Art as Therapy


Alain de Botton - 2013
    Art as Therapy is packed with 150 examples of outstanding art, with chapters on Love, Nature, Money, and Politics outlining how these works can help with common difficulties. For example, Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter helps us focus on what we want to be loved for; Serra's Fernando Passoa reminds us of the importance of dignity in suffering; and Manet's Bunch of Asparagus teaches us how to preserve and value our long-term partners.De Botton demonstrates how art can guide and console us, and along the way, help us to better understand both art and ourselves.

Betty Page Confidential


Stan Corwin Productions - 1994
    Betty Page Confidential includes a biography of the reclusive goddess, an official Betty Page trivia quiz and 100 photos.Betty Page Confidential is the ultimate book on this 1950s icon.

Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Thomas Hoving - 1993
    In a decade, Hoving changed almost everything people had grown accustomed to from the Met, shaking the institution out of royal repose and transforming it into the most vital cultural presence in the country. Now, the irrepressible former director delivers a fearless account of his life at the pinnacle of the art world - a modern Vanity Fair, a true story of masterpieces and money, society and scandal, intrigue and international theft. The Met is more than a dazzling art showplace. The museum is a vibrant if quietly influential community, inhabited and run by singular sorts of people: trustees and curators, connoisseurs and conservators. It is steeped in history and tradition and seems to move in a serene and elegant world of impeccable manners and the finest taste. Behind the proper social veneers and pristine marble galleries, Hoving reveals the cutthroat precincts where the real business of the Met is carried out. From seducing important patrons like Robert Lehman, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Annenberg, and Brooke Astor to spiriting ancient treasures across international borders; from striking secret agreements with the world's most powerful dealers to sidestepping rivals; from securing blockbuster exhibitions, like "Tut" and "The Glory of Russian Costume," to seizing the most phenomenal Velazquez portrait, Hoving shares not only the nimbleness and brashness that made him so effective, but also the zeal and passion that made the Met so exciting. Making the Mummies Dance is told in the head-on, even naughty, way that is trademark Hoving. This is an important, shocking museum story and more - an unforgettable tale of power struggles and one-upmanship, fame, big money, and, of course, great art.

Mastering Digital SLR Photography


David D. Busch - 2004
    This book uniquely concentrates on creative techniques for the digital SLR photographer. Photography with Digital SLR and "SLR-like" cameras isn't exactly like conventional film SLR photography; nor is it exactly like digital photography with non-SLR cameras. DSLRs have special advantages, special features, and special problems that need to be addressed and embraced. In addition, users of these cameras tend to expect more from their photography and crave the kind of information that will let them wring every ounce of creativity out of their equipment. Anyone who has a Windows PC or Macintosh and a digital SLR camera will find advanced techniques in this book. Readers will cover various aspects of DSLRs including: why DSLRs work best for creative posing for group and individual portraits, using DSLRs to capture close-up scenes on the desktop using the digital camera's special capabilities, how to get great travel photos with a DSLR, and how to archive them when far from a computer.

Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism


Thomas E. Patterson - 2013
    Too often, reporters give equal weight to facts and biased opinion, stir up small controversies, and substitute infotainment for real news. Even when they get the facts rights, they often misjudge the context in which they belong. Information is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy. Public opinion and debate suffer when citizens are misinformed about current affairs, as is increasingly the case. Though the failures of today’s communication system cannot be blamed solely on the news media, they are part of the problem, and the best hope for something better. Patterson proposes “knowledge-based journalism” as a corrective. Unless journalists are more deeply informed about the subjects they cover, they will continue to misinterpret them and to be vulnerable to manipulation by their sources. In this book, derived from a multi-year initiative of the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation, Patterson calls for nothing less than a major overhaul of journalism practice and education. The book speaks not only to journalists but to all who are concerned about the integrity of the information on which America’s democracy depends.

Work Your Wardrobe: Gok's Gorgeous Guide To Style That Lasts


Gok Wan - 2009
    In this style bible Gok breathes new life into your existing wardrobe, showing you how to transform the basics we all have into a fabulous new look.

The Sky's the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan


Steven Gaines - 2005
    With his signature elan, Gaines weaves a gossipy tapestry of brokers, buyers, co-op boards, and eccentric landlords and tells of the apartment hunting and renovating adventures of many celebrities-from Tommy Hilfiger to Donna Karan, from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg, from Barbra Streisand to Madonna. Gaines uncovers the secretive, unwritten rules of co-op boards: why diplomats and pretty divorcees are frowned upon, what not to wear to a board interview, and which of the biggest celebrities and CEOs have been turned away from the elite buildings of Fifth and Park Avenues. He introduces the carriage-trade brokers who never have to advertise for clients and gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly society ladies who decide who gets into the so-called Good Buildings. Here, too, is a fascinating chronicle of the changes in Manhattan's residential skyline, from the slums of the nineteenth century to the advent of the luxury building. Gaines describes how living in boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in status, and how the co-operative apartment, originally conceived as a form of housing for the poor, came to be used as a legal means of black-balling undesirable neighbors. A social history told through brick and mortar, The Sky's the Limit is the ultimate look inside one of the most exclusive and expensive enclaves in the world, and at the lengths to which people will go to get in.

Highland Knits - Sassenach Cowl: Knitwear Inspired by the Outlander Series


Interweave Magazine - 2016
    This simple, enduring design will have you stylishly covered no matter what place, or time, you call home.

Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction


David Cottington - 2005
    Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction engages general readers, offering them not only information and ideas about modern art, but also explaining its contemporary relevance and history. The book focuses on interrogating the idea of modern art by asking such questions as: What makes a work of art qualify as modern, or fail to? How has this selection been made? What is the relationship between modern and contemporary art? Is postmodernist art no longer modern, or just no longer modernist? In either case, why--and what does this claim mean, both for art and the idea of the modern?Cottingham examines many key aspects of this subject, including the issue of controversy in modern art, from Manet's Dejeuner sur L'Herbe (1863) to Picasso's Les Demoiselles, and Tracey Emin's Bed (1999). He also looks at the role of the dealer from the main Cubist art dealer Kahnweiler, to Charles Saatchi.About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam

50 Artists You Should Know


Thomas Köster - 2006
    The entries are presented in an eye-catching format that includes brief biographies, time lines, and critical analyses. Additional information helps readers locate the artist's work online and in museums, a glossary of important terms, and sidebars highlighting relevant movements and techniques. Arranged chronologically, the selection of artists includes every major artistic movement and development since the Gothic period, giving readers a clear understanding of the evolution of the visual arts. Perfect for casual reading or easy reference, this accessible overview is a fun and practical art history lesson that everyone can enjoy.

Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity


Michelle Bates - 2006
    Whether you're an experienced enthusiast or toy camera neophyte, you'll find Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity chock full of tantalizing tips, fun facts and, of course, absolutely striking photographs taken with the lowest tech and simplest tools around. I got me a Holga. Now What? Holgas need a little TLC before they're ready to go out in the world and start snapping. Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity digs through all the different Holga models available, lays out thier advantages and quirks and helps you get up to speed on all the prep you'll need to do to jump in on the toy-camera revolution. What should I Feed my Holga? Holgas, Dianas, other toy cameras can use many types of film. Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity, lays all their pros and cons on the line letting you get some images you want, and some you could just never imagine. Can Holga come out to play?Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity will help you steer your way through all the details and quirks of taking wonderful and weird pictures with your toy camera. We'll explore possible subjects and the best way to shoot them and play with all sorts of techniques from vignetting, to multiple exposures, to panoramas, close-ups, movement, night photography, flare, flash, color and more. For the Intrepid Holga-ographerFor the Holga master, we've diagramed and described advanced toy camera modifications and introduce you to a variety of problems, solutions and inventions born from toy cameras' "limitations." What Next?From negatives to prints or pixels, we help you navigate your post-shooting choices.Don't ForgetThe Diana, Banner, Action Sampler, Photo Blaster, and Lensbaby are all toy cameras with their own loveable qualities. We'll look beyond the Holga to show a whole wide world of toys. Artists Artists in this book include: Michael AckermanJonathan BaileyEric Havelock-BaillieJames BalogBetsy BellSusan BowenLaura BurltonDavid BurnettNancy BursonPerry DilbeckJill EnfieldAnnette FournetMegan GreenWesley KennedyTeru KuwayamaMary Ann LynchAnne Arden McDonaldDaniel MillerTed OrlandRobert OwenBecky RamotowskiNancy RexrothFrancisco Mata RosasRichard RossFranco SalmoiraghiMichael SherwinHarvey SteinGordon StettiniusMark SinkKurt SmithSandy SorlienPauline St. Denis;-p r a b u!

Killing Lincoln/Killing Kennedy Boxed Set


Bill O'Reilly - 2013
    Now you can experience both of the vivid and remarkable accounts of the assassinations that changed America's history in a dual hardcover boxed set. Relive the last days of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy—two presidents living in different eras, yet tied by their duty to their country and the legacies they so abruptly left behind.

Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality


Richard M. Gargiulo - 2002
    Blending theory with practice, the book helps pre-service and in-service teachers develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs they'll need to construct learning environments that make it possible for all students to reach their potential.