Image Books

First, this book is chock full of some fine color pics of European art mainly from about 1300-1600. The text descibes unusual, hidden, and symbolic aspects of the paintings, and a few sculptures. Artists like Raphael, Corregio, ElGreco,Titian, Bosch, are given the master's treatment, and less known artists also get their due. From Biblical tales to Greek and Roman myth, we are given a special look at clothing, religious symbols, haloes, snakes and dragons, and about every theme and motif of the times. And the author has a nice sense of humor which makes the book not only visually brilliant,and serious, but fun at the same time!

This is a marvelous overview of western religious art of the late medieval period through the rennaisance. Ms. Fisher uses familiar examples of painting and sculpture, and explains painting traditions and conventions, and does so frequently through the use of subtle humor. This is a pleasurable books for the student of art history, the lover of western religious art, and anyone who enjoys expanding their horizons! A great read, which lifts the veil on many of our current religious and artistic traditions.

This book is great, if you can still find it. I've purchased 6 copies to give as gifts and my friends loved it! This is perfect as a coffee table book, or one that may inspire you! I highly recommend it! The pictures are beautiful and the stories complement. Don't read fairy tales to your kids, this is what they can inspire with and question.

Sally Fisher's book, 'The Square Halo', is a small but great book on some of the mysterious, often overlooked, symbols in Western art.

The idea of art for art's sake is a relatively new one -- the idea of using art solely for aesthetic reasons is largely one of the modern age. Art was, in fact, an important medium of communication when the majority or at least a significant minority of the populace was illiterate.

Paintings and works of art that we see today as mysterious, or sometimes without mystery and think are fairly straight-forward presentations, are in fact hiding meanings that we, because we have not generally been taught to look for meanings in these places, easily overlook.

'To many educated persons, a museum visit is mystifying. There is Aristotle--we know who he is--but why is he crawling on all fours with a woman named Phyllis on his back? There is a group of gorgeously dressed persons. Each holds an object: keys, a sword, a small dragon on a leash, a little tower, a pair of eyes on a plate. They gaze into space. No one says a word. The title is Sacred Conversation. What can it mean?'

Some symbols, however, we take for granted that we do know. For instance, the halo -- a common symbol. But is it?

'Now and then a person simply glows. We have all seen it, or perhaps more accurately, felt it. In the Mediterranean world this experience found pictorial expression. It began, as we might expect, with the sun. The fan of beams splaying from the edge of a cloud became the rays that emanated from the garland on the head of the Greek sun god Helios.'

The Christian adaptation brought about an outward expression of an inward light (much in the way Christian sacraments were considered outward expressions of inward grace). Halos come in many forms, hollow or full, head-only or bodily encompassing, and, of course, square.

Square??

Of course (the title of the book had to have derived from something, after all). One image that is used is that of Pope John VII, who is portrayed in a mosaic in the Vatican Museums. A square halo is a symbol. It tells us that the wearer was still living at the time of the art work.

A circle is perfect; so is Heaven. Earth is imperfect; so is the square.

Thus, the person was considered blessed and saintly, but, as official sainthood cannot be conveyed until after the death of the person, an 'official' round halo would be inappropriate.

Often a person will be holding an object (like a church, a house, etc.). These objects are in fact things that they built, or caused to be built (the same mosaic shows Pope John VII holding a model chapel which he had built).

Biblical stories are played out in art work, often the entire story (or a significant portion) portrayed by the symbols on one canvas or panel, which would have triggered memories of the complete story in the viewer, and which we, in our modern 'literate' phase have forgotten.

We also learn of some of the quirkiness of art -- the apostle Paul, for instance, is sometimes portrayed on horseback, and other times not. Generally, the horsey Paul is a Catholic painting; the pedestrian Paul is a Protestant painting. How do we know this? Because in the Catholic world, Paul was considered a person of importance, and people of importance travelled by horse. However, by the Protestant era, with a more literal reading of the text, as no horse was mentioned, no horse was painted.

Fisher examines 150 works of art, grouped into chapters on The Old Testament, The Virgin Mary, The Life of Jesus, Earth and Heaven, Saints, and Rome Revisited (which looks at mythological influences in art).

This is a fascinating book, lavishly illustrated in wonder colour plates, well written and intriguing.

I know Mark Cole. He is a great teacher and now author. He is also a part time body builder. This book is well written and well researched! I love the pictures! The authors certainly have put a great deal of time into making their book a superb work of art!

I new the Coles from when I was a kid growing up in Stone Harbor.
We lived across the street. I miss it too! I was a tight nieghborhood back then. I stumbled across this book by accident and loved it Very well done.

A well written and well researched book! I love the pictures! The authors certainly have put a great deal of time into making their book a superb work of art!

This is one of the best books I've read on the subject. It proves to be well-researched and very well written. The pictures are outstanding and well done. It brought back fond memories of fun times with family and friends. I hope Mark follows up with another.

So far this is the best graphic novel I've read. I couldn't stop reading it! and the style of the drawings really support the story.

A very dark tale with a plot that grabs you. The illustrations are just perfect for the kind of story, not over elavorated, but gloomy and sombre, exactly what the story needs.

This graphic novel really is one of the genre's masterpieces. It's a perfectly paced, intricately plotted gothic novel -- and the artwork complements the mood perfectly. A moody and brooding tale of control-freak psychics, sexual repression, insanity, guilt and horror. Something for everybody. If you've read all of Sandman, Alan Moore and Frank Miller, give this little shocker a try. You won't be dissapointed.

A criminally neglected masterpiece that comfortably sits alongside the most highly regarded comics of the past decade. As a study in malevolence and truly horrific obsession there's nothing to match Strange Embrace in comics. Writer and artist David Hine begins with the psychic Alex Steadman, who murders his parents before becoming a tenant in a vast house owned by the reclusive, broken Anthony Corbeau. Probing his mind as he sleeps, Alex learns of Corbeau's youth, seemingly one of callous indifference to those around him in keeping to a solitary indulgence. As more of Corbeau's family history seeps through, a tragic story is revealed, fleshed out by the hidden diaries of Corbeau's long-deceased wife. Magnificently plotted and considered down to the smallest observations, this deeply disturbing story is ideally matched by Hine's art. Jagged and dark, his choice of African tribal carvings as a recurring motif provides profoundly unsettling primal imagery to counterpoint the preposterously formal turn-of-the-century domestic structure. In a truly graphic novel that's part Joseph Conrad, part E.M. Forster and part Edgar Allen Poe, the shocking events depicted have resonance that remains long after the story concludes. If you're interested in intelligent adult comics you should buy this book.

Lovers of good political writing will enjoy this. I was greatly inspired by the first edition of this while I was a college student in the 1980s (when Mr. Mandela was still imprisoned).

Among the highlights are "Bantu Education" (1950s), a look at how the educational system for Black South Africans was designed to produce a class of cheap labor (as a Black South Carolinian, I can relate). Mandela's court speech prior to his imprisonment in 1964 reads like a South African "I Have A Dream" as he eloquently states the case of Black S/Africans and his willingness to be a martyr for that cause. (Check the actual sound recording of this on the CD "The Voice of Nelson Mandela" for the full effect).

Later, we see the level of principle of Mr. Mandela as he spurns offers for freedom under the conditions set by the S/A government in the 80s. We also read his post-release speech as well as his calls for peace among warring factions in S/A.

Makes you wish for eloquent, principled, and effective leaders like this in America. At least it can inspire future generations toward that direction. By all means, read it.

What a bottomless well of encouragement and inspiration one gets from its reading! Nelson Mandela, basing himself on the mass of Black, Colored and Indian, workers, peasants and other democrats of South Africa, was unbreakable at the hands of the horrific, murderous and terrorist system of aparthied. Akin to Nazis Germany, the Jim Crow USA South and Zionist Israel, South Africa enjoyed the backing of the US and British and Israeli governments until it was overthrown.

Joining the African National Congress in 1944 at age 26, he and other youth would lead its transformation from and organization of " gentlemen with clean hands" to the mass revolutionary democratic movement that would lead the revolution over apartheid. Doing so even while in prison for nearly 30 years. He was finally released in 1990 at age 72 and was soon after elected South Africa's president.

For decades, a popular demand in South Africa and around the world was: Free Nelson Mandela! This book does an excellent job of showing just why Mandela was so popular among the masses in his country and so feared and hated by apartheid's rulers. He was a first-class revolutionary who fought for decades for his country's freedom and always believed in the power of the masses of people to make change. This book is so inspiring because you read Mandela in his own words, starting as a student leader in the 1940s to a leader of the African National Congress's armed wing in the 1960s to an internationally known political prisoner in the 1980s. He never gave up and he outlasted the vicious apartheid system. The photos in the book also do a great job of showing what the struggle against apartheid was like.

What a wonderful experience-- reading and studying speeches and documents prepared by Nelson Mandela during five decades of struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa! Here are key documents of the African National Congress, including the Freedom Charter that became the central document of the mass movement that brought down apartheid. Also Mandela's speeches at different stages of the struggle, including historic courtroom addresses when he was on trial for his life; documents Mandela prepared as the apartheid regime was forced to negotiate with him and the ANC in the late 1980s; and his first speeches after he was released from prison in 1990.
These speeches give a vivid reminder of the brutal, racist regime that was apartheid (and we should never forget that the South African regime was a pillar of U.S. domination in Africa from the 1940s on.) Mandela gives us a real feel for the determined, difficult, and courageous struggle of millions of people who never accepted submission to apartheid and the world-wide importance of the fight for a democratic, nonracial South Africa. And you see truly inspiring leadership in the persons of Mandela and his fellow leaders in the ANC.
Don't miss the 32-pages of photos that really help bring this rich struggle to life as well!

This workbook really helps you get the most out of the textbook, Changed Into His Image, by Jim Berg. The workbook is set up so that you cover a chapter of the book every week. This gets you through the textbook in thirteen weeks. Each day (five days a week) you will read a few pages from the text, write down two significant statements, answer some thought-provoking questions, work on memorizing a verse, and pray for change. This resource can be used individually, with another person, or in a small group Bible study. The only warning I have is that you better be committed to doing the work if you are going to buy this book. It takes about a half hour a day.

This Book and study guide are perhaps the best Discipleship/ small group material on the market. A++++

This material is superb, Jim Berg presents Christian truths so that even the us ordinary guys can understand it. Away with the psycho mumbo jumbo, real honest basic truths are brought to light for the new and older Christian .

The two book series, Book: Changed Into His Image and Workbook: Taking Time To Change give the true Christian tools to successfully implement lasting life change by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Once ones own life is being directed toward sanctificaton, the ability is there to begin helping other Christians begin the journey towards sanctification. Real life problems and responses to them are addressed so that the Christian can begin to see life from God's perspective rather than the individual's own situation. This book should be required reading for the new Christian as well as the older Christian. It's principles will benefit any Christian willing to take the time to implement them into his or her life.

I loved it. The art work was fantastic, and Lara isn't a helpless female victim in the movies. She's tough! The second book gets better, so try it, she's a lot better than the video game, in my opinion.

The Tomb Raider series has now been turned into a monthly comic book from Top Cow and this special edition combines the first thee part story that intros the series. You meet Lara Croft, world reknown explorer, her butler and an old ex boyfriend in the form of Chaser Carver who always manages to get to Lara and makes for some great banter between the two.

In this special edition you will learn a bit more about Lara Croft and some info on her mother.

The artwork is simply great and proves that Top Cow has once again managed to give us another strong well written female action hero. Lara is drawn just the way you imagine her to be.

I used to love this comic series. For a while, it was the only comic I read. Looking back, it's hard to tell what was so enthralling about it. The plots were unimaginative and preidictable, and the books themselves were way too short. Seriously, each took about three minutes to read. This was all very irritating, but I still kept buying the books. Andy Park's spectacular art made it worthwhile. I lost interest in the series soon after Mr. Park stopped doing the pencil work for it.

"Saga of the Medusa Mask" collects the first story arc of the Tomb Raider series. If you're interested in the series, this is a good place to start. Although you shouldn't expect too much, this IS a damn good comic when you consider that it's based on a video game!

This book can help with what you need!!

In the introduction, he talks about being picked out of obscurity to do a work of destiny that God had chosen for him to do. He is a very humble man, who has been gifted by God.
He gives us a definition of "glory" by writing "I refer to God's overpowering, overwhelming presence. Each time God touched me, major transformations took place in my nature and prepared me to fulfill a destiny that only God could fully perceive" (p. 5).
On guidance, consider his observation, "I believe that any of us who are following the Lord can look back in our lives and see a pattern of divine appointments scattered throughout our past" (p. 20).
This book will build your faith. It promotes God, not man and describes how God can do awesome things through His mysterious ways.

I couldn't put this book down. Lindell takes you through his early years and how he got involved in music. He is so open and personal about his life, struggles, and questions about his place in ministry. This book shows how God developed talents in Lindell, that, little did he know, would be used to spread anointed music worldwide. I enjoyed traveling the winding road through Lindell's life that eventually took him to Pensacola, Florida and the Brownsville Revival.

From the broad platform the Brownsville Revival has given him, Lindell Cooley humbly brings a powerful message to the end-time music minister with striking honesty and clarity. His personal testimony illustrates how vital it is that we seek and faithfully follow God's calling on our lives, and how the devil cannot defeat the simple prayer, "Thy will be done."

This book was great.I am not an avid book reader but this one was great. I think every worship leader, musician,back-up singers, laymen/women and preachers should read this book.

Growing up in one of the towns of the Sandia Mountains, I can ashamedly say that I really didn't do much digging into the history of the place. I don't know why really, I guess I figured it was just there and left it at that. Then comes along this little dandy of a history book wherein the unique history of the place I grew up in is laid before you through non-run of the mill descriptions, quirky photos, and some fantastic quotes from the people who have made up and make these towns.
This book is published through Arcadia, which has about, I don't know how many, of these history/photo style books. I have read a few books from Arcadia and maybe it's because this is one that specifically talks about the place I grew up in, but Towns of the Sandia Mountains seems to sit a few levels above the others Arcadia has out there.
This book reads like a dreamy ride through the past on an old desert road. Starting on Route 66 in Albuquerque and lazily winding it's way up into the mountain towns, past the towns, higher into the mountian, down a back pass, to the front of mountian and back into Albuquerque, picking up the towns of Carnuel, Tijeras, Hobbies, San Antonio, Cedar Crest, Canoncito, San Antonito, Sandia Park, and Placitas along the way, as well as a brief concluding chapter on Albuquerque touching on its growth into the mountain. Some of the pictures in this book are completely astounding to see. There are amazing photos of areas with just a few cattle grazing around that now have freeways and strip malls running through them. Pictures of places, if you know that area, you would never recognize. Pictures of Hippies and TB patients alike escaping into the mountains. People who made this town that you never knew who now you can know.
This book does away with the dull page after page of random portraits of people with boring captions style of history writing and brings new life to history.
If you live in the Sandia, used to, or are just interested in a unique area then I would say this is a good little read for you. Eight thumbs up!

This book has wonderful stories of the rich history of communities of the Sandia Mountains. The photos are wonderful, and really add to the stories. The geographic orientation, beginning with Carnuel, and working around the mountain to Placitas emphasizes the rich variety of the area. I highly recommend it.

Out of all the Images of America books by Arcadia I have looked at over the past few months this one is by far the best. The book was written with love and care by someone who obviously loves the area and knows it very well. It is also the most imaginatavely layed out Arcadia book out all of them that I own. The book has many great photos as well as vintage postcards, maps, and advertisements. Needless to say its a must have for anyone living in the Sandia Mountains but also a wonderful addition to any New Mexico library.

It's hard to stop reading, engrossing, hard to stop reading!

My wife and are enjoying this book immensely, well written and the details of the areas of the places around us here in Tijeras are fantastic. This book brings the rich history to light in an enjoyable read. The photographs are amazing, to see the places as they were and are now.

Mike Smith, the author is extremely accessible for any questions or comments about his book, the region and the history.

Definitely a five star book, run now to get yours!

This is a wonderful book. It is a must have for those who enjoy history. This book has wonderful photographs......fantastic snapshots in time from yesteryear. Many families who came to the USA to start a new life lived in Trenton. Those of us who's families came to Trenton may "well up" with pride when flipping through the book.....it will make you proud. It is rich in history and trade. "What Trenton Makes the World Takes". Thanks so much for a wonderful book!

Cate and Carol's book is about time! Trenton's rich history is displayed in this collector's book of photographs, many never seen before in other books on Trenton. They cover its industry, neighborhoods, history and people that put this town on the map. The question is, when is their next volume on Trenton coming out?

Cate and Carol's book is about time! Trenton's rich history is displayed in this collector's book of photographs, many never seen before in other books on Trenton. They cover its industry, neighborhoods, history and people that put this town on the map. The question is, when is their next volume on Trenton coming out?

Everyone who comes from Trenton or is interested in the history of this town that almost became the capital of the US should read this wonderful book. I have ancestors who immigrated to Trenton in 1865, and my parents were born and raised there. What a joy it is to see how Trenton developed and thrived over the years! And I found a photo of one of my relatives in the book!

Nice illustrations and humorous parody of the 12 days of Xmas. A good Xmas gift for the cat lover.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

What an enjoyable book to read (and of course sing) to children. The cat illustrations are beautiful and it is easy to identify different objects.

I think it's a cute Christmas book for cat lovers everywhere. It takes the familiar Christmas carols and gives them new lyrics as told from a cat's point of view. I loved it and didn't get bored at all. I bring it out each Christmas season to enjoy.

Parodies of the Twelve Days of Christmas are great fun - in this all the gifts are cats of different varieties or actions. The drawings are cute, amusing but uninspired. Still, if you need a stocking stuffer for a cat love (or to infuriate a dog lover) this is delightful.