Bruno Books

Iron Men by Lorenzo Gomez is spectacular! There is not as much full-frontal nudity as one might typically expect in this genre of book but that in no way diminishes the magnificent photography and selection of models. The choice of men that appear in Iron Men is outstanding - well developed specimens of all that is naturally male and wonderfully athletic. It might be easy to create a photospread of men posing around an industrial site but to do so without appearing "queerly campy" takes real artistic talent! Iron Men achieves this and celebrates the incredible beauty of the male form as art. Lorenzo Gomez is the kind of creative master for whom professional cameras are made.

Lorenzo Gomez is well known for photographing Latino men in books & calendars and bringing out their sensuality and sexuality. In this book he doesn't disappoint as this is another top-notch collection of photos that showcase his incredible talent and the beauty of his models. As in his other book, the now out-of-print "Dios Latino", he photographs his subjects in a variety of poses wearing overalls, work boots etc. set to an industrial backdrop. This book is a little different as there IS full-frontal nudity, something that "Dios Latino" did not have. This is a great collection of photographs and a testament to Lorenzo Gomez's photographic talent.

Photographer Lorenzo Gomez and publisher Bruno Gmunder make a very good fit: Gomez knows how to create full body bulk with luminous lighting and Bruno Gmunder is as superb as any publisher at bringing the finest quality of color photography in the business. Long a proponent of capturing the physicality of the male physique, Lorenzo Gomez has assembled a group of perfectly sculpted body builders, placed them in context with machinery, pipes, ladders, ropes, leather aprons, and other paraphernalia of the hot work place, and in doing so he has blended the male machine with the work machine into a series of sensual poses that while reminiscent of the early 20th century Physique Photos are by nature of his models very contemporary.

Interestingly Gomez more often than not elects to bypass total nudity with quasi-nude choices, and as has been an accepted art stratagem for centuries, a bit of cover makes his models even more erotic. If there is a constant in these lush color photographs aside from the theme of 'iron', it is the use of light: his light source always appears to be the sun from all portions of the day. The result is a soft golden ambience that illuminates these body builders and brings them down to earth - in the best sense of the term.

Though this portfolio has an obvious captive audience, the casual browser will find much to entice the eye in this fine body of work! Grady Harp, November 05

If you are in the mood for a collection of photos of magnificent men this is the book to buy. You will find yourself lingering over each picture, and if you have a truly vivid imagination, you can create for yourself a fantasy about each of the hotties in this book that should take you to the edge of total satisfaction. WOOF!

This short portfolio by Israeli artist Kobi Israel is more a document about repression within the military setting than it is a survey of fine photography. The images, while always interesting and touching and revealing of inner conflicts, aren't up to the finely honed artistic status of his other works. But the fact that the message is so powerful forgives any artistic looseness: the photographs are more like snapshots and in the long run that contributes to the power of his story.

As Israel so well explains his stance, "The thin line between homo-social and homo-erotic in army life can be so confusing and torturous for a gay soldier. Soldiers hug and kiss each other, say 'I love you brother' to each other, sleep together - sometimes lean on each others' chests, sometimes share a tiny mattress, have communal showers where they play 'boy games' like throwing water and soap on each other, sometimes share a hot shower,...". "In 1988 when I was 18, I joined the army. In a series of photos in this book I have tried to recreate the feeling of loneliness that I suddenly felt, torn by confusing emotions of 'brotherly' love and sexual attraction to my fellow soldiers, by fear mixed with beauty and fantasy. Soldiers look manly, confident and beautiful. So are the soldiers in my photos. But look at their eyes ... they reveal the real feelings. A body full of beauty, masculinity and youth, when erupting with sexuality, can be misleading - the eyes tell the full story - there is a deep loneliness, a hidden forbidden passion, fear and confusion in these eyes."

In this time of war throughout the globe it is well to read and look at Israel's view of camaraderie in the military. Understanding the soldiers' needs and fears and the way those feelings are acted out is a quiet revelation. Kobi Israel is an artist with a heart. Recommended. Grady Harp, July 05

VIEWS is a totally mouth-watering glimpse of Kobi's work -- more of which is on his website www.kobi-israel.com. He does a lot of travel, landscape and gay lifestyle stuff that's also really cool.

The book completely connected with me because like Kobi's experiences in the Israeli army, this reminds me of my adolescence ' from team sports to the college dorm -- when I didn't know what was up but was sure that my feelings toward other guys were a lot more than just friendly. Some of the images are pretty physical ' but really the book captures that confusion over intimacy with guys that were suppose to be just friends. This is a beautiful, sultry and pretty intriguing look inside Kobi's world.

This is a subtle and very intimate look at some of the young men in the army of Israel. It is subtle because it captures "innocent and casual" moments, where these men share time in situations that are not prone to eroticism...but...the pictures and situations are open to the intrpretation and imagination of the viewer. It is intimate, because the collection again captures moments that would not otherwise be seen by an unknowing public...hence...we view these young men as if we were, as the saying goes, "a fly on the wall." This is an interesting and unique collection.

"A young Israeli photographer is fascinated by the topic 'Men'. Kobi Israel takes natural, very erotic photos of young, well-built Israelis. Awarded many a title and been seen at several exhibitions, his first illustrated book has now been published by Bruno Gm?nder. In his pic-tures he describes the [alternative] lifestyle in Israel in impressive shots. Soldiers as an essential element of Israeli life also play an important role for Kobi Israel. His photos are not intended to provoke. He does not want to glorify war, but the cohabitation of these men. Apart from the partly documentary pictures of soldiers, there are erotic pictures of imposing colourfulness and unusual intimacy. Simply a must for the lovers of modern photography of men. "

As a graduate student, I have gradually acknowledged the hidden rules of practicing sciences that, unfortunately, has never disclosed themselves during the regular programs. This book demistifies science and its practioners in the field using scientific methodology. This book becomes my favorite text at the expanse of T. Kuhn.

I give this book a high rating because of its influence in the field. It is the first case study of laboratory science ever published, and is often quoted in anthropology, sociology, and philosophy of science. The book's conclusion is social constructivist in nature, to a very extreme degree. Scientific facts are not discovered, they are constructed through social processes. The actual study was done by Latour, a French philosopher, and the method was to assume strangeness. That is, Latour pretended he didn't know anything about what the scientists were doing and tried to make up (construct) an account. The usual problems with relativism plague Latour and Woolgar's brand of social constructivism, most notably issues with reflexivity. If scientific accounts are constructed and do not have to do with the phenomena, why should we think that Laboratory Life tells us anything about the phenomena of laboratory science? Their answer is that we shouldn't. The only question in evaluating texts is, "are you convinced?" If not, fine. Come up with a better (more persuasive) account. People who think that science, philosophy, and academe in general should have something to do with the real world will be horribly frustrated by this conclusion. But everyone should be frustrated by the fact that the conclusion just doesn't follow from the data Latour gathered. It seems to come entirely from prior convictions of the authors. I recommend reading the book, however, because of its popularity and because it is a fantastic exemplar of a bad relativist and constructivist argument. Get the revised edition, which has a postscript and extra references. For a chuckle, look up some of the reviews (cited in the 2nd ed. references) from scientific journals. They are mostly cheerful recognitions of the book's subject matter (laboratory science) without any reference to--or argument with--the strong anti-realist claims. It makes you wonder if these people acctually read the book.

It seems to me that the previous reviewer is either a wooly-head theoretician or that the previous reviewer hasn't actually done any research in a laboratory. Because in this book, there are many sparkling insights into the way that science is practised.

It takes a while for Latour to get going as he is quite verbose in the early section, where he discusses his "anthropological" approach to science studies. However, after that, he makes a couple of points that as far as I know, he was the first philosopher of science to make.

First, Latour demonstrates the intimate relationship between the publication of scientific papers, scientific prestige, laboratory finances and actual experiments. He makes the seemingly obvious, though not so when the book came out, that the possibility of experiments in a lab requires the influx of an amazing out of money. The acquisition of this research money takes up a large proportion of the time of the head honcho scientist in a laboratory .

Second, Latour shows that entities in science are always defined by a network of properties that are experimentally determined. Scientific entities are hardly ever seen as objects with a few simple analytical properties. In fact, the more properties the better. And it doesn't matter if the mesh of properties is convoluted and seemingly contradictory. For each property concerned, there must be a vast array of material techniques to measure, control and manipulate that property. A new entity in science is accepted as real only when there are enough inter-locking properties to guarantee its existence. No method, by itself, is ever convincing.

Latour points out that once an object is deemed to be real, scientists often invert the logic and argue that the reason why the combined set of experiments worked in the first place was that the object was in fact real. Whether this inversion of logic stands up to philosophical scrutiny - I do not know - but I have seen many practising scientists make this jump in logic. I've even used it myself. It is here that the "realist" and "anti-realist" debate rages. However, I think Latour reports it just as he sees it.

Third, Latour carries out an analysis of scientific texts, which I have yet to see anywhere else. Scientific statments take on 5 modalities - from speculative hypothesis to proven statements to unspoken assumption. Latour gives a account of how the modalities of each statement are modified by how every other scientist in the field cites the statement in future scientific papers. They can ignore it, attack it as a useless hypothesis, bolster it by citing it as a supporting statement, adulate it by assuming that is a proven statement, and finally they just assume it's true. This scrutiny occurs continuously both inside the lab and in conferences.

However, the difference between this process in the sciences as opposed to the humanities, is that these statements are often associated with machines that act in the material world. Proving a statement means that a material effect is generated.

Using this method, Latour can analyse the fortunes of the scientists in a lab. And analysing the citations of scientific papers results in a reasonably good definition of scientific credibility. As a grad student in a biophysics lab, I've seen this happen - albeit on an intuitive level.

Although Latour has since gone onto to more and more abstract studies, the beauty of Laboratory Life is that it is firmly grounded in the actual practises of an existing laboratory, the Guillemen Lab at the Salks Institute.

Latour's book "Science in Action" is more trendy... but I suggest you read this earlier book instead. It's clear and makes its points in a compelling fashion.

Well put together, very encompassing, good explanations...... It doesn't need a paragraph to describe it. If you like Da Vinci or want to learn more about him, this is a great place to start!

I never imagined that through a "child book" I would learn about this master-genious and moreover to be capable to comprehend the "details" about his art. I really enojoyed reading this book, I learn more about his famous paints and why they are considered pieces of art. I was motivaded to read more over the other great art's men such as Picasso or Michael Angel Buonorrati; I never thought that could be an easy way to understand this genious. I strongly recommend this book and the other series too; you can not only learn but also share with your child and encourage him to develop his talents or just enhance your "general culture" reading this great book. The talent consist in explaing complex ideas using a "simple language" that everybody can understand. There is not reason to became so sophisticated and not be able to "share" what you learn with the rest of the world. When you learn a good joke you want to tell the rest about it; it is meaningless if you just keep it for yourself...

This excellent book focuses on Leonardo's drawings in the Royal Library at Windsor. Everyone has seen the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, but Leonardo's greatest achievments are found in his drawings. Vivid HIGH QUALITY color reproductions are accompanied by insightful commentary and historical/biographical information. The book covers the whole breadth of Leonardo's intellectual development. 100 color drawings by history's greatest draftsman, and indeed one of most powerful minds the world has ever seen. As the book says "...[Leonardo's] drawings [are] the pure expression of his genius, boundless and magnificent."
What more could one want in a book? 5/5

It's not the best Da vinci book, but it has a LOT of drawings.

I bought this book for my son before I visited the Louvre because he was majoring in art. A few years later, I went to Paris and visited the Louvre. It was great to look through the book after having been there! It's still his book, but it was so wonderful to have it around after experiencing the incredible galleries in person! If you're going to the Louvre, my suggestion would be to really go through this book FIRST... then go to the Louvre! There's so much there it's overwhelming. I wish I'd planned out my visit there after going through the book.

Whether you've been to the Louvre and want to protect and enhance your memories or you just want to see the most beautiful works of art ever collected this is the perfect book! It gives you history, background info and of course amazing pictures! You're next purchase will be plane tickets to Paris!!

This is a great book. It covers all the art departments of the Louvre and does it in a very concise manner. But it has a peculiar presentation format - too many sidebars and info boxes etc mixed-up with the main text, small pics breaking-up the main text too often, and many times it is not easy to match the sidebar to the pic intuitively.

A true masterpiece. A fresh look at one of the world's most extraordinary museums. I received this book as a gift, and I have truly enjoyed it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"...a beautifully printed, 120 page, all color, 11" x 8.5" hard-bound 'coffee table' book containing some of the best photos ever taken by Kristen of some most breathtaking men on the planet."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"Kristen Bjorn was born in London, England on 12 October 1957. He grew up in Washington DC and at the age of eighteen he left the USA, and lived in numerous different countries over the following seventeen years. Kristen started his career as a Falcon [Studios] model in 1981, and within two years later he became one of the foremost photographers of the male nude for several international publications. In 1989, Kristen released his first gay erotic video CARNIVAL IN RIO, which was filmed at his home base in Brazil. Over the past 10 years, Kristen has toured the globe, and has created some of the world's best gay erotic video in such diverse locations as Brazil, The Dominican Republic, USA, French Canada, Australia, Venezuela, Hungary, Cuba, and Costa Rica. His work can also be seen on his website kristenbjorn.com."--from Men of Kristen Bjorn (Paperback), ISBN 3-86187-676-0, © 2004 Bruno Gmünder Verlag (Editor & Publisher); photographs © Kristen Bjorn (Photographer), U.S.A., 2000

International male perfection. This book is replete with beautiful photos of magnificent men. This is a "keeper", and one you can proudly display on your coffee table.

Kristen Bjorn is probably the most successful and highly respected creator of filmed male erotica. He has traveled the globe searching and successfully finding the tanned and sculpted men of the Adonis category that fill the pages of this book. Unlike many other photographers of the male physique, Bjorn goes beyond the at times plastic surface of gratuitous suggestion and allows his models to be grouped or isolated in poses that, while never entering the realm of graphic interaction, do parade the men in the aroused state.

Such subject matter is not without precedent: many of our famous contemporary artists such as Odd Nerdrum, Paul Cadmus, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Duane Michaels have incidental use of the male 'at attention'. But it is Bjorn's sensitive eye for composition, lighting, and environmental locations that allows him to free his models to explore their natural state of sexuality.

Sadly, there is no accompanying essay about the artist to accompany this full color portfolio, but hopefully with time authors will have equal courage as Bjorn to discuss what Kristen Bjorn courageously presents as art. Grady Harp, March 05

No one knows how to find handsome, machismo, sensual men like Kristen Bjorn does. He is a photographer in a league by himself. Over the years he has continually brought us beautiful, desirable men from around the world. This collection of all color nude images are of some of his best looking men. All of them have been filmed by Bjorn and appeared in his many erotic videos. Bjorn is a perfectionist whose technical brilliance makes most of these images seem three dimensional. He knows how to bring out the best in each of his models. This is a beautiful book, and at 120 pages, is larger than most photo books being published. If you're a fan of Bjorn's work, you'll appreciate this new book, or experience the excitement if you are a first time viewer of his talented work. One of the best!

Joe Hanssen

I bought this book for art research purposes, to paint my own Mona Lisa perhaps with less cracking :) , but was blown away by the amount of information presented for a single painting, albeit one of the most famous and valuable. You get full information on the support itself (which has shrunk a bit) , the cracks, the pigments and composition, and even the retouching it has undergone due to conservation, or worse, attacks by vandals. There are photos of the painting in various wavelengths of light, including infrared, uv, radiograph, and more. This is combined with digital analysis in various forms, showing the topography of the support, cracking and other. In between all this are very fine views of a painting which is usually found shown elsewhere as badly lit or overly contrasty.

The book is very high quality and large enough to almost feel as if it is large as the actual Mona Lisa. There is only one flaw I feel which is mentioned by another reviewer and that is the lack of a digitally 'restored' version of the painting with the varnish removed and colors enhanced to their likely original appearance. The example at the author's site is too small and mostly useless for reference or just basic viewing on today's monitors. I would hope that any future edition of this includes such a final work, as it would reveal the original in a new splendor, and give yet more purpose to all the work and photography that is this book. Despite the omission currently, this is a great book you should be glad to own, and you can't beat the price.

This oversized coffee table book will delight all art lovers, particularly those who are into art history and restoration.
It deserves 6 stars, actually, but I gave it 4 because for some reason authors chosed not to include Mona Lisa photo with digitally removed varnish. It can be seen on this link
http://www.lumiere-technology.com/Pages/News/news3.htm
and I had hoped that this book will feature it also, since one of the main advantages of this new technology is virtual removal of darkened varnish without touching or damaging the paintings.
However, there is LOT of photos and large closeups in this book and I would recommend it to everyone interested in visual arts in general and Leonardo and renaissance painting in particular.

This book is absolutely a must-have for any fan of the Mona Lisa. The scientific breakdown of the painting, the intricate images and graphs, the descriptions of the colors and form all combine to create a intriguing and gripping look at one of the world's most famous paintings. If you are fascinated by art restoration and the use of technology to analyse paintings then this book is an essential resource, but even a casual dabbler like me will find hours of entertainment within its pages. Everyone who has opened the book at my house "just to see" has been lost to the party, and several have picked up their own copies for more in-depth perusal.

There's no other word for it: simply fabulous! Any art historian, student or just anyone interested in Leonardo's paintings will want to have this wonderful work. It peels away layers of varnish and paint like an onion and reveals Leonardo's technique in all its wonders.

I was so thrilled at receiving a copy of Dave Bruno's, "Never Give Up," a collection of his favorite quotes and Dave's own witticisms. I keep it right on my desk here at work for browsing and inspiration when I am bored or need a lift. I never fail to find something that speaks to me each time I open it up. It is touching, humorous and encouraging reading.

I recently read Dave Bruno's book Never Give Up and it's one that you will want to keep handy at all times. The quotes are powerful, uplifting, reflective, calming, some serious and others with humorous insight. In times like this where most everything you hear is negative, it's important to read quotes with an uplifting message. I like the word hope, and this book gives everyone hope that if you never give up, you will find the silver lining in everything! I will definitely share this book with friends and family.

This book is one to keep in the car, by the bathtub, or anyplace you spend time thinking and want to refocus. Reading one random page as needed is what the doctor ordered.

I picked up Dave Bruno's book the other day entitled, "Never Give Up" and it blew me away! We all go through lifes little ebbs and tides and this book is one to keep in your back pocket, on your desk at work or on your bed stand. There are dozens and dozens of quotes, one-liners and sayings by famous people and ordinary folks that will keep you going and keep you positive when times gets rough. Pick one of for yourself and someone you know that is having a tough time and I'll bet you will get through waht ever you are going through!Never Give Up

I have a new appreciation for wild gardens, thanks to this book. I like the way it's divide by description: Small Secret Gardens, Story Telling Gardens, Wild and Woodland Gardening, Sculpted Landscapes, V Stone Lines, and Community Sharing. I fell in love with a couple of gardens (including the one shown on the cover) and it turns out they were designed by the same person: Michel Semini. I'll be trying my best to copy his approach in my own garden.

I am a horticulturist and wanted a book to research a Provencal garden I wanted to design for a client. I was leary because there were many books and I was not sure which one would be good. I made a great pick. The pictures are great and provided me with lots of ideas. The author knows a lot about gardens and specifically design. I highly recommend to anyone that wants to creat a garden with high design and a great spiritual feel.

This is a very lovely book with large beautiful photos. I had been looking for a book that captured the true essence of Provencal gardens. The narratives were very informative as well. Because these were "modern" gardens I felt that the look they presented was attainable for my own garden design. One negative is the book does not go into much detail about the actual plants used. There is some plant descriptions but not as much as I hoped. I was also looking forward to more photos of the garden on the front cover. Overall, the book is one of my favorites and will be a source of reference for my ongoing gardening projects!

The French country garden has experienced a renaissance in recent years. Following Rousseau's stipulation to "please the eye" the reader will find this is accomplished by placing what Jones identifies as "Land Art," right at the heart of the garden and making it the focus. Around it, she strikes a personal balance between formality and gentle disorder.

Drawing inspiration from the iconic region of Provence, New Gardens in ProvenceV features 30 designs detailing the full extent and exciting diversity of the modern French country garden.

Hundreds of arresting photographs capture Provence's seductive allure that are sure to gain favor among Francophiles. St. Fiacre the patron saint of gardens would approve of this wonderful celebration of new interpretations of French gardens, old-fashioned techniques, and the rediscovering of obscure heirlooms.

Any collection strong in animation history and art needs ONCE UPON A TIME: WALT DISNEY: THE SOURCES OF INSPIRATION FOR THE DISNEY STUDIOS. It packs in nearly four hundred color illustrations and essays by a number of authorities as it reveals the Paris exhibition of 'Once Upon a Time: Walt Disney' and considers the films which impacted animation and the film world. Over 300 original works by Disney artists, from paintings and drawings to film clips, backgrounds and cels blend with the Western European artworks which inspired them, offering a unique visual connection between Disney's efforts and their inspirational origins. The cross-cultural connections are simply outstanding and place this 'tops' in any collection strong on Disney, film or animation history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Wow! Whether you're an art lover, Disney fan, or simply fascinated by Western culture, you owe it to yourself to add this remarkable book to your collection. Much thicker than a typical coffee-table tome, this big, heavy art anthology was published as a companion to an art exhibition of the same name, which collected works from both the Disney archive as well as 50 museums worldwide. The exhibit was shown in Paris last fall and is currently (spring 2007) on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was compiled by Bruno Girveau, a principal curator at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris.

A delight to browse through, the book reproduces hundreds of original Disney pen-and-ink sketches, conceptual watercolors and actual production pieces for films from 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to 1967's "Jungle Book"; as well as many of the historic art pieces and other cultural material that inspired Walt Disney and his artists. For example, a section on the Evil Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is brilliantly illustrated with a Gothic column statue from Naumburg, an 1898 French oil ("Woman in a Black Hat," George de Feure), a 1937 Disney production celluloid and a 1940 publicity shot of film actress Joan Crawford -- all of which appear to show the same person. (The text is good, too. This section includes a short essay pondering the effects of Walt Disney's hard-luck childhood.)

A chapter on pop art includes two interpretations of Donald Duck by Roy Lichtenstein and another by Andy Warhol -- and those are the dullest pieces! My favorite is David Mach's Matchstick Mickey, a real Mickey doll being eaten by a giant purple head made of nothing but purple matchsticks and glue. Other highlights in the book include more than a dozen gorgeous conceptual watercolors for "Alice in Wonderland" by Disney artists David Hall and Mary Blair, and a discussion that the Blue Fairy from "Pinocchio" is actually an animated homage to Hollywood's original blond bombshell, Jean Harlow.

My only gripe is the book's organization and index. The chapters are grouped not by film, but rather the exhibit's themes of "Disney's European Sources," "Walt Disney and Literature and Cinema," "Disney and Pop Art," etc.; and the index is only by artist. Still, what a find!

A nice companion book is Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation.

Great book to see the images the Disney artists drew from for inspiration and design. Today the Disney images are considered the icons but to see their source material allows for an introduction to the original work, which is wonderful, and therefore have a deeper appreciation of each art form, both fine and animated. A worthwhile catalogue if you were unable to see the exhibit.

Here at Denny Magic Studios we make a point of acquiring anything and everything Disney, it's part of our ongoing education by being in the theme park design business. This passion surrounding the Disney brothers also dictated that we attend the traveling museum show on Walt which we found mesmerizing. However, although this book delivers some wonderful color plates and some good information all rolled into a beautiful coffee table presentation, and without chastising it in any way...we found that we were not too excited about it. There are several colored plates that seem to be rather rare, and the information seems well researched, but there was something that we could not put our finger on that kept it from being an exciting acquisition. Therefore we feel that if you are a die hard fan of Disney... then yes, you are going to want this book. If you are interested in Disney but not "fanatical" then you might want to wait until this one goes on sale.