Book Description
Beginning with the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631, an event so powerful it created a new landscape and inspired the desolate and savage paintings of Salvator Rosa, Richard Davenport-Hines traces the evolution of the gothic imagination. This revelatory history ranges through art, architecture, gardening, literature, photography, filmmaking, music, and clothing design, and takes in artists and creations as various as Byron, Horace Walpole, Goya, Frankenstein's monster, Edgar Allan Poe, Jackson Pollock, David Lynch, The Terminator, and The Cure.
Customer Reviews:
Gothed.......2002-09-19
Subtitled "Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil, and Ruin," this book is not what one should buy for your weird teen goth nephew who wears a nose ring, black fingernail polish, listens to Marilyn Manson, and hangs out at the food court at the mall.
Davenport-Hines' book is strictly a historic work, tracing gothicism from the middle ages to today. While most of the book is interesting, the field is so big that the author can only bring surface examples to light without probing them too deeply. He has a section on the music of the Cure, and the literature of Poppy Z. Brite, but chose not, or just could not, interview either one of them.
The author's biggest mistake is the amount of pages spent on gothic architecture. The first half of the book is full of castle names, earls and dukes, and is of little interest to those who want to read about the gothic lifestyle.
The author does deconstruct the literature of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne rather well, in addition to a myriad of British authors whose names I am not familiar with, but might be interested in now. His coverage of gothic art is average. The book includes photographs of many pieces of art, but the author must resign himself to describing pieces he could not include in the pictures, leading to reader frustration.
I do slightly recommend this book, but do not be fooled by its dark cover. This covers four hundred years of gothic HISTORY, not four hundred years of your nephew hanging out at the mall and listening to Marilyn Manson (who is not covered here).
more about tim burton?.......2000-12-24
The book was great until it started getting to the last part of the 20th century. There he forgot a lot of current gothic works in the areas of comic books and film. I think Tim Burton was only mentioned ONCE in the whole book for his work on the first Batman movie. He should have further explored Tim Burton's work on Batman, as well as talked about Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, The Crow, etc. He also could have explored horror films with dark themes like Rosemary's Baby. And he forgot to talk about Batman comics, Sandman, and maybe even Spawn.
Don't finish this book.......2000-09-30
This book was excellent, and would have had a fifth star had it not been for the last horrible chapter. Lacking the structure and finesse of the previous text (deadline panic?), the final chapter, which covers the most recent gothic trends, overlooks much obviously important contemporary gothic work. Perhaps the most overlooked item is Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic, a highly intelligent and powerful work of art that elevated the gothic genre higher than most any other piece in recent history. And focusing on the imitative, excremental writing of Poppy Brite, whose emotional infantilism employs gothic's worst tropes, undermines much of Davenport-Hines' previous text. Film-wise, much was passed over from Freaks up until David Lynch. Even Blade Runner, though sci-fi, emphasizes gothic conventions. And musically, where was the mention of the likes of the Damned, or the Misfits, or even Skinny Puppy, who upped the ante on Alice Cooper's theatrics, who himself was heavily influenced by the non-theatrical reality of Iggy Pop's nihilism? Artwise, the Surrealists--and the Dadaists--questioned the value of life and society in ways that perpetuated gothic ideas. What about Artaud, and the Grand Guignol theater? Mentioning Damien Hirst and the Chapman brothers reeks of name-dropping and filler more than it does the gothic aesthetic. Although these artists are fascinating in their own macabre fashion, they hardly embody the very gothic qualities the author himself spent the rest of the book building (excepting perhaps the Brothers' recreation of Goya's drawing). Do we really need to know about Hirst's restaurant? The last chapter should have been the strongest considering its temporal proximity to the present, but instead was its weakest. A book like this can't be expected to detail everything, but the closer the timeline came to contemporary culture, the bigger the gaps. The rest of it, however, was so strong and fascinating in its own right that the sins of the end can be forgiven. Avoid the last chapter and remain satisfied.
A fascinating subject that deserves better.......2000-05-16
As a historian & a goth I so looked forward to this book. While it started out interesting, the closer it got to the 20th c. (my area of expertise) the more flaws I found in his research. I joked that he must have typed in "gothic" on yahoo & printed out everything that came up... then I looked in the footnotes. They are filled with website citations of peoples' homepages! No wonder the research was so bad! Because of space limitations I can only give one example: he lists "Carcass" & "Suburban Relapse" as Bauhaus songs, when they are, in fact, Siouxsie & the Banshees songs. I wonder what he got wrong in his research of previous centuries, about which I have less knowledge. It is so disjointed towards the end that, frankly, it reads like a 15-year-old's "Things I Like" list. What a disappointment! Someone else, please pick up the gauntlet & write an accurate history of goth influence on the centuries!
THe athority on the history of Gothic.......2000-05-09
This book is wonderfully extensive covering everything from Elizabeth Bathory to The Cure. It would prove useful to both modern Goths and literary scholars. This is a one of a kind resource that you will keep referring back to. It is the single most useful book on my book shelves.
Average customer rating:
- A luscious array of heavenly, hellish shoes
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Heavenly Soles: Extraordinary 20th Century Shoes
Mary Trasko
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
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Shoes: The Complete Sourcebook
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Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More
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Shoes (V & A Fashion Accessories)
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Stiletto
ASIN: 1558593241 |
Customer Reviews:
A luscious array of heavenly, hellish shoes.......2006-06-19
Trasko defines the subject of her study as "... only the most influential creations, as well as particularly inventive and unusual footwear. The focus here is on high fashion, with relatively little attention to working-class or middle-class shoes, which deserve their own study." And the day that we see a glossy book about those shoes will be the revolution. The reader should be aware the "quite a few fetish models are depicted, for they are among the most awe-inspiring shoes of their era ... ." I don't criticize their inclusion, but adults might want to flip through and decide if they want to explain to little ones why some of the women are oddly dressed, or naked except for boots. The reader should also be aware that shoes are generally limited to English, French, Italian and American.
As a woman who chooses her shoes almost entirely for comfort, this is about as close as I care to get to wearing most of them, but I must admit that they are sometimes gorgeous objects. It is frustrating that so little design effort is put into practical shoes: just because I like to be comfortable doesn't mean that I don't appreciate attractive stitching and clever color combinations. Trasko quotes shoe-designer Robert Vivier as saying that shoe design is "a sculptural problem in which the center is always a void." Generally speaking, I find that craft is better than art if one is going to actually use the thing. Trasko is quite aware of the tension here: as much as she loves high-fashion shoes, she is not blind to the foot problems that extreme styles cause, or the inhibiting effect such shoes have had one women. She celebrates the opportunity to switch among different styles.
The book draws upon many sources: advertising, design drawings, and what appear to be museum shots. As a result, although most of the book is in color, some are in black-and-white if they were shot before color became common. The pictures are generally large enough to show the details. They are placed so that almost all of the detailing, types of heels, for example, and all the designs discussed are illustrated. The text is generally in chronological order with significant detail about changes in design, i.e., the stileto heel. In some cases, pictures of the clothing fashionable at the time is included. My one suggestion for improvement would be to have more pictures like this (publishers just love lengthening books!) Althea Mackenzie's Shoes and Slippers: From Snowshill, one of the World's Leading Collections of Costume and Accessories of the 18th and 19th Centuries did a effective job of this using very small pictures: not a lot of detail, but one gets some sense of the overall effect. I found the text relatively succinct and very clear. There is some discussion of major designers and manufacturers, as well as changes in methods of production.
The book includes a table-of-contents, notes, a bibliography and an index. There is a mistake in the table of contents: the photographic credits are on page 131, not 128.
Both beautiful and informative.
Average customer rating:
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Cashless Investing in Real Estate
Jack Cummings
Manufacturer: Putnam Pub Group (T)
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ASIN: 0872237494 |
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Valie Export: Fragments of the Imagination (Women Artists in Film)
Roswitha Mueller
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
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ASIN: 0253209250 |
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Leroy Anderson: Almost Complete
Manufacturer: Warner Bros Pubns
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The Leroy Anderson Collection
ASIN: 0769214533 |
Book Description
25 great melodies as originally composed for piano solo. Includes: The Waltzing Cat * Jazz Pizzicato * Blue Tango * Fiddle Faddle.
Book Description
For more than 100 years, the world's leading chess players and teachers have told their students to study the endgame. Now, for the first time, a revolutionary, richly instructive endgame book has been designed for players of all levels. Silman's Complete Endgame Course, by famed writer and player Jeremy Silman, is the one and only endgame book you'll need as you move up the ladder from beginner to strong tournament player and finally to master.
Designed to "speak" to a player in a very personal way, Silman's book teaches the student everything he or she needs to know at his or her current rating level, and builds on that knowledge for each subsequent phase of the player's development. Starting at the beginner's level, all basic mates are clearly and painstakingly explained. After that, the critical building blocks that form the endgame foundation for all tournament hopefuls and experienced tournament competitors are explored in detail. Finally, advanced endgame secrets based on concepts rather than memorization are presented in a way that makes them easy to master.
The basic keys to a well-rounded endgame education--Opposition, the Lucena and Philidor Positions, Cat and Mouse, Trebuchet, Fox in the Chicken Coup, Triangulation, Building a Box, Square of a Pawn, Outflanking, the Principle of Two Weaknesses--are vital. But equally important is creating a love of the endgame, which is addressed at the end of the book with a look at chess tactics, minor piece domination, and a discussion of the five greatest endgame players of all time--all things that every fan of chess at every level can enjoy.
If you have found the endgame to be a mystery, if you have found that your confidence plummets once you reach an endgame, if you have searched for an instructive endgame book that will turn your weakest link--your endgame--into your personal field of power, your search is over. Silman's Complete Endgame Course is the key to a world of essential ideas, startling beauty, and stunning creativity.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best chess books........2007-08-23
I have been studying chess (with a coach) for eight months, and I have found that most chess books are written for players way above my current ability. This one, though, is terrific. It takes you from beginning endgame stuff steadily through more difficult material, building on itself as it goes.
Good endgame book, especially for the beginner.......2007-08-23
I have found this book to be helpful and useful, especially for the beginner. It separates each endgame "course" according to rating, so that the beginner is not trying to learn moves for a class A player, and a class A player doesn't have to slog through stuff they've known for years. I highly recommend it.
Gives you what you need and don't need to know.......2007-08-16
I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said in their reviews.
Yes - brilliant concept, sorting endgames by playing strength. Stroke of genius. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before. Etc
I'd just like to say how liberating it is to read an instructional chess book and know that I can stop after a certain number of chapters because I already know more than enough.
There are not many chess books that explicitly state: "you already know enough about this - now go and practise some tactics and come back when you get a few games under your belt".
The hardest part about studying the endgame is knowing when to stop.
This book tells you what you DON'T need to know as well as what you DO.
Lucena position - don't worry about it just yet - get your rating up first.
Knight and Bishop versus Lone King - it ain't gonna happen.
How refreshing!
Wonderful.......2007-08-13
This is a step by step guide to the endgame. There has been a competition between two types of endgame books - those that want you to memorize thousands of positions and those who want you to understand various concepts and memorize only a couple positions. The problem becomes that the first is very time consuming but straight forward and the later is much faster but very difficult to understand.
This book gives the speed of learning concepts with the straightforwardness of memorizing positions. Silman has out done himself this time.
The only downside to this book is that it does not show how to checkmate with Knight and Bishop vs King but how many times have you actually been in this position? My guess is none and if you have been in it, odds are you never will be again.
I recommend this book for people of skill level from beginner to master.
Superb book to learn endgames.......2007-07-23
This was the second endgame book I bought. The first, "Just the Facts Winning Chess Endgames" was organized by endgame type (e.g. Rook Endgames). Silman's is truly a course, with chapters for beginners on up by rating. So rather than trying to master everything there is about rook endgames, Silman gives you what you need to know for your ability level. You revisit different endgames as you progress through the chapters.
I love all of Silman's books that I've read so far, and this one is no exception! If you're already a top-notch player, maybe any endgame book will work for you. But if you're learning, Silman's can't be beat!
Customer Reviews:
A Waste of Time so far .......2006-11-26
I have to admit I'm not finished reading this book and generally hate reviews that haven't read the entire book. But this time there's a particular reason why I'm writing this review now.
That reason is that the first sentence in this book is: "They're too busy. Can't read what they get now" referring to leaders and decision-makers, the very people this book is intended to help. Apparently the authors didn't take the VERY FIRST line in their own book to heart. Perhaps in a bizarre attempt to prove the mediocrity of anything done by committee the authors have written a ridiculously convoluted, meandering, unorganized, semi-pointless, quasi-sort-of history book, that really, really, REALLY takes it time to get to it's sort-of point. If you ever want to be completely befuddled as to how Harvard -supposedly the best university in the world- picks its professors just read the like 12 pages too long and completely pointless preface to this book. Just as Jeremy Rifkin's total bunk has taken the sheen off of Wharton for me, these two have achieved the same sizing down for Haw-vad.
Anyway, from what I can tell so far you can read the two very good spotlight reviews -whose authors fortunately seemed to enjoy the book a good deal- and get the entire point of the book without actually having to buy or read it. Otherwise the actual meat and potatoes of the book is: One (and the authors even admit to this point in their preface!!) not very good history (the authors admit to it being "tight" and scaled down) of selected case studies, which actually don't even support their method of using history. (At the end of the very first case study on the Cuban Missile Crisis, supposedly the success story to grab your attention and show the uses of history, the authors summarize by stating that the crisis was probably a success purely by accident, and that some of the supposedly wonderful decisions made by Kennedy and his advisor were even made on the basis of AVOIDING history! So remember kids, go ahead and avoid history sometimes, use it other times, and poof, by accident, history will help you to . . . err . . . do, um . . . well, I forgot.) And two, a bunch of platitudes like you should study history "carefully" (as opposed to carelessly I guess . . .), thinking can improve things on the margin (I'll be sure to start thinking now and see if I can earn a couple more percent a year), and you should look before you leap, and, like, wait 30 minutes before swimming after you eat your sandwich, and if you don't touch your tuna casserole it's going to get cold, and . . .
I might continue reading this thing, but right now it's a lot of work for very little payoff, and I've got better things to do with my time. It's too bad because I really do believe history is important in forming good decisions, but this book just isn't reaching me on how to read and use history.
Unreadable.......2005-07-09
A few years ago, I was assigned to read this book for a course in my MA War Studies programme at King's College London.
This book was utterly unreadable. I am still unable to fathom how professors at Harvard could produce such convoluted nonsense.
There is no 'quick and easy' method to master the use of history when making decisions. I pity those who would seek to discover such a chimera in this book.
A Powerful System for Using Historical Examples.......2005-05-01
For years, Richard Neustadt and Ernest May taught a course in Decision Making at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. It must have been one heck of a course.
The subtitle of this book is "The Uses of History for Decision-Makers." That could actually be broadened a bit to something like "The Uses of Precedents and Analogies for Decision-Makers."
Remember when we were debating going to war in Iraq? How many times did you hear the precedent of Viet Nam invoked?
And, if you're old enough, remember Viet Nam? How many times did you hear about Munich?
How many times in business have you heard a colleague invoke a historical precedent to justify a particular course of action?
We use historical precedents and analogies all the time. Most of the time we use them as if history repeats itself. It doesn't.
Mark Twain's aphorism captures best what really happens. "History does not repeat, but it does rhyme." This book will give you tools that you can use to sort out what's the same (the rhymes) and what's different and then use your analysis to make better decisions.
The authors introduce you to methods that will help you sort things out in all kinds of different situations. They teach you about separating "facts" into known, unknown, and presumed. They discuss analyzing precedents that you're about to base a decision on in terms of likes and differences from the current situation.
By itself, no individual idea or tool is unique. None of this is rocket science. But the authors give you a systematic application of common sense and proven techniques. That system gives you power.
There are lots of little "sidebar" points as well. For example, there's the Goldberg Rule.
That rule tells you not to ask, "What's the problem?" Instead ask, "What's the story?" I picked up that technique from this book when I first read it years ago and I've used it ever since in my consulting work and research. Try it. You'll like it.
There's also Dr. Alexander's question, which: "What fresh facts, if at hand, by when, would cause you to change your presumption?" Instead of presumption, you can insert direction, or recommendation. This simple question forces decision-makers in a group to look at underlying assumptions and to look at when those assumptions need to be changed. It, too, is simple and powerful.
The techniques in this book will definitely help you sharpen your decision-making skills. But there's an added benefit for you if you're a history buff. You'll enjoy the anecdotes and analysis of historical events, such as The Bay of Pigs, where one of the authors was an advisor.
There are a lot of books on decision-making. This is the only one I'm aware of that deals clearly and systematically with the use of precedent and historical analogy.
An indispensable aid for decision makers........2003-02-11
As an avid reader of history, I've long struggled with putting my learning to use in day-to-day situations, whether that be in evaluating critical business decisions or in helping me better observe and understand the world around me. On the one hand, there is the familiar aphorism attributed to George Santayana that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. But, on the other hand, each situation is truly unique, and the use of historical analogies is clearly fraught with pitfalls. "Thinking in Time" addresses this conundrum and provides a sound basis for using historical knowledge intelligently and responsibly.
To overcome the temptation of using history incorrectly, the authors put forward a specific process for decision makers in crisis situations, and they use case studies to highlight successes and failures in the use of history as guide to decision making. The case studies are all drawn from domestic and foreign policy scenarios, but the lessons are applicable to any organization (private sector, non-profit, etc.).
The authors' decision making methodology may seem a bit didactic or formulaic at first, but it is meant to be used with the greatest flexibility. The heart of the process is to establish a system of critical inquiry and resist the temptation to jump to the "options phase" of decision making immediately. Rather, the authors argue, focus clearly on the situation at hand and confirm the intended objective. This can be started by listing what is known, what is unclear and what is presumed about the situation. Next, analogies will come to mind or will likely be invoked for advocacy (intentionally or otherwise), so quickly highlight all the "likenesses" and "differences" between the present situation and the historical analogies. This should further clarify the present situation and the intended objectives
The authors suggest other tools that, while useful, are a bit more cumbersome than separating the known from the unclear from the presumed in any given situation, which I know do religiously at work. Some of the other techniques covered include laying out a timeline of the event, including major concurrent events along with the details; asking journalistic questions (where, how, why, what, etc.) for each major event along the timeline; setting odds for given "if - then" scenarios; explicitly laying out what kind of information (new "knowns") would change your various "presumeds"; and for various options asking "For the objective of X, Y is the best option because...."
In closing, "Thinking in Time" is one of the ten most influential books I've ever read. If you are in a leadership position in business, government or even the local lodge, this book can make you a more effective leader. The only thing I regret about reading "Thinking in Time" is that I didn't do it sooner.
A System for Learning from History.......2002-09-02
This book presents a terrific tool to anyone who would choose to lead in politics. In it, Neustadt presents a systematic way for dissecting situations in terms of past history (starting with figuring out what is known, unknown, or assumed in any particular crisis). The book presents several situations in which Presidents either did or did not accurately read past precedents in history. Neustadt's cogent analysis provides terrific insights into situations like Kennedy's successful use of history to avoid disaster in the Cuban Missile Crisis. One of the chapters I found most interesting was Neustadt's discussion on how President Carter misread the "honeymoon" period presidents actually receive with Congress.
Books:
- H.C. Westermann
- Helados para todo tiempo: con estos d tan locos, uno no sabe si ponerse el abrigo o el baador. Lo cierto es que si les propongo tomar un helado, les apeteceregn ... maten, en invierno.: An article from: Epoca
- High Techne: Art and Technology from the Machine Aesthetic to the Posthuman
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- In an Influential Fashion: An Encyclopedia of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Fashion Designers and Retailers Who Transformed Dress
- Inside the Visible: An Elliptical Traverse of 20th Century Art in, of, and From the Feminine
- Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector
- Julien Levy: Memoir Of An Art Gallery (Artworks)
- Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior
- Lost Arts: A Cook's Guide to Making Vinegar, Curing Olives, Crafting Fresh Goat Cheese and Simple Mustards, Baking Bread and Growing Herbs
Books Index
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Gothic (The New Critical Idiom)
The Gothic (Blackwell Guides to Literature)
The Gothic Tradition (Cambridge Contexts in Literature)
The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature)
Gothic: Transmutations of Horror in Late Twentieth-Century Art
