Average customer rating:
|
Revue Noire Magazine #32: Togo-Ghana (Revue Noire Magazine)
Editions Revue Noire
Manufacturer: Revue Noire
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Criticism
| General
| Regional
| Themes
| Women in Art
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Ghana
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Togo
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Cultural
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Arts & Photography
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
History
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All French Books
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 2909571440 |
Book Description
COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED, THIS ESTABLISHED CLASSIC REMAINS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY!
2004 Edition
For nearly three decades, The Basic Book of Photography has been the ideal handbook for beginning and experienced photographers alike. This comprehensive edition has been expanded to include the latest technological innovations in digital photography and the most modern methods and products used in traditional film photography.
So whether you use a single lens reflex (SLR), compact, APS, single-use, instant, or digital camera, you'll learn everything you need to know about how to operate your equipment successfully to produce the most striking pictures.
This greatly enlarged edition includes:
* An all-new chapter on digital cameras and imaging
* Indoor and outdoor lighting techniques
* Descriptions of all color and black-and-white films
* Procedures for processing your own pictures
* Ways to enjoy your photography on the Internet
With more than 395 instructive illustrations and an extensive glossary, The Basic Book of Photography will help you become the photographer you always wanted to be.
Customer Reviews:
A great intro to photography.......2007-05-16
After doing photography my whole life with a point and shoot camera I finally bought a "real" camera. A Canon SLR that I had no idea how to use. So after a lot of research at the bookstore I settled on this book, and I am very happy I did. It teaches a beginner all the different important functions on your camera that you need to learn and why you need to know it. This book is very concise and detailed. All the functions on my camera are explained in detail in this book. If you have a new SLR that you don't know how to use I highly recommend this book.
nice reference for beginners.......2006-06-26
I found this book to be a nice reference for beginners like me. It does not require you to read it from cover to cover. You can pick and read any chapter you like. The illustrations are good enough and the book is not overfilled with them tunlike some other books that focus so much on illustrations that they never take time to write those simple concepts.
I think its worth having this book on your shelf if you are gradually starting photography as a hobby.
basic understatements.......2006-03-30
The first print of the book came out in 1974. Needless to say, photography has changed a great deal since 1974. Noted, this book is "fully updated" to cover the digital world, but I advice you if you have any desire to learn about the details of any apsect of photography this is not the book for you. The book reflects the fast changing field of photography-so many pages were devoted to films, instant Polarids, darkroom techniques, processing and protecting films..all extremely important but OUTDATED topics. Photography has mostly gone digital--very few people still take film (I perfer film, but I am a rare exception) and digital world was covered in the most basic way. To be fair, I believe that the samples of photos to illustrate authors' points were welll-chosen. (Many woderful color photos are inculded) However, a comprehensive discussion from film speed ratings to different types of flash gave a reader a strong feeling that this is a "Jack-of-all-trades" and "master-of-none" book. Another words, the book contains every thing basic (ie how to hold a camera) but if you want to learn how to covert RAW digital images from your Cannon to JPAGs for easy internet postings , good luck!
Ready to stop taking snapshots, and step up to real photography?.......2006-02-27
I recently decided to really learn something about photography, so I could stop taking lifeless snapshots and actually take some meaningful pictures instead. Until now, I have just snapped away with disposable cameras or an early model, low-quality digital point-and-shoot camera. I recently decided to buy a more sophisticated digital camera and learn to use it effectively.
This book is a great guide for someone who wants to step up to taking some real pictures. It assumes no amount of expertise on the part of the reader, which was a problem I had encountered in other books; you will not find yourself reading jargon that goes unexplained. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about it being over-simplified; it will give you all that you need to really become competent. Not only does it present a wide variety of information, it is organized and composed very well. It is very readable, very well-written.
The only way the book could be improved would be to write a new edition dedicated solely to those who are venturing into photography for the first time in the present digital age, without ever getting involved in film photography. The most recent edition of this book was released in 2003, when the changeover to digital photography was underway but by no means complete. 3 years later, in 2006, most people deciding to take up photography as a hobby are now going to straight to the digital world without bothering to familiarize themselves with film photography. Readers of "The Basic Book of Photography" should know that they will be educated in the field of photography first through film, and then that knowledge will be used to explain digital photography later in the book. 3 years ago when this edition was published, writing most of the book about film and then attaching digital may have been the right way to write a book about photography, but that has changed. Now it is probably time to write a book about digital photography that has one little chapter on film, not a whole book about film with one special chapter on digital. That having been said, you will still benefit enormously from reading everything in this book because the digital photo world evolved from film; if you understand its origins, you will still be learning things valuable to a digital photographer.
The bottom line is this: if you've been taking snapshots your whole life but now you want to know how to really turn photography into a serious hobby, buy and read this book. If you only buy one book on photography, make it this one.
Not really for digital shooters.......2006-01-01
I picked this up looking for a back-to-basics book only to find that the book doesn't really talk to a modern audience. It's very film-centric in ways that may not help people dealing with the very different choices offered by digital cameras -- that is, it's not going to give you much guidance for either taking digital snapshots or using more advanced technical controls. This really is a book from the early '90s with a 21st century gloss on it.
Book Description
Keisuki Ibaraki is not a man to be trifled with and the pornography company, G.P.X., makes a grave mistake when they kidnap his high school sweetheart, force her to do unspeakable acts and then make her commit suicide. Keisuki is now on a mission of vengeance and will stop at nothing until he vindicates the memory of his dead girlfriend. Travel with him through the jungles of Brazil as he exacts his revenge, one by one, on the unsuspecting murderers. However, hot on his trail, is the pure-as-white reporter, Yuko Kusaka, sniffing out any kind of story that will gain her recognition. Keisuki confronts her and the ensuing Karate battle tests their wills, as well as Yuko's purity. Sit back, relax and let the sultry Brazilian weather lull you into a trance as you traverse through this action packed story!
Customer Reviews:
This was written by the guy who gave us Lone Wolf and Cub!?.......2004-05-11
Imagine for a minute if John Waters and Andy Sidaris teamed up to make a movie. Now imagine if instead of producing a film they moved to Japan to create a really trashy manga. The end result would probably be something like Wounded Man. The whole thing is brimming with such insane amounts of misogynistic sex and violence I'm tempted to say it's one of those "so bad it's good" kitsch artifacts.
disapointment.......2004-01-27
After reading a good portion of the Lone Wolf and Cub books I was very curious to see what else Kazuo Koike had written. While Lone Wolf and Cub had very intelligent and interesting writing this book is totally childish (ex. The heroin pissing in the hero's eyes to wash away blood) and not worth a second glance. I read through the entire thing looking for some sort of redeming quality. There was none. The entire point of the book seems to be Rape and Showing the heroin naked as often as possible. Unless you are looking for several hundred pages of badly scripted porn I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I really hope this book is not an example of the rest of Kazuo's writing.
Book Description
When the Bill Of Rights contains 297 words, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has 266 words, but it takes 26,911 words for government legal eagles to spell out regulations on cabbage pricing, it's esy to see that lawyers provide us with plenty of fodder for irony and hilarity. With the pages of Lawyers: Jokes, Quotes, and Anecdotes, readers will find hundreds of silly sayings, "insightful" interrogations, odd laws, and original knee-slapping jokes about a profession whose practitioners write 10,000 word documents yet still call them briefs.
Customer Reviews:
It doesn't kill the lawyers.......2004-07-05
As a long-time practitioner, I thought that I'd heard all of the lawyer jokes.
I once wearily took pen in hand to write to the California Bar Journal after they included a cartoon drawn by the unspeakable Wiley about a shark that refused, out of professional courtesy, to attack a lawyer.
"ANOTHER shark joke," I declared. "I haven't heard one of those in at least 24 hours."
It goes without saying that this collection of jokes, quotes, and anecdotes about the legal profession does include at least one shark joke.
It also includes the old saw about the devil daring God to sue him, "Where are you going to find a lawyer?"
But here is something that is especially praiseworthy: the famous Shakespeare quotation about killing all of the lawyers (the first thing we do) is included but included IN ITS CONTEXT.
I've heard that phrase used by working-class behemoths who never opened a work of Shakespeare in their lives and were possibly unaware of the quotation's origin.
As the editor indicates, the character who inveighs against the lawyers is a humorous villain who represents outlaw and disorder; just the sort of world that WOULD exist without lawyers. The same character inveighs against LITERACY in the same breath. He is obviously not speaking in the author's voice.
The law can be too intrusive at times, sometimes humorously so, and this book contains its share of yet-unrepealed "blue laws" that provide comic relief but that inevitably are delivered without explanation. No one ever explains WHY it's illegal to own a hippopotamus in Los Angeles or to put graffiti on someone else's cow in Texas or to gurgle in public in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It's funnier to leave the explanations to the reader's imagination.
But surely the prohibition in Montreal against watering one's garden while it's raining is a water conservation measure. Surely, the stricture in Kentucky against using reptiles during religious services is a response to the dangers posed by certain snake-handling sects. The humor is lost once the reasoning is discerned.
While this edition includes its share of lawyer-bashing jokes and homilies ("Lawyers are like physicians," says Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem. "What one says, the other contradicts"), it is clearly no more of a lawyer-bashing fest than are Larry Wilde's joke books, for example, an attack on the Jews or the Irish.
A number of the humorous observations in here are actually directed against the principals in the legal system, rather than the practitioners. No one has yet been able to discover a single instance of a lawyer putting a gun to a litigant's head and forcing him to retain counsel, and as Gore Vidal observes, "For certain people after fifty, litigation takes the place of sex".
There would be no demand for lawyers in the first place if humans were angels. One witness explains in a transcript of an actual court hearing included in this book, "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him".
A rueful plaintiff might observe that his lawyer didn't "give" him bad advice - "I paid for it". But Daniel Webster also observes in this same volume, "Most good lawyers live well, work hard, and die poor."
The book also reveals more than the author might have intended about the profound effect that the study and practice of law has on those who engage in it.
There is a true-to-life transcript of a lawyer asking the mother of a minor child if she has been his mother for all of his life. There is another excerpt where a lawyer asks a witness what she was doing at the time that her child was conceived and yet another where a lawyer asks a threatened witness if the defendant killed him.
The uninformed among the readers are going to assume that the lawyers in question are either drunk, insane, or magnificently stupid. But those who have actually been through the wringers that are the study and practice of law will understand that these fauxes pas result from the tortuous steps that an attorney learns to take when building a "foundation". They are actually a result of too MUCH care taken during the witness's examination, not too LITTLE.
It's said that after Desiderius Erasmus published his "Praise of Folly", he became disillusioned after an associate suggested that he write another volume praising wisdom - because Erasmus thought that he had already done just that.
A similar finding can be made regarding the "attack" on the legal profession that is made in this book.
Outrageously Funny and Poignant.......2001-07-05
My book is so dog-eared it is almost twice as thick as the original! The book is replete with short exchanges that reveal human foible, skewer pomposity and give solid evidence to the all-to-common, yet painful, truth of living in a society where the law is an essential ingredient to necessary order. At times I found myself laughing out loud for minutes at a time. Other times, I had to put the book down to reflect on the truth revealed in words uttered from the mouth of laymen. If you know and love lawyers, get frustrated in legal processes or just want a riotous, light-hearted read, this book is for you.
Very funnie.......2001-03-05
this is a very funny calnder. every day you will have something to laff at!
Book Description
Lawyer jokes have been around since there have been lawyers. In fact, the ver first lawyer to ever pass the bar was Mediocritus, who went on to invent the billable hour. People make jokes about lawyers for the same reason that dogs lick themselves...because they can. Lawyers are easy targets because everyone in American has at one time either a) hired a lawyer, b)hated a lawyer or c) has been a lawyer. No matter what your affiliation with the legal profession is, you will enjoy this book.
Average customer rating:
|
The Lawyer Joke Book
Sid Behrman
Manufacturer: Marboro Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0880297220 |
Customer Reviews:
Quite Amusing.......2000-07-19
Ah, what can a person say about such a marvelous collection of humor centering around the noblest of professions? The Lawyer Joke Book is chock full of one-liners, witticisms, and amusing jests. Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone for at least one billable hour. Recommended light reading for the eau-de-bain and other critical proceedings.
Average customer rating:
|
Best Lawyer Jokes Ever
Beth Tripmacher
Manufacturer: MetroBooks (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Business
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Jokes & Riddles
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Business & Professional
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The New Yorker Book of Lawyer Cartoons
ASIN: 1586636146 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Jumbo Joke Book: A Thesaurus Of Side-Splitting Jokes About Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Yankees, Preachers, Negroes, Irish, Scotch, Jews, Drunks, Farmers, Etc.
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Doctors & Medicine
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1430442956 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Lawyers from Hell Joke Book (Signet)
Ellie Grossman
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Jokes & Riddles
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Collections & Readers
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0451177584 |
Average customer rating:
- Through the Islanders' eyes
- An entertaining look at the chaos that was 'Jaws'.
|
Making of the Movie Jaws
Edith Blake
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Stagecraft
| Theater
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Direction & Production
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Jaws Log, 30th Anniversary Edition
ASIN: 0345248821
Release Date: 1975-08-12 |
Customer Reviews:
Through the Islanders' eyes.......2005-07-15
If you are a Steven Spielberg fan, a Jaws fan, or a "making of" fanatic, you will definitely want to acquire this out of print book, but do not expect it to be another "Jaws Log." Unlike Gottlieb's book, which hurries towards the second half of production, Edith Blake takes the time to smell the barnacles along the way. The book has a lovely, leisurely pace.
But what makes this book so interesting is not only Blake's own unique pics of the shark & produciton, but her own perspective as an Islander. Whereas Gottleib was presenting his story from the Showbiz perspective, Blake stands on the Island and reads her book back to the Mainland. She relays how the Jaws Production were viewed by the locals, how it affected their life, how erroneous Hollywood is about a great many things (seamanship being among them), and also how much excitement was generated by the arrival of Spielberg and Company.
If possible, snag a copy of The Jaws Log and Edith Blake's book, and then read them back to back. It's very interesting, seeing both sides of a fascinating, ridiculous story.
An entertaining look at the chaos that was 'Jaws'........2004-10-14
Months behind shooting schedule and millions over budget, would JAWS actually do well enough to make a profit? That was the question raised prior to the film's release, long before it became a box office juggernaut (the first film to earn over 100 million at the box office) and pop culture phenomenon. It is also the question that, more or less, closes this look at the hilariously chaotic and nightmarish shoot that was JAWS, for the book was written after filming had wrapped and before the finished product was unleashed on unsuspecting theatre goers. With no stars (Quint had yet to be cast), no script and no schedule, the production team from Universal took over the island of Martha's Vineyard to film the adaptation of Peter Benchley's best-selling shark thriller. Rather than a glossy studio backed 'Making of' book, Blake (who refers to herself as the Girl Photographer in the narrative) takes the outsider Islander few of the insanity that is movie making. The result is a more unvarnished look at the movie's production (though it is hard to tell one local from the other). Fans of Jaws will find this chapter on the production saga essential reading.
Book Description
The Artist as Citizen is a compilation of Joseph W. Polisi's articles and speeches from his two-decade tenure as president of the Juilliard School. His writings focus on the role of the artist in American society as a leader and communicator of human values. The extended prologue includes Polisi's recollections of his early days at Juilliard and the selection process that resulted in his appointment as the school's sixth president. Also included is a discussion of the important role that Juilliard plays in the workings of Lincoln Center. Polisi makes a strong point that "there should be no dividing line between artistic excellence and social consciousness." He contends that the traditional "self-absorbed artist" is the wrong model for the arts in America in the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Gathering of his many expert articles & thoughtful speeches.......2005-03-04
Dr. Joseph W. Polisi's gathering of his many expert articles and quite thoughtful speeches blend assessments of the performing artist's leadership role in society with a healthy dose of humor and insight, reflecting his past twenty years as president of Juilliard School. Music observations are only a part of The Artist As Citizen: even more important are the overall discussions of the politics behind the scenes and the role of artist and director in leading artistic movements.
Average customer rating:
- A Major Contribution
- An inside job...
- At long last-almost a bull's eye
- At long last-almost a bull's eye
|
Juilliard: A HISTORY (Music in American Life)
Andrea Olmstead
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Instruction & Study
| Theory, Composition & Performance
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| College & University
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0252071069 |
Customer Reviews:
A Major Contribution.......2000-05-15
Congratulations on a major contribution to American music. I read "Juilliard: A History" with admiration for its fine scholarship and courage in writing about contemporary events and still powerful people with such honesty.
An inside job..........2000-03-09
The name Juilliard has been held synonymous with classical music training for so long that it is surprising that no-one has taken a potshot at it. This book is neither for or against Juilliard, but rather an appraisal of its strengths and weaknesses through a look at its history. The chapter on drama, containing so many references to now-household names, might be of particular interest to the casual reader. Dancers may be interested to find out why their department was forced to compete with another school in their own building. Musicians, whether they attended Juilliard or not, will find a lot of Olmstead's observations titillating. A good read, and a lot of insight from someone who worked there.
At long last-almost a bull's eye.......2000-02-16
Olmstead's book is long overdue. While the research appears thorough and the writing professional, there's at least one outright mistake. Olga Samaroff (Stokowski) never taught at the Curtis Institute, rather the Philadelphia Conservatory in the same city. She also implies that the Institute of Musical Art was the equal of the Juilliard Graduate School. All you have to do is compare the faculty and the student body prior to the merger to see that JGS was indeed where the hotshots were concentrated. I have personally concluded that the book is reliable in reporting on the post World War II Juilliard but take her account of its early years with a grain of salt. This is understandable since most of the "old guard" are now deceased. Still, a valuable reference for those of us in the field.
At long last-almost a bull's eye.......2000-02-16
Olmstead's book is long overdue. While the research appears thorough and the writing professional, there's at least one outright mistake. Olga Samaroff (Stokowski) never taught at the Curtis Institute, rather the Philadelphia Conservatory in the same city. She also implies that the Institute of Musical Art was the equal of the Juilliard Graduate School. All you have to do is compare the faculty and the student body prior to the merger to see that JGS was indeed where the hotshots were concentrated. I have personally concluded that the book is reliable in reporting on the post World War II Juilliard but take her account of its early years with a grain of salt. This is understandable since most of the "old guard" are now deceased. Still, a valuable reference for those of us in the field.
Average customer rating:
|
Juilliard: A History.(Review) (book review): An article from: Notes
Sondra Wieland Howe
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
| Humor
| Movies
| Music
| Performing Arts
| Pop Culture
| Puzzles & Games
| Radio
| Sheet Music & Scores
| Television
Online Books
| Books & Reading
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Science & Technology
| Subjects
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
General
| History
| Subjects
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
Entertainment
| HTML
| Formats
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
General
| History
| HTML
| Formats
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
Science
| HTML
| Formats
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
ASIN: B0008HQQI0
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 787 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: Juilliard: A History.(Review) (book review)
Author: Sondra Wieland Howe
Publication:
Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2001
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 57
Issue: 3
Page: 662
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
|
The immortal Ernest Hutcheson: A biography
Inez Bull
Manufacturer: Elmira Quality Printers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
New York
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0006RDFR2 |
Book Description
Artful Making offers the first proven, research-based framework for engineering ingenuity and innovation. This book is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Harvard Business School professor Robert Austin and leading theatre director and playwright Lee Devin. Together, they demonstrate striking structural similarities between theatre artistry and production and today's business projects--and show how collaborative artists have mastered the art of delivering innovation "on cue," on immovable deadlines and budgets. These methods are neither mysterious nor flaky: they are rigorous, precise, and--with this book's help--absolutely learnable and reproducible. They rely on cheap and rapid iteration rather than on intensive up-front planning, and with the help of today's enabling technologies, they can be applied in virtually any environment with knowledge-based outputs. Moreover, they provide an overarching framework for leveraging the full benefits of today's leading techniques for promoting flexibility and innovation, from agile development to real options.
Download Description
Artful Making offers the first proven, research-based framework for engineering ingenuity and innovation. This book is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Harvard Business School professor Robert Austin and leading theatre director and playwr
Customer Reviews:
Worth reading, though not as good as measuring........2006-12-21
I've had very great expectations about this book. This was mainly because of Rob Austin's genius earlier work (measuring and managing performance). Unfortunately, even though the book was quite book, I found myself disappointed. This book was not as good as the measuring and managing one.
Artful making is making a comparison between several different ways of creating products and divides them into industrial and artful. Examples of artful making in the book are theatre production and also agile software development. Then from that perspective, the book looks at several aspects of artful making and tries to describe qualities about artful making that can help managers create such an environment. The book describes these qualities in rather abstract terms and names them release, ensemble, collaboration and play.
Personally I felt the comparison in the book was a too big simplification. Of course, theatre production and software development can learn from each other, but still in the end of the book, I was not really convinced that they are artful making while the other product creating methods are industrial making. The book takes then a lot of (interesting) examples from e.g. Apollo flights and puts them in the category artful, though to me some of the comparisons were not clear or obvious at all.
All in all, I DID enjoy the book and found it useful reading. I've rated it 3 stars because I would rate "measuring and managing" as 5 stars and this is book was clearly not as good. 3 starts, in this case, does mean that the book is still a recommended reading and it does provide interesting insights and stories.
Reconceive your engineered perceptions!.......2005-09-09
Austin and Devin present a truly innovative approach to help us in the software industry to reconceive our traditionally engineered world. I have a bias toward metaphors and this one really hit home. It not only brings out the soft-science (human) side of developing software, it helps displace the perceptions that artful productions are anything but a disciplined, impeccable process requiring as much, or more, business aptitude than software development to be successful.
If you are in the software development industry and have, as I have had, pre-conceived notions of how artists create and innovate, this book is a must read. If you have been using agile development methods, it will open your eyes to why those methods are successful. If you have used more traditional methods, or are skeptical toward agile methods, this book will enlighten you toward an industry that has been using such agile methods for centuries.
Finally, and most importantly, this book highlights the creative and innovation process. Many in the software development industry struggle with how to create innovation, typically stumbling over it if you are lucky. This book will guide you through how you can use innovation techniques in your company and teams to build innovative products. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to improve their organizations' innovative capabilities.
Building Bridges.......2005-07-07
We have this tendency, understandable but at times pernicious, to bracket the world off, to make compartments for our relatively unexamined opinions. One of the worst examples of this is the notion that individuals in the arts and folks in business have nothing to offer one another: artists squander resources and are fundamentally dysfunctional when it comes to practical matters; business people care only about the bottom-line and apply an industrial model to whatever they do. In their book, Artful Making, Lee Devin and Rob Austin frustrate this kind of thinking and in doing so open up new lines of communication and cooperation amongst individuals who actually have much to offer one another. In creating these bridges, Artful Making offers readers a fundamentally generous view of human experience as evidenced by its key terms - collaboration, ensemble, release, play.
Nothing new here.......2004-12-29
The book goes into great lengths into comparing business and theatre. Concepts of rapid iteration, small groups and "playing" are mentioned in the book.
No new concepts... they just went deep into the comparisons. The read is a bit boring.
A Lot to Offer ANY Reader!.......2003-11-12
"Artful Making" is a great book. Before reading it, and even into its first few chapters, I was under the impression the book was aimed mainly at midlevel management of medium-to-large corporations:a large group, to be sure, but one to which I do not happen to belong. But I was mistaken . . .
I soon realized that the key qualities of release-collaboration-ensemble-play can fit any setting where individuals or groups of people want to create something valuable. What Austin and Devin are talking about is developing a process and a result that unite in a never-ending productive cycle, where each "iteration" is different, but yet a necessary prelude to what follows. We can all benefit, because we all have the same need to stay away from the "staleness" and complacency that can be so deadly to personal and professional growth. "Artful Making" will help you find the way.
I recommend the book completely. Read it over and over and keep a pencil handy for special passages!
Books:
- Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book
- Rosso in Italy: The Italian Career of Rosso Fiorentino
- Royal Arts of Africa, The: The Majesty of Form
- Running Awry: Cartoons and Words
- Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide
- Sexy Jobs in the City: How to Find Your Dream Job Using the Rules of Dating
- Sketchbook With Voices
- Sounding the Event: Escapades in Dialogue and Matters of Art, Nature and Time
- Staffordshire Figures: History in Earthenware, 1740-1900 (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
- Sustaining Loss: Art and Mournful Life
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Version Control with Subversion
- The Winner Within
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories
- The wind's twelve quarters: Short stories
- Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
- The Sciences: An Integrated Approach, 2nd Edition Update
- War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage
- The Uspc Guide To Longeing And Ground Training
- Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
- Water and Wetland Plants of the Prairie Provinces: A Field Guide for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba