Average customer rating:
- ready for pret-a-porter
- BLAH-ugly,boring,utterly bland
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Viktor & Rolf
Viktor Horsting , and
Rolf Snoeren
Manufacturer: Artimo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Abstract Expressionism
| Ancient & Classical
| Art Deco
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Fashion Design
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Fashion
| Photography
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General
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Photo Essays
| Photography
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General
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| Arts & Photography
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History
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General
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Similar Items:
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Hussein Chalayan
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Sample: 100 Fashion Designers - 010 Curators - Cuttings from Contemporary Fashion
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Raf Simons
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Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)
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Pierre Cardin
ASIN: 907538016X
Release Date: 1999-12-02 |
Book Description
Artwork by Viktor Horsting, Rolf Snoeren.
Customer Reviews:
ready for pret-a-porter.......2000-02-22
After admiring this perfect made fashion/ art book I realize that their -Viktor & Rolf - statements are really important for the next century of Fashion design. Really finally something else in the glossy superficial fashion world. More then excellent ! As they are finally presenting their Pret-a-porter collection this week in Paris we are looking forward to this new EVENT !
BLAH-ugly,boring,utterly bland.......2000-01-13
This is NOT a fashion-photography book per say-it's more of a technical fashion-DESIGN study-book.If you're looking for new,interesting,arresting fashion-photography,you will NOT find it here.I found the pictures ugly,the models(when actual fashion-models were used)made-up and styled so hideously they looked like hags.There is ONE word for this book:UGLY.I for one am returning it!
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Thomson Gale on October 20, 2006. The length of the article is 1187 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: "Sin contrastes no hay tensi
Average customer rating:
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Investitionsrechnung: Grundlagen und Tabellen
Rolf Viktor Bachtold
Manufacturer: Paul Haupt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback
Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Accounting
| Biography & History
| Business Life
| By Publisher
| Economics
| Finance
| General
| Industries & Professions
| International
| Investing
| Job Hunting & Careers
| Management & Leadership
| Marketing & Sales
| Organizational Behavior
| Personal Finance
| Popular Economics
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| Reference
| Skills
| Small Business & Entrepreneurship
| Women & Business
German
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
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| Books
Nonfiction
| German
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
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All German Books
| German
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 3258011532 |
Average customer rating:
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Viktor & Rolf: Haut Couture Book
Amy Spindler
Manufacturer: Exhibitions International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Commercial
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9053493379 |
Book Description
As its loyal fans will gladly tell you, Pickles has been a zinger-filled, laugh-out-loud gem since it debuted in 1990. Over the last decade, it's steadily climbed in popularity, and today appears in over 400 papers worldwide. Now Andrews McMeel Publishing is releasing its first-ever collection of the strip that Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel readers voted as their overwhelming favorite comic, spanning all sexes and age groups.Still Pickled After All These Years collects recent strips from the sweet intergenerational comic that alternates point of view between an older married couple, a 30-something married couple, and a their son. The strip centers on Earl and Opal Pickles, who have been married over 50 years but inject plenty of spunk and insight into everything they do. Whether they're taking a wry but sympathetic glance at their divorced daughter Sylvia, laughing at their faithful but feckless canine, Roscoe, marveling at their dictatorial feline, Muffin, or just commenting on the little things in life, Earl and Opal's good-natured wit and dry humor is brilliantly on target.Pickles is about growing old and keeping your sense of humor but never forgetting what it's like to be a child. The strip's inaugural AMP collection, Still Pickled After All These Years, encapsulates the importance of staying close to those who bring you the most joy and reminds everyone from teens to seniors about the incalculable value of the unconditional love of pets, family, and friends.
Customer Reviews:
Pickles.......2007-10-03
Pickles are the funniest books. Is Brian Crane hiding in our home?
Is that how he knows us so well.
1000 and 5 stars for this book and Brian Crane.......2007-09-02
This Brian Crane has invaded our home, no other explanation for his hitting the nail on our heads
Laughing my head off.......2007-06-09
Brian Crane is without a doubt one of the funniest cartoonists out there today. His book "Still Pickled After All These Years: A Pickles Book" is just hilarious. You will find yourself laughing out loud while reading this book. It is amazing how easy it is to see real people...i.e., parents/grandparents in his cartoon strips. I highly recommend this book.
Days of laughter.......2006-06-30
Mr crane, with minimal penstrokes, creates a world of retired folks that captures the humerous and very real situations that we, or our friends, experience.
Average customer rating:
- Adorable, clever pics; crappy binding
- Bunnies! How cute!
- So adorable
- They're SO cute!
- Great Shots of these Loveable Animals
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Funny Bunnies
Laurie Frankel
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Nature & Wildlife
| Photography
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Early Reader
| Series
| Children's Books
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| A-Z Mysteries
| All Aboard Reading
| Amanda Pig
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| Young Cam Jansen Mysteries
Cats, Dogs & Animals
| Humor
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General
| Humor
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Rabbits
| Animal Care & Pets
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Mice, Hamsters & Guinea Pigs
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Look Inside Children's Books
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Look Inside Entertainment Books
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Look Inside Home & Garden Books
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Rabbit Health in the 21st Century: A Guide for Bunny Parents
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Training Your Pet Rabbit (Training Your Pet Series)
ASIN: 0811840557 |
Book Description
Here we have a bevy of bunny beauty with everything from fuzzy tails to floppy ears to stylish coats to Belgian hare styles. Funny Bunnies celebrates the many snuggly virtues of these adorable companions with 75 color photographs of 30 different breeds. This charming, visual hop along the bunny trail also includes fun-to-read details about each breed, such as its origins, coat, and behavior, as well as distinctive and downright adorable characteristics. We meet the English Lop, the oldest known domestic breed of rabbit, dubbed "King of the Fancy" by rabbit aficionados, who boasts ears up to twelve inches long. There's the sweet-natured Chinchilla Giant, renowned for its girth, weighing in at up to 16 pounds, and the Netherland Dwarf, who comes in a rainbow of rabbit colors and is small enough to nestle in the palm of your hand. Readers will marvel at the long fur of the Angora rabbit, which grows at the rate of an inch a month and is used like wool to make cozy sweaters. A great gift at Easter or anytime, Funny Bunnies includes a recommended reading list as well as a bunny resource section with tips to help bunny lovers learn more and even select an appropriate carrot-nibbling companion. If the lovable Fuzzy Lop, the Beveren with to-die-for eyes, and the wee Dutch featured in these pages don't melt your heart, you may not be bunny people after all.
Customer Reviews:
Adorable, clever pics; crappy binding.......2007-07-01
The photos are really sweet. Super, super cute. I like the use of backgrounds to complement or contrast the bunny being photographed. The book binding totally sucks. My book arrived scuffed up and the binding, especially between facing pages, looks shoddy and low-budget. It distracts me from the content. I would have appreciated a bit more info about the breeds. It's mostly a playful book with nice photos and limited information about the breeds or individual rabbits being photographed.
Bunnies! How cute!.......2007-06-08
I love this book. I can read it over and over again. The pictures are great too. Bunnies are so multi-dimensional, I can't believe some people just view them as vermin. This book opened up my eyes to the beautiful varieties of rabbits out there and their unique and peculiar characteristics and personalities.
So adorable.......2005-08-12
I'm a fan of the Funny Bunnies book, so getting these notecards was a must. Fantastic photography!
They're SO cute!.......2004-03-21
To anyone who has ever tried to photograph a bunny, this book is priceless. They will not sit still. It was not the rabbit's idea, so all you will see are their butts. How the author/photgrapher she did it, I'll never know. But you cannot look at the pictures of the personality-charged bunnies without smiling, I dare you!.. You can tell that Laurie Frankel talked to "Bunny People" to get the details on each of these enigmatic creatures. If you are expecting your garden variety shy, quiet bunny, you will find out the real thing is much, much different. This book demonstrates that it may take a lifetime to get to know a bunny, and maybe never understand. It's a trip that makes this book and bunnies worth all the trouble. My mother once asked me "how can you love a bunny". This book demonstrates, "how can you NOT!"... I read it, laughed out loud at the pictures and descripions..I love it. And then I went and hugged my own non-photo-compliant rabbit models.. can you ask a book to do more than that?!
Great Shots of these Loveable Animals.......2004-03-18
For people who love rabbits, FUNNY BUNNIES is the perfect gift. Photographer Laurie Frankel seems to have the ability to capture the amusing and loveable characteristics of rabbits. A wide variety of rabbits are included in the book. There are dwarf rabbits, lop eared rabbits, spotted rabbits, and even one that resembles a French poodle. As a rabbit owner and lover, as well as an amateur photographer, I envy Frankel's ability to get these shots. She must have been following the rabbits with her camera for hours. Rabbits move fast and a photographer always has to be ready.
Please note that this book is not a "how to" book on rabbit care, it's just a book that captures amusing shots of these adorable animals, and for rabbit fans, that will do just fine.
Average customer rating:
- Great book for reading readiness...
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Funny Bunnies
Emily Sollinger
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
Fiction
| Farm Animals
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Fiction
| Rabbits
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Fiction
| Easter
| Holidays & Festivals
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
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General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
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General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0448424703 |
Book Description
Leap into spring with the most adorable bunnies in these chunky, photographic, die-cut board books that babies are sure to love! In Funny Bunnies, have fun with all different kinds of bouncing bunnies-some with floppy ears, some with pointy ears, and some with wild and fuzzy fur! Both books are irresistibly cute and perfect for Easter.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for reading readiness..........2006-06-11
This book lets you teach 29 vowel-spellings with 77 vocabulary words.
Average customer rating:
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The Funny Bunny Factory
Leonard Weisgard
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9990366829 |
Average customer rating:
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Funny Bunnies
Robert M. Quackenbush
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 089919267X |
Average customer rating:
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Funny Bunnies on the Run
Robert M. Quackenbush
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 089919771X |
Average customer rating:
- You'll keep thinking about it days after reading it
- Hartzell, Andy-- Handy
|
Fox Bunny Funny
Andy Hartzell
Manufacturer: Top Shelf Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Novels
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
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ASIN: 189183097X |
Book Description
The rules are simple: you're either a fox or a bunny. Foxes oppress and devour, bunnies suffer and die. Everyone knows their place. Everyone's satisfied. So what happens when a secret desire puts you at odds with your society? Starting from a simple premise - and without using a single word - Fox Bunny Funny leads the reader on a zigzag chase in and out of rabbit holes, and through increasingly strange landscapes where funny animals have serious identity problems. The tale swerves from slapstick to horror and back again before landing at the inevitable climax, in which all the old rules are shattered. When you emerge, you'll find yourself gazing at our own fragmenting society with new eyes.
Customer Reviews:
You'll keep thinking about it days after reading it.......2007-07-17
A beautiful and evocative visual story. Metaphorically deep and accessible to a wide age range. Highly recommended.
Hartzell, Andy-- Handy.......2007-07-02
This is not a fuzzy-wuzzy comic book. It's not something to give your kids when they're done with their latest issue of Donald Duck Goes To Happyland.
This is hardcore, down-and-dirty, mess-with-your-head weirdness.
And we can all thank Hartzell he took the effort to make it for us.
Andy's a talented guy; there's no escaping that. His earlier works, from the "Edna" series to his weighty "Monday," demonstrated his talent in both storytelling and pure art. His capability to lambaste the reader with emotion, using only line drawings, is remarkable.
And, like "Monday," "FBF" deals with weighty subjects...and doesn't use words.
Okay, for most writers, this would be a brutal undertaking-- punishment of the worst sort. "You want me to deal with WHAT? Without using any WORDS???"
But Hartzell can not only do it, he does it with a stark simplicity that probably conducts fear, horror, hatred, joy, and happiness better than prose can do...or has done.
FBF deals with The Other in a society; the easiest analogies are right there in front of you, barely hidden by the symbolism...but I think there are deeper, more universal feelings there, too. Can a character with a different agenda from those in a shared society, a character with an affinity for the taboo, subliminate its own needs for the sake of fitting in? And how far does that carry? And what else is there?
Hartzell goes at these questions with an ink pen that could be a metaphorical sledgehammer.
Let him hit you in the forehead. It's worth it.
Average customer rating:
- Absolutely adorable alphabet book!
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Wilbur Bunny's Funny Friends A To Z (Wilbur Bunny)
Manufacturer: Cartwheel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
Alphabet
| Basic Concepts
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Fiction
| General
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
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General
| Literature
| Children's Books
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Fiction
| General
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| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
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Alphabet
| Basic Concepts
| Baby-3
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| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
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General
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General
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| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
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All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0439173272 |
Customer Reviews:
Absolutely adorable alphabet book!.......2002-09-02
Wilbur Bunny is a delightful guide in this alphabet book, and Szekeres' little Toby the bunny appears on nearly every page. Szekeres uses alliteration to help your child remember each letter of the alphabet ("Silly Susan sings songs with Sylvia"). The illustrations are a delight too. "Unusual Ursula" certainly is! Little Toby appears here and there to lend a hand. This is an adorable easy to remember book, and you will find yourself repeating the rhymes during the day. A best buy for your tot!
Average customer rating:
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Funny Bunny (Ten Word Books)
Janie Spaht Gill , and
Judy Schoder
Manufacturer: Aro Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Fiction
| Rabbits
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Law & Crime
| Reference & Nonfiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Issues
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0898680697 |
Average customer rating:
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What a Funny Bunny (ABC Adventures)
Patricia Whitehead
Manufacturer: Troll Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
jp-unknown2
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0816703620 |
Book Description
This profusely illustrated manual offers the basic tools and cocepts necessary to perform the job of script supervisor.
Average customer rating:
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Kate Wolf Revisited
Manufacturer: Another Sundown Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
jp-unknown2
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0961870621 |
Book Description
A second collection of Kate Wolf's music, featuring many songs which were never recorded, released, or published. Also includes a special Lyrics section of songs without music.
Book Description
Nobody knows puzzles better than master creator Terry Stickels, and that’s why this collection is pure, unmatched fun. Frame Games are favorites in many newspapers, and they challenge solvers to come up with a well-known saying, person, place, or thing. Many offer Visual Puns, almost like rebuses, with a combination of writing and images. The author lives in Fort Worth, TX.
Customer Reviews:
great games.......2007-01-17
I gave this book to my husband as a Christmas stocking stuffer and he loved it! There aren't many books out there like this one, so to find so many clever frame games all in one place was a delight. If you or someone you know likes "brain games" this book will definitely stretch the mind!
Love this book.......2006-01-16
This is the cutest book cover. I always play "Frame Games" in the weekly Sunday paper in the USA Today. I enjoyed it so much, I researched where to find a book of these wonderful games. I actually sent an email to Terry Stickels and got a response a few hours later, referring me to Amazon.com to find his book. I love this book. The book is shaped and looks like a toilet seat. How clever it is. I ordered two books, one to give away and I placed the other one in the guest bathroom. What a conversation piece this is. I love this book and the frame games inside. I visit Terry Stickels web site often. I will probably purchase more of these cute books to give away as gifts in the future.
Just a tad bit of a disapiontment........2005-10-08
The book was just ok.. I wish I had seen it in a book store first... I might not have purchased it.I enjoy the frame games in the week-end news paper inserts and was a little dispointed.I didn't like the odd shape of the book or the way it was set up, with the puzzles and answers. I found the puzzles weren't of the same caliber as those I enjoy weekly.
Great Portable Fun!.......2005-09-28
I just love these puzzles.
Terry Stickels Frame Games have been featured in various newspapers and now 159 are gathered in one place in this volume.
Shaped like a toilet seat (with the back depicting swirling water, presumably after a flush!), this 96-page book is a great way to challenge the mind and pass the time. Its convenient size lends itself nicely for portability--especially in larger purses, briefcases, and diaper bags!
"Frame Games" are pictorial word puzzles. For example, one puzzle features a series of horizontal lines. In bold, the letters NME are at the fore. The answer? "Behind enemy lines".
Some puzzles are pretty easy, but others are real stumpers! There's a few I haven't gotten yet, in fact.
Rather than read this book all the way through, I pick it up every once in awhile just to solve a few puzzles. For example, earlier this evening I was sitting on the porch with my husband and we were trying to figure out some of the frame games.
The answers are on consecutive pages in case you're tempted to peek. I actually wish they were all in the back because it's possible to accidentally see the answers to previous puzzles you may not have solved yet if your eye roams towards the center of the book!
Sit & Solve Frame Games is great fun and would make an exceptional gift or stocking-stuffer for hard-to-buy-for folks who tend to enjoy puzzles.
And hey! you just can't beat the affordability for this much amusement, either.
Signs of Intelligent Life.......2004-09-09
Terry and I go back a few years. We're both in the puzzle biz. Terry never ceases to amaze me with his ability to produce book after book of ingenious, visual and rewarding puzzles. They're like taking a Mensa test ... only a whole lot more fun. And to borrow from a popular potato chip slogan, "you can't solve just one!" So if you order this volume, and I hope you do, don't schedule anything important for the day it arrives in the mail.
Book Description
Lessons from Famous "Invention Factories" Past and Present
Did you know that the incandescent lightbulb first emerged some thirty years before Thomas Edison famously "turned night into day"? Or that Henry Ford's revolutionary assembly line came from an unlikely blend of observations from Singer sewing machines, meatpacking, and Campbell's Soup?
In this fascinating study of innovation, engineer and social scientist Andrew Hargadon argues that our romantic notions about innovation as invention are actually undermining our ability to pursue breakthrough innovations.
Based on ten years of study into the origins of historic inventions and modern innovations from the lightbulb to the transistor to the Reebok Pump athletic shoe, How Breakthroughs Happen takes us beyond the simple recognition that revolutionary innovations do not result from flashes of brilliance by lone inventors or organizations. In fact, innovation is really about creatively recombining ideas, people, and objects from past technologies in ways that spark new technological revolutions.
This process of "technology brokering" is so powerful, explains Hargadon, because it exploits the networked nature-the social side-of the innovation process. Moving between historical accounts of labs and factory floors where past technological revolutions originated and field studies of similar processes in today's organizations, Hargadon shows how technology brokers create an enduring capacity for breakthrough innovations.
Technology brokers simultaneously bridge the gaps in existing networks that separate distant industries, firms, and divisions to see how established ideas can be applied in new ways and places, and build new networks to guide these creative recombinations to mass acceptance. How Breakthroughs Happen identifies three distinct strategies for technology brokering that managers can implement in their organizations.
Hargadon suggests that Edison and his counterparts were no smarter than the rest of us-they were simply better at moving through the networked world of their time. Intriguing, practical, and counterintuitive, How Breakthroughs Happen can help managers transform their own firms into modern-day invention factories.
Customer Reviews:
Innovative Idea: Innovators are merely competent.......2006-02-11
As an experienced engineer/researcher, I agree with Hargadon's basic thesis that great innovators in history have not been leagues above everyone else. More commonly they have simply had the proper education and are in a position to use analogies from other fields to solve a problem in a unique way. Indeed, I would go further and say they are usually merely competent, which does not mean average.
In my experience, the average researcher is usually ineffective. This is due to funding management systems which reward mediocrity, staying within bounds, and not taking risks. True innovators have usually taken personal and financial risks, which Hargadon does not emphasize. However, he emphasizes that once one has a successful invention, they should realize they will not stay unique long and must broker the technology to not wind up like Philo Farnsworth.
This is a new research area pioneered by Hargadon, so the book is not a finished compedium like a macroeconomics text, which can draw upon decades of research. The book is very readable and interesting. It draws upon a number of historical and recent examples. My only complaint is that he might overplay a few firms like IDEO, but later editions might add more examples.
Is innovation key to your business? This is the book for you!!.......2006-02-04
History of innovation process from Thomas Edison on. Focuses on examples of "brokering" processes by which existing ideas from multiple communities (isolated networks) are recombined to improve a new product/process/industry. Example Henry Ford's production line used the processes and ideas that were refined in Brewing, Sewing Machine Factories and Granaries.
Rip, Mix and Burn.......2005-08-12
School have thought you wrong. Great innovations are not different from the rest of us. On the contrary - they are engaged in the same activities as we are. When we Rip.Mix and Burn we are in fact innovating. This book teaches us that using the past as building blocks in creating the future has always been the most successful way to create new innovative products. As such the book is not only very helpful for corporate managers it also captures a central part of the present culture we live in.
Hargadon draws from past as well as present exemples. We get to see the innovative process at Edisons Menlo Park lab, Ideo, Design Continuum, HP, Microsoft among others but the fact stays the same- creativity is essentially a process of picking parts from the past and mixing them with each other to create something new. After reading this book sucessful innovation will no longer be a mystery and Hargadon gives some clear and very helpful advice in unlocking the creative potential of any organization.
A must read for not only for those engaging in innovation but also for all people trying to figure out the pros and cons with copyrights and downloads. And even if you are not att all interested in those topics you will have a lot of material to surprise your friends and families with at the next party.
I myself had a great time reading this book.
Disappointing and Boring.......2004-08-23
I had high hopes for this book. There are too many parts that feel self-serving and pointless. I felt like I was reading the author's autobiography rather than reading a book on innovation. The material on IDEO could have so much better from a content perspective but it stopped short of providing practical information to the reader. I found the preface by one of the author's former professors to be the best part of the book. I would not recommend buying this book.
The Paradox of Innovation.......2004-06-03
For many who read this book, it may well be a "surprising truth" that innovation succeeds "not by breaking free from constraints of the past but instead by harnessing the past in powerful new ways." I am among those who agree with the prophet Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun; also with the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who asserted that everything changes...but nothing changes. I also agree with Hargadon's emphasis on the importance of an innovation strategy which seeks to take full advantage of what can be learned from the past inorder to create the future. His core concept is "technology brokering" which he introduces and then rigorously examines in Part I; next, in Part II, he describes the "networked perspective" of innovation, explaining how this strategy influences the innovative process within organizations, regardless of their size and nature; finally, in Part III, Hargadon provides specific and practical examples of how various organizations have designed and then implemented technology brokering strategies. Throughout the narrative, Hargadon explores in depth with rigor and eloquence his core premise: "that breakthrough innovation comes by recombining the people, ideas, and objects of past technologies."
In this context, I am reminded of what Carla O'Dell asserts in If We Only Knew What We Know when discussing what she calls "beds of knowledge" which are "hidden resources of intelligence that exist in almost every organization, relatively untapped and unmined." She suggests all manner of effective strategies to "tap into "this hidden asset, capturing it, organizing it, transferring it, and using it to create customer value, operational excellence, and product innovation -- all the while increasing profits and effectiveness." Almost all organizations claim that their "most valuable assets walk out the door at the end of each business day." That is correct. Almost all intellectual "capital" is stored between two ears and much (too much) of it is, for whatever reasons, inaccessible to others except in "small change....there is no conclusion to managing knowledge and transferring best practices. It is a race without a finishing line."
I think this is precisely what Hargadon has in mind when insisting that the future is already here, that the "raw materials for the next breakthrough technology may [also] be already here [but probably] without assembly instructions," that decision-makers must find their "discomfort zones" rather than remain hostage to what Jim O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom," and that they should build a "bridge" to their own strengths but also to their weaknesses because, as they perform, so will their organization. I agree with Hargadon that innovation must unfold at the ground level, "in the minds and hearts of the engineers and entrepreneurs who are doing the work." Also, that -- meanwhile -- they and their associates must be guided and informed, not only by their own organization's "beds of knowledge" but also by external sources of information concerning prior successes and failures of the innovation process elsewhere. In the final analysis, there is good news and bad news. First the bad news: "New ideas are built from the pieces of old ones, and nobody works alone." Now the good news: "New ideas are built from the pieces of old ones, and nobody works alone."
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