Amazon.com

Bringing an entirely new slant to the concept of the coffee-table book, SUMO is a suitably enormous homage to 79-year-old Helmut Newton, the master of subversive and erotic photography. "I wanted to build a monument to the most important photographer of the 20th century," comments Benedikt Taschen, the publisher behind SUMO. He delivers. Weighing over 65 pounds, measuring more than two feet long, and breaking any previous size record in book publishing, SUMO contains 480 pages of every aspect of Newton's outstanding career in photography. Each copy of the book is bound by hand and numbered and signed by the artist. In order to showcase this colossus, the book is packaged with its own stand designed by Philippe Starck.

This outsized volume contains the body of Newton's controversial yet iconographic work, documenting fashion, fetishism, and above all an overriding obsession with voyeurism that can make the viewer feel complicit or uneasy by turns. Newton himself describes SUMO as "terrifying and outrageous. I don't even look at it as a book.... I look at it as an object." --Catherine Taylor, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (12)

a Monolith
Well, as everyone else says, there's no other book like it. I had a look at a copy in an art photography store and thought it was ok, but would I pay two grand for it? Nah, I don't think so. Admittedly, the cover shot from the series 'Big Nudes' is impressive when you first see it, but these pictures were never meant to be printed at this size. Newton shoots fast and produces grainy photographs; at this size the pictures start losing clarity because of the extreme grainyness. There are also slight scratches and imperfections on some of the negatives, which at a normal size are miniscule, but here the tiniest scratch is blown up into a great white worm crawling over the page.

Don't get me wrong, Newton is one of the great lensmen of recent decades. The work displayed here is of itself, brilliant. Even so, you could save yourself a packet and buy a quality 'normal' book of his work, where the pictures can be appreciated more easily. This book's merit lies in it being an art object in it's own right. If you actually want to savour and enjoy Newton's work, give it a miss.

Don't Let the Critics Wrestle Sumo
This book is not meant to collect dust on a coffee table but to lay open atop its stand the way Starck designed it. It's an interactive art piece that can be changed daily, weekly, etc depending on your mood (or the company you expect). How can these arresting and haunting images ever get boring? Would a Helmut Newton hung on a wall slowly become mundane? I can tell you from experience that the answer is a resounding NO.

A work of art.....
This book is by far a conversation piece....I have had company that spends hours turning the pages. Even after having the book for several months, I flip through it and see photos I don't recall seeing the first time. I absolutely love this book and would highly recommend it to everyone. According to the folks at the Taschen bookstore in Beverly Hills, CA, there are fewer than 100 books left out of the 10,000 printed.

A MUST HAVE!
ANY Helmut or June fan must have this anthology!!

Record sized & worth every $, more than a book...
coffee table book with it's own coffee table / stand,
emormous, the biggest book I ever seen,
big & heavy, record size, over 65 pounds,
expensive, high dollar item,
nothing for prude people, but - it's one of a kind,
even if you don't like nude photographie, THIS is the BOOK,
you got to have it...,
just great !!! ... Read more

Book Description

For over 70 years, Architectural Graphic Standards has been the bedrock design reference for generations of architects, builders and engineers. Now comes the most complete design tool yet--the completely updated and expanded Tenth Edition. You'll find a wealth of information, complete with 10,000 drawings. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

The Big Red Book
It has 154 more pages than the 9th edition, so it has new information, but as you page through it you will find it seems almost identical. They need to keep most of the old data, so I wouldn't take off points for that. You can see the publisher's review for all of the new features: I noticed that the Historic Preservation chapter has been shortened a bit.

Potentially, the biggest addition is the CD-ROM, which has CAD files ready to use, and includes pretty much everything from the book. You might think that you are getting all that for the cost of the book, but...no. The "demo" CD comes in a sleeve inside the back cover, and is noted: "Full functionality, Limited data." You can access a drawing of a bar joist, for example. It exports a DWG or DXF file with layers based on line weights. The interface is pretty clear; you don't have to read any instructions to start using it. The CD actually has all of the data, but you have to pay another $425 online to "unlock" it. That could be a bargain, but I suspect that most firms will feel that their own detail library is more applicable to the work they do. Still, $425 represents less than a day's worth of billable hours.

Every architect knows the value of this book, and most every architecture firm (in the U.S. anyway) will want at least one copy just to stay current, and because the old one is getting worn out. You might as well get it now, and decide on the CD-ROM later. I'd love to have a special edition set with each page ever published in all of the AGS books, or even just the last 3 or 4. I'd give that 6 stars.

An Architect's Best Friend
This book is one of the best reference books an architect will ever use. It contains the necessary information for the beginning and advanced architect. Inside the 568 pages in this book one will find from the most basic to the highly complex architectural graphics. The book provides reference for the various arcchitectural plans such as the floor plan, elevation and perspective drawings. No other reference material can surpass the amount of information provided in this excellent book.

Be careful, this is the 1932 edition!
I bought this book thinking that it was the recent version, but it's a reissue of the 1932 edition! The publishing date is 1998 and the title makes no mention of the antiquated material. This book is an interesting historical work but is useless as a contemporary reference. Make sure you get the "10th Edition" published in 2000 if you want the recent one. I'm trying to return my 1932 antique now.

Lots of Hay, but Very Few Needles
Once again the editors of Graphic Standards have promised a useful reference for architects, and have fallen way short. In architecture school (1972), I purchased the sixth edition and found it better than most reference books for students of architecture. However, even then I noticed many sections of questionable value. Pages and pages of dimensions of designer furniture and kitchenware fall into this category.

Recently, after practicing architecture for 20 years, I was suckered back by publisher Wiley's siren song of how the new tenth edition is new, informative, refreshing, up to date, etc. Fooled again. Sure, the Graphic Standards is a fair source of information, but I question the editors' judgement as to what is worth publishing between the wonderfully bound front and rear cover. For example, look up "R-value" in the index and you are directed to 55 words on page 486 how R-value relates to windows and that it's the inverse of U-values. Nothing on the R-value of all exterior skin construction materials or how the R-value relates poorly to thermal massing materials. These things should be very important to architects and are disappointingly absent from the Graphic Standards. However, if you ever need to know what a Zamboni looks like, or need to know the dimensions required for a rodeo barrel race, this is your book! Want an entire page showing ten pieces of gymnastics equipment (pg. 777) or how to draw an ellipse using pen or pencil (pg.999)? Seek no more. Twenty four pages of kitchen utensils and garden tools are still there. This is the best place to find loads of pages of barely useful information of dubious worth.

Once the editors of Graphic Standards discover that a meaningful discussion on R-values in building materials deserves more space than the dimensions of a belt sander, then I might reconsider purchasing a later edition, but I won't hold my breath. Oh, one more thing, for you architects out there working on a Macintosh platform, the accompanying CD-ROM is useless.

Disappointed from Texas
If I had read some of the reviews I would never had purchased the book. When I looked at it closely I realized that it was something I really couldn't use because it did not include the up to date building requirements. If the title shown had mentioned 1932 edition it would have helped in my decsion whether to purchase the book or not. One thing I learned was that I need to check and double check before I purchase. ... Read more

Book Description

If you're ready for an Elements 3 book that breaks all the rules, this is it, because it does something for digital photographers that's never been done before--it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It tells you, flat-out, which settings to use, when to use them, and why.

This book is not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. It gives you the same settings used by some of the top digital pros, settings you can use today to get professional results you've always dreamed of.

Plus, since this book is designed for photographers, it doesn't waste your time talking about how to frame a shot, setting your exposure, etc. and there's no talk which camera or printer to buy. It's all Elements, step-by-step, cover-to-cover in the only book of its kind, and you're gonna love it!

Besides learning the inside tips and the tricks of the trade for correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting your photos like a pro. You'll learn how to unlock the power of all the new Elements 3 features, including how to manage your photos using the new Organizer, how to use the new "pro tools" like the Healing Brush and the Shadow/Highlight controls, and how to master the new "Creation" section to take your photos to an entirely new level. Plus, you'll see it all step-by-step, in plain English, and you'll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are, once you know the secrets.

You'll learn:

• The secrets of how the pros retouch portraits
• How to incorporate the amazing new features of Elements 3 into your work today!
• How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you'll be amazed at how they do it!)
• How to repair and restore damaged photos
• The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there's an entire chapter just on this!)
• Dealing with common digital camera image problems, including removing noise and avoiding halos
• When to use Quick Fix, and when to do to it yourself (using our step-by-step methods).
• The most-requested photographic special effects
• and much more!

But besides all that, this book has a "secret weapon" that makes it the most important, most useful Elements book yet. The reason is this--although Elements 3 offers some digital photography features Photoshop CS doesn't offer, there are plenty of features that Photoshop CS has, that Elements 3 still doesn't have (things like Layer Masking, Channel Mixer, etc.). But in this book, you'll learn some slick workarounds, cheats, and some fairly ingenious ways to replicate many of those Photoshop features from right within Elements.

There's never been a book like it, and if you're a digital photographer using Photoshop Elements 3, this is the book you've been waiting for.

... Read more

Reviews (6)

very good all-around reference
I primarily work as a structural-architectural engineer and am becoming more and more involved in civil-site work. This handbook is exactly what I was looking for in terms of something that would quickly get me "up to speed" in the fundamentals of civil-site design.
Of course, no single book could (or should) be thought of as a substitute for the experience and mentoring received from seasoned professionals in a design office, but this one has enough technical explanation and details to get you going with confidence.
I choose this one over the Colley book (reviewed both before making purchase) as Land Development Handbook has more of the technical info that engineers would seek.

Difficult to follow!
I am in a class at Community College of Baltimore County and we are using this book at this time. Our whole class along with the Professor find this book to be very difficult to follow. The book constantly repeats itself making it extremely boring to read and is not fluent at all. They have examples that reference charts that are 3-5 pages apart from the problem being discussed the formulas you almost have to figure out for yourself how they are used and there are alot of typos.
I recomend burning this book!!!!!!!

A Must Have Pub
Ever since I purchased this publication I can't stop using it. Every civil engineer should have this as part of their reference library, regardless of your area of specialty. It provides macro to micro scale explanations of general processes, design applications, etc in a very readable format. More times than I can remember I have looked to this book for an answer or at least for some guidance and was throuroughly satisfied. No it is not a definitive reference for civil engineers but its' breadth and usability overshadows any technical shortcomings. If I had to have just one reference book for my area of practice (general civil), this would be it. Yeah, yeah, the "Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers" is a more definitive reference, but I usually find out what I need in this pub.

ps - Almost everyone of my fellow employees that has used the book has purchased their own, find someone you know who has a copy and check it out for yourself.

Excellent, very thourough book
This book covers it all. Although I've never used it for actual design, it covers quite a lot as far as verious issues you may encounter during design. It seems to be geared towards the East Coast. Highly recommended book.

A Book for the Project Engineer Engaged in Land Development
This book is the first book that really reflects and addresses most of the "everyday" issues encountered in site design and land development. It has a practical application and includes most of the charts, tables and nomographs that are necessary to complete a given design procedure. It also provides very appropriate and helpful examples. ... Read more

Book Description

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) is a fashion icon unlike any other. She invented modern clothing for women: at the height of the Belle Époque, she stripped women of their corsets and feathers, bobbed their hair, put them in bathing suits, and sent them out to get tanned in the sun. She introduced slacks, costume jewelry, and the exquisitely comfortable suit. She made the first couture perfume-No. 5-which remains the most popular scent ever created.

In this beautiful volume, the glorious life of the incomparable Coco Chanel shines again through hundreds of illustrations and the lively prose of Edmonde Charles-Roux, her official biographer and close friend. Chanel knew and collaborated with the likes of Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Cocteau, Jean Renoir, and Visconti-even as she matched their modernist innovations by liberating women from the prison of 19th-century fashion and introducing a whole new concept of elegance. The staggering collection of photographs amassed by the over decades of friendship with Chanel sheds new light on one of the great stories of the modern age. AUTHOR BIO: Edmonde Charles-Roux began her journalistic career at Elle and ultimately became editor-in-chief of French Vogue. She has published three novels, among them To Forget Palermo (Oublier Palerme), which won the Prix Goncourt in 1966. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Coco Chanel - The Originator of Modern Women's Fashion
I am so glad this book is back in print.Written by the Senior Editor of French Vogue, who was also a close friend and biographer of Chanel, this is a must have for fashionistas.I own the original version which has all black and white photos.This new version, published 25 years after the original has new color photos and illustrations added.The book has also been revamped with all the new additions, but retains the original text.If you only get one book about Chanel, get this one.It is worth every penny.

The Big Beautiful World of Chanel
Visually pleasing and well-written, here is a book that would surely please Mademoiselle Chanel if she were still with us.

Fans of Chanel and "Fashionistas" alike will undoubtedly be delighted with this big, beautiful book and its vast number of Chanel photos, which document Coco's personal world of fashion.

Linda Painchaud-Steinman, Park Edge Books

Please bring this book back!
*Chanel and Her World* is a great document of a great woman!I've neverseen another Chanel book with so many pictures, and that's what it's allabout when it comes to one of the century's most important style-makers. It's a CRIME that it's out of print, because I MUST OWN IT. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A View Inside A Shrine to Self
The Windsors, while they were living, epitomized style, glamour, and wit. Ultimately theirs was a wasted life, empty of meaning in the end. From the heady days of their scandalous romance, life was all downhill, a private struggle to conserve their dignity in the aftermath of the abdication. To fill this emptiness and lack of purpose in life, the Duchess obsessed on perfection; of herself, of the things she collected and of the table she set. The Windsor's sous chef spent hours sorting salad leaves into leaves of exactly the same size to be set before their guests. Their relationship was a hollow recreation of the childhood the Duke never could leave behind. Moulin de la Tuilerie, their country home outside of Paris, was the York Cottage of Edward's youth reborn. Wallis herself was Queen Mary, obsessively arranging the display of small objets and cosseting the little boy who was King. A long time servant said, "They had nothing and no-one. They were just two lonely old people." Suzy Menkes takes the reader on an interesting tour through not only of the tangible objects of this relationship, but of the relationship itself. ... Read more

Book Description

Photoshop is an essential, powerful, and sometimes a befuddling tool. Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One clears the fog, taking you from graphics newbie to Photoshop warrior, under the watchful, easygoing guidance of Photoshop master Deke McClelland. This full-color book, accompanied by nearly two hours of video tutorials on CD, is an up close and personal training experience. Deke's classroom approach takes you step by step through real-world projects that help you gain Photoshop proficiency. Along the way, you'll get a good dose of graphics theory, best practices, and tips for avoiding Photoshop disasters.This one-of-a-kind approach fills a gap in the available literature and delivers a unique learning experience. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

O'Reiley Grand Slam!
I've been entertaining Photoshop "how-to" books since the big old "Classroom In a Book" version 3 and can only say that now I'm just as excited about Photoshop as when I got that first tutorial book. I've been through a lot of them since then, and nothing has ever done as much justice to this awesome program as Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One! Some of the things covered I knew, but the way those famliar things are unveiled are once again motivational. Not to mention the things I didn't know about. Software upgrades happen quite frequently, and at times we need upgrading as well. You owe it to yourself, if you are the least bit serious about this app, to work with it and reap the rewards for doing so.
O'Reiley - (hint-hint) the one-on one series could be a good thing for numerous titles and series, I think. By series, I mean - - (for example) CSS One-on-One (beginner to intermediate), CSS One-on-One (intermediate to advanced), etc. Same thing with Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash etc. BUT ONLY IF - they are done with the same care, authority, and visually supportive print work, organization and attention to detail as Adobe Photoshop CS One-on-One!
Anyway, that's my review, way to go Deke! I'm in love with Photoshop once again!!

Excellent...
I'm not sure if I can add much to the positive reviews so far. This is an excellent text - do yourself a favor and read all the reviews.

For me, I really appreciated the sidebars and "Pearls of Wisdom" scattered throughout the text. In these, the author gives quick insights like; why one tool works better than another or a keystroke reminder or a technical definition.

This book does much more than just tell you how to do something, it also explains why your image changes when using the various tools. In other words, it goes beyond just getting you from A to B. There are a million different ways to get from A to B in Photoshop, so it's nice to learn a few new ones to add to my current Photoshop knowledge.

I use Photoshop basically for two things. Fixing up photos I've taken with my digital camera or scanned in from the family archives and creating images for my personal web site. I found the chapters about highlights, midtones, and shadows and color correction invaluable, especially when trying to fix up some old color pictures of the family from '70s. =)

Excellent book, visually pleasing, highly recommend.

Probably the best guide to Photoshop on the market
O'Reilly has a knack of publishing really excellent computer books, and this knack is continued with Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one. The book is published with colour examples throughout, and the author, Deke McCelland, also presents an included CD of video tutorials. These complement the book superbly.

The author covers the major features in Photoshop, but usefully also explains when you should you a specific feature rather than another one. For example, he usefully suggests that the 'Brightness/Contrast...' option can result in pretty awful results, and explains how to change brightness and contrast in a more satisfactory way. The result is that anyone with this book will quickly move from being an amateur user of Photoshop who just gets by, to being an expert who knows how to get the very best results.

The book is very practical, and not a dry run-through of the toolbox. McClelland uses examples - like removing scratches from a scanned image or improving the focus of a photograph - that may well make the reader load up their own pictures half way through a chapter to experiment. The text is very readable, and broken up well with headings.

This is quite possibily the best guide to Photoshop on the market. Highly recommended.

Stunningly beautiful and useful book...
To say I am "graphically challenged" would be an understatement. For whatever reason, I just have a hard time envisioning what I can do with images and colors. To help solve that issue, I got a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one by Deke McClelland. In short, this book is packed.

The book is organized into the following 12 lessons: Open and Organize; Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows; Correcting Color Balance; Making Selections; Crop, Straighten, and Size; Paint, Edit, and Heal; Creating and Applying Masks; Adjusting Focus; Building Layered Compositions; Text and Shapes; Layer Styles and Adjustments; and Printing and Output.

Each lesson starts out with an "About This Lesson" page, which gives you an idea of what you're going to cover. It ends with a "What Did You Learn?" exercise where you match the concept with the description. And in between is the excellent material on how to do what it is that's being covered. Interspersed throughout the text are "Pearls Of Wisdom" which are short 5 to 10 line sidebars that explain a concept or a slant on the material that you may not have realized. And McClelland doesn't just explain how to do things, either. He goes into the concepts behind how graphics and color work, such as how to read a histogram or the difference between 8 vs. 16 bits per channel. So when you get done with the book, you should have a greater understanding and appreciation for the art of graphical manipulation.

But you're not done yet. The book comes with a CD that includes video lessons that follow along with the book, as well as the files you'll need to do the exercises. Unlike most CDs that are included in a book, this is one that actually enhances the value of the material instead of just allowing the publisher or author to charge more for stuff you may never look at.

On the aesthetic side of things, the book is really stunning. High-quality paper and beautiful colors on the examples. The only flaw I can mention is that my copy must have gotten a bad batch of paper at the printers. A small number of pages are flawed (ingrained folds) and a couple of the graphic screen shots are blurred to the point of not being able to read the text. Even with that, there is nothing that takes away from the usefulness and quality of this effort.

If you use Photoshop and want to learn how to utilize it to the fullest, you owe it to yourself to check out this book.

Basic photoshop use from end to end
This book is organized as lesson plans, which is great if you like that sort of thing. I don't, so while I will try to be fair I am a little biased.

Lesson plans aside I would say the book is a cut above the average. It gives ample space to the philosophy and doesn't just concentrate on technique. There is value in understanding why something works and not just the key combinations.

There are lots of helpful hits. The examples images are great. Though some turn out a little cheezy after too much digital work. The chapters are pretty consistent throughout, no one topic stands out as either getting too much attention or too little.

If you want a book on basic Photoshop use from end-to-end you should seriously consider this one. There are lots of books on Photoshop out there, but this one has O'Reilly's attention to detail, fine writing and editing. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

The textbook I go back to most often
This was one of my favorite textbooks from design school. It's the one I refer back to most often, because I know what I want will be there, and will be presented clearly. It is the most complete reference I have in my library for flat-patternmaking, and covers everything from making basic slopers from measurements (the book provides measurements for standard sizes, or substitute a real client's), through all sorts of bodices, sleeves, collars, skirts, pants, and other details. Also included are sections on knitwear, including swimwear, and a good portion of the book is devoted to children's clothing. Highly recommended and well worth the price.

Excellent!
This is a great book to learn how to make patterns and also a great reference if you already know how. The pictures and diagrams are very detailed and helpful and the instructions are easy to read. I highly reccomend it!

[Knock off]
Okay, this book promises good stuff, but ... could it be any harder to understand? You basically need two books to interpret how to make a single pattern. Very vague. We use this book at FIDM and I think it would have been better if the two books we use were put into one. Use it if you must, because it is a good reference for children's and body suits. Also, the illustrations are better than most.

It has its shortcomings
This is the book we use at my college. I can't compare it to other patternmaking books, but I know that Armstrong's has problems and really needs a good editor. Occasionally, steps are missing and measurements aren't accurate, and both my classmates and my teacher have found it frustrating.

The Teacher's Guide
I am living in Jamaica West Indies,We do not have this book here on the market so a friend who travel brought it and lown it to me .As a fashion desinging teacher i found this book very good,i need one for myself but i can notbuy it through this method.
So the bottom line is i used this book as my teaching guide.
Thank you.
I am,
Cynthia Mcdonald.
31 Aqualitavale Ave,
Kingston 20.
jamaica West Indes. ... Read more

Book Description

The much-acclaimed biographer's unflinchingly honest, wise, and forgiving portrait of her own famous parents: two wildly talented Russian émigrés who fled wartime Paris to become one of New York's first and grandest power couples.

Tatiana du Plessix, the wife of a French diplomat, was a beautiful, sophisticated "white Russian" who had been the muse of the famous Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Alexander Liberman, the ambitious son of a prominent Russian Jew, was a gifted magazine editor and aspiring artist. As part of the progressive artistic Russian émigré community living in Paris in the 1930s, the two were destined to meet. They began a passionate affair, and the year after Paris was occupied in World War II they fled to New York with Tatiana's young daughter, Francine.

There they determinedly rose to the top of high society, holding court to a Who's Who list of the midcentury's intellectuals and entertainers. Flamboyant and outrageous, bold and brilliant, they were irresistible to friends like Marlene Dietrich, Salvador Dalí, and the publishing tycoon Condé Nast. But to those who knew them well they were also highly neurotic, narcissistic, and glacially self-promoting, prone to cut out of their lives, with surgical precision, close friends who were no longer of use to them.

Tatiana became an icon of New York fashion, and the hats she designed for Saks Fifth Avenue were de rigueur for stylish women everywhere. Alexander Liberman, who devotedly raised Francine as his own child from the time she was nine, eventually came to preside over the entire Condé Nast empire. The glamorous life they shared was both creative and destructive and was marked by an exceptional bond forged out of their highly charged love and raging self-centeredness. Their obsessive adulation of success and elegance was elevated to a kind of worship, and the high drama that characterized their lives followed them to their deaths. Tatiana, increasingly consumed with nostalgia for a long-lost Russia, spent her last years addicted to painkillers. Shortly after her death, Alexander, then age eighty, shocked all who knew him by marrying her nurse.

Them: A Portrait of Parents is a beautifully written homage to the extraordinary lives of two fascinating, irrepressible people who were larger than life emblems of a bygone age. Written with honesty and grace by the person who knew them best, this generational saga is a survivor's story. Tatiana and Alexander survived the Russian Revolution, the fall of France, and New York's factory of fame. Their daughter, Francine, survived them. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Memoir to Remember
Francine du Plessix Gray who, has written several fine novels as well as complex and satisfying biographies of the Marquis de Sade and Simone Weil, now tenderly explores the lives of her famously mercurial parents. "Them" is a success any way you look at it; the elegant writing and the loving way she examines the life she had with these completely self-absorbed people make this memoir worth reading.

Her parents were Tatiana Yakoleva, a renowned New York designer of hats, and Alex Liberman, who was one of the creators of modern fashion journalism at Vogue. The du Plessix in Francine's name comes from her birth father, a hero of the French Resistance who died early in World War II. Although he never adopted her, Alex Liberman was the father she knew and loved, the man she and her mother always saw as the one who rescued them from the horrors of war. Tatiana had already fled one revolution, leaving Russia to live in Paris as a teenager with her grandmother, aunt, and uncle. In her early 20s, she met the dynamic Russian revolutionary poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky during one of his visits to France. He wrote one of his most beautiful poems to her and begged her to return to Russia with him. But her fear was too great, and she married diplomat Bertrand du Plessix before Mayakovsky could return to again persuade her. Mayakovsky had been under growing scrutiny for his criticism of increasing oppression in the new Soviet Union, and he committed suicide shortly thereafter. His letters were one of the Tatiana's most carefully guarded items when she fled Europe.

Photos from the family's arrival in New York make them look like a tight-knit trio, but Tatiana and Alex were terrible parents. They shuttled off Froshka, as they called her, with all sorts of extraneous family and friends. A friend had to tell her that her father was dead. They failed to tell her when they got married. They were as ambitious and thoughtless as two people can be. But they loved her very much.

What makes this memoirs so remarkable is how warmly du Plessix Gray writes about all this. She does not see herself as a victim, which is probably why she has a close and healthy family life as an adult. Beautiful writing, fearlessness, and compassion make this a memoir that will hold readers captive from start to finish.

We cannot choose our parents . . .
"Them" is an engrossing read.Mrs. Gray portrays her parents in their full roundedness with no holds barred when it comes to revealing their faults as well as their virtues.In reading the memoir, I found myself saying "what fascinating people yet how obnoxious. . . how powerful an emotion love is to permit a daughter to see all her parents' faults and still treat them with respect."The book is also a portrait of a time and an industry (magazine publishing) and of people finely attuned to the needs of fashionable society.It's also about Change and how we all become outmoded when our work fails to meet changing fashions. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first book that provides a balanced treatment of image processing basics and software principles used in the practical application of image processing. Working in the MATLAB computing environment, it provides a stable, well-supported set of software tools capable of addressing a broad spectrum of applications in digital image processing.The major areas covered include intensity transformations, linear and nonlinear spatial filtering, filtering in the frequency domain, image restoration and registration, color image processing, wavelets, image data compression, morpohological image processing, image segmentation, regions and boundary representation and description, and object recognition.For software developers working with image processing. ... Read more

Book Description

Secrets of the top recording engineers revealed at mixdown! Learn the evolution of mixing, regional mixing styles, the six elements of a mix, rules for arrangements and principles of building your mix! Learn the secrets of EQ and magic frequencies along with adding effects, EQing reverbs, sonic layering of effects, calculating the delay time and much more! This book extensively covers stereo mixing with an expansive chapter on mixing in 5.1 surround. Plus, it includes an incredible third section filled with interviews with the top engineers in the field such as George Massenburg, Allen Sides, Bruce Swedien and over a dozen more! ... Read more

Reviews (11)

THE Book on Mixing
"Mixing Engineer's Handbook" teaches what the engineer greats of various genres do to get great mixes. It has really helped me understand different approaches to mixing, as well as taught quite a few nice tips and tricks. I learned a lot from it, even though I have been recording and mixing professionally for over 10 years. In my bookshelf there are a LOT of books abour recording and mixing, and this one clearly stands out as the best. Another good book I'd like to recommend is "Professional Microphone Techniques", which also features a a nice chapter on EQing. The interviews have also been a great help when making purchase decisions for new studio gear.

Great book. My copy is worn out .
It is worth buying just for those two or three magic tricks you may have been missing from your mix. But its also a fun read, full of interviews that give you a broad spectrum of opinions and war stories from some of the industry's best. Good nerdy discussions/debates on things like modern compression techniques. This book can really fill in the gaps for you and get you caught up with the big boys at the mixing console.

Incredible
It hit the spot. Exactly what i was looking for.

After going back through the book, changed to 5 stars!
Upon deeper inspection of the contents of this book, I had to change my review. I am finding this book absolutely phenomenal.
I thought at first that there were too many interviews (nearly half the book) and not enough real tips and guidelines. I was wrong. The first half of the book gives some good starting points and tips (EQ settings, Compression ratios/settings, mixing in effects etc...) What I have found to be almost more valuable are the interviews. They are full of tips and "here's how I achieve this sound" type of comments.

This is only my second day I've really been digging in to this book and applying it to my work. I've already seen drastic improvements. I wish I had found this book when it first came out! This is cetainly not the end all solution to every recording question you may have, but I have found this book to be worth every cent I spent on it.

Getting Golden Ears
This book is really about the things that top mix engineers say they pay attention to most in mixing. It gives the reader insight into the ideas that have moulded their thinking, and listening skills. Equipment lists are supplied, but there is not a lot of discussion about how to set up the gear in detail. This is a good thing, because a book can not deliver the kind of understanding that listening to recordings can give. You can easily get the CDs that are discussed to hear what each mix engineer is talking about. There is more than enough information to duplicate some of the best mixes ever made if you want to.

If you are constantly searching the net, or magazines for mix trix, and you want the best collection of these tricks available, stuff people hang out in studios for months, or years to acquire, then this book is for you. ... Read more

Book Description

Setting up a successful color management workflow is difficult, and attaining predictable results can be frustrating. "Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management" is the only practical, results-oriented book that teaches you how to manage color effectively across devices (cameras & scanners, computers & monitors, and printers & other output devices) so that you can produce accurate, desirable color, every time. Highly respected digital imaging expert Tim Grey designed this accessible, striking book for busy photographers who want to get results quickly. He focuses on the essential concepts and practical information you need to make the best color decisions. Bottom line: this is a book no photographer should be without! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

The Title Tells It All
Some people shoot pictures with digital cameras, download them, print them up and are happy with whatever they get. Others complain if there is the least deviation in color between what they remember seeing and what gets printed up. It is at this latter group that "Color Confidence" is aimed.

Tim Grey, the author, is a respected teacher of Photoshop techniques and is known to many for the Digital Darkroom Questions mailing list, which many digital photographers read on a daily basis.

This book is aimed at a single issue in digital photography: how to make the output of the digital photography process, be it individual print, world-wide web, or printing press, match the color that the photographer visualized when he took a picture. Several years ago, when photographers were less sophisticated and happy with the ease of getting digital output, this was scarcely a question, but as digital photographers became more experienced (and as affordable techniques became available) more and more photographers began to ask why the output of their printers didn't look like their monitors. The field of color management was born.

With a minimum of technical jargon, the author explains the nature of color. He then tells you how to establish color profiles for input devices, like cameras and scanners, processing devices like computers, and output devices like ink-jet printers, so that all of the devices in the digital darkroom pass on information about the digital photograph that will insure consistency. For computer software, Grey assumes the use of the industry standard, Photoshop. If you use some other image processing software, you will have to interpolate from Photoshop, or find some other source of color management information.

If you read every word in this book, Grey might appear pedantic, because when he discusses using several different devices for a particular purpose, he will repeat many of the same instructions, word for word. But if you later pick up the book, while you are sitting at your computer, you know that what you are reading will be the whole story for the operation and tool that you are using, and that some important hint is not hidden elsewhere.

I?ve long considered myself to be relatively savvy when it comes to color management. However, I picked up a few tips about along the way that clearly made the book worthwhile for me. For example, I understood the function of "soft-proofing" but never really developed a regular work process dealing with this technique. Then I read Grey's discussion and a light bulb went on.

This is not exciting reading, but the author is clear and direct and moves the subject along quickly. If you need to learn about color management for digital photography, this is the book for you.

Yes, one can print photos to be proud of.
How many times have you been disappointed with your photos as displayed on the computer screen? Oftentimes they may look good on the screen but not so well once printed. Tim Grey, author of Sybex's latest book dedicated to digital enthusiasts, helps readers manipulate their digital images more efficiently so the desired output is achieved with minimal waste to your pocketbook and time. Readers are led step by step beginning with capturing color appropriately with digital cameras or properly adjusting scanners and their software to capture the best image. Outputting images, especially to your own printer, but also to professional print houses and to the web and E-mail is thoroughly reviewed. Significant discussion of techniques using advanced image manipulation software such as Photoshop is provided to help readers tweak color balance, brightness, contrast, and many other aspects to achieve the best possible image. Grey closes his book with a summary of the essential steps to achieve the best possible image. Though a CD or DVD is not included, numerous examples throughout the text well complement Grey's points.

One text paragraph illustrates Grey's purpose in writing Color Confidence: "It is often tempting to adjust the image in Photoshop when the printed image doesn't match what you see on the monitor. For example, if the print comes out too magenta, you may be tempted to adjust the color balance in the image toward green to offset the magenta. The problem with this approach is that you are making the image itself intentionally inaccurate in an effort to produce accurate results for a single output condition. What happens when you print that same image with a different printer, ink, and paper combination? You'll have to find new ways to manipulate the image in an effort to produce an accurate print. In effect, you're chasing the print, trying to find just the right way to adjust the image to make it look wrong in just the right way so the print will look the way you want it to look. This is not a good way to work with your images."

Though the publisher advertises Color Confidence as an intermediate text, I recommend to users of Photoshop Elements as well as Photoshop who want to improve the quality of their images, whether they plan output to the web or paper, to take a look at this book. This book is not for those content with the editing capabilities of iPhoto. However, after reading Color Confidence, iPhoto users might get the urge to use Photoshop Elements for image manipulation. Though I will never be a graphic artist, I look forward to reading the book again (too much information to absorb from one reading) to further advance my abilities to produce photographs for which I am proud to share.

Great book, if you don't know what you're doing
I know a lot of people who are totally lost when it comes to producing prints they like. A watercolor artist friend struggles with her Minolta 7i and Epson 2200, jumping through hoops and tweaking images in Photoshop and/or the printer driver. This book (along with monitor calibration) would solve her problems. The advice is comprehensible and comprehensive.
I have been there and done that; owned two Epson 1200s using profiles and inks from a well-known source but never achieved success. If you have felt that pain, read this book.
I subscribe to the author's free mailing list, and find that the accuracy of information in this book is actually better than that he provides online. Tim Grey knows his stuff, though (OT) he seems to be confused about imager size and depth of field.
If you already calibrate your monitor, use accurate profiles for your paper/printer/ink, and such, the incremental knowledge you'll gain from this book will be modest. The workflow I use with my Epson 7600, Bill Atkinson profiles and Eye One Display are very similar to the author's recommendations. If you have gotten that far, you don't need Color Confidence.
If what I just wrote is Greek to you, Color Confidence has the info to get you on the right track. Just be forewarned that you're going to have to fork over for monitor calibration tools or the books's suggestions won't do you much good. That will set you back 3-5 times the cost of the book. You may also have to invest in printer profiling, for $50-1,500 depending on how you approach it.
I also own Real World Digital Photography, Second Edition, which was co-authored by Grey. I'd say that both of these are quite informative if you are a novice, but less so if you are reasonably advanced in digital imaging.

Color Confidence
Most photographers agree entering the digital world can be very challenging. There is a vast amount of information to filter through. Tim Grey is an expert in that area and is up there with all the top guys in the digital world. I have personally attended one of his seminars and know for a fact that he is extremely knowledgable and most importantly a very good teacher. He has the ability to take a huge amount of information and put it into simple terms that can be understood. The topics he has covered in this book are all the critical steps that you need to know whether you start out with film or a digital capture. This book will clear up a lot of questions about working with digital images.

The best yet for digital photographers
I write reviews of books on Photoshop as part of my work, so I read a lot of them. This has to be the best I have come upon for the aspiring digital photographer. It is not for someone who just wants to take photos of their family at Disneyland, or at a wedding, but for photographers who want to get the best from their digital camera; this is a "must read." Mr. Grey describes what to do, why and what to expect, he carefully explains alternatives and warns about the pitfalls. The good illustrations reflect the attention to detail of the writing. It is clear, not too technical and very informative. You will need Photoshop to get the most from this book. If you care about your images, read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

* State-of-the-art information on energy efficiency, HVAC, home wiring, accessibility, indoor air quality, and more.
* New pages on specialty rooms such as home offices, home theaters, spas, and wine cellars.
* Content organized to reflect the needs of residential projects.
* Cross-referenced for quick access to key information. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

One volume encyclopedia
Experienced readers will benefit from its brief summaries and drawings covering the broadest range of topics imaginable. Some economizing is evident in the paper and printing quality, some of the drawings look 50 years old, but there is lots of reference information, like span tables, solar position data, etc. Probably not the last word on every topic, but still worth consulting.

A wonderful resource
Following in the terrific legacy of the benchmark Architectural Graphic Standards book, this edition clearly makes building for residences an easier task. I've found innumerable details that I've used in my residential practice on a daily basis, details not found in other reference books. Of particular help are the pages that give an overview of how parts of a house interconnect with each other, such as foundation-to-framing. Also, there is a wealth of info on HVAC, new window technology and other things I've found very, very helpful. ... Read more

Book Description

From an interactive website to a business card, a brand must be recognizable, differentiated and help build customer loyalty. This indispensable resource presents brand identity fundamentals and a comprehensive dynamic process that help brands succeed. From researching the competition to translating the vision of the CEO to designing and implementing an integrated brand identity program, the meticulous development process is presented through a highly visible step by step approach in five phases: research and analysis, brand and identity strategy, brand identity design, brand identity applications and managing brandassets.

From global corporate mergers through entrepreneurial ventures and nonprofit institutions, twenty-two case studies portray the brand identity process in action. They illustrate a range of challenges and methodologies and represent a select group of branding and multidisciplinary design firms.

The scope of material includes history of identity design up to the latest information about online brand identity standards, naming and trademarking, with practical project management resources about decision making, and creating brand briefs.

Alina Wheeler specializes in brand identity. She uses her strategic imagination to help build brands, create new identities, and design integrated brand identity programs for Fortune 100 companies, entrepreneurial ventures, cities and foundations. Wheeler works closely with founders, CEO¹s and senior management to insure that their vision and their brand identity are communicated clearly to accelerate the success of their organizations. She has been the principal of several design firms as well as a consultant to some of America¹s largest business consulting groups. She is a former national board member of AIGA and was named an AIGA Fellow in 1998.

Hallmark Features

• Unlike most books that show identity programs, this book outlines a rigorous, complex and proven process from research and analysis through the design development of a new identity and online standards through launch and brand asset management.
• Comprehensive, easy to understand guide that is organized by spreads bysubject for easy reference.
• An indispensable reference for anyone with responsibility for brandidentity.
• Meaningful and actionable information that will accelerate the success ofany brand identity project.
• A toolkit for design firms and professionals, design students and designmanagers.
• Presents the relationship between effective brand identity and creating,building and managing successful brands.
• Presents case studies from Cingular, Amazon, Citibank, TAZO, Zoom, HarleyDavidson, FedEx and twenty others.

Reviews (11)

A "must read" for anyone interested in brand identity
Too many books targeted to designers err on the side of a "showcase" presentation which exposes designers to the final solutions with little or no substance illuminating the process. This book will provide a comprehensive roadmap for designers and their clients.

"Designing Brand Identity" provides the information and processes to empower designers to transition into a more valuable role as consultants on identity and branding, not just the creator of visual symbols and logotypes. It is a look behind the scenes at a process which others capable of addressing have chosen to protect as proprietary information. Thanks, Alina for sharing your wisdom and experience.

An essential tool for business leaders and strategists
This author has tackled the vital topic of brand identity in a new way. In the beginning of the book Alina Wheeler says that she want to provide "an accessible resource that provides a road map to the process, explains some fundamental concepts, and showcases best practices." The book delivers on this promise!

What differentiates it from other books on this topic is that Wheeler's book really IS accessible. This comes from the unique way in which it is organized. You can simply flip open the book to any spread and have a specific concept explained, illustrated, and illuminated by relevant quotations. This makes it an excellent reference work -- keep it by your desk to quickly look up any topic. For example, you might be advocating a particular course of action at your company that you just know is the right way to go. You can turn to Wheeler's book to marshall specific evidence and articulate rationales to make your case.

In the beginning, she discusses 9 brand identity ideals: vision, meaning, authenticity, differentiation, sustainability, coherence, flexibility, commitment and value. Once you have reviewed each concept you understand how each plays a role in successful brand identities.

However, this is not primarily a book of theory. Wheeler breaks down the practical steps involved and outlines each, from the legal process to signage design. Case studies of successful brand identities take up the final portion of the book.

My one criticism is that book is not completely in color, as the topic demands. (There is a color insert showing many of the brands from the case studies.) No doubt this was a decision of the publisher!

Professionals at agencies or design firms may think they have this material mastered, but this book gives you the distilled essentials that you'll find extremely useful. But the key audience, in my view, should be business students or leaders who seek to better understand that, as Wheeler says, "brand identity is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged."

The title of this book might mislead you
When I put my hands on this book, I thought I would be adding one more point of view to my knowledge about brand identity, but this didn't quite happen.

This book isn't really about designing brand identity itself, but mostly about materializing brand identity into the visual identity of a company, limiting its whole concept. Furthermore, it is known that mere visual identity doesn't make a brand any stronger, as the title suggests.

Anybody with some previous brand identity knowledge in the marketing sense might get a little frustrated, had this person expected deep explanations about the creation of a brand identity plan (for that I would recommend Aaker's work).

On the other hand, if you are a designer willing to understand how to develop a visual identity linked to a brand identity, this book could be very useful.

It's about identity, but not about the brand process
This *is* a great book when it comes to showing how to put together a coherent, soup-to-nuts identity program. But the title of the book is misleading - there's very little in this book about actually creating, building or maintaining strong brands per se. This wilfully confuses the logo for the company behind the logo. As Paul Rand once said of his logo for the ABC television network, it wasn't a matter of whether his logo lived up to the network, but whether the network lived up to the logo! The brand process involves a lot of non-graphical thought regarding the spirit or essence of what that organization is all about. "Is that an IBM thing to do?" The brand identity is, at best, only the surface expression: the brand is the idea of the company in its customers' minds. In that sense, creating and maintaining a strong brand is really about having clear direction, consistent policies and actions, and understanding that markets are conversations, not about whether the carpet matches the business cards and the Web site.

A Must for EBusiness
Most people who study ebusiness at universities either focus on website design, marketing/logistics of ebusiness, or systems/software. This book gets to the heart of conducting business over the internet - combining brand recognition with eye catching design and a quality/product or service. University programs and businesses looking to be successful in ecommerce should make this book required reading. ... Read more

Book Description

Thoroughly updated, the second edition of Professional Real Estate Development explains the nuts and bolts of the real estate development industry. You will learn how to develop and manage five types of real estate products: land, residential, office, industrial, and retail uses. Focusing on small-scale projects, the authors show you practical methods for developing each major type of real estate, including feasibility analysis, design and construction, financing, marketing, and management. Photos, site plans, diagrams, and case studies provide examples of actual projects and how the process works. Information is specific and detailed, with costs, rents, and financing information included by product type ... Read more

Reviews (3)

ULI Guide
For its high price, you may want to seriously think about your needs. If your intention is to buy a book for a broad overview of the development process with a somewhat academic approach, then this may be right for you. If you are builder or someone with prior real estate brokerage/service experience, you may find this too ivory tower and not practical. This book was a bit theoretical for my taste.

Although this book has been reprinted recently, all the data dates back to the late-1990's. Social and economic data are perhaps presented for illustrative purposes only, however, it is a bit disheartening.

There are some interesting project data, financial models and checklists, but frankly, the reader could figure those out on his/her own with some common sense and marginal experience in the industry.

Bottom line -- my suggestion is to review the book at the public library before you buy.

principles & history
Interestingly, I ended up reading this book like a fiction -- from cover-to-cover. And, it was a fun read. I particularly enjoyed some of the insightful stories of real estate development history, which is clearly a part of our American heritage.

However, I thought the real-life applications of the book's suggestions were victimized by this type of presentation. Certain "case studies" were presented along side a theoretical "how-to" processes to develop properties; these seemed entertaining and thoughtfully presented, rather than real life cookie cutter. And, in many cases, I knew a famous property and became more informed of its origins and characteristics. But it did not unfortunately go the next step to discuss mistakes made, lessons learned, or successful components to highlighted -- which good case studies should endeavor. Moreover, it did not spend much time on architectural issues or financing arrangements that may have solved problems specific to the properties.

I would suggest to any potential Amazon customer to purchase this book only in conjunction with another more hardcore building book and/or architecture book.

An Excellent Overview Of The Development Process
I am a 66 year old developer with several successful projects under my belt. This is a fine book for beginning, intermediate, and yes, advanced developers. The best I've ever read, and I've got bookshelves full of them. Also, for a modest fee, you can download from the publisher the software used for the financial illustrations in the book. I had to learn this material the hard way, because when I started out, there weren't any good books on development. If you want to be a developer, start here. If you're an experienced developer, you'll learn a lot from this book. I congratulate the authors for putting in such an immense amount of work. ... Read more

Book Description

This best-selling introductory photography text teaches students how to use the medium confidently and effectively by emphasizing both technique and visual awareness.Comprehensive in scope, this book features superb instructional illustrations and examples in its clear presentation of both black and white and color photography. London offers extensive coverage of digital imaging and the latest technological developments, such as Web page design and formatting photos on CD-ROMs. ... Read more

Reviews (33)

The 3rd edition was nicer
After reading the third edition of Photography by the Uptons, Idecided to buy the sixth edition. There are new things in this editionnot found in the third but I was quite unimpressed with the mediocre graphics. Some of the illustrations look like they were done by a high school student learning how to do airbrushing. In this the third edition is far superior. I liked the profiles on living photographers in the third that is not found in the sixth. However, the section on problems with developing black and white film is exceptional. If you have any technical struggles this section can pinpoint immediately what the problem is. Also the book always has one entire theme or idea on the two full pages in front of you. It is an easy book to find your way around in and it really is one of the very finest books on photography available. It would be good of them to update some of the older photographs. I am tired of seeing models from the 70's in an almost year 2000 book. The book also is pricey. It should be available in hardcover for those who use it as a teaching manual or t