Game Design Books

This book isn't for those just starting to work with the Adobe Creative Suite. But it is a great resource for people who work at design firms, ad agencies, and publishing houses where they work with multiple CS programs when creating designs. It addresses issues that arise everyday for the working designer or design student.

This is a wonderful book for children or adults. The sixteen unique images rendered in skillful detail combine imagery from several cultures such as the flowery fabric motif from Nigeria with it's border design taken from a Baule gold plating motif and the Bambole mask with Ndebele motifs as a background.

The real surprise in this book is that the images are printed on transparency paper creating a number of options for use by teachers, artists and students of all ages. It is unlike any other coloring book I've ever seen.

When I first read this as a child I didn't understand it and I didn't really like it. Later I rediscovered it through quotes in "the massage is the message" by McLuhan. I read it again and discovered new meaninings, new dimensions. It is amazing how many different readings this masterpiece of surrealism may have. BUT ... first of all it is a real pleasure reading it. Attractive illustrations and funny poems make it equally accessible to children. My all time favourite and definetely the smartest book written for children!

This is an excellent book. I'm always searching for inspiration for new bird house designs, and the examples shown here are spectacular.

This is such a fun book--a work of art in of itself. It gives brief but informative descriptions of the various art movements of the 20th century, interspersed with various "games"--little quizzes for you test your knowledge of art. There are also mock newspaper pages containing obscure and hilarious historical art factoids. Reading--and participating in--this book is an entertaining way to brush up on your art history!

I purchase print books for the Comfort Blanket Ministry of St. Ferdinand Church. We use the pictures for painting and marker coloring which ultimately become squares in our ministry's beautiful blankets. Keep selling these kinds of books, we'll keep buying them!

Eduard Gufeld's The Art of the King's Indian stands out as a chess book that is well worth owning, especially if you are interested in the King's Indian Defense. The book is written with an admitted black bias, but players of the white side can certainly gleam valuable knowledge as well.
The late GM has/had a reputation as a chess writer that was somewhat less than desirable due to his quick turnout of rehashed material and a rather blasé way of annotating games. He was known for his salesmanship and self-promotion, but he was a genuine lover of chess. His love of chess and his particular love of the fianchetto systems of the Sicilian Dragon and the King's Indian Defense is what makes this book so special.
Gufeld remained loyal to the King's Indian his entire chess career, and this book is atrue labor of love. While it is true that as an older GM well past any championship aspirations, Gufeld had a tendency to play older systems in the KID, there is still great value in playing over the games of KID specialists like Gufeld. Yes, this book contains mostly Gufeld's own games, but there are several other games from Fischer, Kasparov, Shirov, Smirin and others.
What makes this book so different from the other Gufeld openings books are the annotations and stories, which are plentiful, that give the reader such a savory delight in replaying the games. Gufeld explains the strategies and tactics involved thoroughly in words, not just annotations. He covers all of the main variations; the Samisch, the Classical, the Four Pawns Attack, the Fianchetto systems and the Bg5 systems (which includes the Averbakh, but avoids the Torre and notably the Trompovsky, which Gufeld hated.
Gufeld seems to have never stayed into the so-called modern ways of handling the KID by allowing his knights to develop on the rim with say, Na6. With that in mind, if you are looking for a thorough treatise on the KID or are trying to develop a repertoire, The Art of the King's Indian may not be what you are looking for. However if you are looking to further your understanding of the King's Indian, or are not opposed to using the older more classical ways of handling the opening, this is a great book. Any club level, weekend tournament type player will be able to better understand this dynamic opening by reading this book and playing the games. In this regard it is similar to Bronstein on the King's Indian. If you are looking to begin a repertoire on the KID, I would recommend starting with GM Joe Gallagher's Starting Out: the King's Indian, add this book and/or Bronstein's, either Levy and O'Connell's How to Play the King's Indian, or Bellin and Ponzetto's Mastering the King's Indian., Then pursue the more involved books by Nunn, Gallagher, and company on the various variations and suggested repertoires.
Like many people, I have been sucked into buying several on Gufeld's and for that matter Schiller's weak efforts. This book is not one of those. I highly recommend it to club level KID players.

I need more than 5 stars to adequately describe just how good this book is. If you are even remotely considering building and/or decorating a Georgian or Regency dollshouse, you must purchase this book. It fills many gaps left by other books of its kind - where else would you learn how to build an authentic fire crane and spitjack for the kitchen, a service crane and lamp snuffer for the front fence, and downpipes progressively dated? His attention to period accuracy is unsurpassed, covering the development of items such as the kitchen range and toilet through the age and a host of other important features. Brian Long has saved me weeks of research, thoroughly exploring every room and household function and the associated equipage, which is a particular boon for builders of this kind of house who live outside of England. Although he gives many useful suggestions for doing your own research, all but the most particular of dollshouse perfectionists will not need any other source. Plans for several houses are included, (including the one on the cover)although many builders would also need some prior experience and a good book devoted to the topic. I wish a book like this existed for every period. Brian, if you're reading, please start planning a library of these. Begin with the Tudor period and just keep going!

This book is for the beader who doesn't want to stop at just putting beads together, but who now wants to make the beads themselves, and to try some creative new techniques for jewelry-making. For people who have time to make their own beads, there are instructions for beads of clay, wire, metal sheeting, meltable plastic, and paper. The photos show very professional results, and the jewelry made with these beads look like what you might see in a jewelry boutique.

Other projects in the book include jewelry made with knotted hemp and beads, and some interesting uses of wire. A few necklaces are made with beads joined by stitching or on a loom. A final section has projects for decorating your home with beads and wirework, such as vases, clothing accessories, a frame, and windchime.

These projects are for the serious-minded beader who has time to dedicate to expanding their skills with beads. The instructions are very good and close-up photos show the steps clearly.

Not finished with this book but so far a witty and insightful book which focuses on graphic design beyond printed matter. This book explores the world of digital graphics and looks at new dimensions of graphic design and how designers will become part of a dialogue with the public. A scenario in which they receive feedback from an audience and perfect there design solutions based on feedback from viewers reactions etc.
And of course Heller has become an authority on Design Culture so this book is informed and up to date.