Book Description
Palm Beach: An Architectural Legacy details the meticulous restorations of over twenty great houses and public buildings on what has been called "America's Riviera." These houses were restored from 1988 to the present, and each house has won the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach's coveted Ballinger Award. The glorious photography showcased here respectfully documents the superb restoration of these houses, many of which have never before been published.
The cycle of building and restoration chronicled here encompasses one of America's enduring architectural landscapes, as well as the dynamics of its social history. Public and private structures designed by some of the style-setting early architects are depicted, including the works of Addison Mizner, Joseph Urban, and Maurice Fatio, as well as anonymous designers whose feats of imagination rivaled those of the most celebrated professionals.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book.......2006-06-26
Polly Anne Earl does a beautiful job with this book. It is everything I expected it to be. The pictures, the history, the overall format.
The book highlights many Robert Ballinger award winning homes throughout Palm Beach.
The award is given for outstanding historic restorations of homes deemed "historical landmarks".
This book includes majestic homes by many renowned architects including Addison Mizner, Marion Silms Wyeth, and John Volk amongst others.
Another book to enjoy is "Palm Beach Splendor" the homes of Jeffery Smith.
If you are thinking of building a home, have an interest in architecture, or just simply enjoy browsing thru beautiful homes; you won't be disappointed with either.
fp
Palm Beach Splendor.......2006-01-21
This book covers an impressive array of homes and the images are crisp and well conceived. Palm Beach is so blessed with stunning architecture, it really is like a laboratory for grand residental design. The homes selected are for the most part spectacular and the interior detailing is often stunning. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an appreciation of well crafted restoration and great residential architecture.
Customer Reviews:
Start here. Finish here........2006-04-19
This is the best generally available book on Chinese and Japanese ink-painting in English of which I am aware. Why? Because it is not, primarily, a "how to" book. Yes, there are extensive examples of specific brushstrokes and characteristic forms and techniques, however they are by way of explanation and illustration, rather than instruction. There is much talk of history and aesthetics, but from a practical perspective; this is not, primarily, a book of art history or criticism. Rather, it looks at those things from the point of view of a painter, rather than an academic. While it's not an easy read, I would recommend this every bit as much for beginners as those with more experience.
So, why would this be useful for the beginning painter? While some authors would have you believe that Asian ink work is rooted in a spontaneous expression of feeling, and/or that a meaningful piece of art can be created with just a few, easily mastered, brushstrokes, these are extreme oversimplifications of the actuality of Asian art. Tossing a bit of ink on some rice paper may be spontaneous, but it isn't the same as the Spontaneous school of Chinese painting. In reading this book, which is admittedly dense and occasionally dry, the reader can gain a strong background in the traditions and aesthetics of ink painting. While learning basic brush control from a teacher or how-to book, "The Way of the Brush" will give you not just context and history, but an understanding of how to compose and construct a work -- how to put those brushstrokes together.
It could be said that this is not a book about how to paint in the Chinese and Japanese style, but how to look at a painting in the Chinese and Japanese style. In doing so, it also points the way towards seeing like a brush-painter. Unless you can see, not merely with your eyes, but with your mind, it is impossible to make the jump from brushwork to painting, from technique to art.
The essentials and beyond.......2003-12-08
This is the book from which I learned sumi-e. It is well written, with wonderful examples. If one is seriously interested in the subject and in learning how to paint high quality works, it is the definitive work. The artist, P'u Ch'uan, who illustrates particular styles and strokes, is a master, providing some of the best examples one could hope for. The works of other artists in their instructional books pale by comparison; they fall into the "You too can paint a masterpiece in 60 minutes" sort of thing one sees on TV. Those are acceptable if you accept the limitations and set your sights accordingly. The standards set by this book are extremely high.
The historical perspectives help a great deal in understanding not only the background of the art, but also in understanding the background of the strokes. These backgrounds are essential to more fully appreciating the work of others and in informing your own work. The great variety of styles and artists presented--contemparary and historical--help one to form one's own style.
This book teaches both an appreciation of the art form and a sound basis for attempting it. I can't say I have mastered the form by any means, but working based on this book has been a rewarding experience.
Highly recommended.
Excellent Chinese brush painting book!.......2000-04-30
This is one of the best books about Chinese painting for those who want to understand not just Chinese painting techniques, but also something of the history and variety of traditional Chinese brush painting. The one drawback is the usage of the outdated Wade-Giles romanization (the book was first published in 1962), but that is merely a trivial annoyance compared to the wealth of information the author provides. Most instructional painting books are written by painters who focus on their own style, and give no credit to all the masters who have gone before them. This book shows many examples of paintings by master painters (ancient and modern), along with examples from the author's own teacher, master painter P'u Ch'uan. He thoroughly describes the different painting styles, with excellent examples, and many bibliographical references. I especially liked the fact that he gave 7 different versions of translations of "the Six Principles" of Hsieh Ho; by combining the common threads in all of them, their real meaning becomes clearer.
Another subject he talks about, although briefly, is the importance of understanding brush strokes in order to be better prepared to deal with forgeries and copies. This subject is almost universally ignored in books on Chinese painting, and yet it is very important. I have seen a painting in a catalog from one of the big auction houses that on first glance looked like another one of Li Ke-ran's many water buffalo paintings, and was attributed to him by the (anonymous) seller. Upon closer scrutiny of the brush strokes used, it was obviously a fake. And I am by no means a true expert.
If you are a beginner with no teacher to help you, then you will probably need other books, too. But for anyone who wants to learn about the history and traditions of Chinese painting, this is the ideal book.
Average customer rating:
- A short and general introduction to the topic
- waste of paper
- Good start
- Lots of information, but lacking some key points.
- Good, but not in-depth enough
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The QuickTime VR Book : Creating Immersive Imaging on Your Desktop
Susan A. Kitchens
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Longman
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Amazon.com
Susan A. Kitchens teaches beginners how to use QuickTime VR (QTVR) to plan, create, and deliver virtual worlds. Kitchens first provides an overview of QTVR, explaining the uses of the technology and describing the technology behind and the process of producing movies. You also learn about the elements of QTVR: panorama movies, object movies, hot spots, navigation, and the importance of planning and collaboration.
The second part of the book details how to create QTVR input. Kitchens teaches you how to make panorama movies and object movies from start to finish. She also shows you how to add hot spots and deliver your QTVR output for the Web or multimedia. The book includes information on the QTVR API and a gallery of real-world QTVR projects, including some on the Web. Throughout the book, you get lots of help on using extra software tools for Macintosh and Windows and on exploring various hardware options to help you achieve your results. An appendix lists resources for software and hardware companies selling related products, professional associations, and mailing lists. A second appendix introduces you to other immersive imaging technologies. The cross-platform CD-ROM features a variety of QTVR demos. --Kathleen Caster
Book Description
Here's what you need to get started with QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR), the most popular technology for exploring and creating immersive imaging at your desktop. This overview, written by award-winning author Susan A. Kitchens, takes you through the basics of how to conceptualize, create, and deliver QTVR movies. The CD-ROM includes software demos and examples of QTVR at its finest.
Customer Reviews:
A short and general introduction to the topic.......2002-03-27
This book is nicely designed and has some interesting examples in it. It may be useful to those looking for some possible applications of QTVR, but the book is very light on the "how to" aspect of the software itself. If you're expecting in-depth coverage of Apple's QTVR Authoring Studio software, you will probably be disapointed. On the other hand, there are few (if any) other books available about QTVR, so in that regard, this book is worth having for what information it does provide.
waste of paper.......2000-06-11
Way to general. I question if the person who wrote this book uses QTVR. I feel I was ripped. This was on backorder, I waited and now I have to go out and get another book to so I can acutal learn something. This is a great book if you have a table with one leg a half inch shorter then the rest. The fact that others gave this 5 stars makes me think the author has many friends and relatives.
Good start.......2000-03-13
It is a comprehensive book for QuickTime VR. It can explains every details about QuickTime VR. From the paranomic movie to object movie, you can get what you need to know, such as the operation of these movies, and also fundamental things about QuickTime VR. This book also introduces some software for making these movies. However, you should not expect too much on this book will teach you how to use these software. Anyway, it is a good start for learning QuickTime VR.
Lots of information, but lacking some key points........1999-08-17
Quicktime VR expands on the user manual that comes with Quicktime Authoring Studio, and explains a lot of information that isn't clearly explained in the manual. For that reason, it is worth buying. I would have liked to have had more explanation about Quicktime VR and less about other programs that aren't Quicktime VR. I was also disappointed it didn't explain anything about resolution.. how to make high and low resolution QTVRs. The writer seemed to assume I knew how and mentioned that high resolution movies are larger... It also didn't explain what to do when you get that "tiling error" when you're asked to resize your image. All in all, the best book around for Quicktime VR (oh yeah, as far as I know, it's the only one).
Good, but not in-depth enough.......1999-01-13
I find that it is a comprehensive book about QuickTime VR. However, the book does not explain how to use the software in-depth. Anyway, it is still a good choice for studying what is QuickTime VR
Book Description
Why do we put up with our finicky felines? They won't pull a sled, lead the blind, bite burglars, or fetch the paper. But love them we do, and in this collection of feline funnies, New Yorker cartoonist Leo Cullum helps us understand why.
Following on the success of his two previous collections of animal cartoons, Cockatiels for Two investigates the truth beneath the cat's inscrutable exterior. Languid elegance or sheer laziness? Do they return our love, or are they merely seeking easy food and a warm body? Cullum addresses all this and more in 113 delightful cartoons. "I'm expected for dinner around seven," says one cat to another. "Other than that I'm completely free." A political cat declares, "I'm totally bipartisan. I eat as many birds as I do mice." And, getting at perhaps the feline's true essence, Rene Decat philosophizes, "I purr therefore I am." An ideal gift for cat owners, cat lovers, and anyone whose path has been crossed by a black cat, this entertaining volume will leave readers meowing for more. AUTHOR BIO: Leo Cullum, a recently retired commercial airline pilot, has published hundreds of cartoons in The New Yorker, Barron's, the Harvard Business Review, and many other publications. His work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Cullum lives in Malibu, California.
Customer Reviews:
Disgusting.......2004-12-10
Very Painful and Degrading cover for individuals who love cockatiels or any other birds for that matter!
Book Description
The death of Ernest Hemingway in 1961 ended one of the most original and influential careers in American literature. His works have been translated into every major language, and the Nobel Prize awarded to him in 1954 recognized his impact on contemporary writing.
While many people are familiar with the public image of Hemingway and the legendary accounts of his life, few knew him as an intimate. With this collection of letters, presented for the first time as a Scribner Classic, a new Hemingway emerges. Ranging from 1917 to 1961, this generous selection of nearly six hundred letters is, in effect, both a self-portrait and an autobiography. In his own words, Hemingway candidly reveals himself to a wide variety of people: family, friends, enemies, editors, translators, and almost all the prominent writers of his day. In so doing he proves to be one of the most entertaining letter writers of all time.
Carlos Baker has chosen letters that not only represent major turning points in Hemingway's career but also exhibit character, wit, and the writer's typical enthusiasm for hunting, fishing, drinking, and eating. A few are ingratiating, some downright truculent. Others present his views on writing and reading, criticize books by friend or foe, and discuss women, soldiers, politicians, and prizefighters. Perhaps more than anything, these letters show Hemingway's irrepressible humor, given far freer rein in his correspondence than in his books. An informal biography in letters, the product of forty-five years' living and writing, Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters leaves an indelible impression of an extraordinary man.
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899. At seventeen he left home to join the Kansas City Star as a reporter, then volunteered to serve in the Red Cross during World War I. He was severely wounded at the Italian front and was awarded the Croce di Guerra. He moved to Paris in 1921, where he devoted himself to writing fiction, and where he fell in with the expatriate circle that included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Ford Madox Ford. His novels include The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), To Have and Have Not (1937), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. He died in Ketchum, Idaho, on July 2, 1961.
Customer Reviews:
A writer's writer.......2004-12-09
Two authors of the 20th century whose letters go beyond fascination are James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. This volume is an excellent example of just how committed Hemingway was not only to writing, but to getting as close to the action of his writing. Once the reader emerses themselves into his letters, one sees the true Hemingway, not the mythological one created by critics (mostly those who were not fans of the writer).
It is almost unimaginable that someone in his time or any other could be so well connected and intimate with other artist: Joyce, Pound, McLeish, Fitzgerald, Picaso, and so on. If you're a writer this collection is wonderful. It shows the day to day dealings with drafting, editing, publishing, and the intimate relationships between writer and publisher, though this relationship is almost non-existent today.
I found Hemingway through his letters to be someone who is passionate about life and equally compassionate about friends. He tells it the way it is, not the way politically correct messengers do. It is an education in itself to read this collection.
A look behind the curtain!.......2004-12-05
I miss old fashioned letters, now that we live in the age of email. Frotunately, I still have 'real' letters saved that have now collected dust from my parent's generation, and from a time gone by.
Occasionally I stumble over published letters of famous writers in antique bookstores: Last time, it was a 800 page volume of some of Ernest Hemingway's personal letters; the first edition of this Amazon edition. They were published posthumeously, and not intended by EH for publication.
We get a peek behind the curtain, and learn among other things that Ernest Hemingway was addicted to letters, wrote lots and lots, starting in his teens; and that he was really depressed when he didn't receive replies; or when there were days when the postman brought no letters. Waiting for transatlantic mail added to his sense of loneliness. Letters were a lifelong passion of his, continuing up to the day when he took his own life. These private letters weren't meant to be published, and they are raw, but very honest.
When you read them, you are in no doubt that the writer is a true artist, and an original!
They stretch over the span of his productive life, and they are varied: addressed to family (his parents, his children), his ex, to friends, including famous contemporaries, such as Marlene Dietrich (just one of them), his agent(s), his publishers, and many more.
I have a hunch EH must have been hard to keep up with, but his letters are fun to read; even though, in my view, his novels are mixed: Some great, and some I don't care for.
Guess, EH's life was bizare too. The private letters are consistent with that. And yet, they exude a special warmth; both gentelness and passion.
Reviewed by Palle Jorgensen. December 2004.
As fascinating as any novel or story he wrote..........2003-06-03
This collection of letters serves as the closest thing to a Hemingway autobiography we have. It is certainly must reading for the student or researcher, and I would highly recommend it for even the casual Hemingway fan.
Hemingway often wrote letters to either warm up for a day of writing or cool off afterward, and in these letters you see him at his unguarded, intellectual, humorous best. The style of his letter writing is often much freer than the tightly crafted prose style of his fiction...it's almost like watching a classical musician break into some improvisational jazz.
A great book to just dip into wherever you want, and this new edition is long overdue.
Average customer rating:
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Selected letters, 1917-1961
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Crane Duplicating
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Binding: Unknown Binding
Hemingway, Ernest
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ASIN: B0006XTYUI |
Book Description
While reading Valerian Albanov's In the Land of White Death, David Roberts came across the mention of an old legend of four shipwrecked Russian sailors who had managed to survive six years stranded on a barren island in the high Arctic. Incredulous, Roberts -- an expert on exploration literature who had never heard of this account -- was determined to learn the truth behind this extraordinary story. Little did he know that his search would ultimately bring him closer to the experiences of these four survivors than he had imagined.
In 1743 four survivors of a Russian shipwreck in the Arctic Ocean were trapped on a tiny island with only twenty pounds of flour for food. With ingenuity and courage they endured six years of nearly unimaginable hardship, with only driftwood to fuel their life-saving fires, and the constant threat of attack from polar bears (they would kill ten with homemade lances). Roberts's quest to document their story would take him across two continents and culminate in his own expedition to the remote and desolate shores where these mysterious sailors had been marooned. Riveting and haunting, Four Against the Arctic chronicles an incredible true story.
Customer Reviews:
Decptively titled, yet still a good book.......2007-08-28
Note: this review is based on the audio book. I have not read the paper version.
I agree this book was deceptively titled and marketed as another pure frozen wilderness survival story, yet in its own right (and once I had identified the book's real purpose), "Four Against the Arctic" is a captivating story of world travel, historical obsession, devoted research, and yes, an amazing if not scantily documented survival story in the arctic. Admittedly, I imagine the book would not have sold as well if the cover gave a more accurate description of its contents. If you are looking for a great survival story at the end of the earth that is surprisingly well-documented, I would recommend Shackleton's adventure as written up in "Endurance" by Alfred Lansing. David Roberts' book, "Four Against the Arctic," takes on a tone resembling (to this reviewer) that of Simon Wincester's "The Professor and the Madman", with just enough details of the pumori sailors' adventure to qualify the book simultaneously as a survival story. Roberts' book also proves to be a decent regional history from around the tenth century to the present of the Arctic family of islands that serve as the setting for the pumori adventure.
While listening to the audio book, I noted to myself how beneficial it would have been to have the paper version in hand so that I could consult the maps I assumed would be included. Though I now see some reviewer's criticisms of the paper version for not including enough maps. While I agree that Roberts takes some tangents in his narrative which distract the reader from the real story, those portions of the book can be skipped or skimmed without losing the flow of the story.
"Four Against the Arctic," read in proper context and with appropriate expectations as to its intent, is an engaging and exciting story of a man's obsession for getting to the truth of a story that at first hearing seems to be only a result of the exaggeration of oral history. Yet truth is often grander than fiction.
An absolute waste........2007-08-19
Only about 1/4 of this book is about the Russians shipwrecked for 6 years. The rest is about the story of researching the Russians. Roberts has nothing but vitriol for authors who have come before him. Roberts' way of detailing his research is so painstakingly boring that you'll think you're reading an accounting textbook. If Roberts sent a FAX to someone seeking the translation of a map, he'll not only tell you about the FAX but how fast he received a reply. Adventure has here been turned into how words have been translated into different languages and lost their original meaning. Of the dozens of Arctic and Antarctic survival books available this is among the worst.
Somewhat Interesting Book with a Misleading Title.......2007-05-18
If you were to go by the title and the summary on the back of the book, you would believe that you were getting this great long story about the four people who lived on an Arctic island for six years. Now that would have been a great book!
But what we get instead is the tale of Roberts' search for information about that tale of survival, which is something completely different. We hear about his exhausting search through libraries here and in Russia in minute detail. We get the run-down of every person he hires to help him with his search. Every hoop the Russian government makes him jump through.
It was kind of interesting to me anyway, because I would like to write a book so I paid attention to the process he went through. But I had thought this would be a good book for my father--NO WAY! He would have been bored to death by Roberts' literary exploits.
He does include as much of the story of the four men as he can figure out, which isn't all that much, and certainly not an entire novel-worth. But in the book he does detail how much money he spent researching the story so it isn't that surprising that he wrote this book anyway. So we learn about the islands area and surviving in the Arctic wilderness somewhat.
I just wish the title wasn't so misleading. It should be: "Searching For an Arctic Survival Story in Russia."
History as detective story.......2006-12-22
In 1743, a Russian ship was blown off course near Spitsbergen in the Arctic Sea north of Norway. While four men searched for a hut built on the island by a previous hunting party, the ship was blown away from the island and sunk by the ice. The four men were now stranded on the island. The men somehow survived for the next six years before being rescued.
When author David Roberts, who considers himself experienced in surviving in rough conditions, comes across a reference to this story, he is incredulous and instantly intrigued. And thus begins his detective story tracking down all he can learn about the men and their ordeal, and finally going to the island himself in search of the hut the men lived in or anything else that might tie the men to the island and thus make the story provably true. There are all kinds of twists and turns, from maddening unexplained details in the printed source of the account (two of the survivors were interviewed a few months after they returned and a book was written from this interview) to the bureaucratic red tape needed to be waded through to get to Spitsbergen, and Roberts relates them all fascinatingly. He finally discovers ruins of an 18th-century hut on Halfmoon Island that he acknowledges MIGHT be the same the men lived in during their 6-year ordeal. It's an almost unbelievable story and Roberts, by becoming a part of it, in a sense, makes it truly compelling. Anyone who likes a good detective story as well as true accounts of historical events will enjoy this book immensely.
Not enough information for a book.......2006-05-14
This is an amazing story. However, most of the book is about writing the book. I don't care who he spoke to and where he read things. He should just tell the story. However, there isn't enough material for a book. Quite a disappointment.
Books:
- Perkins AND Will Selected and Current Works
- Perspecta 37 "Famous": The Yale Architectural Journal (Perspecta)
- Plan Graphics for the Landscape Designer with Section-Elevation and Computer Graphics
- Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City
- Private Landscapes: Modernist Gardens in Southern California
- Proceed and Be Bold: Rural Studio After Samuel Mockbee
- Richard Meier Architect, Vol. 3 (1992-1998) (Vol 3)
- Roberto Burle Marx: The Lyrical Landscape
- Site Engineering for Landscape Architects
- Skyscraper: The Making of a Building
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Tiffany's Palm Beach
