Netherlands Books

I tried finding this book before I left the U.S. for Amsterdam, but it was impossible. I bought the 2005 version the first day I got there.

The book is small enough to fit in a pocket or purse. There's a good fold out map of Amsterdam, then a second close up map which includes the Red Light District, Dam Square and Centraal Station. There's pictures and information on different types of "goods" available that you'll probably want to check out. You'll find directions and info to parks, hotels and hostels, pubs, places to eat, trams and of course, Coffee Shops. The Coffee Shop Index really gives you an idea of how many coffee shops there are (aaaall around you :D). You might even save a few euro by using a coupon or two included in the guide book.

You'll want to buy a second guide book to Amsterdam if you want to know about anything else unrelated. Like you would...

The S-Guide (as the "crew" calls it) was the most informative and comprehensive up-to-date guide on the Amsterdam scene. For first timers there is the history, laws and Do's & Don'ts regarding cannabis coffeeshops, smart shops and homegrow centres. For experienced visitors there is all kinds of "stoner science" and the like. Places to trip, and clubs, health foods, fat foods, and stoney hangouts. Wikid!

All this is wrapped in a great full colour glossy book with heaps of pix and top coffeeshops to visit. There are two maps and the fold-out map was crucial while we stumbled round the city!

All this info, tips, coupons for free beer & coffee, 10% off tattoos, dinners and mushrooms at smart shops, free tear-out filter tips, etc., etc. AND it was pretty funny on top of it all!!!

We bought a few to take home as souvenirs and gifts for friends that could not make the trip. They were drooling over the book and have since sworn to be a part of the next trip!

Thanx heaps, to all the Smokers GUide staff for making such a wonderful book and website! If there was subscriptions I would want this book every year but I guess i'll have to check here at amazon each year for the new version or maybe go to back to Amsterdam to get it in person!

Author: Helene Koppejan

Strange Indeed - but true!

The dying Jacob's blessing to his son Zebulun foretells what would befall his future descendants. Many Scripture passages indicate that the Zebulun people are found today in the Netherlands.

"Some years ago I happened to overhear a conversation that mentioned a film that purported to identify the Netherlands with one of the so-called Ten Lost Tribes of Israel that disappeared in Assyrian captivity. The film had been produced by a Dutch family living in Glastonbury, England. I immediately went to Glastonbury where I met a fellow researcher in a subject I had been studying for many years. What a thrill to meet Helene Koppejan whose painstaking research, I found, contributed so much to my understanding of the Dutch people.

Helene had not only produced a film on the strange parallel between the Netherlands and ZEBULUN, a tribe of Israel, but also a book on the same subject. I had wondered in the past about the possibility of the Dutch being of Zebulun because of Jacob's blessing on Zebulun. These prophetic blessings made reference to ships and the Dutch were one of the greatest maritime nations of modern history. After viewing the film Strange Parallel I was firmly convinced the Dutch were predominantly of the tribe of Zebulun.

Helene shared my desire that her work be made available to the people of the United States, many of whom are of Dutch descent, and graciously gave me permission to publish this American edition of her book Strange Parallel." - E. Raymond Capt
Paperback
96 pages

Strange Parallel is one of the only books available about the Israelite tribe of Zebulun. This in itself lends credence to the significance of this book. The author, Helene Koppejan, identifies Zebulun with the modern day people of the Netherlands and their descendants. She does a good job of connecting these people to Zebulun and as an added bonus, she mentions Biblical promises that were bestowed upon these people by different people in the Bible.

First, Moses blesses this tribe as a seafaring tribe. This can be found in Deuteronomy 33: 18-19. Second, Deborah, a judge in Israel blesses Zebulun for risking their lives for others. She also mentions that Zebulun will weild the writers pen. The Dutch claim the invention of writing with the advent of printing. There is also a prophecy from Isaiah 9:1 that pertains to Zebulun. Also, when the patriarch Zebulun died, he made a prophecy concerning a prince who would arise out of this tribe. These are all things to think about. All in all this is an excellent and informative book!

GREAT reference for students of architecture! Amazing projects.

A slick tome on recent Dutch architecture, with projects from 12 practices, including Mecanoo, MRVDV and OMA. The author gives an overview on each studio, followed by detailed illustrations of particular projects. If you're interested in recent European architecture, be it small scale or large, this book won't fail to disappoint. Besides covering the Dutch 'staples', it introduces the reader to some architects not yet well known outside Europe, but evidently destined for greatness. The photography is fantastic, and it's nicely packaged in a chunky square, guaranteed to stand out on your bookshelf! An excellent portrayal of architectural work being produced in a small country becoming reknowned as a design hothouse.

Briton Harry Pearson's long travels to virtually every nook and cranny of Belgium provide a nuanced and enjoyable portrait of a little known culture. Longstanding ethnic and linguistic differences between Wallonia and Flanders are carefully explained, as are major episodes of the country's history, from colonialism in Africa under King Leopold II to the new status of Brussels as the bureacratic heart of the European union. Though Pearon's travel itinerary often meandered, he covers much ground with dry wit and a close eye for seemingly eccentric behaviour. Long regarded as the poor cousin of France and the Netherlands, Belgium and its people are the punchline of many European jokes. Yet for all his chronicles of dubious Belgian aesthetic tastes and futile do-it-yourself construction projects, Pearson's bemused affection for the nation yields a pleasurable and informative read.

...could fill a library. And this would be a good place to start. Slightly surreal, slightly baroque, very funny. If you enjoy this odd travelogue as much as I did, you might also like Tim Moore's "Frost on My Moustache."

This book provided great maps and directions during my recent trip to every city in the book. I visited 30 museums and countless other attractions. The book made navigating the cities much easier. I carried it everyday!

I recently purchased this book for a quick trip to Europe. We were staying in Brugge for only 2 days so we wanted to hit the highlights. I found it hard to find books for this area. The size is perfect to carry around and the color maps were great (including street index).

The book only covers the cities mentioned in the title.

Brussels gets 23 pgs, Bruges 15 pgs, Ghent 8 pgs, Antwerp 23 pgs.
There are many pages that cover all of the cities and the book has a "Top 10" theme throughout. "Top 10 Belgian Artists" "Top 10 Beers" "Top 10 Moments in Belgian History" etc. They also have Hotel recommendations and well as general travel tips.

There is a phrase list in the back for French and Dutch. For each city, DK tries to give you a one day itenerary in case you would like guidance. The pictures are also superb - that is one thing I love about DK Eyewitness books.

One thing I don't remember, but would be helpful is a list of "day trip" locations from each city. If you are going to Bruges/Brugge, I highly recommend going up to the Coast/NorthSea. It is just a 10-15 minute train ride to Blankenberge or Knokke and the cost is maybe 5 euro roundtrip on the rail.

A beautiful book!!! A must have for those who are fascinated with Vincent Van Gogh!

I have been looking for a book on Mr. Van Gogh for quite some time that successfully conveys the texture and vivid color that he uses. This book gave me everything that i had been looking for. The "colour library" series that it is a part of is filled with other volumes that depict paintings by various artists in the glory that they were meant to, stopping just short of the vividness of seeing the actual painting in a museum. Not only are they wonderfully done, but they are a steal at the low price they are selling for. While most art books out there cost you an arm and a leg, these volumes give you pure beauty at a very low price.

I spotted this book and, having been impressed by the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery last year, decided to check it out. (That being said, I know very little about art and seldom read about it, so this review should be taken in that light.)

Van Gogh was an amazingly prolific painter. His artistic career lasted scarcely ten years, but in that time he created enough paintings to decorate nearly every page of this 250-page book - and those aren't even all of them.

The book itself is a combination of a biography and an analysis of his paintings. This flows smoothly, perhaps because Van Gogh put so much of himself into his art: his moods are clear from what he depicted and how he depicted it.

The biographical portion makes for interesting reading in and of itself. Van Gogh actually came rather late to art after failing at other occupations, including that of a minister. Once he turns to art, he is almost immediately remarkably capable. Later on, he attempts to set up an artistic community in his famous "yellow house," with the help of Gaugain. It's a collaboration that fails disastrously, with Gaugain leaving and Van Gogh cutting off his earlobe. Van Gogh has a difficult time psychologically for a few years, then, when it seems he has finally turned things around, goes out and shoots himself. The authors suggest it's due to his believe that a dead artist is more valued than a live one, a strange but possibly true premise.

The analysis of the paintings, comfortably intertwined with the biographical information, are interesting as well, at least to someone like me who only barely understands painting. While the analysis occasionally descends into what is to me artsy gobbledegook, by and large the comments are incisive and point out the distinctive qualities of each painting and how it relates to his other work. The tone is positive and descriptive, which I liked. I could easily have imagined a much more critical approach or a tone that indicated this is the way to look at this painting. But the authors fall into neither trap.

So this artistic novice, at least, found this to be an excellent book about a great artist. Recommended for all those with an interest in the subject.

I purchased this book not being aware of the complete painting book but if I knew about the other one ( complete painting ) I probably would have chose that book for sure ! Anyway, as a second choise this is a great value book . The picture are beautifull and the text is full of detail about Van Gogh's life that is exceeded only by the Letter to Theo book published by Penguin. Well,now that you know my opinion, order this book if you are tight with money; other wise you may consider the complete painting if the quality of the picture and the text is as good as this book. Ciao

This is a wonderful collection of Van Gogh -- they fold out. At this price, it's a great purchase, not to mention a first-rate gift idea.

This unusual book was quite a find. It was made using a binding process I've never seen before. The pages actually unfold in a variety of ways to present images of Van Gogh's best loved paintings in a highly effective manner. Some pages fold out horizontally and present four works side-by-side, others fold out twice forming small posters. The quality of the graphics is excellent--especially the minute details shown in some of the enlarged reproductions. A beautiful volume and an asset to anyone who loves art.

Collaborative conservators and Art Institute of Chicago curators Douglas Druick and Peter Zegers have drawn upon the rich, scholarly literature, letters and writings, and new technical investigations focused on the artists Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, to present the most thorough, comprehensive, and insightful exploration of the Arles period to date. Landscapes and portraits painted in tandem by these two outstanding artists, their responses to each other, work together to envision vigorous dialogue occasioned by their strong personalities. Here presented for art students are fresh perspectives on Van Gogh and Gauguin's best-known works, as well as some of the more obscure aspects of their lives and their world. The informative, 424 page text is enhanced with 475 illustrations (300 of which are in full color). No personal, academic, or community library collection on the history of western art can be considered complete without the inclusion of Van Gogh And Gauguin: The Studio Of The South. This superb art history and analysis is also available in a hardcover format (Thames & Hudson, 0500510547, ...).

"Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South" is a great and rare achievement, since it captures the atmosphere of artists lives as no other book or film has done in the past, being magnificently precise in details and facts, yet sensitive to the personal aesthetic visions of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Armed with wonderful maps, charts, photographs and documents the authors explore the "geography" of artistic process and communication between two men. I kept going to the exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, and back to consult the book: they acted as an artwork in time and space, yet an object on the table - all at once. This book has finally answered lots of questions, and most importantly - it has made two artists and their visions closer to us as never before.

In his early years as an artist, Vincent Van Gogh vividly related his concept of art to his brother Theo in two separate letters from July of 1882, numbered 218 and 221. In this book of Vincent's letters, translated by W.H. Auden, these letters can be more carefully read than if I were to paraphrase or quote bits and pieces here. His letters are a portal into the mind of a great artist and a misunderstood man. While there are more complete books of Van Goghs writings available, this collection gets to the core of Vincent as a man and as an artist.
Vincent was not some wacko who cut off part of his ear and shot himself from insanity, he was rather, a deeply caring man, a genius who observed life so far over the heads of the so-called art experts that they could not see his vision. I did not become a lover of Vincent's art work until after I had read this book of his letters and was able to see more clearly what he was conveying on canvas. I have admired Auden as a poet for many years and this translation of his is far more readable than other translations I have read since. For anyone who has ever admired Van Gogh's paintings, this book is a must read, but for anyone who has seen them and not appreceiated his perception of the world, read this book and you will change your mind and your heart as well. You might even come to understand and love this great man's artwork. JJ

The British poet WH Auden has compiled a wonderful selection from Van Gogh's letters. Auden makes his selection..."What," I asked myself, "is the single most important fact about Von Gogh?" To that there seemed only one answer - "That he painted pictures". Hence the selection focuses on those letters which contain his reflections on the art of painting and the problems of being a painter. Other letters, eg to his father and brother, are included as they throw light upon Van Gogh's career as a painter. Also included are descriptions of VG by his acquaintances, 40 illustrations and a brief biography by his nephew. Of interest to artists as well as admirers of Van Gogh's works.