References Books

OK, my order finally arrived today, I opened the book, what a disappointment!

To begin with, the plates are VERY small (especially those of the 2nd part). I mean, how are we supposed to blow them up without sacrificing the quality of the drawing?

Secondly, I don't see what the fuss is all about. Copying the old masters is standard practice for learning anything, whether that's drawing, painting, music or creative writing, for that matter. While I accept the value of starting from something easy and then progressing to more difficult exercises, you can achieve the same results by taking any of your favourite drawings (e.g. Leonardo, Michaelangelo, whatever) and copying them painstakingly.

John Ruskin's "The Elements of Drawing" is also worth reading (it has some good lessons on learning by copying, and not only.)

This is the best learning tool out there short of having an actual teacher. Hundreds of drawings waiting to be imitated in order to correct ones vision of what one sees. Finish this book and you'll know how to draw. Method used by many artists in the past including van gogh. This is my favorite of the dozens of art books I own. Am also glad someone mentioned buying it from the museum rather that the overpriced vendors offers.

The Dahesh Museum of Art is taking orders right now (Sept. 2007) for a new printing of the hardcover English version of the book, to be shipped at the end of October. I just put in my order, the new price is $95 (it was $90 at the first printing). For those who have been waiting to purchase this book for months, the new printing is only a few weeks away.

I've heard many times that students of drawing used to draw from master drawings and plaster casts before being allowed to work from life, but I was not aware that courses were in place to direct such study. One course that came into existence under the direction of academic artists Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme, at once a definitive statement of ideals and a last hurrah for the academic tradition, was edited by Gerald Ackerman and published a few years ago.

Ackerman writes:
"The abandonment of the study of the classical ideal in the last quarter of the nineteenth century was a serious break in an established yet vital artistic tradition. After all, Western art is an artificial activity that became self-conscious in antiquity and again in the Italian Renaissance, each time articulating an intellectual, apologetic theory of art that continued to influence the creation and teaching of painting over the centuries".

"The twentieth-century break in this developed tradition is problematic for young, contemporary artists who may not be attracted by the many schools and movements of modernism but are instead drawn to the imitation of nature. Without access to the rich lore and methods of humanist figure painting, they find themselves untrained and underequipped for many of the technical problems that confront them as Realists. Without help, today's young Realist artists may end up uncritically copying superficial appearances, randomly selecting from nature, and unwittingly producing clumsy and incoherent figures".

I've pointed out before that our present situation in art is not characterized by pluralism, but by false pluralism. Real pluralism would provide for a situation in which both the realists and the various modernists could flourish together. Instead, realism as it would have been understood by Gérôme is not generally taken seriously by art professionals and not commonly taught at schools.

The change has been good for the various modernists - I feel like I came out okay - but bad for the realists. The above is one of the first acknowledgments I've seen that the tradition of painting and sculpture requires a community of like-minded people for sustenance. The realists have it especially hard because their craft is so difficult.

No doubt about it - if you copied every plate in the course, as is recommended, you would become a champion renderer. You might also die of boredom; I doubt that each and every plate is necessary to get the fundamentals across. You might also find yourself at a loss when faced with the female model, as not a single plate in the last series, which pictures the figure in schematic sketches, is an image of a woman.

But it's clear that realists need a particular kind of education, and I think it would do the modernists no harm to revive parts of the traditional curriculum. It didn't interfere with the progress of the Impressionists, the Cubists, or the early abstractionists. Ackerman's book provides an important look into the past, and suggests constructive ideas about how art could be nurtured in the future.

The book is a complete reprint of the fabled but rare Drawing Course ("Cours de Dessin")of Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gérôme, published in Paris in the 1860s and 1870s. For most of the next half-century, this set of nearly 200 masterful lithographs was copied by art students worldwide before they attempted to draw from a live model. This book will be valuable to a wide range of artists, students, art historians and collectors, even as it introduces them to the hitherto-neglected master, Charles Bargue.

The Drawing Course is separated into three sections, in an ascending order of difficulty. The first section consists of lithographs by Bargue after casts of sculptures, mostly antique examples that present the structure of the human body with remarkable clarity and intelligence. The second part contains the lithographs that Bargue made after master drawings by Renaissance and modern artists, and the third section almost 60 exemplary drawings of nude male models.

The first two sections were for use in commercial or design schools to teach the principles of good taste based on classical form, the better to turn out competitive goods for commerce and industry. The last section, drawing from live models, was reserved for fine-art academies, opinion being that such training was beyond the grasp or need of humble commercial artists.

By and large the subjects for the plates are quite elevated. A prettily turned foot is taken from the first-century Medici Venus at the Uffizi in Florence; a sinewy shoulder and arm from Michelangelo's ''Moses'' at San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome; and the serenely spiritual-looking head of Anne of Brittany, wife of Louis XII, from her recumbent tomb figure by Giovanni Giusti (1515-22) in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis in Paris.

This portrait was a subject of fascination for van Gogh during a period when he was studying for the ministry. ''The expression of Anne of Brittany's face is noble, and reminds one of the sea and rocky coasts,'' he wrote to his brother in 1877, mentioning that he had hung the plate with her likeness in his room.

Experienced artists will recognize the skill and insight with which Bargue solved problems of drawing from nature; they will want to copy these plates to sharpen their professional skills. For art students, the Drawing Course is a practical introduction to realistic drawing based on the observation of nature, a course blissfully free of the usual charts and schemata requiring memorization and often productive of stultification.

For art historians, the Drawing Course documents the longstanding tradition of accurate draftsmanship prized by the late nineteenth-century figure painters who stood at the convergence of classicism and realism.

This volume concludes with a biography of Charles Bargue and a preliminary catalogue of his paintings, accompanied by reproductions of works both located and lost. Bargue started his career as a lithographer reproducing the drawings of commercial illustrators for a popular market in comic, sentimental and erotic subjects.

By working with Gérôme, and by preparing the plates for this Drawing Course, Bargue was transformed into a master painter, equipped with the skills to match his taste, talent and ideas. He became a master of telling details and exquisite tonal harmonies.

I have read a many survival guides and things of such. One definite plus over most is colored images for identifying things that may be harmfull if eaten. It covers a lot of different terrain, weather and just about anything you might need. The best thing about this is it is very small, and if you are a hiker (or outdoors man) you can throw it in your pack to reference as situation arises without worrying too much about taking up too much space.

I just bought this book the other day and it is amazing. It gives you the facts you need for survival. If I get caught in a situation from the book and I don't know what to do, I will be suprized.

This great book teaches you how to survive. It has so many detailed descriptions with graphs. It is so compact that I even carry it everyday in my backpack. It might be really useful when the war starts or an earthquake takes place.

One of my friends bought the big version that had a little more information in it. I read it and when I saw that you could buy a pocket version I was thrilled! Wisemen gives an informative description of everything you need to survive almost anywhere. I'm confident that if I were in a survival situation I would be able to survive.

I've had this book for a few years now and have read it over and over again. The information is amazing. There's not a topic that Wiseman doesn't cover or at least touch on.
Not only is it small, it's tough too. It's been on every camping trip, hike, deployment and just about every other trip with me for the past three years and it's still in great shape.
Friends of mine that could have cared less about a suvival book have read mine on airplane rides and afterwards went and bought thier own.
You can't go wrong

I found this book to be very helpfull in finding what I needed to know on the dolls and clothes

I have two other Shirley Temple Price guides and I think book is just the most comprehensive. It has lots of pictures and includes all different Shirley Collectibles. It has pictures of a lot of rare Shirley Dresses and compo. Shirley's that were made in Germany, Australia, Great Britain. It is a nice large book and is a great reference guide. Love it!

This is the best ever book about Shirley Temple dolls. It is amazing. Filled with information and tips. This book could easily sell for double the price.

Great pics of Shirley Temple Dolls & memorabilia organized by years-very thorough and helpful since I am a Shirley collector. Additionally, great tips on improving the looks of the dolls. Well done.

This book is one of the best books on the subject of the Shirley Temple dolls (& other S.Temple Collectibles).
Written on quality paper with excellent photos

This helped me out of a parliamentarian predicament. Easy to use. Fairly thorough.

This book is remarkable. It is easy to read and easier to understand. I love the way it is broken down into segments, so that you don't have to try to absorb all the information at one time.

We bought this for our newly appointed Sargent at Arms to better conduct our union meeting professionaly. It has been a great help and very understandable.

This guide is well organized, accurate and fun to read. I've not only learned a lot from reading it, I've enjoyed the experience. If you have a specific question, the index and table of contents will direct you unerringly to the answer. If you need to know about Robert's Rules, this is the book to have.

VERY HELPFUL FOR THE FIRST TIMER. HIGHLITES BULLET POINTS AND OFFERS HELPFUL HINTS.

This is a good read and fairly quick too. Make no mistake that it is a sales tool for the web site and the healing process available there. If you are looking for an instructional book this is not a book to buy. If you are open to some interesting research and insights into an interesting healing modality you will like what's here.
I rated it four stars because of the research references and Bibliography otherwise I would have given it a three.

There are no words to say that haven't already been said in regards to this momentous book. All I can say is the money spent was infinitely insignificant compared to the wealth offered within these trailblazing pages! Order the book, read the book, and start living life as it was meant to be lived!

If you want to understand the workings behind a man who created a very simple yet hopefully revolutionary Sate of the Art Medicine. If you like the book Future of the Body, then you will like this one. Even more so because it is so much shorter. I recommend both to anyone.

If you are familiar with the chakras, idea of experiencing your beliefs, and enlightenment, but are looking for a new kind of healing, this book wraps these ideas together in it's explanation of DNA. It presents scientific information in a readable and interesting way. It does not, however, offer techniques you can try on your own. The therapy described in the book must be performed by the author either in person or through his website.

I love this book. There's such a rich mixture of literary, scientific and metaphysical insights and ideas. I love the whole description of the process of healing involving conscious co-creation. I keep coming back to the illustrations that speak so clearly to how we fundamentally both influence and are influenced by our electromagnetic environment. As one who has walked my own journey of healing and awakening it makes SO much sense to address healing at the blueprint level. Thanks Sol for the gift of the work and this book!
Alara T Bears Regenetics Facilitator

I just bought this book and already have learned so much i cant put it down.
Lots of great advice from an expert. I already have checked out the web site she recommends and hope to get started as a freelance proofreader soon.

It sounds corny, but this book made me believe in myself as an aspiring copyeditor. The chapters on freelancing are especially helpful for someone with no experience and no idea how to break into the industry. This is the book I had been looking for!

This book is easy-to-read, straightforward, and so informative. I've been able to build my at-home business as a freelance proofreader much more quickly than I anticipated; all thanks to this invaluable resource! Learning the ins and outs of copyediting and proofreading is made simple, quick, and fun.

easy to read and great info on editing and how it can work for me and my career. enjoyed learning from it...highly recommend it.

I've been doing some freelance proofreading work, but I didn't know how much I still had to learn until reading this book! Sue Gilad has a lot of information: everything from grammar rules and spelling mistakes to the differences between copyediting and proofreading (glad SOMEONE could finally pinpoint the differences!). This book is clearly written and a wonderful resouce. The only thing I think it could have improved upon was the secion for finding freelance jobs. In Gilad's online book Paid to Proofread (paidtoproofread[dot]com), she offers more in-depth suggestions about creating a resume from zilch, and also ofers more in depth info about approaching editors. On the other hand, the Dummies book contains way more information about resources and grammar. All in all, this is the most comprehensive and clearly written book on proofreading I've read.

Michael Melcher's book is not only entertaining and easy to read but provides exercises that are practical and easy to do. His insightful approach is organic, which means - at least for me - that the results are authentic. I read the book through once (that was basically a three-hour plane ride) and then went back and worked the exercises. Following Melcher's method is worth anyone's time and effort.

Micheal's words are those of wisdom and experience, and have really stuck with me. I believe that the insight I have gleaned from his work will accompany me on the journeys that lie ahead.

Michael Melcher has created a practical, easy to use, and brilliantly written guide to evaluating one's values, goals and dreams. People from all professions will find this book enormously helpful. BRAVO!

Michael Melcher's book goes beyond practical advice to inspire the reader on how to find true satisfaction in one's career. As a lawyer and a coach, I found the use of the Myers-Briggs typing to be extremely helpful in giving lawyers a better idea of what they can expect in the legal workplace and what they can aspire to being on the job. The exercises are fun and very well explained. Michael's methodology will help both lawyers and non-lawyers to figure out what makes them happy at work. It also lays out the steps to take in order to get the job that fits your type. Michael's book is short, readable, fun and very clear. A great resource.

There is a moment in every lawyer's life when you realize that you've made it--but you have no idea what "it" is. Luckily, that's the moment Michael Melcher's book sweeps in and (with rapier wit and profoundly clever insights) shows you which way is up. A law degree allegedly opens doors, but the right doors do not always appear in a typical law career. Melcher sheds light on the different--and creative--paths to true career satisfaction. Too many lawyers feel that they must abandon the law because they only know of one way to be a lawyer. Melcher shatters that myth and in the process, delivers tangible, effective advice from which every unsatisfied lawyer can benefit. This book is a perfect gift for yourself, a law student, or unhappy lawyer. Everyone should read it.

It was amazing how Neuhaus was able to eek so much out of so sparse a conversation with humanity as issued from Jesus's lips before He died. Yet, Neuhaus did just that--not inventing as much as expounding, not adding words as much as pondering and clarifying. I found the text illuminating and well worth reading any afternoon (it makes a quick read because it's hard to put down).

I first read this book the year it was published. I have re-read it every year since and I always find new insight. For those who simply cannot accept Jesus Christ and His necessary sacrifice, or do not understand what His Passion meant and still means, this book will turn the light on for you.

I bought this book as a guided meditation during Lent one year, but I have kept coming back to it year after year. Fr. Neuhaus knows how to cut to the heart of the matter and really make us think about our lives. Ever since high school, I've had a practice of "giving up something" for Lent. However, recently I've found that "adding something", especially something as powerful as the meditations in this book, help me to prepare much better for the Easter celebration.

Of course, you don't have to wait until Lent to be moved by the power of Fr. Neuhaus's message. I recommend this book at any time during the year.

My first encounter with Fr. Neuhaus's writing came through the pages of "First Things", a magazine on the role of religion in public life. His penetrating insights and carefully crafted arguments are true gems of wisdom. I've come to appreciate them and depend on his daily reflections on current issues the way some people depend on a shot of caffeine to get them through a day.

This book, however, is written in a completely different style and with a very different aim. Here we see a more spiritual and meditative side of Fr. Neuhaus, and I, for one, am grateful for this insight. Here he contemplates the seven last words of Christ, devoting a chapter to each one of them. His aim is to takes us deeper into the mystery of crucifixion and the death of Christ, and to resist the temptation to just rush over to Easter. The book can be used as a devotional aid, and would be a good companion reading material during Lent.

The meditative nature of the book does not prevent Fr. Neuhaus from making and defending some theologically strong positions. The greatest, and for non-Christians probably the most controversial, claim is that "[i]f what Christians say about Good Friday is true, then it is, quite simply, the truth about everything." The purpose of this statements is not necessarily to argue a theological position, but to bring urgency and highlight the importance of what happened on that Friday afternoon. In reading this book we can make one big step closer to that goal.

This is one of the most profoundly moving books I have ever read. I re-read it every year during lent, and it never fails to move me in the same was as before. Here is why.

In the final scene of "Saving Private Ryan," Ryan himself, now much older, is visiting the grave of the soldier who saved him. He recalls the final words of the dying soldier who rescued him, a plea to make his life worthy of the sacrifice being given. In tears, he asks his wife whether he has in fact lived his life in a way that justifies that sacrifice.

Although "Death on a Friday Afternoon" is far too complex and nuanced to be summarized succinctly, one of its objectives (which it fulfills admirably) is to look its reader directly in the face and ask, "Are you in fact living your life in a way that justifies the sacrifice that Jesus made to save it?"

Two brief excerpts provide a glimpse of this book's seriousness and importance:

"Our lives are measured not by the lives of others, not by our own ideals, not by what we think might reasonably be expected of us, although by each of those measures we acknowledge failings enough. Our lives are measured by who we are created and called to be, and the measuring is done by the One who creates and calls. . ."

"To belittle our sins is to belittle ourselves, to belittle who it is that God creates and calls us to be."

This book is a call to seriousness about living our lives in response to what God has done for us.

There is much more as well. Don't miss it.

Great book for reference and self study if you remember your circuit analysis and laplace transforms. Very detailed with out making ones eyes gloss over. Do wish it had a few more d examples but overall cant complain.

This book can be an excellent resource for any Analog Integrated Circuit Design Electrical Engineering student or practicing engineer. The book can assist in the modeling of IC devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. It also sensibly covers the building blocks of analog integrated circuits: gain stages, output stages, level shifters, current sources and mirrors.

The reader is expected to have a general understanding of electronics, frequency-domain analysis procedures, and understand basic Pspice operations. The book generally covers enough material for a half-year of courses at the upper-division/graduate level although the book could certainly be useful for a single class.

The material generally starts out as basic and proceeds to a complex level. There are helpful figures and diagrams on nearly every page and the organization is generally sensible and intuitive. There are many worked examples and hundreds of end-of-chapter problems. The text is supported by a website that offers downloadable design projects, additional examples, and design software. Franco has done an admiral job at presenting a complicated subject.

Here's a brief description of SOME of the topics found in each chapter:

1) Basic amplifier concepts and arrangements are explored. Also covers negative feedback, the loop gain, and basic circuit analysis.

2) Current-to-Voltage & Voltage-to-Current Converters, Current, Difference, Instrumentation, and Transducer Bridge Amplifiers.

3) Active Filters. Transfer Function, 1st order, KRC, multiple-feedback, state-variable, audio, and biquad filters.

4) Filter Approximations, switched-capacitor, universal sc filters, and cascade design.

5) Low-input bias-current Op amps, low-input-offset-voltage Op Amps, Op Amp Circuit Diagrams, and Input offset Voltage.

6) Open and Closed loop response. Transient Response, Input and Output Impedances, and effect of Finite GBP on Filters and Integrator Circuits.

7) Noise Dynamics and Properties. Sources of Noise and Low-Noise Op Amps.

8) Stability problems. Stability of CFA Circuits and in Constant-GBP Op Amp Circuits. Internal and External Frequency Compensation.

9) Schmitt Triggers, analog switches, voltage comparators, and precision rectifiers.

10) Sine, Triangular, Sawtooth, and Monolithic Wave Generators. Also Multivibrators and V-F and F-V Converters.

11) Voltage References and Regulators. Switching, linear, and monolithic switching regulators.

12) Performance Specifications, D-A and A-D Conversion Techniques. Oversampling Converters and Multiplying DAC Applications.

13) Nonlinear Amplifiers. Phase-Locked Loops, Monolithic PLLs, Analog Multipliers. Log/Antilog and Operational Transconductance Amplifiers.

Mulling through some old reviews, I noticed that I left a technical error (more of a technical glossing-over) in my review of Franco's opus. It's high time I corrected it, since it's been there for more than a year, no doubt befuddling readers who thought they knew something about analog electronics. Specifically, I had said that the designation of the input terminals as '+' and '-' really made no difference: it's more reflective of convention, sciz. (assuming something other than a difference amplifier), the significant input network is attached to '-'--with '+' grounded--if the configuration is inverting, but to '+' (with '-' grounded) if the configuration is non-inverting. That's the truth, but it isn't the whole truth. When we examine border cases--those that tax the operational limits of the device, straying outside the "passband," analogically speaking (yes, I know, that typically refers to a frequency range, but here I use it to address an input voltage difference range)--the otherwise cosmetic or mnemonic choice of '+' or '-' terminal becomes rather more manifest. Remember that the amplifier actually amplifies the input voltage difference in the microscopic sense--even though it implements a semantically notable linear operation in the macroscopic sense--relying upon the feedback network to remanufacture an appropriate input voltage difference that maintains the nominal purpose of the circuit. When things go ape and the input voltage difference is much too high or, alternatively, much too low (and that may be a tough nut to crack), the output characteristic will be dependent upon what was connected to '+' and what, to '-'.

Now, wasn't that as clear as mud? Remember, I'm constrained to use words, and words alone, as my medium of communication, and, since I have only a fraction of a thousand words, I have only a fraction of a picture!

This is an excellent book on linear circuit design, the best I have read to-date. It covers feedback theory, ideal op amps, active filter design & most importantly practical op amp limitations. It also covers voltage regulators, voltage references, ADCs, DACs, op amp noise & more. What I liked most was the combination of mathematical circuit analysis & practical design. Too many books show useful circuits without bothering to explain anything about how they work. It also has plenty of exercises to tax the brain.

Really a top notch book on op-amps and almost anything you'd ever do with them. Has math where it's needed and rules of thumb where it isn't. Actually is just a great analog design book altogether. Really the definative text on the subject of designing with op-amps.

I have always wanted to paint & draw but never knew or learned the techniques. This book has everything. What brushes to use what kind of paper, what kind of pencils to use, how to make your own frames, how to use color pencils, etc. The book is paperback as indicated above, and it has great pictures and is enough depth for a beginner (like myself.) Highly recommended!

This book has great information on a lot of topics! I use it in a few ways. As a practicing and selling artist, and it's a good place for ideas, inspirations and technique brush-ups. I also teach community art classes and it's great when I need project ideas, or even need to refresh myself or teach myself techniques for a certain class. This would also be a great book for a budding artist looking for an area of concentration.

This book is a great book for children and adults who want a basic introduction to art mediums. DK always does a good job of describing and it is an enjoyable read.

DK books are always a "best buy" when it comes to bringing clear, concise information on how to do almost anything.

The book is in wonderful shape! My daughter needed it for a college class so the price helped her out a lot. I am an art teacher and was very impressed with it. I told her when she is finished with it she needn't pay me back...just give ME the book.