Anyone who has read Mr. Walker's work understands that he takes a very technical and analyitcal look at the sport of yacht racing. It is definatly an effort to get through the book, and I feel that the beginner will not get much out of it. Overall, he is very thorough and on target. There is much to be learned from the book, and it will make a person a better racer.

One humorous aspect of the book (and all of Mr. Walker's writing, for that matter) is that most of his examples consists of times that he has screwed up and lost the race. The reader occasionally wonders whether he should be taking his advice.... ;) However, the examples are often excellent illustrations of the point he is trying to make.

this is an outstanding and thorough evaluation of what is involved in sailing a good race beyond trimming the sails correctly and handling the boat well

This book has gorgeous photographs, wonderfully written text and a wonderful glosary of terms. I think the introduction is a little disjointed and long-winded. Skip over that and take a look at the entries for the paintings, furniture, silver, glass and ceramics. Lots of useful and interesting information. This is more than a coffee table book and would make a fantastic Christmas present!

Finally, a book that can illuminate the wonderful collection of American art at the Art Institute of Chicago. This one is bound to be a standard for anyone in the American arts and/or the collection at the Art Institute.

This exhibition is a facinating personal document of the Roman mummy portraits and their Egyptian and greek influenced hybrid artworks. The incredible freshness of the works themselves is lost in the printing here. Perhaps the encaustic is difficult to photograph? Anyway the topic and text is wonderful, but the images pale next to the 1st person experience of these vital energizing works of the Roman era.A good book to own, if you saw the show it's better.

A companion to an exhibition taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, this book presents colored panel and shroud portraits of Roman Egypt. Contributors, including R. Bagnall, M. Bierbrier, K. Gschwantler, J. Taylor and S. Walker, give a concise acccount of mummy portraits and their discovery, as well as the Fayum and its people. Extensively illustrated in color, this is a useful book covering a little-known subject. An excellent reference for everyone.

This book is a good read. I recommend it for the individuals interested in history, collaborative arts and innovative ideas and techniques in the performing arts.

Art Performs Life is a unique and authouritive guide to the works and view points of todays most prominent 3 American Choreographers. It emphasizes on the collision of dance and life. Their view points on the gendering of dance and technique are stated clearly.The political and social agenda the choregraphers use and their individuality in representing life on stage using major issues is brilliantly represented in this book. It is a must have for anyone interested in modern dance

Basic essential knowledge for chess players ! for intermidiate players ( 1600 - 1800 ) to improve their attacking skills .

I'm not a newbie at chess, but I got lazy for awhile. I started at World Chess Network.com , and was a measly 400. However, within two weeks I've jumped to 1000+, and have beaten people as high as 1300! If you practice with this book anything is possible.

Goes over classic games and explains what's going on after every couple of moves to keep your interest. Some of the sweetest games ever are in this. Especially Anderssen vs. Lierskitzky!

This book is not aimed at people who don't know how to play, try weapons of chess by bruce pandolfini for that.

Excellent photos of the best houses, building materials, gardens, fabric, crafts, and architectural details in Bali. Very beautiful as a coffee table book, quite useful as a style reference book.

The text is very nicely written, without repetition or fluff; it serves mainly to illuminate the huge variety of photographs. In other words, the reader will learn a little about Balinese geography, sensibility and culture from Walker, but not in intricate detail or with scholarly authority. I read it cover to cover in a couple of days, and felt it was a decent grounding in Bali style.

Author, editor and photographer should be praised for finding examples of all kinds of Bali style: garish, sublime, fancy, plain, funky, sophisticated, folksy, casual, formal, sacred.

A solid overview, useful to decorators, architects, mere Bali fans.

I never read this book, so I'm very happy to discover all the informations about architecture of the Pacific area, and I'd like to be more lucky and get that book in my shelves.

When I read the editorial reviews and the hardcover, I already fall in love (déja amoureux). my mind is risen when I get the opportunity to meet very nice things, when I read very nice descriptions, and mainly when I watch very nice pictures about very nicest, cutest houses.

I really look forward to get an exemplary of this book to enhance the richness of my mind!

may day, may day, may day! Help me to get it!

about Beetle Bailey. Having read the comic strip for decades it is like revisiting an old friend. A newer generation will enjoy it too!

This book is truly a work of brilliant satire. The world's laziest comic private has one laughing yet again. As funny as this work is, the "Taps for Sarge" section is moving. "Beetle Bailey" without Sarge is like computers without the Internet or TV without cable. A vital element is missing.

This book takes you through a full range of emotions, from bittersweet sadness for the irate, yet lovable Sarge to rolling with laughter at the irrepressible private.

It's time to report to work, Sarge!

This is an excellent collection of Beetle Bailey cartoons that ought to satitisfy any fan of the strip.

I laughed. I cried. I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes. I doubled over laughing. This delightful collections of Beetle Bailey strips is calculated to please any fans of the laziest soldier in comic history. The irate, yet lovable Sarge, his look-alike soulmate, Cookie, (Cookie knows the way to Sarge's heart is through Sarge's stomach), General Half-Track of the roving eye, the aptly named Ms. Buxley, Gen. Half-Track's secretary, rabbit-toothed Zero, the no-nonsense, unflappable Lt. Flapp, and of course the wise Plato, not to mention an assortment of hilarious characters.

I laughed. I cried. I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes. This book will have you reaching for the band-aids because you will laugh until it HURTS!

I LOVE IT!

Hard-core comics nerds might be familiar with the writing of Robert C. Harvey through his eloquent and interesting columns in The Comics Journal magazine. That style carries over well to this book. His commentary is refreshingly brief, preferring instead to let the work of a century's worth of creative genius speak for itself.

Rather than give us a straightforward, linear (hence boring) history of comics, Harvey treats them as the masterpieces of art they are--just as there are various fine art "movements" (Surrealism, Cubism, etc.) the same holds true for the comic strip. Harvey divides comic-strip history into five such movements--the formative years, standardization of genres, the adventure strip, the gag strip, and the socially conscious strips of today.

We learn some things that may seem surprising at first, but on reflection are perfectly logical. First, even the most talented 'toonists weren't perfect--we see the strips in their original form--pasteovers, glue stains, pencil marks, and blobs of white-out litter the work. It's akin to seeing an X-ray of a painting by a Renaissance master--even Leonardo and Michaelangelo made corrections, sometimes painting over whole figures.

Second, the supposed decline of the quality of comics (and the rise of artistically bankrupt strips like "Dilbert") isn't the fault of the artists or the syndicates. (Despite sentiments to the contrary by "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoonist Bill Watterson, whose scathing diatribe against modern comics is reprinted in the book). Paper shortages during the Second World War, Harvey tells us, forced editors to cut the size of newspaper pages to save newsprint, which in turn shrank the comic strip. The advent of television immediately afterward forced newspapers to stick to the wartime standard permanently--and they have shrunk even more since. Such developments spelled the end of the lavishly drawn adventure-continuity strips (the detail could no longer be seen) and paved the way for strips like "Peanuts". Harvey doesn't talk about the role of the computer in perhaps reversing this trend, which is one of this book's few flaws.

Harvey, like other fans, pleads for the acceptance of comics as a "legitimate" art form, but does so without attributing to them any more significance than they deserve. No obtuse Freudian interpretations about what the comics "mean"--to Harvey, they are a unique form of art, driven as much by commerce as aesthetics. They are a throwaway medium for the general public, but as he shows us, that's more than OK.

Curated, with helpful annotations, by a leading expert, this is a beautifully produced exhibition catalog of the original art for American comic strips since 1896. Especially wonderful is the reproduction of cartoon originals in full color (not just black and white line art) so that preliminary blue pencil drawings, glue stains, and pasted-over changes are all clearly visible. (Copyright © by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, Spring 1999.)

Given their popularity and relative longevity in the market place, it is remarkable that this recent issue is not of just a small handful of books devoted exclusively to the productions of the Wileman & Co. Pottery - the Staffordshire factory which brought us two household names of the 20th century ceramics. Wileman & Co. had two successful periods of production: first as the Foley China Works (the period from 1896 when one Percy Shelly took control of the factory and employed a number of talented Art potters, painters and modellers) and then as the Shelly Factory (the inter-War years marked by the birth of a new backstamp which saw the factory embrace a number of new styles and media). The history of the Shelly factory lines are as much a history of fashion and taste prevalent in the first half of the 20th century. This book charts in detail Wileman & Co., as it rode the tides of economic fortune and misfortune with a series of varied factory lines. Lavishly illustrated are Intarsio, Urbato and Pastello designs produced under the aegis of a talented new Art Director Frederick Rhead at the turn of the century; the diversification into the lucrative business of crested china. - a market made popular by W.H. Goss - the introduction of wares by the well-known children's book illustrator Mabel Lucie-Atwell and the production of a series of wares which (as much as any factory in the UK) embraced the new design known as the At Deco. The format of the book is very much what one has come to expect from these publishers: various sections of the book deal with backstamps, restoration and fakes and - seemingly a must for all collectable ceramics publications - each of the many colour plates a price guide to the object illustrated.

This book is a rare find! It is hard to find books on porcelain collectibles and this is an excellent one. It has beautiful color pictures, an excellent history and a value guide that is right on! I collect cups and saucers and the Shelley's are amoung my favorites. This book shows the various styles and patterns that Shelley made and is a very informative reference book.