Watson Books

Excellent,easy reading,great story,well written,a "must read"book.
Great book for all school kids. Mr. Watson should do more writing..

ASF

It's been on my coffee table for about 6 months now. I got quite a few remarks on it, though I must admit many people are confused as to why I have a book of kitchen utensils on my table...

They're just amatures who don't understand art though :p

Both of my children want to read this book over and over and over....

Kiyooka was a well known painter who turned to music, photography, and poetry as alternate expressions of a burning creativity. His death in 1994 occurred just when he was at a critical stage of his Collected Poems (he was found, dead, slumped over his word processor), and the work was finished after his death by a friend, Roy Miki, who published the book under the title PACIFIC WINDOWS. Miki and Kiyooka shared a common background as artists of Japanese-Canadian descent; Miki turns up as one of the speakers at a 1999 Vancouver conference devoted to Kiyooka's contributions to the art and writing scene in BC, and a transcript of this conference became the basis for ALL AMAZED, the book that feisty little Arsenal Pulp Press issued in 2002 in collaboration with the Belkin Gallery at UBC and with COLLAPSE magazine.

A friend pointed out Roy Kiyooka to me many years back, he was a tiny man who fairly glowed with a vibrant, sonorous energy. I heard him talking before I could see him. The editors of ALL AMAZED have included some papers given on his art practice and on his poetry, and they made a risky choice by printing a verbatim transcription of the "multi media" presentation of October 1, 1999. It's a sketchy transcription because often the sound system broke down, and when that happens, the editors just skip right over whoever was talking and whatever might have been happening onstage, and pick up whenever the power returned. I would have thought that with a bit of work they might have been able to reconstruct more of what was said and done that day: they could have asked the participants for their speeches, perhaps; I can only assume that the random element was something, perhaps, that they found apropos to Kiyooka's spirit, perhaps even a charming, "amateur hour" simplicity to it that submerged other editorial decisions into an old fashioned game of "telephone."

Why on earth, for example, when Carole Itter apparently pre-empted Roy Miki's idea to read aloud from Kiyooka's lengthy "All Amazed" poem, do the editors print the poem twice to show that first she read from it, than he did? Couldn't they just say, "see above"? Or would be disrespectful to one or the other of them? Maybe it was their way of saying, Roy would have liked this crazy, jumbled presentation. Glen Lowry provides some photographs which must be very evocative to those who were there, but otherwise they're slightly muddy.

Recommended first of all for those who would like to know something about Roy Miyooka, and afterwards for people who would like a closeup lesson in the industry of memorializing.

Always Someone To Kill The Doves: A Life Of Sheila Watson is a keenly written biography, peppered with diary excerpts by a remarkable woman. Written in Paris in 1955-56, the entries portray a woman of the era, affected by her troubled marriage, genius intelligence, and the moral weight of her Catholic upbringing. A serious-minded account by F. T. Flahiff, who knew Watson personally and placed her in the highest regard, Always Someone To Kill The Doves was written expressly to honor Watson's wish from late in her life: "I want my story told." Her courage and intellect distinguish her, rendering her worthy of the author's decision to "assume rather than argue for her importance". A captivating look into the mind and experiences of a resilient human being.

This book is a great resource for ideas on corporate identity design. It covers such diverse categories as identity programs, package design, letterheads, manuals, signage/environmental graphics, brochures, and logos. I like this book because it covers such a wide range of applications for graphic design. Each section (for instance, package design) has lots of examples of work. It's obvious that this book is intended as a source of inspiration for visual and conceptual ideas. There is not one word of explanatory text in the entire book. It doesn't tell you anything about the process each designer went through, nor does it talk about the history of design. It's simply a collection of the best corporate identity design work of about 400 U.S. design firms. The book has a very simple, clean layout and nice photos. My favorite sections are the package designs(many diverse types of products are shown) and the logos(tons of examples). I highly recommend this book, even though it has no text.

This book is an absolutely wonderful resource containing many kinds of print media work by various artists.

From company logos to letterheads, to packaging designs, this book is a true treasure of eye candy and worth every dollar!

This book is a must have for all Am Staff owners. It has information specifically for the Am Staff. Not the usual generic dog information. Jackie Frasier is a long time owner/breeder who has done it all with her Am Staffs. This book also contains information on all of the foundation kennels and the kennels of today. Great pictures of important dogs past and present. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the American Staffordshire Terrier.

This little book has had a considerable influence over the centuries in China and its cultural sphere. This translation is very agreeable and can be read in one day. However, it is a book that requires more than just one reading.

To give some examples, here are some sentences, almost chosen randomly:

"The Master said, The gentleman is not a utensil."

"The Master said, Persons who lack trustworthiness-I don't know how they get by!"

"A person who really hated the lack of humaneness would conduct himself humanely, never allowing those who lack humaneness to affect his behavior."

"The Master's Way consists of loyalty and reciprocity alone."

And my favorite one: "Standing by a stream, the Master said, It flows on like this-does it not?- never ceasing, day or night."

Burton Watson is a great translator of fine letters and we are all in his debt.

Getting started with drawing or painting can be overwhelming, especially if your using many of the great books out there to learn by.

This one guides you along very well in that it eases you into the rules of perspective and portraying anatomy in a gentle and easy to absorb manner.

Stan Smith uses simple drawings rather than photographs to explain portraying anatomy, which I found easy to reproduce. This gave me the confidence to continue on and wasn't as intimidating as some so called beginner books can be.

He then follows on with examples of perspective that can go into a little to much detail in some areas, but covers the basics very well.

The composition section was especially helpful as it uses both samples of famous works and simple manikin and object set up to explain proper composition, and he does it in a way that won't be beyond the beginner.

Overall its a great all in one starter book. If you don't want to waste time reading seperate books on each subject then this ones for you.