Fantasy Architecture: 1500-2036

Book Description

The towns and cities that we inhabit are the survivors of a much larger world that was never built--of visions of the future that remain on paper due to lack of funds, political changes, or because they were technically ahead of their time. How might the world look today had the realities of history been different? And how close will the architecture of the future be to that already familiar from science fiction films and the fantastic virtual environments of computer games? Fantasy Architecture proposes answers to these questions by focusing on 130 imagined buildings, structures, and schemes from the late medieval period to the present. Artists and architects include Robert Adam, Archigram, Charles Barry, tienne-Louis Boull e, William Chambers, FAT, Foreign Office Architects, Foster and Partners, Erna Goldfinger, Louis Hellman, Inigo Jones, Berthold Lubetkin, Edwin Lutyens, Eric Mendelsohn, Nils Norman, Claes Oldenburg, Joseph Paxton, Sir John Soane, Softroom and Paolo Soleri. Essayists include Neil Bingham, previously Assistant Curator of the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) Drawings Collections, London and author of monographs on Christopher Nicholson and C.A. Busby; Clare Carolin, Exhibitions Curator at the Hayward Gallery in London; Rob Wilson, Curator at the RIBA Gallery; and architect Peter Cook, professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture and former member of the group Archigram, who offers a personal text.

Average customer rating:

the Bible

Not your usual watercolor book--interesting and stimulating

They don't get much better than this!

It's more that the typical 'technique' book

An Inspiration for Effects !

Color and Light for the Watercolor Painter: How to Get the Effects You Want Every Time (Practical Art Books)
Christopher Schink
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Watercolor Painting | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Watercolor | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mastering Color and Design in Watercolor

Design and Composition

Painter's Guide to Color

Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting

The Simple Secret to Better Painting: How to Immediately Improve Your Work with the One Rule of Composition

ASIN: 0823006867

Customer Reviews:

the Bible.......2007-09-09

This is my bible for watercolour colour. It is far and away the best book on the subject, not just because it sweeps away all kinds of wrong thoughts, but Schink shows the different palettes used for different styles of painting in a simple, constructive way.

Not your usual watercolor book--interesting and stimulating.......2005-01-09

Christoph Schink is an award-winning artist who shares his unique look at the art of watercolor and using color and light. The book does not just deal with juxtapositions of color or of mixing pigments; the author goes into the compositional effects of color choices, with examples of changes if you use value (dark to light, color becomes diminished) or if you use all pastels or colors close in range on the color wheel. In addition, there is a section on how the masters employed color in famous paintings, and a section of example works by other artists. This is valuable--the inclusion of other artists makes the book appealing to a variety of painters; not everyone responds to individual artists, so the wise author of painting books is one who generously shares the canvas with his colleagues. You are guaranteed to find some inspiration in the gallery. This is a nice large format book that shows off the colors on the pages well. Excellent.

They don't get much better than this!.......2002-01-21

Christopher Schink is a terrific teacher and communicator in this lovely, and invaluable instruction book. Complete with many colorful examples and exercises, this world-class painter uses work from many different exceptional painters, along with a few of his own, to show how wonderfully expressive your own work can be by utilizing some of these techniques. He also shows and shares his deep understanding of what happens to color as it's mixed and layered, etc. And at the bottom of it all is the message that painting is about communication of ideas, and not simply a series of techniques! This core message is the most valuable of all.

It's more that the typical 'technique' book.......2000-09-07

If you can only buy one water color text book, buy this one. For a change this painter focuses on teaching you more than just tecnical skills. He gives you excellent information on color history, and analysis of other watercolorists work. Deals with problems you may run into and provides great visual examples. Handles subjects like controlling pictoral space, simultaneous contrast, and well as composition and design. This is book to study, not just look at the pictures!

An Inspiration for Effects !.......2000-05-15

I found this book to be most interesting on the topics of Colour, Tone, etc. Mr Schink goes on to apply the initial principles he outlines at the beginning of his book, to show how different effects and appearances can be created, even from the same basic composition! It was a fascinating read, and provides a good point of reference for me.

Book Description

In this collection of 87 duotone images that virtually leap off the page, Lois Greenfield's revolutionary photographs capture the explosive energy and beauty of dancers' bodies in motion. Made between 1982 and 1991, they are the result of a collaboration between Greenfield and a group of extraordinary dancers asked to "leave their choreography at the door." They take risks, pushing to the absolute limits the boundaries of both dance and photography with an energy so forceful it seems barely contained by the black lines of the camera frame. Edited, sequenced, and with an introductory essay by William Ewing, including an interview with Lois Greenfield, Breaking Bounds is dance photography on the edge. Sensual and mesmerizing, these images will entrance dancer and non-dancer alike -- as well as anyone who loves fine photography -- with their powerful, elegant depiction of the human body in midair.

Customer Reviews:

Captivated you will be........2003-07-08

Sometimes, one might wonder if there's anything new and exciting that a photographer can do with the human form. The answer is yes.

This volume collects 87 black-and-white photographic images taken by Greenfield from 1982 to 1991, in which she collaborated with a talented group of dancers for impromptu movement. The pieces were not choreographed, but were the results of ongoing experimentation with motion and light.

The results are amazing. Fluid. Organic. Motion captured in a frozen moment, and stillness seeming to burst with unceasing energy. Bodies hang in mid-air, in mid-flight, solo or entwined or complementing each other in a synergy of arts ... a living sculpture caught in time.

It's hard to describe what Greenfield has seen through her lens. The dancers exhibit incredible feats of balance, emotion and passion for the dance. In some they're wearing tights and leotards, in others they're costumed as if for a show. In many they're not clothed at all, showing off their flexing muscles and rippling skin as they move through the dance. And the camera captured it all.

Captivated you will be........2003-07-08

Sometimes, one might wonder if there's anything new and exciting that a photographer can do with the human form. The answer is yes.

This volume collects 87 black-and-white photographic images taken by Greenfield from 1982 to 1991, in which she collaborated with a talented group of dancers for impromptu movement. The pieces were not choreographed, but were the results of ongoing experimentation with motion and light.

The results are amazing. Fluid. Organic. Motion captured in a frozen moment, and stillness seeming to burst with unceasing energy. Bodies hang in mid-air, in mid-flight, solo or entwined or complementing each other in a synergy of arts ... a living sculpture caught in time.

It's hard to describe what Greenfield has seen through her lens. The dancers exhibit incredible feats of balance, emotion and passion for the dance. In some they're wearing tights and leotards, in others they're costumed as if for a show. In many they're not clothed at all, showing off their flexing muscles and rippling skin as they move through the dance. And the camera captured it all.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor

beautiful pictures.......2002-10-10

I owned "Airborn" before purchasing this one, and I loved it so much that I sought out Breaking Bounds. I did not hesitate to buy it when I saw it on amazon[.com]. I am a dancer, and the photography of Lois Greenfield embodies the intention and choreography of the dancer so well, that it is unique. I prefer the material in "Airborn," so if your thinking of buying this book and dont have the other, take a look at the other one. I think there are much more interesting and provoking images in "Airborn". A downside to Breaking Bounds is that there are no descriptions or captions, other than the artist's name, attatched to the picture. I would like a brief explanation of the picture, as Greenfield does in "Airborn."

Visually stunning...........2001-05-27

This book's photography are excellent and exemplify the beauty, symmetry (asymmetry) of modern dance. All those interested in celebrating the human form will find this book fascinating, even if modern dance is not in their background. My favorite photograph is on p. 73, as it brings out the dancers in mid-flight, totally out of equilibrium, as though Doris Humphrey herself was arranging the scene.......

Explosive energy captured on film!.......1999-11-05

This book is perfect for display on the coffee table. Friends who look through it are as fascinated by Greenfield's work as I am. The frozen moments and the print quality make this a beautiful addition to any photo book collection. A MUST HAVE FOR LOVERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND DANCE!

Book Description

Rob "Rocco" Maisch has lived an amazing life. He grew up a wise guy prankster in a small to medium-sized town in the fabled Sixties, he went to college, he became a mall manager in the dismal Seventies, he's gone through one marriage and is in another... And he's lived an amazing life.You see, what's really amazing about Rob's life is that he remembers. From mis-spent youth to addled adutlhood, from the rush of the first junior-high dance to the letdown of meeting that great boyhood TV hero, Rob can recall and recount with sharp color and gusto the little gems we each encounter in our everyday lives but that most of us let fade in our memories.Rob may be a wise guy but he's also quite a raconteur. Our raconteur of our lives. And Rob has lived an amazing life. Adapted by some of America's leading artists.

Customer Reviews:

Confessions of a Cereal Eater strikes a cord..........2007-08-13

I have to disagree with several of the above reviews of this second volume. These are memories, and perhaps, tall tales of Rob Maisch's youth and growing up.... from first dates, to concerts, to practical jokes and pranks at MSU, into bordom on the job, and finally failed relationships and salvation.

The format is more wide ranging than the first volume... selected tales that range true for me. That is, I attended MSU at approximately the same time, and though I did not run with his crowd, the appallingly bad taste in pranks and some of the specific details of the three illustrated in this volume can be verified. Yes, the phone numbers were sequential at MSU. Yes, phone pranks of this type were done, with varying degrees of success... The abuse and destruction hinted at by this rat pack DID occur... and finally, I too, frequented the Curious Book Shop during this period in East Lansing... and so "Klingon Battle Helmet" also has the ring of truth.

While I didn't live in Midland, Michigan... I was just 60 miles south... and so, I identify with the settings of his tales... Bob Segar as the best kept secret... area concerts... shouting wars between dorms.

But where others doubt the details, I accept them. And more, I can find several themes of development running through this, the second volume of recollections.

Here's my speculation: Just as recovering AA members admit their mistakes and flaws... just as "Earl" on NBC is retracing his misteps to make things right in his life... Maisch MAY be doing a similar process here. They say confession is good for the soul? Perhaps that is what he is doing here...."Confessions of a Cereal Eater". There is some parallel structure in these stories.... first, innocense and not so innocent love and lust... Disrespect of other people and property... Using women for fun and humor... and finally, having the love of a good woman redeem one from the abiss and pull you back from the brink. At least, that's what I see happening in this collection of tales.

Of course, I could be dead wrong. This may be nothing more than a random collection of recollections and tall tales that were left over from the first volume (published seven years ago) or perhaps these are the scattershot works of amateur artists that skip significant development and linking transitions in a body of work that was not fully illustrated.

But until I can find the author (and believe me, I am trying to find him as I write this) I can only judge on what made it into print. I don't disagree that some of the pranks are mean, irreverent, and show immaturity... but I think that is part of the appeal. To listen to a bad boy confess his dirty deeds, and ultimately, show that he hasn't fully grown out of his bad ways, certainly draws you in.

(The final page in my book, is the one page coda "Late One Night" which shows that he is still rude and tactless as he encourages a Match Game contestant to make the obvious connection to "Muther*****" to the embarassment of his significant other who is waiting for him. But then, the book is listed as 98 pages, and my last page is 96... so I don't know if I have a complete copy!)

I think there is something of merrit here. It won't be the most significant book you ever buy, but I can confirm some of the details in what is presented as his rememberances.

Except for the adult content, I say go ahead and splurg. But just don't show this to the kids who haven't gone to college yet. It just might give them ideas. (I know it did for me....I'm making a list of pranks and college experiences in the hopes of making a similar book someday...)

Wonderful nostalgic insights!.......2003-09-27

Rob, ever the charming storyteller, has put to print an absorbing, enthralling little anthology of shorts about living life and the world around us. Mesmerizing wordsmithing.

Great baby boomer nostalgic stuff!.......1999-05-25

I especially enjoyed "Mean Old Man" and "Back in the Saddle".

Confessions of a Cereal Eater (Confessions of a Cereal Eater)

Average customer rating:

Confessions of a Cereal Eater (Confessions of a Cereal Eater)
Rob Maisch
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUFOAO

Book Description

After a prolific life as an author with a European reputation, outselling Dickens, Edward Bulwer Lytton was ennobled and, on his death, buried in Westminster Abbey. Since World War I, however, his literary reputation has sunk and he is now little read. Bulwer Lytton is the first modern biography of an extraordinary man whose literary output was prodigious. Leslie Mitchell's biography, written to mark the two hundredth anniversary of Bulwer Lytton's birth, is an account of a singular and very remarkable Victorian.

Customer Reviews:

It Was A Dark and Stormy Life..........2004-05-26

Leslie Mitchell has set himself a daunting task in his new biography of Edward Bulwer Lytton. First, as Mitchell points out early on in the text, while at one point in the Victorian era he vied with his fellow novelist Charles Dickens in popularity, since the end of the First World War he has been almost entirely forgotten - except to be ridiculed as the author of the worst sentence ever to open a novel: "It was a dark and stormy night" (which inspired the Bulwer Lytton Contest for bad writing, which Mitchell, tactfully, does not mention). Secondly, Lytton was, to put it mildly, a very off-putting fellow, who might have been the most personally obnoxious author who ever lived (and try mulling over the implications of *that* statement for a second!).

It doesn't sound promising, does it? A forgotten author who was a real jerk -- who's interested in reading about him? But the fact is that Mitchell has done an admirable job of resurrecting this unsung writer and made him seem worth considering, even if you wouldn't want to sit next to him at a dinner party.

Of course, it helps that Lytton had one of the most famously catastrophic marriages in all of literary history - one that makes the Tolstoys and Fitzgeralds seem like Ozzie and Harriet by comparison. The marriage of Edward Bulwer Lytton and his wife Rosina was a total nightmare. At one point he had her committed to an insane asylum, and she retaliated by writing a series of abusive fictitious accounts of their marriage and humiliating him publicly whenever she got the opportunity. It's pretty grim stuff but it makes for engrossing reading.

The only flaw with this biography is that it is not a straightforward narrative, as most biographies are, but a little more impressionistic. Each chapter takes one aspect of Lytton's life and discusses it at length. And while I might have preferred a more conventional approach, the method utilized by Mitchell does prove effective. And putting all the information about Lytton's marriage, for example, in one chapter makes it even more harrowing (and entertaining - there's definitely a Merchant-Ivory film in that disastrous mesalliance).

Mitchell makes a token effort at making a case for Lytton as a novelist who can be appreciated today, but the fact is that it's hopeless: Lytton's prose style was so pretentious and convoluted that I very much doubt that he'll ever reach any type of popularity again (unlike his contemporary Anthony Trollope, who has seen an extraordinary renaissance of interest in his work in the past few decades). So what you're left with is the very gaudy life of a man who destroyed nearly everything he touched, but whose very faults make him interesting. So I can recommend this book, and if you go on from this to sample some of Lytton's fictional wares, well, you're a lot more adventurous than me.

Who?.......2003-09-25

One wonders how the Victorians ever acquired a reputation for prudery or ideal family life with one affair after another and second families scattered around the globe and their children farmed out to relatives or paid nannies. Perhaps Victoria herself was the only "Victorian," yet who knows what really went on between her and "Mr. Brown"?

Here are Bulwer Lytton and his wife who, after marriage and two children, discovered they heartily hated each other and spent the next forty years, still married, but living apart, violently attacking each other in the public press and neither one of them caring a whit for their two children.

Lytton, a man whose literary works are now virtually forgotten, was once as popular as his contemporary Dickens but didn't have Dickens's talent for self-promotion. Lytton was quick to take offense and lost friends easily. He had a dour personality and was never a happy man, always feeling slighted by friends and the public alike.

Mitchell explores, in separate chapters, L's upbringing; his awful marriage; his children and their fates; his literary career; his political career, first as a radical, then as a conservative, and finally as Secretary of State for the Colonies (a post in which the author claims he did an excellent job); and finally his role as a prophet.

In a book that seems otherwise well written, there were too many typos and grammatical errors.

Average customer rating:
Bulwer-Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters.(Book Review): An article from: Albion
Stan Walker
Manufacturer: North American Conference on British Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000ALR728
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 896 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Bulwer-Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters.(Book Review)
Author: Stan Walker
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Page: 549(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters

Average customer rating:

Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters
Leslie Mitchell
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUCCL8

Book Description

The critically acclaimed memoirs of one female police officer's sixteen-year odyssey, beginning with day one at the Police Academy and spanning assignments on Chicago's West Side, one of the most dangerous areas in the city.The notorious cops' code of silence is broken as the author recounts incidents in the West Side projects: shoot-outs, ambushes, and what it feels like to kill a man-just four days out of the Academy.The stories told are sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, often poignant, and always provide the reader with an on the scene feel for life behind the badge. Domestic violence, murdered spouses, abused children, and philandering CPD brass are just some of the topics addressed, topics that officer Gallo dealt with everyday.From her work with gangs, narcotics, the gun task force, and acting as a prostitute, Gina Gallo offers a gritty account of the darker side of the city, giving readers an objective side to the cops, crooks, and victims that comprise a the police cops world.

Customer Reviews:

This is the best police book I've read to date.......2004-12-28

I'm going to be a police recruit in the NYPD in the upcoming months, and wanted to know more about this line of work..Armed & Dangerous would be the book to read. This book is for anyone wanting to be a cop, marrying a cop or the friend of a cop...Gina pulls no punches. She is gritty, raw and honest in her writing, which a lot of other police novels lack. I'm currently reading another police novel now, and its so hard to get into it. Gina raises the bar on all other novels..if you never pick up another true crime novel, read this one!!

By Gina Gallo - with no one else........2004-09-23

Riveting, disquieting, amazingly well written. I had to check the cover a couple of times to make sure it wasn't written "with Joe Shcmow." Ms. Gallo names names and leaves out no details about how she managed to function, survive, succeed, and retain personal dignity within a most wretched hive of scum and villany.

A Disturbing Look at Society.......2004-07-02

This was an interesting book, however I would have liked to see a little more of the positive side of being a policewoman. There had to be something positive about the job, or she wouldn't have been a policewoman for so many years.
Having a policeman for a friend, I did appreciate some of the insights into how they may feel different from "civilians".
It's a very sad tale of how many people live and how instead of the police being encouraged become discouraged.
I struggled with how to rate this book, because it's discouraging and haunting, with no upside I wanted to rate it a 3, but Gina does a good job of writing and relating her experience, so I rated it a 4.

Great Read!!!.......2004-02-24

At last, an interactive experience of life in big-city law enforcement! In a relentlessly authentic voice, Gina Gallo translates every nuance of the police experience into an unparalled copspeak primer for those who've never worn the badge. Forget cop stories as a spectator sport. Gallo pulls you into the action with "the real police", presenting the reader with the same visceral punch, emotional blindsiding and residual angst that haunts anyone who's been there. In my years as a Chicago homicide detective, job success often depended on equal parts of tenacity, intelligence and guts. Gallo's book provides this in spades along with an unflinching scrutiny of our own vulnerability. This book elevates cop docudrama to a new art form. I'm proud that Gallo is one of our own, even prouder of her courage and talent in telling our stories.

GINA GALLO IS THE REAL DEAL LADY COP!.......2004-02-24

I'm a retired police Sgt. my wife Ann Jillian an actress, and we just finished reading "ARMED AND DANGEROUS" by GINA GALLO. This book is FANTASTIC! It's easy to know that Gina Gallo was the real police and did real police work - that's a given, but her talent for putting it all in her book is something only a GREAT WRITER could do. This is a real page turner, we could not put it down until we finished it. My wife and I highly recommend this book to anyone. Thank you Ms., Gallo for an excellent book. Mr. Mrs. Sgt. A.& A Murcia. Los Angeles, CA.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman

Average customer rating:

ARMED AND DANGEROUS: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman
Gina Gallo
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IX3LE6

Average customer rating:

Armed and Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman
Gina Gallo
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTHTHY

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books