Book Description
Mathematical forms rendered visually can give aesthetic pleasure; certain works of art -- Max Bill's Moebius band sculpture, for example -- can seem to be mathematics made visible. This collection of essays by artists and mathematicians continues the discussion of the connections between art and mathematics begun in the widely read first volume of The Visual Mind in 1993.
Mathematicians throughout history have created shapes, forms, and relationships, and some of these can be expressed visually. Computer technology allows us to visualize mathematical forms and relationships in new detail using, among other techniques, 3D modeling and animation. The Visual Mind proposes to compare the visual ideas of artists and mathematicians -- not to collect abstract thoughts on a general theme, but to allow one point of view to encounter another. The contributors, who include art historian Linda Dalrymple Henderson and filmmaker Peter Greenaway, examine mathematics and aesthetics; geometry and art; mathematics and art; geometry, computer graphics, and art; and visualization and cinema. They discuss such topics as aesthetics for computers, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, cubism and relativity in twentieth-century art, the aesthetic value of optimal geometry, and mathematics and cinema.
Customer Reviews:
A Feast for the Eye, Mind and Spirit.......2005-07-23
This splendid book is a feast for the eye, mind, and spirit. It is a sequel to the 1993 book, The Visual Mind: Art and Mathematics, also edited by Michelle Emmer, an Italian professor of mathematics. It uses visual examples and thoughtful essays to explore the intersection of the disciplines of mathematics and art.
Here are some highlights of this fascinating collection: There are several articles on mathematically-themed sculptures that display unusual concavities, knots, interlacements, and Mobius-style twists, with detailed analyses by their creators. There is an essay relating Picasso's cubism to Einstein's Theory of Relativity; another uses computer simulation to generate approximations of Paul Klee's art; a third illustrates explains the importance of circle packings in Japanese art and culture. There is a beautifully- photographed description of architect Frank Gehry's computer-assisted development of models for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Also outstanding are essays on the depiction of mathematics and mathematicians in relatively recent movies and another on the role of beauty in the evolution of mathematical proofs.
My one complaint is that these articles are very uneven in terms of overall quality and accessibility by non-mathematicians; some are scholarly papers that require the knowledge of college-level mathematics.
This book is excellent; however Emmer's first book, mentioned above, is even better. It's out of print but well worth searching for.
Average customer rating:
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Jennifer Durrant
Jennifer Durrant
Manufacturer: Arts Council of England
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Abstract Expressionism
| Ancient & Classical
| Art Deco
| Art Nouveau
| Baroque
| Byzantine
| Constructivism
| Contemporary Art
| Cubism
| Dadaism
| Expressionism
| Fauvism
| Folk Art
| Futurism
| German Expressionism
| Gothic
| Impressionism
| Mannerism
| Medieval
| Modern
| Neoclassical
| Pop
| Post-Impressionism
| Pre-Raphaelite
| Prehistoric & Primitive
| Realism
| Renaissance
| Rococo
| Romanesque
| Romantic
| Surrealism
ASIN: 0728705370 |
Book Description
In just over five years of syndication, Calvin and Hobbes has become an American comic strip sensation - touching the hearts (and funny bones) of the millions who read the award-winning strip. One look at the new Calvin and Hobbes collection and it is immediately evident that Bill Watterson's imagination, wit, and sense of adventure continue to be unmatched. In this collection, comprised of cartoons never before published in book form, Calvin and his tiger-striped sidekick Hobbes are hilarious whether the two are simply lounging around philosophizing about the future of mankind or plotting their latest money-making scheme. Chock-full of the familiar adventures of Spaceman Spiff, the latest findings of Dad's popularity poll, and time travel to the Jurrassic Age, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink" is guaranteed to set scientific inquiry back an ean - and advance the reading pleasure of all Calvin and Hobbes fans.
Customer Reviews:
Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbs Collection.......2007-01-11
Very funny. My son is finally reading. He is enjoying himself while learning new vocabulary.
Wickedly funny comic strip.......2006-11-18
Calvin and Hobbes is one of my favourite cartoon series, and it is one of the few which can be equally enjoyed by adults and children alike.
Bill Watterson has a M.A. in Political Science, which suggests the reason for the names of the main characters. Calvin is of course named after John Calvin, the Reformed theologian who advocated Predestination, and Thomas Hobbes, the English Political Philosopher Thomas Hobbes who argued for 'The War of all against All' in his social contract theory.
Calvin is a somewhat dysfunctional six year old who is a constant headache to his parents, babysitters, teachers, and classmates. Calvin seems to embody several classic types of rebellious children in one character. Addicted to TV, hating girls, engaging in games which destroy the family home and engaging in wonderful fantasies make many of the high points of the series, which are darkly funny and often have a deeper satirical message about our world to the adult reader. To the younger reader, they no doubt will be delighted when Calvin makes his own time machine, goes back to the dinosaur age or becomes 'Spaceman Spiff' who fights evil aliens, or the 'Get Rid of Slimy Girls' Club Calvin forms with Hobbes.
This is a delightful comic to own and enjoy, for adults and children alike.
Hysterical and bittersweet.......2006-04-25
When you get right down to it, is there anything better than Calvin & Hobbes? In this compilation or any of the others, you get lessons in quantum physics, nostalgic looks at the agony of grade school, observations in human nature, and a bit of the "thing under the bed" style horror. All this and you'll laugh yourself to the point of wetting your pants.
The Calvin & Hobbes strips are hysterical. But beyond that, they are poignant and often bittersweet, reminding us of the children we once were and of the rich fantasies that come with childhood.
Behold Calvin, utterly impish and wise-beyond-his years. His snowmen displays, at times morbid at times downright surreal, could fill a collection of its own.
Calvin fancies himself the smartest boy in the world. And who can argue with him, other than his long-suffering parents and his faithful friend Hobbes, a tiger who may or may not be real.
Hobbes is the pentultimate friend. He is Calvin's confidante and his patient ear, but he is also the first to pounce on the boy or to challenge his sordid views of the world. Together, the pair ponder the meaning of life, question the adult world, or sneak off to explore the fascinating landscapes of childhood found under dead logs or under rocks.
If I were banished to a small island with only scant supplies to get me through my days, this book would be among the items in my trunk. I have had this collection for ten years or more and I've gone through it a dozen times. I'll go through it a dozen more before it's battered to the point of unreadable.
Watterson is an absolute genius. But as you fall into the world of Calvin & Hobbes, you'll forget that they were created by a mere man at all.
Calvin and Hobbes-the Dynamic Duo.......2006-04-05
Probably one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes stories is about Calvin's Duplicator/Transmorgrifier/Transmorgrifier Ray. The kid's imagination is completely limitless. And, Mr. Watterson, if you're reading this review, you should make a story where Calvin has his birthday party. Five stars to ALL Calvin and Hobbes books!!!
Calvin and Hobbes Experience the Topography of Life.......2005-11-16
This wonderful collection of cartoons has provided me many hours of enjoyment. As all fans of Calvin and his companion tiger Hobbes know, Bill Watterson's imagination has created a comic strip whose characters wonderfully capture flights of fantasy that help many of us vividly recall some of our most memorable childhood experiences. Calvin (in his many roles), Hobbes - the wonderful embodiment of every child's most loyal companion , Susie Derkins - the little girl next store who is constantly appalled by Calvin's weirdness,, Moe the bully, and Rosalyn the constantly embattled babysitter all manage to come to life in episodes that are sure to bring smiles to the faces of everyone who get to know them.
This is fantasy at its best, at times simply lighthearted everyday experiences observed from Watterson's unique perspective and at other times cartoons being used as the conduit for wonderful philosophical observations. I found equally priceless both Hobbes leering smile as he responds to Calvin's question "I wonder why man was put on earth. What's our purpose? Why are we here?" with the simple answer "Tiger Food" and Calvin's sudden frightening bout with cubism when his ability to see both sides in a debate fractured his perspective and led him to see everything from all angles. In fact, the title of my review is adapted from one of my other favorite episodes in the book.
Calvin's love of life and Hobbes love of Calvin are contagious; I found myself cheering them on and not wanting the book to end. (Luckily there are many other collections of this comic strip which was sadly terminated after only ten years.) I continually smile, chuckle and on occasion laugh out loud whenever I pick up this book, which I often do in my spare moment. And if you're with someone else when you're reading these, your progress will be slowed but your enjoyment increased by your desire to share the delight which you experience. A wonderful book for kids of all ages (I'm only 63) and most adults will enjoy it as well.
Tucker Andersen
Book Description
All The News That’s Fit to Reprint
Get ready for another year of award-winning journalism from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.
The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 14 collects every article that The Onion published between November 2001 and October 2002, including opinion pieces, horoscopes, and your favorite columns from all of the Onion regulars.
The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 14 is packed with material no longer available online or anywhere else. Look for a new volume every year.
Customer Reviews:
For Those Who Enjoy a Dose of "Involuntary Laughter!".......2005-02-10
Why do I love "The Onion" compilations? Because I can begin browsing through an edition in a bookstore with the intent of obtaining a chuckle or two, only to find that I am doubled over laughing at articles so insensitive and oh-so very wrong! The Onion produces, in individuals, priceless moments when we laugh hysterically while begging ourselves "Stop laughing, this is vile, and NOT FUNNY!"
For those of you who have yet to encounter The Onion, it is a satirical newspaper that attacks virtually everyone ---people both real and imaginary--- and mocks their most cherished political, religious, and domestic beliefs. Everybody and their brothers are humorously assaulted here: neither the liberal nor conservatives, rich nor poor, powerful nor pitiful are spared. The Onion is the rare case of an orchestrated Guajardian paper-raid. If The Onion were a newspaper delivered by the old-school bike-peddling paper boy, he might as well be chucking grenades upon the neighborhood doorsteps!
This particular edition is my personal favorite dishing of The Onion's inappropriate humor, with the crowning glory appearing on page 49 under the headline "Developmentally Disabled Senator Wants To Be Treated Like Any Other Lawmaker." You will probably not go to Heaven after reading that story. Articles that come close to this humor ratio include "Man Dies After Long And Painful Battle With Life" on page 21, and "Children, Creepy Middle-Aged Weirdos Swept Up In Harry Potter Craze" on page 25.
There are plenty of other great targets in this edition, from Smurf collectors to Bar-Trivia Champs to celebrity stalkers to celebrities.
Every compilation The Onion has issued is excellent, but "Ad Nauseam" is their finest publication!
The Pinnacle of Awesomeness.......2004-06-01
Have you ever picked up a newspaper or turned on the nightly news, read the headline, and then thought to yourself, "Damn, who pays these guys?" If you have, then you have probably been craving all of your life a news source that will intrigue you. Yes, you want a paper that will intrigue, excite, titillate, and arouse you. Well I have some news for you, my friend: Your old paper isn't going to give you any of this, so throw it away. You read correctly. Don't even think twice about it; throw it right in the trash. Now that you've completed the most crucial step in this process, you must continue onto step two.
"What's step two?" You are probably dying to know by now. Well, I will tell you what step two is! Step two is going to Amazon.com and buying The Onion: Ad Nauseam (edited by Robert Seigal). That's just how good this book is. It will destroy any current event going on in the daily news, smash it to pieces, and then replace it with satirical stories of old news.
If you haven't noticed already, this Ad Nauseam is a compilation of news stories written by the greatest newspaper in the world: The Onion. If you've never heard of The Onion before, it's a satire newspaper that takes current events and actually makes them interesting! An excellent example of this is an article on page 145 entitled, "Pope Forgives Molested Children." This article illustrates the fact that Catholic priests messed up big time, while still keeping the reader interested.
But oh no, it doesn't just make it interesting by making fun of it. The writers actually use their brains to create these masterful articles! From cats being stuck in trees to the titanic hitting the iceberg, these brilliant writers systematically make fun of everything going on in the world.
If you aren't already booting up your computer to logon to Amazon.com immediately, I'd recommend you do so now. Also, after you get back, you should go to theonion.com and purchase a year's subscription to their newspaper. Any money you have left, you can proceed to PayPal it to me for writing such a life-changing article about the greatest newspaper article compilation in history.
VERY FUNNY-- a la National Lampoon.......2004-03-27
If you like the humor of the National Lampoon or Saturday Night Live you will love this book. I laughed out loud at several pages.
For any humor book there are some duds but they are few and far between with this excellent book.
This is the type of book you will want to read aloud to friends.
Some poor taste and not PC which is what makes it great.
Enjoy!
Thank god for the Onion!.......2004-01-11
My daughter just gave me this hysterical collection as a birthday present, and all I can say is that I must have raised her right. This is a very, very funny collection. Yes, as one reviewer below stated, it is like the other collections. Is this a problem? Of course not! Is it somehow supposed to be unlike the other collections? How is it a criticism of The Onion to resemble The Onion? As far as the other reviewer who said that the previous volume was funnier, I don't know what to say. I found a great deal to laugh at, just as I found a great deal to laugh at in the past. I can't detect any decline in either the humor or the sharpness of it.
In an age that does not especially satire (one would need to read a great deal of historical material from various periods to see how this is an art that has somewhat died out), The Onion is arguably the richest source of political and social satire since the heyday of the weekend news on Saturday Night Live when Al Franken was providing much of the material.
The headlines are consistently priceless. "Bush on Economy: We Need to Get Saddam Now." "Judge Orders God to Break Up Into Smaller Deities." "Anti-Spam Legislation Opposed by Powerful Penis-Enlargement Lobby." As a Yo La Tenga fan (a very highly regarded indie rock band from NYC whom I have seen around 15 times live, for the uninitiated), I especially loved "37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead In Yo La Tenga Concert Disaster." Sometimes the humor can be merely funny, but sometimes cutting, such as the one that shows a photo of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua beside the headline: "Starving Third World Masses Warned Against the Evils of Contraception."
Hopefully the Onion will be with us for a very, very long time, and I pray that their humor stays as sharp
decent...........2003-12-05
This Onion book is okay, but I found Vol. 13 to be much funnier...the best story I've found in this book so far is the one about the Mexican-Canadian overpass...
Average customer rating:
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Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass Culture (Theories of Contemporary Culture)
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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Anthropology
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ASIN: 0253355664 |
Customer Reviews:
Travel Jumble.......2007-06-27
I really enjoy this Travel Jumbo. I don't regret buying it. The only thing I wish, is that it was a little smaller in size. But I can overlook that because it's a very good book.
Book Description
A Leadership IQ study found that 47% of high performers are actively seeking other jobs while an additional 44% are passively looking. Every organization wants to retain their employees, especially their best employees. But most leaders are making mistakes. We studied more than 100,000 leaders to identify the Deadly Sins of Employee Retention. These are the five mistakes that can destroy the retention efforts of organizations and their leaders. This book will challenge some of the most entrenched and misguided beliefs about employee retention. We'll show you how to avoid the Deadly Sins of Employee Retention and teach you five cutting-edge strategies for keeping your best people. Individual leaders and entire organizations can transform their retention efforts immediately.
Customer Reviews:
The Murphys taught me to be a better manager.......2006-04-11
As my company grew into the hundreds, my old leadership style didn't work anymore. The common sense techniques in Mark's book make my life easier, my employees happier, and my business more successful. The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention is mandatory reading for our managers. I learn more every time I pick it up. -- Dennis Hoffman, President, CashBox
The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention.......2006-03-20
There were many things in the book I was already aware of but it offered some new insights as well. It was short and a quick read which I appreciate when trying to read business related materials.
Good Book.......2006-03-13
This is a superb book for some one who is just starting to investigate the subject of employee retention. It is short, easy to understand, and flows well. The information that is provided is practical and timely. A quick read on the subject of employee retention for those who do not have a lot of time to find, read, and analyze the multitude of books available on the subject.
Very helpful management tool.......2006-02-16
I found this book not only helpful, but also readable, useful and manageable -- in a way that most wordy, lengthy business books are not. It offers concrete, helpful, immediately-applicable advice for dealing with the biggest headache of management--keeping and motivating good employees. I plan to use it as a constant reference tool. Mark Murphy's work has been very helpful to me overall--he's a fresh-thinking guru on management issues.
Not just opinion. This represents credible research we can learn from........2006-02-07
Too many business books are opinionated - and use loose magpie collections of evidence to support the writers' sexy headlines and simple main arguments.
Here, by contrast, Murphy and partner Burgio-Murphy work from the ground up, using a vast survey of 100,000 business leaders (mid-level up to senior) to build a picture of what employment and HR strategies help minimise the risk of a good employee moving on. (The people they interviewed were responsible for 20,000 hires during the survey period - and the success of these was tracked over time.) The authors highlight five top reasons why organisations have a demonstrably poor retention rate of new employees. In order the reasons for 'moving on' are;
- Coachability (26%): The ability to accept and implement feedback from bosses, colleagues, customers and others.
- Emotional Intelligence (23%): The ability to understand and manage one's own emotions, and accurately assess others' emotions.
- Motivation (17%): Sufficient drive to achieve one's full potential and excel in the job.
- Temperament (15%): Attitude and personality suited to the particular job and work environment.
- Technical Competence (11%): Functional or technical skills required to do the job.
In hindsight, many interviewers look back and realise that they saw the signs back at the interview stage, but were perhaps distracted by other issues - the technical competencies, the need to fill the gap quickly - and this volume encourages managers and supervisors to help employees operate more functionally within the organisation. The inherent argument in this book is that employees are often "left to their own devices" once they're hired, and yet with some simple interventions, (a little shoving and tugging) in the form of coaching, mentoring and discussion in the above skills, the outcome can be happy for all parties.
Great advice, just 102 pages (you want longer?) and a negligible entry price. Recommended.
Books:
- Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art
- Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity
- Tiny Footprints
- To Paint Her Life: Charlotte Salomon in the Nazi Era
- Tony Ray-jones
- Unjustified Texts: Perspectives on Typography
- Vampire Bats and Other Creatures of the Night (Facts Fantastic)
- Version 2.0: More BYTE-ing Humor
- Vintage Spot Illustrations of Children: 795 Cuts from the Teens and Twenties (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
- Vision and Painting: The Logic of the Gaze
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Burtynsky - China
- Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom
- Applied Infrared Spectroscopy: Fundamentals, Techniques and Analytical Problem-Solving, Vol. 54
- Anthropology: And a Hundred Other Stories
- Collectible Beads: A Universal Aesthetic
- Click Here: To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade
- Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story
- Antique Trader Metalwares Price Guide
- American Socket Bayonets and Scabbards
- Blondes Have More Felons
Shapes, Space, and Symmetry
Visualizations: The Nature Book of Art and Science
Deep Time of the Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means (Electronic Culture: History, Theory, and Practice)
Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology (Leonardo Books)
How Images Think
