Instruction Books

It has great poster-like images and screen shots, all of high quality. The original art is also superb. If you like Gundam Wing and want some extra art or if you want to draw something from Gundam Wing get this...and the technical manualGundam Technical Manual #1: Gundam Wing cause that thing has ALL the details about the machines and the story leading up to the show.

Hm... I happen to LOVE this book. I own it. Bought it at a different website (animenation.com) with a different cover, but it's the same pictures... And the pictures are great! There were quite a few I hadn't seen before (example 1: the one of Treize and Une's head from the side. example 2: one with both Milliardo and Zechs (Milliardo with his mask on) from the side and a full shot of Noin from the front). The whole thing is layed out very nicely. I give it... *drumroll* Ten out of ten thumbs up! Eh... Right. Anyway...

For all those die-hard Gundam fans who were disappointed with the three-volume manga, this will more than make up for it.

Like the title says, this book displays a collection of pictures -- original ones or screenshots from the anime -- that is, simply, the art of "Gundam Wing." The book does a good job of fairly balancing the pictures of the five pilots as well as other important characters. For those who surf the web a great deal, many of these pictures will be recognized immediately. And many people might also notice that the pictures are a lot crisper, clearer, and cleaner than some found on fansites, which is alone worth the price of the book.

However, there is also a good deal of pictures that have most likely not been found on the internet (although they probably will be soon because of people with scanners and a lot of free time). These pictures heighten the worth of the book, and the fact that they were drawn by the artists who worked on the anime makes it all the more satisfying. After all, where do the original artists take the time to add more of their talent to a collection of already-beautiful artwork?

All in all, there was only once complaint I had, and that was that the book was a little short. The book is only about 96 pages of art, with a brief interview with the artists. Despite this setback, the book is definately a must-have for anyone who's ever enjoyed the artwork and wants to gloss over it for days on end. Try and say something like that about "Pokemon"!

This is a really great thing to buy for any GW fan. The artwork is beautifull.....amazing.....there aren't enough good words to describe it.....I'm very happy that I bought it.....

This is a great book! It's worth the money! If you know Gundam like I do then you'll love this book. It has pictures from the Endless Waltz as well as some from the earlier movies. The pictures are very colorful and quite creative. Each character is given a few pages of pictures. If you are familiar with the pics on the trading cards, they're there too! Also the covers of the movies are included. I highly reccomend this book to anyone seeking help on drawing the Gundam Wing characters or just looking for a peice to add to their collection!

His uncle Felix Blumenfeld was a Horowitz teacher.
Some of Neuhaus students among many others:
- Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, both considered top 10 world pianists.
- The first teacher (the mother) of Andrei Gavrilov.
- Radu Lupu.

This book is funny as exemplified below by some excerpts:

"Thinking about art and science, about their mutual relationship and contradictions, I came to the conclusion, for some reason or other, that mathematics and music are situated at extreme poles of the human spirit, that these two antipodes limit and determine the whole spiritual and creative activity of man and that situated between them is everything that mankind has created in the field of science and art".

I found his above childish thoughts very interesting, perhaps meaning that everything is a linear combination of pure logic (math) and pure emotion (music). As I work with math and like to play piano I will tend to be a "complete" human being :-)

Other of his "jokes":

"When Emil Gilels came to study with me in the Moscow State Conservatory, I was once forced to say to him: You are already a grown man, you can eat steak and drink beer but so far you have been fed with a baby's bottle"

"I remember that when Glazunov was about fifty his mother used to tell the washerwoman to be careful with the child's linen"

"To play the piano is easy. I mean the physical process, and not the summit of pianistic art.It is obvious that to play the piano very well is just as difficult as to do anything else very well, for instance to pull teeth or macadam a road".

"I must once more apologize for this excessively long history about myself; that is always somewhat indecent. But what can one do?"

"Carl Czerny, the "dry and methodical genius" who has tortured generations of pianists wih an inexhaustible stream of studies and exercises..."

And many more...

His jokes are almost everywere. Otherwise the book has several useful recommendations and analysis about the art of piano playing and has chapters on "artistic image of a musical composition", on tone, on technique and on teaching activity.

But be advised: Sometimes the book is a bit verbose, repetitive and philosophical. It is not directed only to technical problems.

The Art of Piano Playing such a terrific book that every pianist should have it. I've read it through and will read it again and again. The information in this book is to the point. You can't help but come away with a better understanding of the art of piano playing

I'm sure anyone shopping for this book knows that Heinrich Neuhaus was the mentor of such giants of the piano as Richter, Gilels and Lupu. Well, here between these covers you'll find the reason why. Neuhaus possessed a great mind and an ability to express himself like no other pedagogue I have read. While reading his book I kept thinking I was reading Tolstoy, not for any similarity of style or substance but because I got the same feeling from both their works, that here is a great man who had lived a full life, and then had the patience and wherewithal to sit down and commit it to paper, thereby enriching piano posterity. This book deserves pride of place on any pianist's bookshelf. I thank the previous reviewer who said that it was a crime that this book is out of print. I paid a hefty amount for what looks like a slim volume, but it is packed with such profundity that I have to consider this a seminal addition to my library. Get it wherever you can, this is one for the ages.

I havent heard anything bad about this book. Neuhaus is a very cultural and wise man, and great sense of humor. After reading this book I have found myself quoting it quite often.
Its not perfect, but nothing is so... Just read it and you will know what I mean, Its very well worth the read, and it will make you laugh several times.

Lets put it this way.... this is not light reading (is the slang word an airplane book?). It is though one of the best books on playing the piano. Neuhaus is concise, to the point and likes to put out interesting anecdotes, some humorous.
This is also pretty advanced so I doubt non musicians could find any utility apart from historical tidbits. Neuhaus taught Richter who taught many others.... and just like we do with other disciplines - we have to pay tribute to the forefather of this lineage/legacy, especially since he helped produce Richter.

It's a great book-cd combination for a people who like to study how to chant, then to impress others people.

This book is well laid-out and easy to follow. For the first time in 40 years I can actually read and chant Torah using the trope marks. I am not especially good at reading Hebrew, and have tried unsuccessfully many times to learn trope, but after two weeks with this book and the CD, I was astounded to find myself chanting properly right out of the Tanach! Highly recommended.

This book & CD combination is perfect for the motivated self-teacher. Having both male and female voices in the examples makes it easier to find your own voice. However, motivation is important, as in any self-teaching. I started learning trop from this book several times in the past, and couldn't stick with it. This is not a fault of the book, rather the fault of being motivated. Once I finally set the goal of chanting Torah 2 months hence, I found it much easier to stick with the book.

Possibly one of the best parts of the book is the last few pages, that actually show the musical notation for the trope marks. This is what most other sources are lacking, but it's immensely valuable to those of us who can read music. Once we've heard the trope a few times, we don't have to turn on the CD in order to be reminded -- just turn to the back of the book, or even just carry around a photocopy of those 3-4 pages.

Much as I enjoyed this workbook and its accompanying CD, I find making the time or finding the self-discpline to be the hard part. If you are a person who needs "babysitting," I doubt if this self-help book will be good for you.

The chants are sung in a comfortable mid-range, as opposed to a soprano or a bass.

I studied for 6 months with this book/CD combo and mastered the trope (Reform version) well enough to have chanted Torah for my synagogue twice in the last couple of months and am preparing for a 3rd parsha. You won't find every possible combination of cantillation marks here, but you will find 95+ % of what you'll ever run into in the Torah (including special sections for High Holidays, Song of the Seas and the Ten Commandments.)

The only thing better would be to combine this with the availability of a trained cantor. Highly recommended for anyone in a Reform schul.

This book by Le Clair is lucid and touches all the important aspects of water color painitng...It is a great instructional book...I wish I had studied this book several decades ago. I am a self-taught artist and this book will help all such self-taught persons

I bought this book when it first came out, and it was a real revealation to me. Water color wasn't really taught in American art schools at the time, and this book was my first guide to the wonderful adventure of watercolor painting. I'm reviewing the newer edition, which has the same great text but has added more full-color illustrations.

The pictures are great, but the text is what makes this book outstanding among the many watercolor books currently on the market. As the title suggests, the text explores and explains the many facets of watercolor as an art form. The illustrations support the text by showing well-chosen examples of the great variety possible with this beautiful and intriguing medium. Many books on watercolor offer lessons in a particular method or painting style, or focus on one style of painting (usually the author's). This one covers diferent ground entirely. Instruction books can be excellent, but if you are ready for more depth, this could be the book you need. It's true there is a typical section on materials and basic techniques, and there are suggested exercises at the end of the chapters. These are fine in themselves, but other books can give you that. What makes this book special is the author's wide knowledge of painting styles, and his careful avoidance of favoritism toward particular styles or artists. If you are ready to read this with an open mind, you may see the merits of painting styles that you thought you didn't like. This certainly was the case for me!


Who would benefit from this book? It would be useful to a complete beginner, if he or she is very disciplined, ready to work, and above all ready to READ a though-provoking non-simplisitic book. Non-painters who admire watercolor and would like to learn more about its history will probably enjoy a browse through the text. But I think it is most helpful to intermediate painters who are beyond the intiial struggle to master the basics of watercolor, and are ready to deepen their understanding of this wonderful art form.

Le Claire has contributed a lot to watercolor painting in this book loaded with illustrations of expressionim,experimentation in the media it inspires to do watercolors ,This is surprisng since it is published by the American Artist (for many years since I have first seen the magazine has published little of advanced watercolor painting) But the book doesn't limit itself to transparent watercolor rules.Such as No embossing no cutting ,no ink,nothing but pure color that maybe started by pencil line.If a painter hasn't advanced from that rule ,then he isn't a painter of the 20th century to my mind.Too often watercolor books are promotions of a watercolorist's technique, many of these artist are hampered by poor formal ability: line ,color,shape, etc.Le claire has some ability so the book has authority. It is a book that is well worth the modest price.

There are two things about this book I think make it a great book for any watercolorist's library. One is the sheer variety of paintings shown and the other is the numerous 'assignments' at the end of each chapter.

As another reviewer stated this book does not show you only one or a few artist's techniques. Rather it covers a broad range of techniques, art styles and artists and shows a diverse array of watercolor paintings. Everything from traditional representational paintings to contemporary and experimental works are shown. And all are used to illustrate that chapter's main point that they appear in. Works from famous artists to current living ones are displayed.

Each chapter ends with exercises designed to let you practice principles, techniques or styles the preceding pages discussed. Now some people don't like or need such 'assignments'. But other people, like me, enjoy them as a challenge and as a way to see that they've not only read the chapter but can practice till they've learned it. If you don't care for such things it's easy to skip over them. But I actually found some of these projects fun to do.

I have a sketchbook of watercolor paper that I use strictly for trying out projects from my various watercolor or other painting books. It is separate from my other sketchbooks or paintings and its sole purpose is strictly to practice, even copy, the demo projects and assignments. Even the greatest art masters learned first by copying the masters before them. There is so much to learn from this book. Not only how to paint in watercolor but also some art history as well. Definitely a recommended buy.

This is one of the best books on watercolor I have read and I have read a bunch. Many watercolor books give demonstrations and descriptions of a limited range of techniques used by that particular author. The authors' focus is primarily on showing you how they painted particular sample paintings. You learn, but mostly how to paint the sample paintings and a little about the author's technique but not much else.

Mr. Le Clair provides the kind of instruction I would expect from a college watercolor class. He covers much more than just the basics but, nevertheless, the book could well serve as an introduction to watercolor. If I had to choose one instructional watercolor book this would be it. The second book I would choose is "The Watorcolorist's Essential Notebook" by Gordon MacKenzie, but it needs to be supplemented with a more basic book.

Johan Blaauw's incredibly large atlas - a marvel of cartography -, in a glorious edition by Taschen. The combination of full page reprints and overviews with commentary makes for one of the most luscious books I ever saw. Mesmerizing!

The quality of the pics of this book is wonderful. Several images just need a frame to decorate your wall.
You will spend hours looking any detail of the book. It makes a wonderful gift or addition to a collection. Highly recommended.
This is wonderful a coffee Table book. Buy it now!

This Atlas is truly a work of art. The quality of the book itself is wonderful. Several of the pages fold out to large-scale maps/drawings - We have spent hours pouring over the detail in this book. It makes a wonderful gift or addition to a collection. Highly recommend.

This sits on my coffee table and is a great companion to watching any sort of historical documentary on TV etc. Also makes for good cocktail party reading/conversation.

I've seen an original copy of this in the NYPL and this printing is true to form, with insightful tidibits and good translations extras.

The Bleau Atlas Major is the most beatiful and prolific atlases ever made.

I bought the Barnes and Noble edition and save 80%. That being said the B&N version is smaller and harder to read. It is also 100 pages shorter, which is why I gave it only 4 stars. Nevertheless I found the book fascinating. But the maps were so interesting I felt a little cheated not getting the other 100 pages. I guess I'll go to this book store where they have a big one displayed compare it to mine. Also the full $100+ volume is so big the box it comes in has a handle to carry it!

Having served in SAC and extensively envolved with the B-47; I found this book offering to be one of the more comprehensive and technical books being offered that the average aircraft buff or technician would appreciate. Look at it in stages and you will be amazed at how technical an aircraft the B-47 was - it will delight you with new information at every reading. I highly recommend this book to one and all - good job Mr. Lloyd!

What a thrill to find this thorough study of the best aircraft I ever flew! I'm amazed at the depth of the research Mr.Lloyd must had at his diposal in order to come up with this excellent presentation on the B/RB 47. Of course, as an A/C in the 90th SRW in SAC, I prefer the "RB." That additional 32.5 inches added to the nose, that accommodated our forward oblique camera, made it a "prettier" design. I found only one tiny error and two possible omissions. The lightning flash on the vertical stabilizer (Pg 106) in the 319th Sqdn. was Red, not Blue. Blue was for the 320th and Yellow was for the 321st. But who cares at this distance. He made no mention of the bird's tendency to "porpoise" on the REALLY bad landing. It could generate the mother of all "PIO's" (Pilot Induced Oscillations); to the extend that it would shed all six engines. The other important feature of it's thin flexible wing was it's behavior at high speed (450+ knots). The wing would twist when down aileron was applied which forced the wing leading edge down resulting in an aileron reversal. This characteristic caused the loss on one aircraft in my squadron.
Nevertheless, for any of the Cold War folks still around this is a book that belongs in your library. For any students of Aviation history, The 35 degree swept wing (that we copied from the Germans), and the podded engines were first used in this design and can still be seen today at your local airport. The B/RB 47 was the grandaddy of them all.

Speciality Press have done it again - Al Lloyd did a great job researching on a great 1950' bomber. Particular sharp and crisp b&w photography all over. (a few color pages complement the volume) This book is a pleasure to read, especially the prototype stories. This looks looks to me like the definite volume on one very important aircraft (not only bomber) designs (swept wings, podded engines..)after WW2. Definitely recommended.

The author of this book has managed to find a lot of great photos of various B-47s in different configurations. It's a nice large format book with high-quality printing. Definitely worth getting if you are interested in this aircraft.

When I was a young Second LT back in the mid-60's, I was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB. Besides SAC and TAC operations , D-M was the site of MASDC (now AMARC) ,AKA the "Boneyard". Back then,nearly 5,000 airplanes were stored there. Every morning, from my apartment, I would look out over 1500 B-47's lined up in rows, gleaming in the morning sun. I often wondered where they had come from and what their various stories were.

By 1969, the "Great Silver Fleet"(as it were) of B-47's was largely gonefrom the Arizona landscape - cut up and melted down on site (this was before EPA forbade such things) and the scrap sold. Only two were left on base by 1970, and others were scattered around the US in museums. I hoped then that someday I would see a good reference text, memorializing and defining the service of this Proud silver bird. Alwyn Lloyd had done just that.

The B-47 has been out of the USAF Inventory for nearly 40 years now, and has been largely forgotten by today's crop of kids,who prefer to see yet another book on the F-15, F-16, F-18. etc. It's a shame , because the 47 was a precedent-breaking and trend setting machine, whose lines can still be seen in many products of the Boeing Company and others.

While it wasn't the sleekest of the four machines in the 1945 Jet Bomber competition (the Convair XB-46 holds that distinction), it certainly had the greatest range,payload and development potential of the four Contenders (XB-45,XB-46,XB-47,XB-48). We'll never see 2,000 unit production runs for a U.S.Bomber again, nor see the number of conversions that the 47 underwent during its 15 year operational life. Alwyn Lloyd does a marvelous job of bringing the varied history of the Aircraft back to life. Earlier works, such as Lindsey Peacock's 1987 opus on the 47, were handicapped by security restrictions that have since been lifted.

The appendices on Production, Model Numbers, Units assigned, etc alone are worth the purchase price. The numerous photos, diagrams, etc. in the text make this work an outstanding value - even more so with the 30% markdown normally offered by Amazon. Highly recommended !

the quality of the research and the color of the paintings are outstanding.
Also the CD-ROM has an unbelievable amount of information on the artist's
works and their provenance.
Dr.John T. Spike's 20 years of research is shared with the reader and is so readable and engaging.

My husband and I just came back from Italy and we had to have a Caravaggio book. His painting in Vatican museum was especially memorable! I picked this book and it is very good. I agree with the earlier comments that some (not "many") pictures are poor quality (too red), but many photographs are very good, nice size for an art book and very important - it is an interesting and detailed research.

My library contains many various volumes on the subject of Caravaggio--fiction, biography, fictionalized biography and photo surverys of his works--but if I were allowed only one book on this most extradordinary painter and his life I'd take "Caravaggio" by John T. Spike. In this weighty large-format picture-book Mr. Spike has given us the most complete look at the artist and his works currently available, presented in graceful depth so as to engage any interested reader and art enthusiast regardless of the nature of his commitment. It's unusual to find such an authoritative colaboration of art historical expertise and first quality illustration as we have here, a book to read, study and savor.

The reproductions are excellent. The binding is fine and the cover handsome. The writing is solid academically. I would have liked the book to have had more information on the artist and his life. Much is left to be done in the study of Caravaggio. His life still seems to be quite mysterious. His probable use of optics and mirrors in his work is touched on and needs further exploration. This book provides a good introduction to Caravaggio and his paintings in a handsome package.

Great book on the greatest of all Italian painters. Glorious plates. And the text is a pretty good bio.

If you are looking for a small, comprehensive analysis of how to do animation, this is your book. Walter Foster is one of the best companies out there on drawing books, though I wouldn't recommend them all. I highly recommend this one. :)

This is a great way to see how animation starts. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to choose Animation as a career. I am taking Web design and Animation.

This book is simply the best animation how-to guide for the novice or talented amateur. Very well presented and beautifully illustrated. It's a classic book that has been around for many years and should be around for many more.

The book is arranged like this: Drawing principles, character design, then animation. The principles are about constructing forms and wrapping guidelines & features around them properly, facial expressions, building a simple skeletal foundation, how bodies can be drawn, and hands!

The character design section is small, but brilliant. There are great example drawings to work from and trust me when I say the characters are pleasing to look at.

As for the animation section, it's got the essentials for walks, runs, understanding squash & stretch and line of action in movements. It might not have enough movements as one may want, but really, using what you learn here to analyze actions from life will enable you to learn how any movement can be strengthened for animation. I actually haven't started animating yet (still doing the drawing sections), but I know I'll be perfectly fine with just this. Harold Whitaker's "Timing For Animation" does seem like it could be a perfect supplement to this though, so you might wanna check that out as well.

Other pages include things about dialogue phonemes, takes (when's the last time anyone's seen a Tex-Avery-style reaction in a cartoon? learn this and bring it back!) pointers on animation, and, best of all, TONS of characters to practice from.

The book is only eight bucks and, being from Preston Blair, a genius from the golden-age era of animation, you can't go wrong. Buy it, follow everything that he says, draw from each drawing in the book until the concepts seep in, and make some cartoons. Even if you wanna draw comic strips and/or comic books, get this now!

Very informative in the use of art work. Hopefully, this book will help my son in the future with his career in art work.

A must for any Cathedrals fan and a "should have" for lovers of Gospel music.

WOW! As a fan of the Cathedrals, I loved reading about the 2 Sr members. The Lord worked in both of their lives to bring them together to bless us all with their music and their commitment to the call on their lives. If you love the Cathedrals, you will LOVE this book!!!!!!!!!!

A great look at the Cathedrals' history, George Younce and Glen Payne's stories, and the gospel music business in general. A MUST read for anyone who has ever listened to gospel music!

A great book for Cathedral's fans. The lives of these two gentlemen are a true example of what being in God's service is all about. They have touched hearts and lives for decades with their music. My only complaint is that it was too short and I hope someday, the full and complete story of Glen Payne and George Younce will be told.

I borrowed this book from a friend and read it, and now I want to purchase the book for my library. I have managed to get two of the books for two different friends autographed at several of their concerts. This makes the book even more meaningful, especially having Glen's and George's autographs. I would highly recommend purchasing this book and adding to your library.

I haven't read much yet. I've been too busy browsing through the pictures. Beautifully detailed. Amazing how this art was created by people that we think of as primitive. There has always been a need of humans to express themselves through art.

I have always be fascinated by this type of art work. Lately I have bought a half dozen books on the subject, This book is by far the best for photographs and illustrations. It gives real insight to the art and way it was created. The wealth of photographs is amazing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in cave art.

This is an amazing book! I don't think I've ever lingered over a book as much as I have this one. The incredibly detailed descriptions of the artwork draw you to repeatedly examine each photograph. I find this book even more fascinating because it includes a study of the cave's floor as well as the parietal art.
This book is a fascinating journey into the past depicted by the most extraordinary photographs!
I highly recommend this book for your personal collection.

It's dark in there. Deep in the caverns located in cliffs of the Ardeche River gorge somebody left images of a world unseen. Bears, ibexes, lions and more are depicted in over three hundred complete and and partial imagery along the rock walls. Some have even been "erased" by smudges overlying the originals. In some cases the animals are probably fighting. The rutting season? Others are massed together as if migrating or hunting in packs. To depict these fauna so precisely required immense talent. Yet they could only have been drawn in the flickering light of oil lamps or torches. The very walls must have seemed to flicker with life as the painters went about their craft. Who were they? Why did they put so much effort into these images? What can we learn from them?

Jean Clottes, leading a team of researchers, has been examining the Chauvet caves for over a decade. In this book, the images are catalogued, defined and analysed for age and content. More than anything else, this book is a fantastic depiction of the images, in both panoramic and in close detail. It has been an immense task and the work has barely begun, as Clottes notes. Access to the cave, even when permitted, requires patience, dexterity and allows no tinge of claustrophobia! Yet some of the photographs show the researchers at their work or examining their surroundings. It's a vivid contrast to see but the boots of one crawling through an access tunnel, then standing almost lost in an immense grotto.

A compilation of the work of several authors, Clottes' book offers more than the images of our ancestors' paintings. It's made clear that whatever the painters' drive to convey their views of lions, mammoth or bison, it wasn't an evolving aesthetic sense or the expression of a leisure class. Among the collections of photographs, analysts attempt to derive some meaning from the depictions. To Joelle Robert-Lamblin, the closest approximation to these Palaeolithic artists are the Inuit. In an essay pointing out similarities and differences, attention is given to the role of the cave itself and known shamanic practices. For both societies, the bear is a figure of significance. At Chauvet, paintings are done over cave bear scratchings, and in one place a bear's skull has been carefully positioned. Were the skull and the many paintings of bears an appeal for their power, or an attempt to ward off predation?

Interpretation of these images isn't easy, but Clottes explains some of the patterns and practices involved. Reading his text requires a bit of page flipping, since the cave has so many chambers, all named for some factor or another [although "The Sacristy" at the far end defies explanation]. In the "earlier" part of the cave, the images are rendered mostly in red ochre. In the deeper chambers, the dominant colour is black. Certain animals abound in some grottoes, while others are nearly devoid of images. Many surfaces which almost cry out for use remain blank. Clottes suggests these divisions are based on initiation levels of those allowed within the sacred confines - a practice common in many of today's religions. Further, the mystery of the lack of human figures remains unresolved.

Beyond the glorious photography, Clottes provides maps of the various chambers and a table of dated artefacts. The dating, as he notes, was a shocking revelation. The images were depicted over thirty thousand years ago. And their creation wasn't continuous. A five thousand year stretch, a distance in time equal to that of the Old Kingdom of Egypt to today, separates the two major periods of occupancy. Was the location lost, or simply visited without adding new graphics? The notes and bibliography for this account are thorough, but are limited to the immediate work. Clottes is still working on the images and their meaning. He may produce another book on Chauvet, but it will not truly replace this one. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

It would be easier by far to climb Everest or to plunge into the Marianas Trench than to gain access to Chauvet Cave, which is restricted to a mere half dozen archaeologists by the government of France. There are very good reasons for the restrictions. Human activity in limestone caves is inevitably destructive; both natural features and artifacts are quickly degraded. This is hyper-critical in Chauvet because of its uniqueness and scientific significance. Fortunately, there is this magnificent book of photos of the cave and its art. There is also a spectacular virtual tour of the cave on line, maintained by the French government.

When the cave was discovered by spelunkers in 1994, it had not been entered by humans since roughly 22,000 BCE (or 12,000-14,000 years before the Creation of the Earth, according to Biblical fundamentalists). Yet to the astonishment of archaeologists, some of the art and artifacts in the cave were soon dated reliably as even older, perhaps 15,000 years older, from the Aurignacian era, thus being the earliest known cave paintings as well as the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. Even more astonishing is the sophistication of the paintings, both technically and aesthetically. No words can describe the impact of seeing such skillful representations of horses, mammoths, rhinoceroses, elk, and cave lions, representations that seem as vivid and impressionistic as our own modern iconic images of the Wild. The Chauvet paintings are in no way "primitive" in comparison to the images in the caves at Altamira or Lascaut, yet they are as much as 750 human generations older!

I've personally visited a dozen of the cave-art sites of France and Spain. Some of them are over-toured, yet a few of the best, like Peche-Merle, are solitudinous. Photographs and even moving pictures do little justice to the sensations of seeing the paintings and sculptures in situ. You can't just walk into the gallery and stand on a flat floor and see the stuff on the walls. These are real caves, narrow, cold, full of sharp spikes of rock and jagged corners - head-bangers, crawly holes, slime, and ankle-twisters. Likewise the artists didn't stand and sketch; they crept and crouched, and sometimes hid their images in the weirdest crevices! Whatever they were doing, whatever it meant to them, it was no casual graffiti; it was full of lost intention.

Jean Clottes, the author of this book and one of the chief archaeologists of Chauvet, writes lucidly and modestly about the project he heads, the history and significance of Chauvet, and the whole context of the presence of early modern H. sapiens in Europe. His text is not for specialists only; it's accessible to "armchair" archaeologists like myself, though I can't help regretting that my armchair is as close as I'll ever get to this first known masterpiece of human artistic impulse. Wouldn't a few million euros (or dollars)be more usefully spent on conserving and studying Chauvet than on building another freeway overpass or a fence to keep workers out of a country where work is wanted?