing and multiple regression analysis is very well done.Based on my extensive teaching experience at the college and university level,I would highly recommend this book to a student, who is taking a statistics course that emphasizes applications, at the intermediate to advanced level.

This is actually a museum catalog for an exhibition by the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. The show also made an appearance at the Corcoran Museum in Washington, DC. The several chapters in this book cover modernism in multiple arts: art, architecture, dance, industrial design, physical fitness, film, etc. It's well illustrated and researched and will give the reader an excellent overview of the modernism movement. I discovered that I knew remarkably less than I thought I did. I've used it as a reference and stepping stone for further reading in the style/movement. I'm using it as touchstone for my interest in all aspects of the style and highly recommend to others for the same purpose. Well-illustrated probably understates it's visual effect. It's a great coffee-table book even with it's extensive written content.

I thought Christopher Wilk, in his excellent introduction, mentions a very interesting point: 'It is difficult to see how Modernism could be understood without investigating the idea of utopia (both as a dream that existed on paper and as an experiment in actual building)'. Bearing this thought in mind it helped me understand how this 'ism' effected so much visual culture for several decades in the twentieth century.

The eleven chapters pull the various strands of Modernism together: The cataclysmic effect of the First World War, the rise of totalitarian authority, rejection of past ornamentation and an increased awareness of the machine and technology. To creative folk in central Europe it looked like a better life might be possible for all though the public's visual awareness of the style was mainly through architecture. They were the ones who initially accepted new social housing estates and high rise apartments designed for maximum light and easy maintenance, who participated in the mass gymnastics and the healthy body ideal. Chapter seven deals with the healthy body concept that was probably the oddest part of Modernism. Central Europe again seems to have provided the lead. Dance, mass gymnastics, fresh air and exercise would create a perfect working body, just like a machine. Architects like Alvar Aalto and Mies van der Rohe designed sanatoria, Richard Neutra designed the Lovell 'Health' house in Los Angeles.

The format of book is the same as the V&A's remarkable Art Deco: 1910-1939: each chapter covers a theme in depth followed by a pictorial section with additional image related text and captions. Because both books are centered round exhibitions I sometimes found it rather annoying attempting to find a particular image because the exhibition ones have been augmented by many more for the book and each are referred to in different ways. The design, paper and printing (in 175dpi) are of the quality one would expect for this type of book.

I think it's worth saying that the title concentrates on creativity in the designed world so it does not include literature or music but I think, rightly, does include movies and chapter eight has an excellent survey by Ian Christie. The four hundred illustrations and photos throughout the book give a wonderful idea of the huge creative energy created by a relatively small group of artists and designers. I think it covers the subject in more depth than Richard Weston's Modernism though his book is useful because he starts his analyses of the style before 1900 and concentrates more on fine art and architecture.


Like the previous V&A 'Art Deco' I expect 'Modernism' will be considered the standard reference book on this fascinating creative style. For a short-lived concept it influenced so much that is still with us today.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.