Beauty and Sadness

Customer Reviews:

A bleak study of intertwined sexual relationships.......2006-11-11

"Beauty and Sadness" by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata and translated by Howard Hibbett is a slightly disappointing book after having just read "Snow Country" by the same writer, but a different translator.

I mention the translator because a non-Japanese speaker is totally dependent on the skill of the translator to capture the atmosphere, the nuances and the unspoken cultural aspects of the original Japanese. A literary work is as much about the imagery and musicality of the words and textural cadences as it is about immediate dictionary meanings.

It goes without saying that a straightforward translation of words and grammar would most likely give a very inadequate impression of the writer's intentions. This is true of any translation of fiction, not only this book.

"Beauty and Sadness" is a study of intertwined sexual relationships, all of them pathological to a greater or lesser degree. The central relationship is the 53 year-old Oki's renewed relationship (after 20 years) with Otoko whom he seduced and impregnated as a child of 16 and who still "loves" him. There is Otoko's lesbian relationship with Keiko - a very strange and disturbed young girl out for revenge against Oki - whom Oki also slept with. There is Keiko's relationship with Oki's son which leads to the climax of the book. Finally there is Oki's relationship with his wife who knows about all these goings on. The reader never knows who is using who and to what end. Got all that?

The relationships are only superficially about "love" - "hatred" would be a more apt word. Oki himself is a particularly distasteful character. He treats both Otoko and Keiko as objects and one wonders if he got any pleasure from either relationship. The rather explicit description of his "lovemaking" with Keiko is far from erotic. It creates feelings of repugnance which typify the interplay of love/hatred in the book.

This is a very bleak book, like "Snow Country" written 20 years earlier. It is relevant that Kawabata committed suicide.

Art and suffering.......2006-02-24

Art needs fuel. Something does not come from nothing, and novelists and painters often draw from the wellspring of their own misery to create magnificence. Kawabata's final book, "Beauty and Sadness" explores these themes, of the interlinking of creativity and pain, and how artists use their own lives to make something grander.

Oki and Otoko are such artists, creating beauty from sadness. Their illicit and doomed love affair deeply wounded their souls, with the despair of their lost child lasting far longer than the brief time they spent together. Oki chronicles their story in his novel "A Sixteen Year Old Girl," and Otoko paints, continually seeking to exorcise her feelings and expressing them on canvas.

Alternately, Keiko and Taichiro create sadness from beauty. Oki's child, Taichiro, is drawn into a web of revenge woven by Otoko's lesbian lover and protege Keiko. Whereas Oki and Otoko have made an uneasy peace, Keiko refuses to let it rest, and wants to punish Oki by taking his child in the same way he took Otoko's.

Kawabata's skill at language portraiture is what makes this such a fine book, drawing the reader into the downward spiral of the character's lives. Anyone familiar with his writing knows where the path is going, but the skill of his craft tenders the sadness with beauty. It is a soulful journey, leaving one with a bitter taste and the reality of lost love.

Beauty and Sadness.......2003-06-04

I love this book, I re-read this book in three different languages, and i'm reading it again the fourth times.

Revenge.......2002-07-12

This was the seventh Yasunari Kawabata book that I have read and it is also my current favorite.

Kawabata weaves a wonderful story and its title describes it perfectly. The story begins with the writer Oki Toshio. In his younger days Oki had a love affair with a young girl named Otoko. Their affair produced a child, but unfortunately the child was born premature and died shortly after birth. The death of the child caused Otoko to suffer a nervous breakdown and she was put into a mental asylum. Her mother told Oki that Otoko would soon be better but it would probably be better if Oki did not see her again. Warp 20 or so years into the future. Oki decides to see Otoko again at New Years, so he hops a train to go see his ex lover. Otoko worried about Oki's arrival hires a couple of geisha to entertain them. Also her protoge Keiko is there. I believe Keiko to be the main character in the story.

Keiko is not only Otoko's student but her lover as well. Keiko is angered about how Oki treated Otoko so many years ago, and wants to seek revenge against her teacher's ex lover. Otoko still harbors a strong love for Oki but is not assured enough to keep Keiko from plotting against Oki. Keiko is extraordinarilly charming and beautiful, and although a lesbian she manipulates males very easily. She seduces Oki and his son Taichiro, the reader knows something bad is going to happen to Oki or one of his loved ones early on, and he or she just wonders how it will finally happen.

Another beautiful book by Kawabata. Few writers come close to his descriptions of landscapes or his very evocative writing of the human form. Very good book please read it.

others were better.......2002-03-28

This has been the 3rd book from Kawabata that I've read but this one didn't live up to the previous 2 I've read(Snow Country, Sound of the Mountain). Maybe it was because the translator was not Seidensticker that the words seemed kind of dull, I dunno. The rest of the books I couldnt put down. I'm on my 4th (Thousand Cranes, Seidensticker translator) and it already brings back the appeal of my first 2 books.

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Beauty And Sadness

Manufacturer: Charles E. Tuttle Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Tankobon Hardcover
ASIN: 4805303948

Product Description

Author of Snow Country and Thousand Cranes. Winner of the Nobel Prize.

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Beauty And Sadness
Kawabata Yasunari
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDQARE

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Beauty and Sadness
Yasunari Kawabata
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHAGTE

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Beauty and Sadness
Yusanari Kawabata
Manufacturer: Berkley Windhover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VGHARE

Product Description

Returning to Kyoto, where temple bells announce the New Year, a grave and penitent Oki is drawn to a haunting obsession from his past. Gently lyrical, yet fierce with the stark intensity of passion, Kawabata's last novel tells the story of the lasting consequences of a brief love affair.

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Beauty and Sadness

Manufacturer: Berkley Windhover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0425030660

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Beauty & Sadness 1ST Edition
Yasunari Kawabata
Manufacturer: ALFRED A KNOPF
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SMOI4O

The beauty of sadness: A northern Black's journey to the Deep South today

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The beauty of sadness: A northern Black's journey to the Deep South today
Constance Fletcher Ramsey
Manufacturer: Mustard Seed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Betrothed For The Baby (Silhouette Desire)
Kathie Denosky
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books
Silhouette Desire | Series | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0373767129

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ILLEGITIMATE HEIRS (3 Book Set) -ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN ENEMIES/REUNION OF REVENGE/ BETROTHED FOR THE BABY
Kathie DeNosky
Manufacturer: Silhouette Desire
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K5U6U4

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THE ILLEGITIMATE HEIRS - (3 Book Set) ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN ENEMIES /REUNION OF REVENGE / BETROTHED FOR THE BABY
Kathie De Nosky
Manufacturer: Silhouette Desire
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IP534U

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Last Stand: Bolos 4 (Bolos, No 4)
Keith Laumer
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Bolos II: The Unconquerable (Bolos, Book 2)

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ASIN: 0671877607

Book Description

Primitive man's discovery of the ability to change matter from one state to another brought about a profound change in spiritual behavior. In The Forge and the Crucible, Mircea Eliade follows the ritualistic adventures of these ancient societies, adventures rooted in the people's awareness of an awesome new power.

The new edition of The Forge and the Crucible contains an updated appendix, in which Eliade lists works on Chinese alchemy published in the past few years. He also discusses the importance of alchemy in Newton's scientific evolution.

Customer Reviews:

strong on ideas, research inconsistent.......2007-05-20

As usual Eliade spins wonderful philosophical and spiritual ideas laid over history. And they make engrossing reading. I don't know how much one can trust the historical facts cited throughout this work. For example Eliade says the earliest known metallurgy was in the mountains of Armenia in 1200-1200 BC. In fact it is now widely accepted that the Ban Chiang (present-day NE Thailand) was forging bronze tools and ornaments at least by 2200 BC, possibly earlier.

Still, well worth reading for the ideas.

Great Introductions to a fascinating subject.......2001-12-11

If I had my time over again I would read these three books on alchemy in the following order: All of them are excellent in their own sphere to introduce a complex process.

(1) The Forge and the Crucible - Eliade
This is an excellent prehistory of alchemy showing the patterns of thought out of which Alchemy most probably arose. An easy read.

(2) Anatomy of the Soul - Edinger
Set out according to seven processes involved in alchemy Calcinatio, Solutio, Coagulatio, Sublimatio, Mortificatio, Separatio, Coniunctio, this is an accessible book that puts each process in reasonably neat boxes, (though the considerable overlap and intermingling is acknowledged). The approach is somewhat mechanical.

(3) Alchemy, an Introduction... - Von Franz.
More 'organic' than Edinger, Von Franz has a very warm and human touch. She deals with the origins of alchemy in Egypt and Greece and delves into the 'Aurora Consurgens', attributed to Aquinas. She includes relevent and interesting case material. Being a transcription of lectures, it is a little haphazard, though none the less informative for that.

TAKING A GLANCE TO THE MYSTERIES OF ALCHEMY.......2000-11-23

Lucidly and masterly written, this study on the origins and meaning of ancient Alchemy is a highly useful and recommendable one. As always, M. Eliade has collected a vast amount of data concerning this issue and has reached far-reaching conclusions as for the value, the role and the meaning of the otherwise rather vague world of Alchemy. Very important for anyone interested in knowing about the theme.

The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy

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The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy
Eliade
Manufacturer: HarperCollins (paper)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0061315524

The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy

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The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy
Mircea Eliade
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP9U1Q

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A great gift idea!

an entertainingly lacivious view of cooking

The Bordello Cookbook: Food With a Passion
Jo Foxworth , and Jeanne Bauer
Manufacturer: Moyer Bell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History | Gastronomy | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1559212799

Book Description

The Bordello Cookbook celebrates the era at the turn of the century when bordellos augmented their usual services with an array of culinary delights. This book offers colorful stories about madams from establishments in Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans, plus recipes including Asparagus in Ambush and Rum Runner's Rum Balls.

Customer Reviews:

A great gift idea!.......1998-08-28

If you have a friend who likes cooking, or has a passion for history (or maybe a history of passion), I highly recommend this book as a great gift-giving idea, and for your personal library as well!

I bought four copies: one for myself and three copies to give as birthday presents. One recipient's co-workers were so delighted with the book, that ten of them went out and ordered it right away!

an entertainingly lacivious view of cooking.......1998-06-27

This book is not only filled with wonderful recipes, it is a delight to read. Jo Foxworth gives an informative and often humorous perspective into some of the most infamous houses of pleasure around--most of whom maintained their success with extravagant dinners. With great pictures, delicious recipes, and fabulous stories, The Bordello Cookbook goes a long way toward proving the old adage that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

American Artifacts: Essays in Material Culture

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Thirteen superb commentaries by men and women

American Artifacts: Essays in Material Culture

Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0870135244

Book Description

When defining culture, one must indeed take into account even the minutest of details. What of a lighter, for example, or a telephone? The essays in this new collection examine just that. The contributors pose not only a historical, pragmatic use for the items, but also delve into more imaginative aspects of what defines us as Americans. Both the lighter and the telephone are investigated, as well as how the lava lamp represents sixties counterculture and containment. The late nineteenth- century corset is discussed as an embodiment of womanhood, and an Amish quilt is used as an illustration of cultural continuity.

These are just a few of the artifacts discussed. Scholars will be intrigued by the historical interpretations that contributors proposed concerning a teapot, card table, and locket; students will not only find merit in the expositions, but also by learning from the models how such interpretation can be carried out. This collection helps us understand that very thing that makes us who we are. Viewing these objects from both our past and our present, we can begin to define what it is to be American.

Customer Reviews:

Thirteen superb commentaries by men and women.......2001-05-17

In American Artifacts: Essays In Material Culture, Jules Prown and Ken Haltman have assembled thirteen superb commentaries by men and women who articulately explore the cultural and social meanings ascribed to a variety of common objects ranging from teapots, cart tables, and quilts, to cigarette lighters, telephones, and lava lamps. Here is an impressive and "reader friendly" collection of essays that are as informative and thought-provoking as they are erudite and challenging. American Artifacts is highly recommended reading for students of American popular culture and art.

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Mini Knits for the 1/12 Scale Dolls' Housel

Mini Knits for the 1/12 Scale Dolls' House
Linda Spratley
Manufacturer: Guild of Master Craftsman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Knitting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1861083947

Book Description

The perfect final touch for a truly charming dollhouse: hand-knit wardrobes for the whole family! All 40 original patterns feature fine-finish knitting threads just right for the 1/12 scale miniatures. Cuddly projects for babies include layette, lacy gown, cape, hooded jacket, leggings, vest, and slippers. For older children choose among styles of dresses, suits, and sweaters. Fashion your adult wardrobes from dresses and suits, sweaters and shawls, hats and ties. You can even knit home furnishings, including a tablecloth and place mat set, blanket and cradle set. Illustrations and instructions show how to adapt patterns to different eras and fashions.

Customer Reviews:

Mini Knits for the 1/12 Scale Dolls' Housel.......2007-02-02

Book is well done. Instructions are clear and I am pleased with it. Highly recommended.

Amazon.com

Longtime Japan resident Amy Sylvester Katoh and photographer Shin Kimura have created a fascinating and educational masterpiece in Japan: The Art of Living. More than 300 pictures of rooms, furniture, table arrangements, stylish windows, and more enliven its pages as they guide the reader on a "photographic tour of exquisite homes in the Tokyo area, focusing on ... antiques and folk crafts."

Katoh counsels readers to break free from some of the rules that govern Japanese style and design and experiment with their own brand of panache--or Japanache, as Katoh calls it. Instead of simply cataloging stylish homes, the author presents a design element, such as tansu chests, with a dozen options and alternatives, providing both ancient ideas and their modern updates. In addition to the superb photos and engaging text, there is also an index of places to buy the featured antiques, textiles, washi paper, screens, and other items, both in Japan and in 11 states in the U.S. If you were a fan of Japanese design before, this book will make you a fanatic. --Jhana Bach

Book Description

In this best seller, available for the first time in paperback, Amy Sylvester Katoh introduces stunning interior designs that have successfully blended East and West, traditional and modern. With over 300 color photographs by Shin Kimura, this tour of exquisite homes in the Tokyo area offers new ideas for decorating the Western home. It shows how enhancing table settings, arranging space with carefully selected screens and furnishings, and inviting the season indoors with delicate flower arrangements can create a Japanese aesthetic in the most parochial of rooms. Amy Sylvester Katoh, collector and connoisseur of Japanese Craftss and textiles, includes the latest information on antique markets and hints for where to see the art of living - in galleries, textile and Crafts shops, and restaurants.

Customer Reviews:

expecting something different.......2002-12-16

If you are looking for examples of the zen and minimalist aspects of Japanese style, then this is the wrong book for you.

Pluses:
Some of the pictures are interesting, and I liked many of the cultural aspects of the book.

Minuses:
Some of the pictures reminded me of the elaborate and glitzy decor of some Westernized Asian restaurants.

Recommendation:
If you are interested in all aspects of Japanese style, this book might interest you. Everyone else should avoid buying this book.

outstanding.......2001-11-15

i have thouroughy enjoyed it thank u very much it really made my day to see that other people have the same in terests as me n my colleagues

Excellent Sourcebook for Japanese Interior Design.......2000-12-15

Regardless if you want to have a Japanese Tea Room, a Japanese touch, or just like looking at great photographs of Interior Design, you should buy this book.

I normally don't like books which take elements from one Style, in this case Japanese, and then adapt it for Western use, but here it works very well, thanks to superb and tasteful examples. The authors are also very up-front about it, as the sub-title which does not appear on the cover is "A Sourcebook of Japanese Style for the Western Home".

In hundreds of excellent photographs we are shown in sections with such titles as: "Light and Space", "Traditional Furniture" and "Japanese Textiles" just how easy it is to give rooms and areas of your home a Japanese touch or feel. I personally like the Style very much because it is subdued, almost austere, yet elegant, and makes much use of natural materials. The book is full of really clever examples of what one can do with space, and the best part is, that for the most part it can be done without great expense. The list of sources of where to buy materials at the end of the book is unfortunately out of date. The copy of the book I have was published in 1990, but many sources should be readily available on the Internet.

Along with the excellent book "Japanese Style" by Suzanne Slesin, et.al. (at the time of writing out of print), "Japan: The Art of Living" is all you'll need to go Japanese. And lastly before I forget, the price is right.

very helpfull.......2000-08-19

As a an architecture student and in an architecture firm working guy I found this book very helpfull. I like japanese architecture and this book has taught me a way to design interiors in japanese-western way.

Customer Reviews:

Great Looking Failures.......2002-08-13

Iacocca said, "A man ahead of his times, is broke." Try and go to these incredible sites and discover the failure rate of cutting edge websites. Great designers none-the-less.

Too little, too late........2000-08-29

I sincerely expected a lot more. Be aware that, as of 2000, most websites featured in this book either do not exist any longer or have gone under a complete facelift. The CDROM included was quite disappointing: just a directory of the featured sites with a low resolution graphics of their splash page; there is an option to connect to them but the links are mostly outdated. I think the only value of this book is its inspirational content: some of the sites do indeed look great (I wonder about their loading time though) and will inspire some of us to do "a little more". This book was probably great 2 years ago; it has little value nowadays.

A must have for any designer.......1999-08-26

This is an awesome book! I'm a Digital Artist and I was very inspired by the designs featured in this book. It will inspire you! You will look at all your previous work and think their boring! This book is on the cutting edge. The full color pictures are awesome, it's beautifully and it rocks! I recommend it to anyone in the design field! An excellent book to inspire web designers. I love it!

Love It Or Hate It..........1999-02-24

As you can see from the other reviews, you'll either absolutely love this book or absolutely hate it. Count me in the former. Admittedly, the sites depicted are not the most bandwidth-friendly examples of Web design, but that's not the point with Cutting Edge, generally. It isn't to do what's been done in the way it's been done, but explore what can be done and if it works. Breaking barriers down by sheer will -- or heavy graphics everywhere. Maybe this isn't where the Web will or should go, but the beauty of the images can't be denied.

A Fantastic 'Inspiration' resource for creative designers.......1998-12-14

As a designer at a website design firm this book has spent more time off the shelf than on, mainly pictoral we use this great hardback for inspiration on more creative projects, where the skill of some designers will leave you in awe. A must have for serious web designers.

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Fritz Lang directed Metropolis, M, Liliom, Fury, The Big Heat, and many other of the cinema's enduring masterpieces. But in Patrick McGilligan's assessment, Lang "lived his life--and cultivated his legend--with the glinted eyes of a maniac." Until his death in 1976, Lang carefully manipulated the events of his past, omitting his first wife's mysterious death, his tyrannical treatment of his associates, and his many liaisons with famous women. In this superbly researched and riveting biography, McGilligan peels Lang's autobiographical fictions to reveal the facts about these omissions as well as his flirtation with Nazism, his alleged Communist affiliations, his sadistic tendencies on the set, and his unparalleled cinematic genius.

Book Description

Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times and one of the Year's Best Nonfiction Books by Publishers Weekly: The definitive life of the dark genius who gave us M and Metropolis.

Customer Reviews:

Well-researched but pointlessly accusatory.......2001-08-08

McGilligan is a demon researcher, digging up facts, comparing contradictory stories, and writing in a very clear and readable prose. But this book amounts to a steady, unrelenting attack on the character of Fritz Lang, and is even needlessly dismissive of many of his movies.

McGilligan suggests Lang murdered his first wife and that he was a Nazi sympathizer; the former is highly unlikely, the latter is demonstrably false. If anyone has a kind word to say about Lang, their comments are relegated to the last few lines of a paragaph that's otherwise devoted to attacking the director. Lang evidently really was a tyrant on the set, but he also made many friends over the course of his career. It's interesting to note that McGilligan didn't bother to interview Michel Piccoli, the French actor whom Lang regarded almost as an unadopted son.

McGilligan seems to have had an agenda, which was to depict Lang as a completely unsympathetic "beast" (as in the title). NO biographer, especially one as ambitious as McGilligan, should ever present their material with a strong bias, positive or negative. McGilligan's work is more important and meaningful than that of, say, Charles Higham, but this kind of bias dramatically reduces the value of his work.

A Missed Opportunity.......2000-06-23

...a serious missed opportunity. McGilligan wrote this bio as a man sitting in judgment, holding Lang to a standard so high that the most PC contemporary couldn't possibly meet it.

Whatever Lang does is wrong, no matter what the circumstances. Take his flight from the Nazis. McGilligan discovers serious contradictions in Lang's account of his strange and frightening confrontation with Goebbels. McGilligan's conclusion? That Lang was a Nazi sympathizer himself, the evidence being a delay of two months in leaving Germany. This is nonsense. The book itself demonstrates that Lang made more anti-Nazi films (one in the midst of the isolationist period) than any other director. Thea von Harbou, on the other hand, a full-bore party member who stuck it out until the bitter end, is handled with kid gloves.

A slight contradiction there, as there is in the account of the blacklist era, where Lang, already burned by one gang of political extremists, is condemned for not adequately defending another, clearly portrayed as dishonest and untrustworthy. The man just can't win.

McGilligan also gets some very well-known Hollywood stories wrong (see the Harry Cohn story on p. 398).

Lang may have been a flawed genius, but he was a genius, and deserves to be treated as such (see "Print the Legend" by Scott Eymas to see how it's done). His definitive biography remains to be written. This ain't it.

(The book also suffers from the standard execrable St. Martins copyediting job: "If it ain't in spellcheck, it don't matter!")

Comprehensive, balanced, intelligent bio of film genius.......2000-05-24

Did you know, dear reader, that Fritz Lang invented the backward countdown that is now a staple of blastoff protocol? We can't ever say art doesn't influence life! It becomes clear though that Mr Lang tried very hard to influence the facts so that some important parts of his lifescript were rewritten to make a better story. For example, his "escape" from Nazi Germany which reads like an inferior Hitchcock. But no less than Braque or Malevich in painting, film artists deserve study too. There are many problems facing the student of the latter however, as the film making process might involve thousands of individuals - the analysis can be quite daunting not to mention whose perspective is the more valid amongst the thousands. Author Mr McGilligan is up to the task. It may be that the qualities of Mr Lang revealed by his research - fastidious attention to detail, healthy ego, obsessive number of takes, authoritarian manner on the job - may be the very ones that made him many enemies as well as a great movie maker. Henry Fonda for one loathed Mr Lang 'til the day he died. Mr McGilligan overcomes the problem of what is "true" by giving the reader the best evidence of alternative viewpoints and invites the reader to choose. For example, Mr Lang may have murdered his first wife, or she may have committed suicide with his gun after discovering him and his mistress flagrante delicto. Either way Mr Lang was in some ways a nasty piece of work. He was also elegant, intelligent, a high decorated Viennese war hero, art collector, painter, of Jewish ancestry on one side of his family, who fully participated in the decadence of 1920's Berlin, and 1930's Hollywood. His appetite for sex and drugs is covered in the book. Even in old age he accepted the "services" of an admiring fan and frequented prostitutes almost to his last days. Nevertheless, the creator of TESTAMENT of DR MABUSE, METROPOLIS, RANCHO NOTORIOUS and THE BIG HEAT was a great enough talent to be paid homage to by GODARD and BUNUEL. Whether your taste runs to the production process of film making, the clash of huge egos, eg, Spencer Tracy V Fritz Lang, gossip, or a part-history of 20th century cinema, or analysis of the life and work of one of its great artists, then this book is a real treat.

Terrific biography of the enigmatic Lang.......1999-06-25

Mr McGilligan has brought his usual exhaustive research to this book about the Man Who Made METROPOLIS. Lang has long been an enigmatic character in the film world, always quick to reinvent his own history through the numerous interviews he has done over the years, most notably with Peter Bogdanovich in the book FRITZ LANG IN AMERICA. McGilligan uncovers much new material on Lang, a man who seems to have had just as dark a side as some of the characters in his films. Interestingly, the author seems to have discovered that he didn't actually like the director much as he researched the book! FRITZ LANG: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST is a compelling read.

excellent insight.......1999-04-28

although the "darkness" of lang's life is described, there are aspects of the atriste that give insight into his "pain"..metropolis was discussed at length and the agonies exposed.. good book,easy to read if you have any real interest in the man behind the robot...

Average customer rating:

Fritz Lang : The Nature of the Beast
Fritz] McGilligan, Patrick [Lang
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N2M9UY

Fritz Lang the Nature of the Beast a Bio

Average customer rating:

Wordy, boring book

Fritz Lang the Nature of the Beast a Bio
Patrick Mcgilligan
Manufacturer: St Martins Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0321132475

Customer Reviews:

Wordy, boring book.......2007-08-09

Unfortunately, this author has taken what is a very interesting life and made it boring and wordy beyond ones ability to read, let along keep track of. The author goes on numerous tangents to other characters, who I did not care one iota about, then glosses over important aspect of Langs life as if he were also a tangent. Avoid this book at all costs.

Average customer rating:

Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast
McGILLIGAN Patrick
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTHX2K

Average customer rating:

FRITZ LANG: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
PATRICK MCGILLAN
Manufacturer: ST MARTIN'S
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S963C2

Average customer rating:

Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast
Patrick McGilligan
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press c1997
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ONZZFI

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