Image Books

"The life and shocking story of the icon who danced her way to fame and infamy in Paris."

I used this book for a class I taught about Josephine Baker. The images collected here give such a good representation of Ms. Baker's life, and the three long essays in the book helped me understand her better. I would love to see this exhibition personally, but since I can't do that the book makes a good substitute. La Baker was quite a woman!

Incidentally the recently released DVDs of her movies are interesting too.

The life of Josephine Baker is one of the most incredible success stories in American history. Born into a poor but vibrant district of St. Louis, as a child she took her first steps toward becoming an incredible dancer by dancing in the streets for pennies. At age 13, she ran away to join a traveling road show, and at age 16 was the star dancer of a show that toured the country. She moved to Paris to join a musical review called La Revue Négre. So great was her success that, at age 20, she was the toast of Paris, and soon after, the toast of all Europe.
Ernest Hemingway said of her "(she is) ...the most sensational woman anybody ever saw. Or ever will. Tall, coffee skin, ebony eyes, legs of paradise, and a smile to end all smiles." Baker even took lessons in dancing from the great ballet master Balanchine who, as it turned out, learned more from her than she from him!
Josephine Baker, Image and Icon is a tribute to this incredible African-American who had little or no formal education, but earned her place in history through sweat and perseverance and an incredible talent. It is a book made beautiful by the images of Baker herself, as shown by original theatrical posters, photographs, drawings, prints and paintings of Baker made by some of the most celebrated artists of the period. The book is a rich profusion of color and movement, much like the dancing for which Baker was celebrated.
The book had its origin in the mind of the Director of the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, Olivia Lahs-Gonzales. After two years of searching for art and ephemera that would best show the life and times of Baker, Gonzales mounted an exhibition at the Sheldon Art Galleries by the same name, with exhibits drawn from collections public and private across the United States and Europe.* The book itself was the natural outcome of what was shown at the gallery.
In the book, Josephine Baker and her life and times is further defined by three scholarly and highly readable treatises. Bennetta Jules-Rosette, the author of "Two Loves: Josephine Baker in Art and Life," writes of the inventing of the image of Baker and the preserving of her as an icon. Olivia Lahs-Gonzales offers a commentary on Baker in the context of the modern woman. Tyler Stovall, author of "Paris Noir, African-Americans in the City of Light," describes Paris and the Jazz Age, and the place of Baker in the black Montmartre.
Baker not only danced and sang her way into the hearts of Paris, Europe and the world, but capitalized on her fame by taking on other tasks, such as combating racism in all its aspects. She adopted 12 children of all races and religions--her "rainbow tribe"-- and installed them in an immense French chateau. And, most incredibly, she took on the dangerous role of a courier in the French underground during the Nazi occupation, for which she received the French Légion d'Honneur.
If there ever was a book that defined and embodied its subject in its pages, it is Josephine Baker in Art and Life. It is a book that belongs in the library of everyone who loves Americana in its finest manifestation.

*The exhibition has now moved on to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, where it remains until March 18, 2007

Since our family once used the Key-System, it was great to read about it, and see all the places it went to.

This book was everything I hoped it would be. As a railway buff and a fan of the Key System it is a great addition to my library

I'm very impressed with the photos in this book. Some of these seem to be newly discovered. My father rode the Key System Bay Bridge trains during the 1950s as I mentioned in my review for another Key system book.

It is fitting that this book was published about one year before last months's 50th anniversary of the end of the Key System's Bay Bridge rail service on Sunday April 20th, 2008 as reported in the April 18 th issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. Although I can't think of a more sadder and tragic day to remember than this, volunteers at the Western Railway Museum north of San Francisco observed it by operating to two surviving Key System bridge units.

This is a wonderful book! It documents human beings at their best. We could all use some more kindness in the world.

Althought I have yet to look at the book, KINDSIGHT, by Robert Zuckerman, I believe that it will be worthwhile to purchase and enjoy the photographs of people and nature. I am writing this not as his niece but as an interested teenager wanting to look at the beauty of the world. My Uncle Bob has worked with top movie directors on movies such as Training Day, I Know What you did Last Summer, The Crew and Big Trouble. His work can also be seen on Will Smith's new album cover. Not only does he photograph some of todays well known celebrities, he photographs everyday people doing ordianry things. I even have the privelege of being included in one of the portraits in his book. I believe that this book will inspire blooming photographers to look deep into nature and the beauty of the ordinary world as my uncle has.

Robert Zuckerman, a highly regarded photographer of Hollywood film and of actors, has turned his attention away from the glittering world of make believe and focused instead on the ordinary. Yet in his eyes, and certainly in his writings that accompany each of the successful photographs in this sensitive collection these random encounters from routine, everyday life on the streets, the work places, cafes, and other niches that go unnoticed as being special, these moments transform from ordinary to become extraordinary.

Perhaps it is the honesty he finds with his camera; perhaps it is the story that grows out of the moment that made him stop to notice a child or adult or group. Richly colorful in presentation and content these 'kindsights' prove that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and with Zuckerman's gift he is able to make us all look again at the miracles around us. This is an uplifting and loving book that should be shared with good friends. Grady Harp, August 05

You won't have any trouble finding just one or two photographs in this book that will make it worth the cost of purchase alone. This is the most economic concise source of good early Knoxville photographs available. If you would like to get a glimpse of Knoxville of your youth, or much earlier, then this one is for you!

This is one of the best books ever printed on Knoxville, TN and worth every penny for the rare photographs of early life in the city. Mr. Hooper has done an excellent job in bringing history back to the masses and made it fun to read. Anyone who has ever lived, worked or was born in the city will love this book.

I found this book to be fascinating and a breath of fresh air from the usual "archive" authoring that comes from such books. I only wished there were more pages. Numerous friends who are natives to the city have found antique photos of relatives they never knew existed. Certainly worth the money just to see the real history of a city and the real people - not the politicians and patricians- that made Knoxville. Good read!

A fabulous book about a truly special little corner of the world. Purchased this as a gift for my sister and she loved it! Would highly recommend.

I bought this book on a whim while at the San Gregorio General Store, and devoured it before the band finished it's last set. Chock-full of eccentric trivia that beautifully encompasses the spirit of La Honda!
I absolutely loved it!

I could not put this book down. I even set aside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to finish it. What a great story! Bob Dougherty is an author to watch!

The book is well written and the examples are extremely useful. I have been programming in LabVIEW for 10 years and found the book to be very helpful for improving my programming techniques. My latest user interface is significantly improved over my previous efforts.

As a long-time LabVIEW programmer, I know how easy it is to create rich, graphical user interfaces with LabVIEW. I also know how frustrating it is to have an end user sit down in front of my LabVIEW masterpiece and not have a clue of what to do. In his easy to read style, Dave explains effective user interface design and how to apply it to test and measurement.

I especially appreciated Ch. 6 "Graphic Design for Engineers 101 - A Crash Course in Layout and Design." The discussion on designing an effective layout and the provided templates are excellent.

As a long-time LabVIEW developer, one of the things I like about LabVIEW is how easy it is to whip up a sharp looking GUI. However, along with this easy-of-use comes a responsibility to develop a user-friendly GUI as well. Though the title of this book implies that it only addresses GUI design, there is a significant amount of time spent on software engineering, understanding users, graphic design and coding techniques. This book is a whopper at over 500 pages, and there is no skimping on discussion of any of these topics.

As a developer who is equally at home with computers and people, it is hard to remember that I am in the minority, and the majority of users of my software are likely to be technophobes. The first 5 chapters of this book address user expectations and how, in a deterministic manner, to come up with a GUI that will be friendly to the target users.

Chapter 6, as another reviewer mentioned, is a crash course in graphic design. Over 50 pages of "put this here", "choose these colors", and "use this font". A great reference.

Chapters 7-9 discuss the mechanics of how to make a good GUI. All the regulars are here: VI Server, Custom Menus, Queue and Event-driven architectures, and Property/Attribute Nodes. But there is some neat stuff I have not seen elsewhere, such as how to make pop-up menus, custom toolbar buttons and floating menus/toolbars with minimum hassle and overhead.

Chapter 10 is a guide to everything graphics. It covers different image formats (jpg, bmp, png, etc.), transparency, where to get "free" graphics, as well as a primer on Adobe Photoshop.

The rest of the book (chapters 11 & 12, plus appendix A) are use cases.

In the back of the book is a CD-ROM with most of the examples, plus a ton of great free stuff (e.g., custom buttons) and trial stuff (e.g., Adobe Photoshop).

Complaints: this book is getting a bit long in the tooth. LabVIEW 7 is out with user-defined events, and 8 will be out shortly with a whole new development paradigm. While much of this book remains relevent, some parts are in need of updating (property nodes have been out how long now???).

My other complaint is that this book looks like a pre-publication proof. Nearly every page has a major spelling or grammar error. It is as if no one could make it through the 500+ pages for a final proof before printing. As an example, from page 181: "At this point, it should be stressed that the visual hierarchy is your GUI panels should be governing by more than aesthetic considerations alone." (yes, this is an exact quote)

This is my second amazon review ever in seven years. I mention this to emphasize how much I believe in this book. I teach an introductory programming class to artists/designers at a University. Finding a good textbook has not been easy. I am very happy to finally find what I consider the "missing" book. I will definitely be adopting this book as one of the required texts for my Intro to Interactive class in the spring. I am very impressed with the content. It is very well suited for my students who are not fluent (and are sometimes quite intimidated) in programming lingo and concepts:) Other books cover the fundamentals usually in one chapter, and get into the key concepts very quickly. This book is paced better for the novice, and, as another reviewer noted, is very friendly and inviting. Job very well done!

In the past 10 months I have returned to programming computers, having taken a decade off doing such to produce dance music, work as a surgical nurse, and currently to do CAD/CAM programming for a stone manufacturer. In the nineties I coded a bit in pure assembly, but have never coded in a high level language, never one with objects or garbage collection, and honestly haven't coded at all for 12 years.

This book should have been the first book I picked up when I was staging my return, as it is the first beginner level programming book to hold my interest, and one which enables the user to work with first class multimedia applications while still coding at the beginner level. Data visualization has really taken off, and Casey Reas and Ben Fry's Processing language is a beautiful abstraction on top of Java for creating rich media, generative art, and visualizations.

I've built a small coding library of 75-100 retained books from the 400+ I bought from Amazon in the past 10 months, and this is absolutely the first book I should have read - without a doubt. Processing, the language, is an absolutely wonderful platform for learning to program - and I wish I could say that I first learned to program using this book and Processing.

If you are curious about learning how to program, "Learning Processing" gives you a much more interesting set of tools to work with for learning the basics - I think this will lead to continued interest in some who might otherwise give up early.

I have (but have not read cover to cover) the other Processing related books - "Processing" by Reas and Fry, "Processing" by Ira Greenberg, and "Visualizing Data" by Fry - and I think the reason I haven't completed them is because they are intermediate level programming books, and will make more sense to read now, having completed "Learning Processing."

Finally, I think it's important to mention that I have noticed that it is increasingly obvious when books are written by educators, as opposed to professional coders. There is a certain command of the readers attention span that only teachers/educators can harness, and this is no exception.

I highly recommend this book, which perhaps, could have been titled more aptly "Learning to Program via Processing," but which was a fabulous read nonetheless!

grantmichaels

I just received this book yesterday, and I have to say that this book is probably the friendliest "instructional" book. I say instructional, instead of programming because as a designer, I can comprehend the concepts that Shiffman talks about. It's even friendlier than some Photoshop and Flash books that I've read through.

I have both Shiffman's and Casey Reas' book (last year), and I'm starting Shiffman's book. Casey's book is for intermediates. I would even recommend this book to high school students who are interested in programming, however, most high school students are professional programmers already (look at the kids that work on Facebook).

A lucky used-book store find. One of my favorite books. This biography of the Holy Spirit is a highly entertaining study of people in the west possessed with the Holy Spirit. Holl offers an obscure history with much involvement by women in Christianity. Holl takes on a topic as easy to grasp as the wind. His words fly by as we move through a history not in the mainstream of Western Christianity.

Holl's brilliantly written masterpiece surveys the history of those who were convinced they were inspired directly by God, only to clash with established religion. Holl looks at Gnostics, Cathars, renegade militant Anabaptists, and Pentecostals, all with superbly readable wit and touches of dry humor. This book is a golden example of theology that is fun bedtime reading as well. Interested in getting in touch with the heretics of history? There's no better selected guide.

I first heard about Adolf Holl in the mid-70s when the controversy around his teachings spread through the Austrian media like wildfire. Occasionally, Holl was a talk-show host and guest on various Austrian programs where he communicated his deep-running thoughts. This book is certainly an interesting read as Holl researches and analyses the subject intensely. To judge if his conclusions are correct is up to the reader--some may agree and find it even inspirational, others may brush off this and that. Anyway, it sure provides plenty of ammunition for many brain-storming hours of debate, discussion and thought. Another book that I highly recommend, which was also written by an Austrian-born writer, who's become known as the theological whiz kid of our time, is a very helpful book by Dietmar Scherf "I Love Me: Avoiding and Overcoming Depression" -- also available at Amazon.

Not only are there some very good affirmations that a person can use on a daily basis, but there are actions that will help reinforce the positive affirmations. I highly recommend this book to any one who is starting on the path of self acceptance or even those who have traveled the path aways already.

This is a fantastic book that every woman should read, large or small. It helps you with your self-esteem so that you can focus on the more important things in life. You will learn or perhaps re-learn how you don't have a weight problem, society does. You shouldn't change your body to fit the culture, that's not healthy and takes a big chunk of your time; time you could focus on more important matters like your career, school, children, etc.

Reviewed by Barbara Altman Bruno, Ph.D. Dr. Cheri Erdman, author of Nothing to Lose: A Guide to Sane Living in a larger Body has written another very good book. While her first book was more narrative, Live Large! is a workbook. It is meant for women seeking a better life in their larger bodies, to interact with the bite-size bits of material on each page. Erdman subdivides the book in two ways: first, in sections for initiation into body-size acceptance, inspiration, determination, and living large. Within each of these sections, each page has a dominant theme which she calls "the big idea." Some of these big ideas include "my body, my business" (a catch-phrase she learned from her work with larger women), "body size is unrelated to the quality of a person's life," and "healthy bodies come in all sizes." Each big idea is "fleshed out" in an explanatory paragraph. Then Erdman offers an affirmation related to that particular big idea. Affirmations are a tool which I also recommend to my clients because they can enable people to change the self-critical voices in their heads into self-affirming ones. While these affirmations - positive sentences stated in the present and repeated to oneself - can seem like science fiction when one first tries them, they can actually establish a new truth in one's mind. Finally, she recommends a "size-wise" action, often accompanied by journal-writing, to reinforce the experience of the big idea. These actions are generally do-able pieces which together form a big picture of someone living a positive life in her own, present body. Erdman's doctoral research led her to the concept of a "spiral of size acceptance." That is, most people do not go directly from hating their bodies to accepting them. Their path tends to look like a spiral, where they advance and yet sometimes feel like they're back at an earlier place. Most of us can relate to feeling better about ourselves, only to have someone's nasty, lipophobic comment send us reeling. Erdman reminds us that such setbacks are only steps along the path. Because each person's path can be different, we can choose a "big idea" which fits where we are at that moment. We do not have to work through the book page after page. We can return to pages which relate to our current situation; we can meditate on a section or take a size-wise action. Her book offers support at every step. What I especially like, in addition to the thoughtful structure of Erdman's book, isits message that to live large is not solely about having a larger body. It is about expanding into our spirit, which is much larger than anything physical. It is about living our purpose. There is much wisdom in this small book, both in its construction and in the messages it imparts. I recommend it.

Honest insight into the meaning of the Christian Message of all inclusive love which leads to true peace. Dear's is not a message of "feel good Christianity". He takes gospel of nonviolence seriously and invites all to follow.

We purchased this book for our Library in response to a request from a reader who had read other books by John Dear. The feedback is very good. Our reader is delighted and keeps talking about the book and how good it is. Others are now in queue to borrow the same book. We are very happy with the purchase from Amazon as the local bookshops said it was not available and yet with Amazon we had a quick purchase and delivery. Thank you. Regards, Joan

This book should be required reading for all Christians. If enough did, we would have a beautiful world. Violence is eating the soul and heart out of this country. We need to turn it around and make the love of Jesus our guiding principle.