Paula Rego (Contemporary Artists.)

Book Description

The first monograph to deal exclusively with Rego's graphic work, sumptuously produced with reproductions in color and tritone.

Many of the greatest artists since Dürer and Rembrandt have used the print medium to explore some of their most important ideas. Paula Rego is in this tradition, giving full rein to her imagination in both etching and lithography, and using the media with exuberance to create work that is as disturbing, erotic, and powerful as her paintings. This monograph discusses and illustrates all Rego's prints, including unpublished work—over 200 etchings and lithographs spanning half a century from 1954 to 2003.

Many of her prints are based on themes; as she says, one image triggers the idea for the next. Among these are Rego's Nursery Rhymes, which reveal a darkly humorous take on the difficulties of childhood and provide a rich seam for her precocious girls and individually characterized animals. The narrative layers and emotional nuances of her work are vividly shown in her Peter Pan series of 1992, and also in Pendle Witches, for which she collaborated closely with the poet and writer Blake Morrison, who in turn was inspired by her series The Children's Crusade. The book concludes with her most recent portfolio of lithographs, based more or less loosely on Jane Eyre. 491 illustrations in color and tritone.

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Paula Rego
Fiona Bradley
Manufacturer: Tate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Surrealism | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Rego, Paula | ( P-R ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Paula Rego (Contemporary Artists.)

ASIN: 1854373889

Book Description

Paula Rego (b. 1935) is acknowledged to be one of the leading figurative artists at work today. Influenced by Surrealism, folklore, dreams, and Disney animation, she creates strongly narrative works imbued with a sense of subversive mystery.

Book Description

A radical change has occurred in the world of contemporary fashion illustration. No longer is fashion the reserve of the elite: concept drawings have become consumer-focused, with imagery from popular culture, music videos, advertising, animation, and magazines. Imagemakers presents the cream of contemporary illustration for fashion, profiling over 50 of the most exceptional emerging fashion illustrators from all over the world. An inspiring global overview of the current fashion scene and an essential sourcebook for students, illustrators, fashion designers, and style aficionados.

Customer Reviews:

Good book!.......2006-02-24

I like my copy of "Imagemakers : Cutting Edge Fashion Illustration". I also bought "Fashion Illustration Now" and "Fashion Illustration Next". In fact, I first tried to buy Amazon's advertised deal of a second book at a discounted price (Fashion Illustration Next and Imagemakers together), but Amazon somehow cocked up and I had to reorder Imagemakers again at a later date and at the normal price. Come on Amazon, get your act together!

But as for Imagemakers, it's great. It's equally as good as the other two books I bought, so if you're only after one book then it'd be a toss up between Imagemakers and Fashion Illustration Next. Fashion Illustration Now is almost just as good too though.

!! IMAGEMAKERS: MUST HAVE FASHION ITEM !!.......2004-10-31

Having lectured on the subject of fashion illustration for over a decade, I am an avid enthusiast and devotee of the subject and greatly admire the work of various artists working in this fascinating field.

The recently published, Imagemakers, by Martin Dawber, is one of the most comprehensive and compelling publications on the subject, to date. It details the work of over 50 of the world's most talented and relevant fashion illustrators as well as providing an insightful narrative of the current climate of the fashion illustration industry.

After a foreword by Jasper Conran, the artists' work is divided in to four sections; Reportage, Street Cred, Style Council and Avantist.

Each of the artists featured, are initially presented by an insightful and constructive passage, outlining their individual and distinct styles, followed by full-colour examples of their work.

The freshest, most sensational of the work appears in the final section, Avantist.

Anton Storey's beautiful portraits are near perfection in their fragmentary, elusive imperfection.

The work of Lidia Cerutti is a vision of expertly crafted, fashionable composition and an intelligent depth of palette.

The most breathtaking discovery of these professional fashion illustrators, is Fiona Wylie.
Her work is expertly executed whilst enriched with romantic and suggestive contemplation. The preciseness of line is staggering in its ability to capture such consciousness and genuine sentiment without a hint of tentative inhibition.

The work of these `up and coming' artists, featured in Imagemakers, vastly outshines their recognised rivals. For example, Jason Brooks, Julie Verhoeven and Daisy De Villeneuve have unfortunately become a staid parody of what appears to have been a one-trick-pony which they are either unwilling or unable to dismount.

One thing is certain, fashion illustration is becoming as sought after as the allure of the unique, hand-crafted and embellished designer garments they depict. Fashion illustration is no longer reserved as are the front row seats of a prominent catwalk show. I predict that in the near future, the aforementioned small handful of recognised illustrators lose their obligatory backstage-passes! I, for one, will be raising a glass of Moet to any and all of the new stars featured in Imagemakers... cheers!

Book Description

Witness the power of pure McFarlane with this essential collection of comics that have been out of print for 10 years! The first issues of McFarlane's smash hit Spawn are here in a brand new collection - bigger and badder than ever! This collection includes issues #1-8, 11, & 12, featuring the pulse-pounding art of the master himself, Todd McFarlane!

Customer Reviews:

Spawn.......2007-09-24

This is the first 12 comics of spawn created put together into a collection edition which makes it great for all those Spawn lovers who could never get ahold of the older comics.

The beginning of the End............2007-05-09

Very good buy, that is if you're into Spawn Comics and what not. Sadly enough it's missing a few issues for licensing problems. But all in all pretty good deal and I highly enjoyed it.

The beginning.......2007-03-31

The ultra high profile and notorious comic book that made the big name companies re-think a darker edge for their mainstream characters, Todd McFarlane's Spawn is here from the beginning. After gaining much notoriety working on Marvel's Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man, McFarlane was one of the architects behind Image Comics, and Spawn helped the fledgeling company get off the ground. We all know the origin by now: government agent Al Simmons meets his demise, and strikes a deal with the devil to return to Earth to be with his beloved wife Wanda. Simmons is resurrected as the Hellspawn: complete with supernatural powers and demonic chains and charred and scarred flesh to boot. When he returns, he finds Wanda has remarried his best friend Terry, and the two have a child together as well. Not to mention that his memory has been practically obliterated, and he soon seeks vengeance on those who did him wrong. Besides Spawn himself, this first collection introduces many pivotal characters that would become icons of the series, including the foul Clown and his demonic alter-ego, the Violator, as well as the equally evil human Jason Wynn, and a host of other deadly enemies and few allies. Full of over the top violence and themes, Spawn marked a new era in comics that started off well, but began a chain reaction in character creation and storytelling that almost buried the industry forever. McFarlane's storytelling still packs a punch, but it's his artwork that is the mixed bag. His regular, normal character models have never been anything to write home about, but it's his design of Spawn that has always made the book a seller, and this is undoubtadly the best the series ever was before it grew into stale repetitiveness. Since Spawn was a smash hit, a feature film soon followed (and we all know how well that turned out, remember?) as well as the excellent and short lived HBO animated series. If you were late getting into Spawn, check this out to see what all the fuss was about, and it's a worthy pick up for those who have fond memories of the series in it's early days but don't have the single issues.

Greatest comic ever.......2007-02-28

I just love Spawn.
It is very difficult to collect Comics where I am, so this new collection suits my needs. Now I can read this great comic from a book.

I can now see what all the buzz is about McFarlane..........2007-02-04

I missed out on Spawn in the early 90's and never saw much of McFarlane's work but with these trades coming out I am able to sample his work. You know a lot of people criticize the early image books as being poorly written but after reading Spawn vol. 1 this is a good story and was pretty easy to follow along with. I had no problem with the writing.

Average customer rating:

Resistance is futile @_@

Too Late to Resist: Steamy Clinches from the Pulp Classics (A Prion Pulp Postcard Book)
Prion Pulp Postcard Book
Manufacturer: Prion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Pop Culture | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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She Tried to Be Good: Sirens and Vamps from the Pulp Classics (Pulp Postcards)

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You Mean a Woman Can Open It...? The Woman's Place in the Classic Age of Advertising (31 Postcards)

ASIN: 1853754854

Book Description

As America slowly relaxed its moral codes in the postwar era, pulp novels offered an initiation to the previously hidden demimondes of sex and hedonistic excess. While the cover blurbs feigned shock and disgust, the cover art reveled in illicit danger, their titillating scenarios offering a lurid window on America’s suppressed desires. Now, collected here, are tigresses and temptresses in all their reckless glory. Each title in the series features 23 color postcards.

Customer Reviews:

Resistance is futile @_@.......2005-08-14

A great postcard picture collection. i gave them to my girlfriend as a present, since she has wanted a collection of pulp covers for sometime now. She loved them, I loved them, and all of our friends that also saw them got a kick out of them.
All four of the pulp cover art books by Prion are highly recommended,whether you are a fan of pulp art or just like nice pictures in general. if you are a bit of a collector of pulp covers, get em all and add 92 excellent pictures to your collection.

Customer Reviews:

It was an inspiration!.......2003-11-16

This is truly an absorbing book, whether or not you sew or make quilts. What a wonderful experience the 'stunt quilters' must have had - how exciting to work with world-class actors in a first-class production! The book is not really a pattern book, but it is a great read, and it does contain two patterns. If you want to begin quilt making, or if you need an inspiration for your next project, this book may do the trick.

I purchased this book in 1996, to add to my collection of quilt books (let's face it, I love books!). It truly was an inspiration to me for my first two real quilts! I used the rail fence quilt (autograph)idea for my daughter's wedding. The center is an embroidered copy of the wedding program cover design, and the blocks were used instead of a guest book at the reception, mounted on freezer paper in a photo album. Other blocks contain titles of songs from the wedding and reception, names of the bridal party etc.

In 2000, I used the pattern for Anna's baby quilt to make my grandson his first quilt. It was a challenge (mainly because I really did not know how to foundation piece), but turned out beautifully.

In addition, I used the crazy quilt idea to fashion a velvet and silk vest for a Christmas party. This is a lot of work, but wonderful to look at. You must truly love hand-sewing.

Read this book, and feel your creative juices start to flow!

Behind-the-scenes tidbits - plus patterns.......2002-08-10

"Pieces of an American Quilt" seems to fall into a category all its own. The book isn't really a quilt pattern book--although it has instructions for how to make several quilts seen in the film. And it isn't really a "making of" or movie trivia book--although it contains those elements as well.

Author and quilter Patty McCormick provides an interesting Hollywood outsider's perspective on the making of one of my favorite movies. McCormick is so NOT a movie person that when she gets a phone call to provide technical quilt assistance for "How to Make an American Quilt," she doesn't recognize the name of Steven Spielberg's production company. Her tales of how the movie's quilts were designed and created are quite fun to read.

Although the quilts were an integral part of the film, several specially created quilts appear on screen so briefly that getting the opportunity to study photos of them is a treat. Learning what happened to a few--such as the well-loved crazy-patch quilt that young Finn clutches while sitting underneath the quilting frame--was a bit like hearing fingernails grate down a chalkboard.

McCormick provides patterns for both the "Where Love Resides" Baltimore album quilt that the quilting circle works on throughout the film, and Anna's baby quilt featuring African animals. I didn't buy it ever planning to make either quilt, but those monkeys, lions and giraffes are rather growing on me. Perhaps someday.

5-star plus.......1999-06-22

This is a great fun book, full of life. The author describes the role that she and her "stunt quilters" played in the filming of the movie, How To Make An American quilt starring Winona Ryder. Quilters who loved the movie (based on the book by Whitney Otto) will love McCormick's book too. It contains full-sized patterns for several of the quilts you see in the movie, with all the details you never notice in the film.

Book Description

"Opportunities in Music Careers is an encyclopedic view of the world of music--pop to classical, performer to management. Its diversity is quite astounding, and a young person in love with music can find a place in the field of his or her choice . . . I hope that [it] becomes required reading for all serious music students.
--John Corigliano, Composer, Distinguished Professor; Pulitzer prize, Academy Award, and Grammy Award winner

Opportunities in Music Careers explores every facet of occupations within the music industry--from publishing and teaching to composing and performing. In this new edition of an acclaimed career guide, you'll find helpful contact information for colleges, universities, and professional organizations that support the musical arts. Packed with helpful advice and information from an expert in the field, this book includes realistic information on earnings potential and tips and techniques for planning, surviving, and succeeding in the music industry. This necessary resource--rated Outstanding by the National Career Development Association--is a must-have for anyone interested in learning more about and excelling in a career in music.

Download Description

Opportunities in Music Careers explores every facet of occupations within the music industry-from publishing and teaching to composing and performing. In this new edition of an acclaimed career guide, you'll find helpful contact information for colleges, universities, and professional organizations that support the musical arts.

Customer Reviews:

much more oportunitys await thee!.......2006-05-27

if you check out some of ty cohens books you will be impressed! this one just seems to generic to be considered a book! check out tys "The Music Business Bundle" fopr some real information!

Music Business, The: CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AND SELF DEFENSE New, Revised, Updated Edition

Average customer rating:

Good presentation but dated
self defense on my eyes needed for this horendous novel!
Good book but slightly outdated
Should be retitled The Music Business: Career Opportunities That Don't Exist Anymore and Why They Never Will
Well worth my time

Music Business, The: CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AND SELF DEFENSE New, Revised, Updated Edition
Dick Weissman
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Business | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0517575248
Release Date: 1990-06-16

Book Description

Weissman explores opportunities in music and offers a thorough grounding in how the business operates for both performers and those behind the scenes.

Customer Reviews:

Good presentation but dated .......2007-03-23

The book (3rd Edition) has an orderly presentation that builds confidence but there are scattered elements that are factually wrong and thus tear it down.

self defense on my eyes needed for this horendous novel!.......2006-05-27

if you want class, well writeen books, and awsomely stuffed information filled books, you have come to the wrong place like a white boy in south centrel LA. if you would like hardcore information to stuff your biran with than i suggest "Ty Cohen's Secrets to Making Money in the Music Industry (3-Piece Mega Audio CD Set)" by the magnificent ty cohen.

Good book but slightly outdated.......2006-05-17

While reading this book, you'll find much of the information and theories to be worth reading, but for the most part it's just outdated. So if you want to learn from the past in an attempt to better your future, this is the approach you should take. Otherwise I would suggest "The Music Business: How YOU can make $500,000 "or more" a year in the music industry by Doing it Yourself!" by Ty Cohen

Should be retitled The Music Business: Career Opportunities That Don't Exist Anymore and Why They Never Will.......2005-12-13

I suspect that 15 years ago, this well-researched book was partially useful for the uninitiated; but the music business has changed so much in the last 10 years that this book is essentially now a "guide" to jobs you might have been able to get if you were ambitious enough 20 years ago. There are now only 4 monolithic media corporations that dominate and control every aspect of the music industry, a few so-called independents operate on the margins, but even they have to go cap in hand to the Big Four for distribution of their product; labels such as ECM and Ryko might offer something a little less mainstream, but they still require access to the distribution system owned by the large corporations. We all know that this lack of diversity has stiffled both innovative music and innovation in music delivery systems, and has resulted in AM and FM radio being so bad that millions of listeners are turning to PAID satelite radio in order to hear something other than what the media corps want you to listen to. This is not the author's fault, and clearly every so often he updates this work; the more recent chapters about the internet and the raging battle between the corporations that seek to destroy any new technology that threatens them (sheet music publishers tried to stop music being recorded when the phonograph was invented, home taping was "killing music" if you recall, so this is nothing new), be it digital downloads, MP3s, iPods, or whatever comes next. The problem with this book now is that it offers a sort of pathetic hope (not unlike the millions of self-help and get-rich-quick books published every week) of a career in "the music business", when in fact it is a career simply in "big business". To paraphrase Chuck Berry, "If I could do it all over again, first I'd go to business school, then I'd learn how to play the guitar." Many chapters end along similar lines; it's 2003 (in the book), and women still never get past mid-management, if they can get that far, women musicians have a much harder time getting recording contracts (Janis Ian has written some excellent on-line articles about this subject); work for classical musicians is drying up as orchestras fold or slim-down their seasons, and woe-betide a talented classical musician who has the misfortune of not being white, because he or she is most unlikely to get a seat in an orchestra unless as a token member, and this is the year 2003; musicians teaching music at colleges for additional income because they can't earn enough playing music full-time is no longer a viable option as there are so few college jobs available; becoming a session musician or singing on advertising sessions is harder than it ever was (and it was never easy) because session work is undertaken by a tight clique which rarely lets anyone else in, and modern recording techniques mean fewer musicians are required anyway; songwriters have far less options than ever before as most artists record their own work or producers use artists to record their compositions (check out Jimmy Webb's excellent book on songwriting, even he, a hit-making machine, has trouble getting songs placed with artists nowadays); concert promotion is a lucrative near-monopoly that does not take kindly to new kids on the block; a career in radio is harder to achieve than ever before because the FCC allows companies like Clear Channel to own hundreds of stations that do not require staff like they used to; the studio work and engineering chapter is subtitled "The Decline of Studio Work"; these are what the book tells us, not what I've made up. No new avenues are suggested, only the old ones that are ever-diminishing. Finishing this book made me feel quite sad. I once worked in the music industry, so some of what this book tells us is true, but to a time long-past; for it seems today the only real opportunities that exist in the music industry are for individuals that positively dislike music, who themselves have no or little musical talent whatsoever, and are only interested in making a lot of money fast by paying the artist(s) as little as possible, or nothing at all in most cases, via complex contracts that contain items such as deductions for "breakages" which only ever applied in the time of fragile 78s. If the reader is curious about a time when some of the music industry was run by individuals with integrity that actually liked music, read Jac Holzman's book about how he founded Elektra Records. One last gripe: As this book has been revised three times down the years, how come EMI Records is still mispelt EMT on page 44, Scott McKenzie's hit song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)" - that's what it says on the record label of the actual 45 - is called "If You Go to San Francisco"? Doesn't anyone proof-read books before they're printed anymore? What is the point in revising books if mistakes are not corrected? This slap-dash approach to typography does not instill confidence in the other details printed as actual career advice; or perhaps no one really cares anymore, and that's why the music industry is about to go the way of the dinosaurs. Good luck to anyone who actually obtains a job, let alone a career, in the music industry after reading this book. Mr. Weissman's personal anecdotes and observations are indeed amusing and enlightening, perhaps that would make a better book altogether. To my mind, these job-advice books that are published almost five every minutes - at a time when there are hundreds of over-qualified candidates for even the crummiest of minium wage jobs - are morally bankrupt ventures raising hopes and providing no real answers to anything. My local Goodwill is crammed to the rafters with last-year's self-help books, barely read and certainly of no real use whatsoever: if every get-rich book, improve your job prospects, how-to-find-true love tomes were of any use, surely most people that read them would be in great jobs, have found happiness and wealth and there wouldn't be a need for any more tomes entitled "Eat Lots and Stay Slim", "How to Build Your Own Space Rocket at the Bottom of Your Garden and Fly to Another Planet and Meet Your Perfect Partner", "Making a Million Dollars a Day from the Comfort of Your Armchair Doing Only Five Minutes of Work a Week."

Well worth my time.......2005-01-22

The first book I ever bought on Amazon, I decided to order this after seeing it in my high school library in 97 or 98. It struck me as something that could be very useful in the future, as amateur a musician as I was. It then sat on my shelf, even though it got abused traveling everywhere I lived since then, until just last week. The pages were yellowed - and it was already an outdated edition - by the time I opened it up. I thought I was bad at staying committed to any book, but I'm already more engrossed in it than I've been to anything in years.

This book explains the music industry from top to bottom, so as a new band member I understand where every person in the business is coming from. The system seems huge, intimidating, and unrelenting, but at least I can get an idea of how the pieces work. I can't imagine how anyone could have a career in music (performing, especially) and not read a book like this one. Anybody who sets out without the prior background work is doomed to failure. (Even luck doesn't last.) It's obvious that every chapter itself is a simplified summary, and probably a book could be written on each, but the moderately bite-sized pieces are what I can handle. As it is, I'm only on page 88 right now, but I can't wait to pick it up and read the next chapter.

And when I'm all done, I can head over to the library and read everything revised in the new edition. Then I'll have my jump-start!

Opportunities in Music Careers, Revised Edition

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Opportunities in Music Careers, Revised Edition
Robert Gerardi
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFK8W6

Average customer rating:

When to convert DBL to Penalty

Good follow-up to Private Sessions

First rate

Demon Defense And Demon Doubling: Defend With Skill And Double For Keeps
Augie Boehm
Manufacturer: Hnb Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bridge | Card Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0972806148

Book Description

Doubling for penalties increases the stakes and raises the blood pressure. For this you need confidence, and that is where tight defense plays a crucial role. Good defenders risk more penalty doubles. Demon Doublers are not born; they rise from the ranks of Demon Defenders. That is why this book begins with defense, to build a confident foundation for doubling. A sound bidding style also helps: it inspires confidence to know that partner has his bids.

This is not a book for beginners; I assume you know your basics about leads and signals. It teaches you how to use defensive information. The Socratic method (constant questioning) that I use promotes logical thinking in a way that promulgating rules cannot.

By the end of Part I, as a graduate Demon Defender, you should be primed for the adventurous world of penalty doubles. Part II explains when to double (and when not to) and shows how defending doubled contracts, especially partials, has a rhythm of its own. When you have absorbed the lessons in this book, be prepared for a change in your bridge life. You will win more—a lot more.

Customer Reviews:

When to convert DBL to Penalty.......2007-01-18

Are you fed up with iopponents weak (awful) overcalls?
This is the book for you!

Great Intermediate level book on when to convert Takeout and Negative Doubles to Penalty doubles, as opposed to bidding 3NT or a new suit.

The style is entertaining, with a ficticious student, progressing through some lessons and table experiences. You are shown some hands and asked what to bid (pass for Penalty or bid something), then how you would lead and play teh hand as the dummy comes down. Then teh author reveals the hand and explains some of the pitfalls, and the optimal way to gain every trick.

This is highly practical and can easily be applied.

What was especially interesting is the overcalls (that went for -500 or -800) used in the book were sound! None of these stupid 2 Diamond overcalls on KJxxx. These were sound and still got murdered through proper defense.

The crappy overcalls will go for even more.

There are 2 types of penalty doubles - those based on trump tricks (even A 10 9 8 - which can benefit from trump promotion), and thos ebased on high cards.
The author discusses how to handle low level penalty doubles vs. high level doubles.
At the lower levels you want to cash your side suit winners, while keeping an eye on dummys ruffing potential.
At the higher level you want to pull trumps fast since you ahve the balance of points.

The authors other book (Private Sessions) is also excellent. Very well presented.

Good follow-up to Private Sessions.......2006-02-14

Having enjoyed Mr. Boehme's other book, Private Sessions, I was looking forward to more. I was not disappointed, although this new book is much more for intermediate (or advanced intermediate) players. The book is well written and logically organized along the lines of Mr. Boehme's teacher-student dialogues. The quizes in the middle and at the end provide a good opportunity for the vicarious student (i.e., the reader) to self-test the knowledge acquired.

First rate.......2004-09-25

Good, logical progression from the basics of good defense to higher-level principles that manage to avoid being gimmicky. Not a compendium of all bridge knowledge, obvioulsy, but worth several hours of study--and enjoyment. Hope we see more books by Boehm.

Average customer rating:

Creativity and Hypomania

Entertaining psycho-sociology, psycho-history

Excellent explanation of a confusing diagnosis - but concerned about the reviewer in VA

I AM CLINICALLY DIAGNOSED. HYPOMANIA RUINED MY LIFE. THIS GUY IS FULL OF DOODOO.

We ARE all crazy!

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America
John D. Gartner
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743243447

Book Description

Why is America so rich and powerful? The answer lies in our genes, according to psychologist John Gartner.

Hypomania, a genetically based mild form of mania, endows many of us with unusual energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and a propensity for taking risks. America has an extraordinarily high number of hypomanics -- grandiose types who leap on every wacky idea that occurs to them, utterly convinced it will change the world. Market bubbles and ill-considered messianic crusades can be the downside. But there is an enormous upside in terms of spectacular entrepreneurial zeal, drive for innovation, and material success. Americans may have a lot of crazy ideas, but some of them lead to brilliant inventions.

Why is America so hypomanic? It is populated primarily by immigrants. This self-selection process is the boldest natural experiment ever conducted. Those who had the will, optimism, and daring to take the leap into the unknown have passed those traits on to their descendants.

Bringing his audacious and persuasive thesis to life, Gartner offers case histories of some famous Americans who represent this phenomenon of hypomania. These are the real stories you never learned in school about some of those men who made America: Columbus, who discovered the continent, thought he was the messiah. John Winthrop, who settled and defined it, believed Americans were God's new chosen people. Alexander Hamilton, the indispensable founder who envisioned America's economic future, self-destructed because of pride and impulsive behavior. Andrew Carnegie, who began America's industrial revolution, was sure that he was destined personally to speed up human evolution and bring world peace. The Mayer and Selznick families helped create the peculiarly American art form of the Hollywood film, but familial bipolar disorders led to the fall of their empires. Craig Venter decoded the human genome, yet his arrogance made him despised by most of his scientific colleagues, even as he spurred them on to make great discoveries.

While these men are extraordinary examples, Gartner argues that many Americans have inherited the genes that have made them the most successful citizens in the world.

Customer Reviews:

Creativity and Hypomania.......2007-04-23

This book discovers the link between many creative and successful people who have lived with bi polar conditions in the past with notable success.

Entertaining psycho-sociology, psycho-history.......2007-01-06

A warning about this book first; when I got it in the mail I had other work planned that evening but once I started reading I couldn't stop until the end. It's well written and entertaining but most importantly thought provoking. Rigorous science it is not and I can't comment on the historical biographies as my field is medicine, not history.

John Gartner makes a compelling case for immigrant populations being enriched in people who have bipolar traits. Given a sufficient number of them in the population, and you get places like America, Australia and Canada whose populations are almost entirely made up of immigrants. America seems to have a critical mass of bipolars which makes it even more attractive to other bipolars and, in John Gartner's view, one ends up with the positive feedback loops of energetic people making things happen at a far greater rate than anywhere else in the world. This also explains many of the down sides to America as bipolarity also has a depressive side and bipolars can be very impulsive.

Obviously this book only looks at one aspect of what makes America unique but I've found it very thought provoking. Many of John Gartner's assertions are important scientific questions that need to be answered through proper controlled studies. I had been toying with some of the same ideas over the years, but John Gartner put them all together in this book.

Excellent explanation of a confusing diagnosis - but concerned about the reviewer in VA.......2006-07-14

This is one of the only books that is devoted to this fuzzy area of psychiatry, discussing a diagnosis that is often misdiagnosed. Unfortunately it has been so by a recent reviewer who gave it one star...You've been "clinically diagnosed" wrong if you were diagnosed with hypomania - as a hypomanic I can say that your description of what you've done to yourself in your life would not be a result of hypomania. Find a new psychiatrist who will treat you properly. Best of luck.

I AM CLINICALLY DIAGNOSED. HYPOMANIA RUINED MY LIFE. THIS GUY IS FULL OF DOODOO........2006-07-14

I started experiencing hypomania in middle school. I would have rushes of energy where I spoke in my cat's language, I would suddenly run up and down our upstairs hallway a dozen times. I was also extremely estranged from my real emotions and my emerging sexuality. By junior year of high school, I had full-blown bipolar disorder that tended to stay on the severely depressed side. I went on to college, where my years there alternated between severe depression and completely disabling chronic hypomania. My freshman year I thought I was the most profound student in my class and that I should transfer to Harvard since I wasn't happy where I was. One year I went on a starvation binge and started hallucinating and being very paranoid on campus. I thought I was being persecuted by everyone else.
Four years ago I both went up too high on Effexor and began smoking again, and within two months I was so hypomanic and out of my body that I had to quit my job and move home. Over the next three years I was in and out of about five different jobs, none of them lasting more than three weeks.
At this point in my life I have zero remaining friends from high school and zero from college; in the eight years since college I have made only one acquaintance who I see about every six months. Can John D. Gartner tell me where the success is in all of this? There are thousands of people who struggle with REAL bipolar disorder that involves the crippling, embarassing (did I mention the sketchy sexual encounters over the years?), and completely misleading phenomenon of hypomania. Sure, just a week ago I thought I should become the Chancellor of Germany, but I am still a dog-walker earning $100 a week at the age of 29. With no friends and no connections anywhere.
TO DARLA'S BOY- I AM PROPERLY DIAGNOSED. You are insulting the intelligence of my five or six psychiatrists who I have seen over the years. The one I saw previous to my treatment (currently) with George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates was listed by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the top ten psychiatrists in the district. He diagnosed my hypomania.
There is a category of people who have bipolar disorder to the degree that they experience mania or hypomania, along with psychotic depression so severe that if they were not put on medication, he or she would basically kill himself. In that category is Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, and myself. So these 'hypomanics'. . .where is their severe depression that makes it impossible to take care of a family, let alone get to work on time?
Now that I am on a balanced regimen of medication, I can feel a more natural 'drive' coming back to get on with my life and do good things for myself, but this is only because I know I am smart and I can be a high achiever. It may just be a personality trait that someone wants to stay up all night writing a novel. I simply resent Mr. Gartner's use of the term in a way that dismisses the more severe, socially isolating version of hypomania that I have experienced.

We ARE all crazy!.......2006-05-01

When I first heard of this book I was quite amused by the idea that Americans might be, well, Americans because we're genetically inclined to be a little crazy. The book convinced me that it's true. And by the way, ignore the Publisher's Weekly review, which is made up of bald-faced lies about the book.

The book offers fascinating insights into some of America's most influential people, all of whom were clearly hypomanic. Gartner chooses his subjects with skill among those who created the things that make America unique. He starts, suitably enough, with Christopher Columbus himself, and tells us a lot of things about him our history teachers never did. America-bashing Europeans will doubtless be gratified to know that he was certifiably loony... but it was that very craziness that made his achievement possible.

The next chapter deals with the Puritan religious fanatics who bequeathed to America two things that have remained important: faith in religion even while Europe imagines itself to be too sophisticated for religion and Communist countries (what's left of them) attack it as limiting the power of the state and implying that commissars might someday have to answer to Someone for their crimes; and religious freedom.

The next suitable choice is a Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, without whom we might not have had a Constitution. Industry is another American gift to the world, so there is a chapter about steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Movies are made the world over but the industry has always been dominated by America, and according to Gartner, early Hollywood was virtually a colony of hypomanics, which explains the frenetic behavior for which show business types are known.

Since the entire book has been contending that Americans are genetically inclined to be hypomanic, it seems fitting that he concludes with a chapter about one of the scientists engaged in mapping the human genome.

Every few years, American newspapers start fretting that our dominance of the world's economy and politics is going to be taken away by some other up-and-coming country - Japan, China, someplace. If Gartner is right, and there is little reason to doubt he is, that will never happen, because there is one natural resource here that no country can possibly reproduce: the wide distribution of the hypomanic gene.

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