Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J. K. Potter

Amazon.com

A woman's belly becomes a mouth, protruding a tongue that becomes a shark. A toothy demon named Gropius manhandles a breast. Zoomorphic, liquescent distortions of naked human flesh. This is the world of J. K. Potter, whose eerie black-and-white photomontages have illustrated tales by H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and many other writers of the macabre. Neurotica is a gorgeous 128-page collection of the darkest of Potter's work, including several portraits of performance artist Lydia Lunch and a striking semi-nude/nude series of writer Poppy Z. Brite. Afterword by Potter describes his "low-tech garage artist" techniques.

Customer Reviews:

BIOBDSM.......2006-01-21

" J. K. Potter, you are the drug embryo wrapped in the BDSM fashion." - Kenji Siratori, author Blood Electric

One of the Best photo illustrators around.......2003-02-17

Imaginative and captivating! J.K. Potter here has presented some of the best photo manipulations available. Some very nice darkroom and digital work. This book contains some of Potter's personal works as well as a nice selection of comercial work.

The book lay out is superb and photo comentaries humorous at times. The photos will reach out and grab you (Possibly ripping you limb from limb, but that is a bonus). You will either love this book or hate it.

Odd and Creative.......2002-06-05

This book is very interesting. I was not at pleased with it as I expected, though. The photographer is creative and portrays some very interesting situations. Most of the book is in black and white. Many of the pictures are entirely too strange for my tastes. They have often been warped a little too much, rendering the images too busy and, in some cases, unrecognizable. The pictures are fascinating, but do not purchase this book unless you intend to view extreme modifications to photographs.

An indulgence to my collections of pictures books !.......1999-03-10

I always like dark arts, mysteries, horrors, symbolicals,...This book of work has really make me feel differently towards a general view of pictures Ive seen. He is very creative and innovative using his media. Really Awesome!!!

the beauty of the human form just became a lot darker.......1997-07-23

When's the last time you ate a man... through your stomach? When's the last time you've seen an angel... in the nude? When's the last time you had a woman walk on your face... with her fingers? J.K. Potter has taken scenarios that are out of the ordinary and made them a helluva lot stranger and far far darker. Admired and posed for by Poppy Z. Brite, praised by Stephen King, Potter is the darkest entity in the art of photography, and it's all real, no computer editing, this is all darkroom work, which adds incredibly to the mystic of what Potter has become capable of doing. The conversation piece of the shadow lurkers, and the oddity and fetish of the average person, Neurotica embodies all that is horrific.

Book Description

200 color and black-and-white illustrations

Customer Reviews:

I miss sample sales!.......2002-10-10

Like most fashionistas, I have a thing for shoes. I wanted a book on the aforementioned subject, and I found Shoes by Paola Buratto Caovilla. Caovilla illustrates the shoes created by great designers -- Manholo Blanik, Gucci, Prada, etc. -- while supplying insightful information on how to design shoes. This is one of the best coffee table books I have ever purchased. Now, if only I could find a sample sale...

The Seduction of a Shoe.......2000-07-28

For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with shoes. I own a collection of books on the subject but in compairson, I must say this is the book that now has my full attention. "Shoes, Objects of Art and Seduction" has earned a coveted place on my coffee table for two reasons. The first is simply the visual treat of beautiful photography. Secondly and more important for me, the book qualifies as a design manual for creating shoes. The author, wife of Italian master cobbler Rene Caovilla, shares secrets from the inside of an industry typically shroud in mystery. The Caovilla family trademark is to collect memomentos from their travels and translate them into exquisitly wearable objects. I have heard it said that exceptional styling comes from designer's with unusual sources. This book shows you how they do it! As a recent student in the art of shoe making, I found the section on the process of creating a designer shoe invaluable. I can't wait to get my hands on this book again!

Book Description

When he first started in commercial illustration, Dave Nestler's innate ability to capture likenesses got him plenty of assignments for film and television. Always a fan of the pin-up, and inspired by such greats as Vargas and Sorayama, Dave also created a series of stunning erotic portraits that got him the attention of Playboy Magazine. It wasn't long before he would star in gallery showings, and command fine-art prices for his illustrations. For those not quite ready to mortgage the house, here for the first time is a collection of these full color masterworks for your own personal admiration. The Art of Dave Nestler is an over-sized presentation, 48 pages in glorious full color, printed on heavyweight coated stock - every page worthy of a frame and a spotlight of its own.

Customer Reviews:

Original and flawless.......2004-11-21

Wow. I don't even know where to begin because there are just so many elements to this book that I just love.

I met Dave Nestler at the Glamourcon in L.A. and looked at his art up close and personal with my own eyes and I had a long talk with him about his art and his book. And I saw with my OWN EYES the originals to these prints in this book, so I KNOW it hasn't all been photoshopped and airbrushed for the sake of mass audience.

He prides himself in doing the ENTIRE book in acrylic. That's right. Acrylic. No watercolor. No airbrushing. No photoshopping. No oil. Just acrylic.

That itself is a master achievement because you RARELY find ANY artist who does erotic nude pinups with acrylic. Most nowadays use airbrushing to achieve quicker effects. But he spends days and days perfecting just small areas. I personally saw a painting of a car where it had a chrome grill on the front of it, and any artist would swear it's been airbrushed and I almost argued with him until I saw it up close. I could see every single brush stroke up close. He was right. He really does do it all in brush.

That being said, is a HUGE achievement for ANY artist. But aside from that, there are many other reasons I like this book and one of the main ones being that half of the photos are of women in poses where they are surrounded by (what appears to be) a form of shiny duct tape or bluish leather ribbon. He has taken a form of bondage and designed it to enwrap the flesh of beautiful sexy women in a way where it defies any bondage you've seen before. He captures the beauty and sensuality of the skin, while putting such DETAIL into the ribbon (and again, he did NOT use the shortcut of airbrushing) that you can see every highlight and detail, you can see the leather as though it is shining right at you.

The first half of the book - pages 1-27 are all pictures of that (with different sexy and original pictures involving light ribbon bondage)

The second half of the book - pages 28-48 are completely different and are not bondage at all and vary from a sexily dressed angel with wings and a halo, a bikini wearing woman in a fireman's hat with water hose, a sexy female vampire, a dominatrix straddling a chair with a leather whip, a woman giving a car a carwash while straddling the hood (and the DETAIL of the car's chrome grill will leave you BREATHLESS!), a woman in a lake surrounded by waterfalls holding a frog, a sexy woman in a safari freaked out by a snake, a sexy semi-nude brunette dressed in army camouflage, the list goes on.

I really cannot stress to you how valuable I think his work is. The fact that each strand of hair is done in acrylic is mind-blowing to me. If I were to compare it to something else, it's like giving someone toothpicks and asking them to build a house out of it. He has done that.

I wish I could give this 6 stars, he is fascinating!

Average customer rating:

A must have!
NESTLER'S FIRST SKETCH COLLECTION IS A GEM!

The Dave Nestler Sketchbook Volume 1
Dave Nestler
Manufacturer: SQP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0865621063

Book Description

Dave Nestler has made a career of illustrating impossibly beautiful women, creating some of the most breathtaking paintings you've ever had dancing through your fondest naughty thoughts. Although it may seem like magic, there's a staggering amount of study and technique involved in the creation of such works. You think staring at pretty girls all day long is easy? Fun, sure, but easy? Nestler lets you roam through pages and pages of delightful detailed finished drawings of females in all manner of positions and attitudes, giving you valuable insight into his craft (and letting you enjoy the view!).

Customer Reviews:

A must have!.......2007-07-18

Beautiful creative sketches. Readers will marvel at the works. No one does female form like Dave Nestler. This is just a little taste, you will long for more.

NESTLER'S FIRST SKETCH COLLECTION IS A GEM!.......2005-09-07

Start out with that fantastic cover of Salma Hayek from Dogma and move on to an entire collection from one of the most talented artists in the business today. Subtitled "Bad Girls Drawn Nicely" this book from SQP is the first sketchbook collection from the brilliant hand of Dave Nestler. Nestler has already established himself as one of the great modern masters of erotic pin-up art and this book is a prime example. It presents 64 pages of luscious, sexy, and oh so naughty females, rendered in beautiful pencil illustrations. Calling this a sketch book makes it perhaps sound as if these are rough drawings but don't let that fool you. These are completed and polished drawings, suitable for framing.

Nestler has a true eye for capturing women in their most subtle nuances with a fine-line detail that is unrivaled today. His anatomies are flawless and the eyes of the Nestler women enchant the reader. Check out the beauty lying on a stylish, Art Deco sofa, one breast exposed, seemingly waiting for her lover to come home. Then check out the gorgeous sun Goddess, pouring cool, refreshing water from a shell down over her body as she soaks up the sun. Catch a glimpse into the bedroom of a lovely woman as she readies herself for the evening in leather garter and bustier, and is busy attaching her stockings. A truly sensuous piece features a topless, delectable piece of cheesecake in a French maid skirt.

The examples are too numerous to try and highlight them all. This is one of the finest pin-up sketch books I've ever seen. Nestler points out in the introduction to this volume that this is the time he has worked exclusively in pencils since he was in art school and he obviously hasn't lost a step. While the majority of the drawings feature full or topless illustrations there are also a number of great facial portraits as well. A first-rate collection! Sal Quartuccio continues to publish the finest in erotic fantasy and pin-up art.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

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SECOND DAZZLING COLLECTION FROM NESTLER

The Dave Nestler Sketchbook Volume 2
Dave Nestler
Manufacturer: SQP Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback

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ASIN: 0865621160

Product Description

Dave Nestler is primarily known as a gallery-level painter who specializes in sexy girls. His ability to create realistic portraits of fantasy women fetch nose-bleed prices, and his work is in constant demand. When his first sketchbook was assembled, we knew it would interest those who like to go behind-the-scenes to see what goes into a painting, but were delighted to see it become one of our best selling books of 2004. Seems people really like Dave's eye for the ladies, even in sketch form, so Mr. Nestler dutifully began collecting a new series of drawings for a second volume. Featuring a new painting that continues the ever-popular "Naughty School Girl" motif, this book has more of what made Volume One so popular - girls, girls, and sure -more girls, as only Dave Nestler can create!

Customer Reviews:

SECOND DAZZLING COLLECTION FROM NESTLER.......2005-10-07

I really hate Dave Nestler. As a person who used to love to draw, Nestler makes me never want to pickup a pencil again. He's just too damn good. I don't think it would be a stretch to call him the finest pin-up artist working today. Dave's got it rough, too. He has all of these beautiful models come in to pose nude for him...nice work if you can get it. "Bad Girls Ride Again" is the second Dave Nestler sketch book from SQP and contains another 64 pages of his outstanding pencil work. His work combines a traditional pin-up feel with modern day eroticism. I dare you to try to find one bad piece in this book. Gosh I really hate this guy!

Nestler's ability to capture a photo-realistic look in just pencil is simply extraordinary. He's one of the very few artists whose drawings look every bit as good, and are every bit as frameable as their finished paintings. His women radiate sexiness! Take the beauty on page 7 dressed in a fishnet top and thigh high leather boots, or Nestler's "police woman" dressed in short, almost no-shorts and a mini-top. This is one cop you'd kill to get stripped-searched by. Then there is that home-spun country girl on page 17 that captures that "Mary Ann" look.

A two page spread shows a woman lying on a bed, wrapped in leather straps. There are actually a whole series of pieces with this theme and you can see the actual photographs of the models on Nestler's website. I also love the two page, centerfold-style spread featuring a drop dead gorgeous blonde riding a stool backwards. Another great two pager is the Hawaiian girl with her clamshell bikini top and grass skirt. Like I said...I dare you to find one piece that doesn't make your jaw drop.

The book also features a preliminary sketch section where you can see many of the rough sketches that Nestler used for many of his finished paintings so you can compare the two. Included are a number of sketches from the "leather strap" series. This is an absolute must have for any Nestler fan or any fan of pinup or erotic art. Nester is simply the best!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

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ANGELS HAVE NEVER BEEN SO BEAUTIFUL

Angel Song Volume One

Manufacturer: SQP Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0865621462

Product Description

The latest in SQP's series of "Song" titles, Angel Song Volume One does for halos and wings what it did for all those forest cuties in Fairy Song - show them off in all their radiant glory! Angel Song features an international cast of artists who depict these heavenly messengers in loving detail. From Renaissance classic to pin-up pretty, and every style in-between, these paintings reflect the varied natures of man's relationship with these winged wonders! Angel Song Volume One includes the artwork of such fan-faves as Dave Nestler, Pelaez, Arantza, Maraschi, Sosa, and many more! Get to see why heaven is SUCH a beautiful place, and why people are just dying to get there!

Customer Reviews:

ANGELS HAVE NEVER BEEN SO BEAUTIFUL.......2007-01-22

Angel Song is SQP's follow up to the highly popular Fairy Song, and features 64 pages of both color and black & white art by some of the industry's finest pin-up artists. These angelic subjects are tailor-made for this book and the eclectic collection features everything from the playful to the profound. You know that any collection that features the work of both Arantza and Pelaez is going to be a winner and Angel Song doesn't disappoint.

Arantza starts things off with a stunning cover. This just HAS to be what a real angel looks like! Perla Perlucki gives us a humorous little drawing featuring an exasperated angel fighting off a couple of "pinch-happy" imps with a flyswatter. Danilo Guida's "lovers doomed" features a lovely angel in the embrace of a foul, horned demon. A similar theme is played out in Arantza's "Love Knows no Sin" done in brown tones.

Paelaez' "Retribution" features a lovely, sword-wielding angel walking away from a city that is engulfed in flames. Other great pieces are "Dark Angel" by German Ponce, the gloriously colored "A Kiss most Sacred" by Cesar Britez, and Arantza's darkly gothic "The Heaven of Hell". The book also features the work of Gonzalo Flores, Greg Lopez, Enrique Villagran, and Marcelo Sosa, to name just a few. The back cover is by Dave Nestler, another one of the giants in pip-up and glamour art. His eye-popping blonde angel is the perfect end to this book. A must have for anyone who loved Fairy Song.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Average customer rating:

A first-rate giftbook especially for beloved mothers, aunts, and grandmothers with a hearty sense of humor.

Humorous, Satirical and extremely funny!

Laugh through the estrogen crisis

You read my mind

A humorous look at our bodies, our minds and our emotions! Funny stuff

The Estrogen Underground: Reinvention (The Estrogen Underground)
Cheryl Odonovan
Manufacturer: A Better Be Write Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0976773279
Release Date: 2005-09-30

Product Description

Women over 40 are embracing their laugh lines again. The Estrogen Underground series takes witty jabs at a beauty- and Britney-obsessed culture and comically reignites your inner lava lamp. From the far corners of workplace invisibility to the high profiles of surgical 'plasticians,' the agenda is equal opportunity skewering. Phooey to those who say life's over before the start of the next chapter. Get radical again. Join the mid-life revolution armed with a hilarious anti-ageism spoof.

Customer Reviews:

A first-rate giftbook especially for beloved mothers, aunts, and grandmothers with a hearty sense of humor........2007-08-07

Cartoonist Cheryl O'Donovan and satirist Tom Wolferman combine their talents in The Estrogen Underground: Join the Mid-Life Revolution, an irreverent, chuckle-inducing look at issues affecting over-40 women in today's society. From dealing with disinterested, dour, dazed or doofusy young male clerks ("Tell him Santa will bring him a plasma screen TV if he checks the inventory stock for you") to reasons why one should not engage in plastic surgery ("Some people die while undergoing plastic surgery" - general anesthetic can potentially be fatal) to new age meditations for old age, The Estrogen Underground combines its mirth with humorous black-and-white sketches and photographs. A first-rate giftbook especially for beloved mothers, aunts, and grandmothers with a hearty sense of humor.

Humorous, Satirical and extremely funny!.......2006-05-28

Genre: Humor

Title: The Estrogen Underground

Author: Cheryl O'Donovan & Tom Wolferman

This hysterically funny book begins with the Estrogen Anthem.
I, your name, avow to become my best essence ever, to rail against ageism, youth narcissism, to embrace my inner goddess, to find humor in life...........

Aimed at menopausal women, this book would be enjoyed by women of all ages. Filled with easy to identify situations, characters and metaphors it will have you laughing from beginning to end.

Puns, metaphors and illustrations all contribute to the hilarious content. One of my favorites being: Swan Song Hungry Model Chickpea Pot Pie-No pie just one pea....for one chick and of course, we must not forget "Hot Flash Magazine- elastic waists are always in season."

Cheryl O'Donovan, humorist and cartoonist and writer/satirist Tom Wolferman collaborate to bring women everywhere a humorous, satirical look at one of life's most discussed subjects. Give yourself a gift and pick up a copy today, and then you can spend the afternoon with your female friends laughing and enjoying this wonderful read.

Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Review

May 2006

Laugh through the estrogen crisis.......2006-04-26

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (4/05)

All 40 million plus baby boomer women need to have this book to help them laugh their way through the so called `estrogen crisis.' Based on the variety of experiences of most woman who have gone through the cycle, "The Estrogen Underground: Reinvention" points out things like aging gracefully being a "friggin' myth" considering chin whiskers, spider veins, flabby body fat, and `parched and sags' most women get.

For the latter the authors suggest to Vaseline every pore and encase oneself in all-body sock (Illustration provided). That's the cheap version. The pricey version,...squander the kids' inheritance. Pursue your narcissistic whims with abandon. Put the plastic surgeon on speed-dial. Flounce around the kitchen with your daughter's pom-poms, shouting: "Two-four-six-eight, gonna photo rejuvenate, one-two let's all squeal, mama's getting' a facial peel." Repeat until your husband shrieks for mercy.

On the exercise scene O'Donovan and Wolderman compare the "Flawless" and "Frowsy." Of course, the "Frowsy" depicts most of us experiencing the estrogen crisis. For example, the Flawless wears a perfectly coordinated, ultra-snug outfit, whereas the Frowsy wears her husband's old XXXL t-shirt and irregular shorts she bought at a garage sale.

The authors included a section with Q & A by the internationally renowned Dermabrasia. Her answer on the safety of Botox is "I undergo injections of the Botox to such maximum my eyebrows are stuck in `90s. Not so bad. Having no facial expression keeps fifth husband always guessing!"

Filled with cartoon like illustrations, quotes, and humorous anecdotes about estrogenic invisibility, dieting, exercising, fashion, careers, and meditation, this book had me grinning at every page. Not only full of laughs "The Estrogen Underground: Reinvention" is full of truths. This book is a must for a girl's weekend away - I can promise you, this book will even take precedence over shopping!

You read my mind.......2005-11-26

You would think that the authors had read my mind and lived my life. It was great to read other people have had the same experiences I have had and can make them funny.

A humorous look at our bodies, our minds and our emotions! Funny stuff.......2005-11-20

Cheryl and Tom have a word with telling it exactly how it is. I can't describe how funny it is to see such candor! A great read to keep beside the bed or on a coffee table for all to view. I'd much rather read this over and over again than read any fashion magazine out there. Go women and I can't wait for Book Two!

Book Description

A comprehensive anthology of criticism on the horror film. ...fascinating essays...a great aid to anyone searching for topics on the horror film... --FANGORIA

Book Description

Beethoven cast a looming shadow over the nineteenth century. For composers he was a model both to emulate and to overcome. "You have no idea how it feels," Brahms confided, "when one always hears such a giant marching behind one." Exploring the response of five composers--Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Mahler--to what each clearly saw as the challenge of Beethoven's symphonies, Evan Bonds richly enhances our understanding of the evolution of the symphony and Beethoven's legacy.

Overt borrowings from Beethoven--for example, the lyrical theme in the Finale of Brahms' First Symphony, so like the "Ode to Joy" theme in Beethoven's Ninth--have often been the subject of criticism. Bonds now shows us how composers imitate or allude to a Beethoven theme or compositional strategy precisely in order to turn away from it, creating a new musical solution. Berlioz's Harold en Italie, Mendelssohn's Lobgesang, Schumann's Fourth Symphony, Brahms' First, and Mahler's Fourth serve as illuminating examples. Discussion focuses on such core issues as Beethoven's innovations in formal design, the role of text and voice, fusion of diverse genres, cyclical coherence of movements, and the function of the symphonic finale.

Bonds lucidly argues that the great symphonists of the nineteenth century cleared creative space for themselves by both confronting and deviating from the practices of their potentially overpowering precursor. His analysis places familiar masterpieces in a new light.

Customer Reviews:

influence in the musical arts.......2007-02-07

Bonds successfully explores how Romantic-era composers dealt with the power of Beethoven using, in part, the literary theories of Harold Bloom as a model for his methodology. A good, clearly defined premise and an easily understood read for anyone interested in rhetoric and influence studies.

Essential Reading.......2001-08-05

A worthy follow-up to the author's _Wordless Rhetoric_, this book studies 5 pieces in great detail, including a lesser-known cantata by Mendelssohn and Berlioz's _Harold in Italy_. The explorations are devoted and careful, abd remarkably free of scholarly cant. From them, Bonds illuminates much about musical thinking and life in the 19thc. and beyond.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on September 1, 1998. The length of the article is 1492 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: After Beethoven: Imperatives of Originality in the Symphony. (book reviews)
Author: David Benjamin Levy
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1998
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: v55 Issue: n1 Page: p103(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

After Beethoven: Imperatives of Originality in the Symphony

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After Beethoven: Imperatives of Originality in the Symphony
Mark Evan Bonds
Manufacturer: Harvard Univ. Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBMVCC

Average customer rating:

More Gurps VTM including SABBAT

GURPS Vampire Companion: The Masquerade (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System)
Chris W. McCubbin , and Jeff Koke
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Vampire : The Masquerade (Revised Edition)

GURPS Blood Types: Dark Predators and Deadly Prey: Vampires and Vampire Hunters (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System)

GURPS Werewolf: The Apocalypse (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System)

GURPS Mage: The Ascension

GURPS Grimoire: Tech Magic, Gate Magic, and Hundreds of Spells for All Colleges (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System)

ASIN: 1556342853

Customer Reviews:

More Gurps VTM including SABBAT.......2000-08-08

This expansion brings in the 4 independent clans the Sabbat with their two clans and all the antitribus and a few bloodlines (daughters of cacophony, salubri and a decaying nosferatu like one) with conversions for high level powers new clan powers and their merits and flaws. Very useful for turning the full VTM world into gurps or for adding stuff to a normal gurps world.

Book Description

Capital Ideas traces the origins of modern Wall Street, from the pioneering work of early scholars and the development of new theories in risk, valuation, and investment returns, to the actual implementation of these theories in the real world of investment management. Bernstein brings to life a variety of brilliant academics who have contributed to modern investment theory over the years: Louis Bachelier, Harry Markowitz, William Sharpe, Fischer Black, Myron Scholes, Robert Merton, Franco Modigliani, and Merton Miller. Filled with in-depth insights and timeless advice, Capital Ideas reveals how the unique contributions of these talented individuals profoundly changed the practice of investment management as we know it today.

Customer Reviews:

Capital Ideas Evolving.......2007-09-19

This was not an easy read, but it was worth it. I received my MBA in 1976. Much of this book was an explanation of the effects of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) on current investment practices. He assumes that the reader is well versed with the intricacies of CAPM. I had to go back to other sources to review CAPM, but once I did, the book was a great explanation of how CAPM and other academic innovations have had a practical effect on portfolio management. When I finished the book, I had to admit that I was not able to apply much to my personal portfolio management, but I have a much better understanding of what my pension plan administrator is thinking about as well as what certain mutual funds managers are doing. The book is more beneficial for the professional investor than the individual investor.

Ludicrous.......2007-08-21

Maybe this is a great intro to classic theory, but then there is something wrong with classical thinking.

My one-star rating is for his "forgiveness" of the Long Term Capital Management gang, since no one could have predicted what actually happened.

LTCM managers (inducing Merton and Sholes, subjects of chapters) had excessive confidence in models based on theories that have not been even come close to being validated.

It is ironic that Amazon pairs this book with "The Black Swan" in their "Buy Two" promotion since Bernstein has clearly been "fooled by randomness".

Accessible explanation of the foundations of finance.......2007-08-02

In the early 1950s, graduate student Harry Markowitz presented his Ph.D. dissertation to the University of Chicago economics department. The response was less than encouraging. "This isn't a dissertation in economics," Milton Friedman told Markowitz. "It's not math, it's not economics, it's not even business administration." Whatever it was, Markowitz's heterodox theory of portfolio selection changed finance forever and earned a Nobel Prize. Financial historian and investment manager Peter L. Bernstein humanizes his saga of great shifts in financial theory by organizing it around eminent thinkers (Markowitz, Myron Scholes, Franco Modigliani, Robert Merton, Bill Sharpe and others, if you ever want to look up a finance guru). Deepening his analysis with insights from "behavioral finance," Bernstein describes how these innovators generated and extended the now-orthodox "capital ideas" of portfolio selection, capital structure, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the efficient market hypothesis and the Black-Scholes-Merton theory of option pricing. Bernstein's erudition is dazzling, his explanations pellucid and his narrative filled with scintillating characters. getAbstract doesn't need to hedge: you'll find this overview of current finance theory and practice brilliant, even if you don't know your alpha from alfalfa.

Unique and sunsurpassed........2007-07-28

I have recommended this and his previous book for finance graduate students at the University of Maryland.

An excellent book.......2007-07-19

This book should be on your book shelf. I would critize the book in that although it recommends against portfolios of individual securities it does not warn the investor against professional portfolio managers.

By way of example:Piscaqua Research in a study covering the period 1987-96 found that only 10 out of 145 major pension funds, or just seven percent, out performed a portfolio consisting of a simple 60%/40% mix of the S&P 500 index and the Lehman Bond index respectively.

Or is it logical I ask for you to believe that you can predict which actively managed funds will out perform, or are you overconfident of your skills? If you are trying to find the great fund managers who will out perform in the future ask yourself: what am I going to do differently in terms of identifying the future winning fund managers, than did the pension plans and their advisors? And if you are not going to something different what logic is there in playing a game at which others with superior resources have consistently failed?

If you a really serious in finding an investment technique that will provide you with reasonable return with less risk I suggest the following little book. This is a little book that I have written and contains the essential of how to invest. Just click on the title to find the book. How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street

Average customer rating:

Thorough introduction to financial theater
Flawed
A disappointing book...
Excellent Timeline
Addicted to the N(0,1);Bernstein has to have his fix

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street
Peter L. Bernstein
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0029030110

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Thorough introduction to financial theater.......2006-09-07

A great book to establish an understanding for how the current investment strategies came about. Petere Bernstein did a great job of introducing mathematical masterminds such as Louis Bachelier; the inventor of stochastic analysis concepts, the birth of Dow Jones, the creation of S&P 500 index by Alfred Cowles, Portfolio Selection by Harry Markowitz and many other financial and statistical intellects.

Flawed.......2006-03-03

Again it is evident that acedemicians, whatever their field, will tend to embrace elegant, complex but flawed theories over simpler and more sound ones.

The Graham and Dodd disciples (e.g. Warren Buffett) have shown that they can consistently beat the market indices by simply buying good companies at good prices.

A disappointing book..........2005-08-29

I borrowed the book from my library (fortunately I didn't buy
it) with great expectations. What I found it to be was a 300+
page infomercial for Academic Finance. Bernstein is not
merely a cheerleader of Modern Academic Finance, but a Worshipper.
His gods are messrs Markowitz, Sharpe et al. I returned the book
after reading about 1/2 of it.

The book is disappointing on several fronts :

- It is completely biased in its treatment.
- There is no mention of Behavioral Finance. Bernstein does not
even acknowledge the role psychology plays in the markets. For
the gods and disciples of modern academic finance, the market
is always efficient. Which we know (by now) is pure Bunk.
- There is nothing in the book about Ben Graham (and his students
and followers), people who revolutionized the investing world
at least as much as the ivory tower theorists.

Readers hoping to learn something useful from the book will be
sorely disappointed.

Excellent Timeline.......2005-07-19

Dr. Bernstein immerses readers in lucid tales about the evolution of the capital market theories that helped shape Wall Street's mindscape. Along the way he introduces the names and faces that delivered to the investment community ideas about Brownian Motion, the Efficient Frontier, the Separation Theorem, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the Capital Structure Puzzle, the Black - Scholes Option Pricing Model and portfolio insurance strategies, to name a few.

One of the interesting factors that emerges from this book is the powerful influence of the computer...which today we all take for granted. Quite a few of the presented ideas were indeed introduced well before the computer's general commercialization. As such, they often lay dormant, undiscovered or under-appreciated for years, even decades. It leads one to wonder about what investors are missing today that will emerge into common useage in the future. How exciting!

Beginning investors will experience Capital Ideas as a useful outline of the many principal concepts they will be working with should they decide to pursue the field more seriously. Experienced investors will likely find that Capital Ideas neatly summarizes many of the academic theories they've been exposed to.

A noteable gap in Dr. Berstein's exposition arises through his decision not to directly address the implications of Dr. Richard Roll's MPT critique. To say the least: It is quite important to understanding the CAPM's implications.

Addicted to the N(0,1);Bernstein has to have his fix.......2004-11-19

This book,published in 1992, is an earlier version of Bernstein's "Against the Gods-The Remarkable Story of Risk",published in 1996.Both books cover much of the same ground.Bernstein traces the origins of the post WW2 portfolio analysis-risk management models ,such as the mean variance(standard deviation)model,CAPM( capital asset pricing model )and the Black Scholes options pricing model ,back to the work done at the turn of the century by the French mathematician Louis Bachelier .Basically,this approach analyzes ALL markets,not just financial markets, on the assumptions that price movements are 1)all independent of each other,2)are all small and homogeneous,so that each price movement or change over time can be viewed as if it were a small gas particle interacting with other billions of identically small gas particles in a series of collisions that all are self cancelling in the long run and 3)the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem holds so that the normal probability distribution can be used .The question that then needs to be asked and answered is "What is the degree of empirical evidence supporting the overwhelming use of the normal probability distribution in financial and economic analysis?"The answer,which can be easily obtained by any reader of this review who picks up a copy of Benoit Mandelbrot's latest book(2004),titled "The (Mis)Behavior of Markets",with Richard Hudson,is that there is little,if any,evidence that supports the use of the Normal probability distribution as a general modeling approach.Mandelbrot's extensive research ,duplicated by a number of other researchers in a number of different countries over the last 25 years,has been available since the mid 1950's.How does Bernstein react to this mass of empirical and scientific evidence?Bernstein reacts in a ,to say the least,nonscientific way:"...Mandelbrot remains on the periphery of financial theory,both because of the inconvenience to analysts of accepting his arguments and because of the natural human desire to hope that fluctuations will remain within familiar bounds"(Bernstein,1992,p.132).It is also strange to find the very favorable,well deserved, comments showered upon John Maynard Keynes throughout the book because Keynes would agree with Mandelbrot,not Bernstein.Keynes made it very clear in chapters 28-30 of his A Treatise on Probability(1921;TP) that the exacting assumptions necessary for the general application of the normal probability distribution,excepting physics and biology,were generally not satisfied unless homogeneity and stability held over time for the material being examined.The objections Keynes made ,in the Keynes-Tinbergen debate in the Economic Journal of 1939-40 over Tinbergen's use of a normal probability distribution ,to the claim that econometricians could test and predict business cycles over time,are clearly in the spirit of Mandelbrot's much,much more empirically supported conclusions.Nonetheless,I would still recommenmd that either this book or the 1996 book be bought,but not both.

Capital Ideas: Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street

Average customer rating:

Capital Ideas: Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street
Peter L. Bernstein
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O98K0O

Average customer rating:

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street
Peter L. Bernstein
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBVLMS

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