Granta Magazine 74: Confessions of a Middle-Aged Ecstasy Eater

Book Description

In the latest issue of the magazine that Vogue called “the pinnacle of literary and political writing,” a celebrated writer makes an anonymous confession and defends a habit: his son supplies him with Ecstasy. Nicholas Shakespeare discovers the evil of his ancestors, Alexander Stille examines the godlike role of poets in Somalia, and David Feuer writes on trying — and failing — to be a shrink in a Hasidic community. Also included is new fiction from A. M. Holmes and Judith Hermann.

Customer Reviews:

Great Issue of a Great Magazine! .......2005-09-10

This is one of the best issues of Granta I have ever read. It's wonderful. I agree with the other reviewer that the title story is the issue's only downside. My favorite story is about a psychiatrist who by a rabbi to treat a Hasidic community. From parent's who have hidden away psychotic relatives to women feining OCD to get out of child-bearing, I was absorbed from beginning to tragic end. A terrific issue.

A Good Read.......2002-02-03

Don't let the title and the cover put you off! The only story in this anthology that I didn't like was the covering story, because I thought it was pompous and overly wordy. The remainder, both fiction and non-fiction, are thoughtful and well-written stories and have left me wanting to find out more about these talented writers. And, I will definitely be seeking out other Granta anthologies to read in the near future.

Book Description

An all-new anthology of stories featuring THE ORIGINAL VAMPIRE HUNTER.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the most famous novels in history. Both Dracula and Van Helsing have become icons: the vampire and the vampire hunter. Yet while the character of Dracula has been endlessly examined, Van Helsing is arguably one of the most well-known yet least explored characters in literature.

Now, Van Helsing gets his due as the stellar masters of horror and fantasy contribute their own unique take on the original vampire hunter.

The tentative list of original stories featured in this unique anthology include such authors as:

Katherine Dunn
Christopher Golden
Elizabeth Hand
Brian Hodge
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Graham Joyce
Kathe Koja
Tanith Lee
Gregory Maguire
Kristine Katherine Rusch
Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem
Thomas Tessier
F. Paul Wilson

Customer Reviews:

A wide variety of takes on one mysterious man.......2005-11-05

When purchasing this book, I was interested to see so many different author's takes on one of the most elusive and interesting characters in vampire fiction. There is a wide range of takes on the character, with a great many centering around one of two women: either his insane wife (the vast majority) or Mina Harker (two or three). This son is also the focal point of quite a few, but by far my favorite story in the entire anthology is the first one, the Screaming by J.A. Knrath. It is a very delicious little tale and highly recommended.

A complete list of the stories follows-

*** The Screaming by J.A. Knrath *** Poison in the Darkness by Rita Oakes *** Infestation in the Walls by Thomas Tessier *** Anna Lee by Kathe Koja *** Venus and Mars by Christopher Golden *** The Power of Waking by Nina Kiriki Hoffman *** The Life Imprisoned by William D. Carl *** The Tomb of Fog and Flowers by C. Dean Anderson *** So Far From Us in All Ways by Chris Roberson *** Sideshow by Thomas F. Monteleone *** Hero Dust by Kristine Kathryn Rusch *** Remember Me by Tanith Lee *** A Letter From the Asylum by Kris Dikeman *** My Dear Madame Mina by Lois Tilton *** Ardelis by Sarah Kelderman *** Abraham's Boys by Joe Hill *** The Black Wallpaper by Kim Antieau *** Brushed in Blackest Silence by Brian Hodge *** Empty Morning by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem *** Fantasy Room by Adam-Troy Castro *** Origin of Species by A.M. Dellamonica

Over all, the only thing I didn't like is that all the stories are about Van Helsing the man. No adventures, really, and so many of them focus on his wife and child, leaving other ground uncovered.

Still for fans of Dracula or anthology lovers, highly recommended.

Good read!.......2004-10-23

As with any collection of short stories, I liked some more than others. But it was a good collection with lots of variety & a great subject. I really enjoyed it.

A Clever Concept . . . well exceuted.......2004-07-01

ALmost all of the stories fell within the theme of the book. Very few were just standard vampire hunters, and some like Chris Golden's and Joe Hill's were very much outside the box. While more traditional than some of the others, the Monteleone story very much captured the turn of the century sense of wonder and other-worldly aspect of Van Helsing's mission--and had a GREAT twist at the end.

This is a fun book. Get it.

Excellent concept, and what an anthology ought to be!.......2004-04-25

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories in this intriguing book. What a pleasant surprise it should be to many readers to find an anthology like this these days, one that is NOT a shared world series based on a game or TV/Movie media tie-in. As such, this more "traditional" anthology might at first glance confuse some readers who are not used to having stories in an anthology sometimes contradict one another. But this is just the kind of anthology a great many readers should relish, presenting stories as it does with a variety of viewpoints from a variety of writers, each with a different take on the character created by Bram Stoker in DRACULA over one hundred years ago, Professor Abraham Van Helsing. For example, about all Stoker told us of Van Helsing's private life was that his wife was insane and his son dead. One of the stories in the anthology, "The Tomb of Fog and Flowers" by C. Dean Andersson, explores that theme and presents Van Helsing's first encounter with a supernatural force, but refreshingly, there are no Vampires and no Dracula present in Andersson's tale, which may surprise some who are aware of his "first person" Vampire novel, I AM DRACULA. Maybe someone will ask him to now do I AM VAN HELSING! However, other stories in this anthology do deal with events in Dracula, or with different kinds of Vampires. One even presents Van Helsing as a Vampire himself! All in all, I highly recommend this anthology. After all, the editor, Jeanne Cavelos, created and edited the excellent Abyss horror line at Dell Books a few years back, and anyone who read any of the Abyss novels should have a high regard for anything to which the Cavelos name is connected. In other words, I highly recommend this book!

A disappointment.......2004-04-21

While there are some standout stories (Thomas Tessier, Nina Hoffman, Joe Hill), there are also some clunkers. One author appears to think that "Van" is Van Helsing's first name, and many others appear to have little to do with Van Helsing other than having his name appended (a few don't even bother with that, and merely present generic vampire hunter stories).

Extremely uneven.

Customer Reviews:

Back when Known Space was great.......2007-01-30

Larry Niven really had a great universe with his "Known Space" series. It was just plain fun and imagnative. Larry has returned back to the Ring World and known space. But Ringworld's Children has pretty much ended the series and there isn't much more that can be done unless somebody decides to be a writer if Larry franchises it.

That being said, I really liked World of Ptavvs. Larry's universe if fun and fairly PG rated, no really offensive stuff here. Indeed, this story goes well with the later Ringworld, Neutron Star stories, and the rest of Know Space.

Basically, in this book the universe is old and there have been several wars of expermination between various species. About a few billion years past the Trints are mind-controlling overlords of the universe. They are double crossed and decided to exterminate life in the universe. Basically, the only thing left alive in the universe is food scum and we all evolved from that.

Fast forward a billion years. Explorers on earth find a frozen statue of an alien. They use a stasis field, turn off the alien's stasis, and a threat comes to earth that could enslave the universe.

Niven write fun and fast. To pass time the mind controlling Alien pays cards and the people who are controlled figure the thing is stupid, it can't spot card patterns. The lesson is clear: people in control don't have to be smart (that was known in 1966 and is still true today).

Niven's high points in writing is in his playground of "Known Space". The novels read fast, are not boring, and are always fun.

Now, this novel was written back in 1966. So, it's a little dated. We pretty much know there are no Martians.

Still, it's fun. I rate it a 4 star.

A decent first novel for Niven........2005-07-21

This is Larry Niven's first novel and the first novel set in his Known Space universe. The plot revolves around the accidental revival by humans of the Thrint Kzanol from a long period of stasis. The mind-sharing between Kzanol and human telepath Larry Greenberg also plays a centrol role.

The first half of the book introduces us to Kzanol and Larry while giving us some background on humanity during Larry's time. The latter half of the novel focuses on a space race to prevent Kzanol from retrieving his telepathic amplifier helmet. This latter half is slow and laden with details that, while scientifically accurate for the time, are boring and in some ways secondary to the advancement of the plot. The characters in the book other than Larry or Kzanol are barely fleshed out and unfortunately the latter half of the book spends a lot of time away from Larry and Kzanol.

The average reader will undoubtedly find this a less compelling introduction to Niven. For introductory Niven try N-Space which gives a good overview of Niven's work or just jump in with Ringworld.

A fan of Niven's Known Space will find some gems worth their time in this novel, such as tidbits about the Thrintun and Tnuctipun, that make the read worthwhile. Overall this is a moderately good work that shows the initial promise which led to Niven's later and better work.

This novel can be found along with two other Known Space novels (A Gift from Earth and Tales of Known Space) in a collection called Three Books of Known Space.

And whatever became of the dolphins?.......2004-03-20

I first read World of Ptavvs when I was about 16, and remembered nothing of it other than the title when I came across a copy last week. That surprised me a bit since I'd felt fairly strongly about most of Larry Niven's other works--loved Ringworld, hated Footfall. So I grabbed it up and since it's really just a novella, thought I'd finish it rather quickly. World of Ptavvs didn't hold my interest, though, and so I put it aside in favor of other more substantial books and took more than a week to complete it. If this were not the first of Niven's Known Space books, honestly there would be no particular reason to spend time with it. Other reviewers will cover the plot--suffice it to say that this is a real sci-fi gadget-driven-"technology and its consequences" story with cardboard characters--I couldn't even say, afterward, who I thought the main protagonist was. Characters have never been Niven's strong suit, ideas have, and in Ringworld that was no bad thing. But World of Ptavvs lacks the alien environment of Ringworld to a great extent, and so Niven's explorations are less compelling. There were moments of interest, and the idea of a superwar that destroys almost all sentient life in the universe is horrifying, but the method Niven postulates given his own premises is so obviously flawed that it took me a mere 20 seconds to think, "Wait, that doesn't make sense, couldn't they...?" One plot point, the exploration of space by dolphins (!) was completely dropped and seemed almost entirely irrelevant to the story. Completist fans of Known Space will surely want to read World of Ptavvs. Other sci-fi fans might prefer The Apocalypse Troll by David Weber, a work indebted to Niven but in some respects better written; or the Peter F. Hamilton Night's Dawn series.

Background on Known Space.......2002-09-11

If you haven't discovered Larry Niven, or just recently discovered him, you need to read his early novels that set the tone of more recent work in his future history "Known Space." This book gives the origin of Humans (in the Known Space Universe)and is a great SciFi thrill ride. The story is rather short, especially if you are used to horror stories from the likes of Stephen King and Dan Simmons (who writes SciFi, Horror, and Detective novels)and you won't get the character development that you would with Niven's more recent work like The Ringworld Throne or The Legacy of Heorot. But remember, this was published in 1966. You have to forgive the use of science that has been disproved since 1966 (you can't land on Neptune -- its a gas giant. And the suspected 10th planet in our solar system apparently does not exist). But it is still a great, suspenseful story. If not for the lack of sick, disgusting murders (and the inclusion of spaceships), this could be a horror story.

A weak first novel, but explains a lot about Known Space.......2002-03-29

WORLD OF PTAAVS was Larry Niven's first novel, published in 1966, and with its 2106 setting it is one of the first stories chronologically in the Known Space canon. It is clearly a weak work, and offers only hints of the wonderful ideas that Niven was to write about only a year later.

WORLD OF PTAAVS begins two billion years before the present with the alien Kzanol, a member of the Thrintun race. This race had the ability to control others telepathically and are the Slavers mentioned in later Known Space works. After the drive on Kzanol's ship burns out, Kzanol puts himself into a stasis field and aims himself at Earth. He supposes that only 90 years will pass until he is rescued, but eons go by while he lies in stasis after impacting in Earth's ocean.

In the near-future, a scientist believes that he can break open Kzanol's stasis field and enlists the help of Larry Greenberg. A telepath, Greenberg's job is to read the alien's mind for several seconds before the field is reactivated. However, Kzanol's telepathic abilities overwhelm Greenberg, and Greenberg comes to believes he is Kzanol. The two Kzanol's set out to Neptune, racing against each other to claim the telepathic amplifier that Kzanol sent there, with which one could enslave all of Earth. Lucas Garner, an agent with the UN, gives chase.

WORLD OF PTAAVS was clearly written in the mid-60's. There is only one female character, and she is a stereotypical June Cleaver housewife. Niven was unable to foreesee the advent of powerful personal computing, and the computers of the novel output their information on paper strips like stocktickers. One amusing part of the novel for modern audiences is a reference to "West Berlin." Even the science of the story is outdated, one part refers to landing on Neptune, but Neptune is a gas giant without a solid surface.

It is difficult to recommend WORLD OF PTAAVS, it is a very weak novel with wooden characters and clumsy writing. However, the novel is an integral part of Niven's Known Space universe, and much of the elements of this novel went on to play a part in other Known Space works. If you've never read anything by Larry Niven, though, get his collection NEUTRON STAR (out of print, several stories are in the collection CRASHLANDER), or his award-winning novel RINGWORLD. Check out WORLD OF PTAAVS only if you want light shed on certain elements of the Known Space series.

Average customer rating:
3 Titles By Larry Niven : The World of Ptavvs - A Gift from Earth - Protector
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Niven, Larry | ( N ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000TO8F0Y

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

4 Titles By Larry Niven : The World of Ptavvs - Protector - All the Myriad Way - A Hole in Space

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4 Titles By Larry Niven : The World of Ptavvs - Protector - All the Myriad Way - A Hole in Space
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000W4NVYG

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

PROTECTOR ; WORLD OF PTAVVS ; THE INTEGRAL TREES

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PROTECTOR ; WORLD OF PTAVVS ; THE INTEGRAL TREES
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: None Stated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VODZK2

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World of Ptavvs

Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0345023331

Product Description

1960s science fiction novel about telepathic abilities and their dangers.

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World of Ptavvs
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVJ4M0

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World of Ptavvs
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GR809U

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World of Ptavvs
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballentine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVFN8O

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World of Ptavvs
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0345275438

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World of Ptavvs
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Futura
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UJIGNE

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good first start

A very good beginner's book

A little book for a lotta money

Good Book to Learn Basic Knife Techniques

Informative

The Professional Chef's Knife Kit
Culinary Institute of America
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Hospitality, Travel & Tourism | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Professional Chef, 8th Edition

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On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

ASIN: 0471349976

Book Description

When you watch a professional magic act, you may find yourself awed by the trick. You are a willing believer in the illusion created by the magician. If, however, you are a magician, you are no longer in awe of the trick itself. You are astonished by the skill and finesse of the magician-the ease, the apparent effortlessness of motion.

Chefs are a great deal like magicians. To the novice, the transformation of a carrot to a pile of perfectly even julienne is almost miraculous. To the seasoned chef, the miracle is the skill, the coordination, and rhythm of the right tool in an accomplished hand.

Founded in 1946, THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelors and associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. Courses for foodservice professionals are offered at the colleges main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and at its additional campus for continuing education, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California.

Customer Reviews:

good first start.......2007-08-16

book does a good job of inititating the user to knife techniques for a someone not attending formal training. Descriptions define the technique quite well, I would have liked to have included more information about the errors students encounter.

Overall a worthwhile book.

A very good beginner's book.......2007-08-12

Let's be honest. Learning WHAT to do with a knife takes very little time. One can read; one can watch, one can even be told without demonstration. Most of it is common sense; some of it is obsolete tradition; more than a little is flashing-blade-ego.

The hard part is HOW to do it. Skills. Mad Skilz as my younger colleagues might say. And these do not come from a book. They come from piles and piles of onions and carrots and fruits and you-fill-in. No one should expect to read this or any knife manual and think they're going to walk into the kitchen and perform like a pro.

This is a good book to give the beginner a great deal of information about how to care for knives (about which most are utterly clueless) and a sound start on technique-building. Alas, the sad fact is that few are going to perfect those techniques with months and years of practice.

It will also be useful for those pretentious amateurs who like to talk the talk. Wait until the next time one of them takes a rude snipe at Rachel Ray and then toss them some veggies and tell them to do as well. The results will be revealing, I promise you.

I suppose it doesn't make all that much difference in the long run. So long as you are not in a production environment, flashing speed isn't really that critical. Look at Sara Moulton. She's a duffer with a knife yet she has made a very nice living out of food and cooking. That's because she doesn't have to pump it out in a commercial kitchen every day. And that is perfectly OK.

Good luck, new choppers. May you lose fewer fingernails than I did as you climb the learning curve. :)

A little book for a lotta money.......2007-02-13

This is a book of technique. Eighty of its pages have photos and brief descriptions of knifework, including preliminary cuts, chopping, mincing, shredding and grating, plain and decorative slicing cuts and other decorative cuts; also some particulars about handling onions, scallions, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocadoes, peppers, plantains, zucchini, apples, citrus fruit, melons, pineapples and mangos; together with knife techniques for tenderloin, cutting chops, boning a leg of lamb, disjointing a rabbit or poultry, carving roasted meats and turkey, and salmon, lobster, shrimp, clams and oysters. That's it.

Almost all the photographs of knife technique show use of a large French- not German-style chef's knife. A small number picture a boning knife, turning knife or mandolin; all other knives are given very short shrift indeed.

Most of this information can be found elsewhere, in comprehensive cookbooks and manuals of technique, and on the web for free. This presentation is decent, but not really worth more than five bucks on its own. Which is far less than it in fact costs.

Notice that the sixty pages of elementary information about knives and their care which precede the section on technique add little to the value of the volume. A characteristic sample reads, "Slicers ... The type of edge on the blade is selected to make a particular food easier to slice." The passionless prose of a nameless textbook writer provides nary a word about what types of edges are available on slicers, much less about which of those edges might suit which purposes.

Good Book to Learn Basic Knife Techniques.......2006-11-27

70% of this book is fairly useless if you lack any sort of common sense in the kitchen.

If you're learning how to cook from zero it should be a good resource.

This book shows all of the basic cuts and briefly covers sharpening which is good but not great. I expected more from a professional textbook.

It should spend more time discussing sharpening techniques (so very important if you want to use a cooks knife effectively) and less time showing how to flay a mango (something most chef's will rarely encounter).

If you have a lot of money, go ahead and buy it. If you don't or would like a better way to get knife skills, you'll need to befriend a local cook at a fancy restaurant. Just go in after service is over and hang out at the bar. If you have any social skills at all and are willing to buy a few drinks, you should find any chef willing to show you the way.

Informative.......2006-10-30

I just wanted to comment based on the previous reviewer. I'd say about 90-95% of the information in this book is in The Professional Chef 8th Edition, so if you own it, it's not worth purchasing this book. The P.C. 8th Edition explains all these cuts based on the chapter you're reading. It's not all located in one section. Perhaps the reviewer "Absolutely Essential" has not completely read P.C. yet.

Average customer rating:

Cool book - Lab Retriever for Dummies

Very Helpful

No Dummies Here!

Great resource.

No longer a dummy!!

Labrador Retrievers for Dummies
Joel Walton , and Eve Adamson
Manufacturer: For Dummies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Breeds | Dogs | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Labrador Retriever Handbook, The (Barron's Pet Handbooks)

ASIN: 0764552813

Product Description

Get the lowdown on keeping your dog healthy and contentLabrador Retrievers are versatile, serving as family companions, hunting buddies, guides for the blind, service dogs for the physically challenged, and drug-detector dogs. This fun and friendly book gives you expert advice on Lab temperament, shows you how to train your dog to be a well-mannered companion, and much more.Discover how to:Choose the right Lab for you.Manage your new puppy.Educate yourself and your Lab.Maintain good health, proper exercise, and diet.Use the Manage, Relate, Educate training program.Written in a down-to-earth style featuring informative cartoons, illustrations, reference lists, and other handy tools to help you understand and care for your Labrador Retriever.

Customer Reviews:

Cool book - Lab Retriever for Dummies.......2007-06-29

Cool book. I'm a lab retriever owner and loved the information from the book- brought me up to date on everything I should know about this breed...

Very Helpful.......2007-03-09

This book was easy to read. It had a lot of general information about all dogs. It had really good training tips.

No Dummies Here!.......2007-01-18

On December 11, 2006 I adopted a 7 week old lab puppy who needed a home. So, as a retired teacher, I needed a guide! Walton's book is practical and well written to help new, or experienced,pet owners. It has practical tips and humorous insights that make it easy to read and full of useful information. Lucky, my lab, is growing happy and healthy and I am not tearing my hair out trying to figure things out on my own.

Great resource........2006-04-10

My current Sam is the fifth family Labrador Retriever and I want him to be the best.
This book has all the basic dog stuff in an easy to read and use format and enough about just Labs to be very helpful to me. I don't need a pretty color picture book, I take daily pictures of Sam, but the public library also has a wonderful book about Jake a Labrador puppy if someone needs color pictures to be happy. The unique and beautiful temperament of these dogs is a treasure when they are taught to be a companion. Don't just have a dog, train him to be one of the family.

No longer a dummy!!.......2005-09-20

excellent book for new owners of labrador retrievers. i bought the book before i took my lab to her first puppy class. the book was highly recommended by the instructor.

anything you might need to know on how to raise and train your new addition can be found here.

Labrador Retrievers For Dummies - A Reference For The Rest Of Us!

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Labrador Retrievers For Dummies - A Reference For The Rest Of Us!
Joel; Adamson, Eve Walton
Manufacturer: Idg Books Worldwide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TDJ4AK

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Labrador-Retriever Fur Dummies
Joel Walton , and Eve Adamson
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 3527702199

Book Description

A unique look at cultural an dart history. Master Pieces chronicles the link between popular illustration and jigsaw puzzles. This book shows the beginnings of this beloved pastime and follows the related changes in puzzles and culture that led steadily toward "The Great Puzzle Panic" of the 1930s and the vast expansion of the puzzle market thereafter.

International in scope Master Pieces includes many of the Old Maters and records the evolution of commercial illustration worldwide. The book includes condensed biographies of the artists as well as a valuable reference guide that gives estimates of what these puzzles are worth today.

Customer Reviews:

SUPERB!!!!!!!!.......1999-05-16

If Amazon offered EIGHT stars, this would be the book that would do it. The 500 plus puzzles shown, are simply gorgeous in full color and provide a vehicle for the true purpose of the book - a presentation of beautiful paintings as expressed on puzzles. The informative and fascinating artist biographies and collecter's value guide make this the perfect book for puzzle collectors and art lovers, alike. I was delighted by this wonderful book and find it brings more enjoyment everytime I open it.

Does not include solid or plywood puzzles.......1999-05-14

While beautiful this book was a disappointment and and the title misleading. We are sending it back.It is limited to cardboard puzzles, many of which are a "dime a dozen". The most highly valued, most complicated and sought after puzzles, solid wood and plywoood, are not included.

Beautiful to hold and read - art and puzzle lore in one!.......1999-03-31

Not just for puzzle fans! A stunning presentation - famous and not famous, new and familiar art as represented in jigsaw puzzles over the years. Presented with tidbits of information scattered throughout the book, it's a pleasure to hold, to handle and to browse. I intended to buy just one for a puzzle fan friend, but now I find that I want to keep the copy I have and am buying another to give away. And, if you have any old puzzles in the attic - check it out! They may be more than lovely to look at - they may be worth something too! Beautifully indexed and edited - a real pleasure.

Master Pieces: The Art History of Jigsaw Puzzles.

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Master Pieces: The Art History of Jigsaw Puzzles.
CHRIS MCCANN
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RQNMR0

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Picture Framing for the first time (For the First Time)
Lee Bartholomew
Manufacturer: Sterling/Chapelle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1402727836

Book Description

Go from total beginner to confident expert! With instructions, advice, and color photographs that detail the techniques, Picture Framing follows every step from gathering the tools and selecting basic materials to choosing the right frame, assembling it, and matting the finished product. Here are the queries every crafter wants to ask, and solutions to all the problems encountered along the way. Even those purchasing a ready-made will find important information on displaying and mounting their art.

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Picture Framing for the First Time
Lee Bartholomew
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K3YTX6

Book Description

Whether you come from a technically experienced or inexperienced theatrical background, A Guidebook for Creating Three-Dimensional Theatre Art will help you create the absolutely correct piece for any production. Carnaby's book does not deal with the design process, but is intended to be a guidebook for the actual creator of theatre art, serving as a general manual for any theatre craftsperson, whether they be milliner, puppeteer, wig maker, costumer, set constructor, properties master, or cobbler.

This comprehensive guidebook offers a beautiful panorama of theatrical styles that would look great on any coffee table, let alone an artisan's workplace!

Customer Reviews:

Illuminating contextualization.......2000-05-07

In a series of interviews between 1971 and 1993 Gussow (longtime _New York Times_ drama critic, who also coaxed a fascinating set of comments from Tom Stoppard) got Pinter to talk about how he works. Pinter refuses to comment on what his work "means," but is eager to clear the air about misperceptions about himself (such as being in a chronic state of outrage). Pinter comes across as generous as well as politically committed, suspicious of audiences, but grateful to (fellow) actors. And he clearly has a sense of humor (too rarely appreciated in his plays).

Average customer rating:

Conversations With Pinter
Mel Gussow
Manufacturer: Proscenium
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Conversations With Pinter
Harold; Gussow, Mel Pinter
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O0AM7C

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