Book Description
Peter Eisenman's eagerly awaited magnum opus--forty years in the making--documents and investigates two of Italian rationalist architect Giuseppe Terragni's masterworks: the Casa del Fascio and the Casa Giuliani-Frigerio, both in Como, Italy. This far-reaching study--illustrated with finely delineated two-color diagrams, archival drawings from Terragni's studio, and period photographs--employs what Eisenman calls critical and textual readings of both buildings.
Eisenman describes the articulations and openings on the facades; notations providing the basis for his analysis. In the Casa del Fascio, the four sequential design schemes each record the previous state, encoding the process of transformation. In the Casa Giuliani-Frigerio, it is instead the process of decomposition that generates the facades. Also included in the book are an essay by Terragni, on the commissioning, design, and construction of the Casa del Fascio, and a critique by Manfredo Tafuri, the renowned Italian architectural historian and theorist.
Customer Reviews:
Useful Drawings but Worthless 'Analysis'.......2005-10-23
Over the years (decades actually), Peter Eisenman's "Terragni" took on something of the urban myth, an elusive, unpublished work, supposedly of great genius. Draft copies were jealously hoarded by a few insiders adding to the myth. Now, after 40 years, it appears in print, no longer only the stuff of legend, but an actuality exposed to real scrutiny. Frankly, the wait has not been worth it. Exhaustively drafted from every conceivable projection and angle, the images of the building are accompanied by a text (a `critical text', the author repeatedly informs us), that pushes the limits only of the ridiculous. For example: the plan of the Casa del Fascio, Eisenman "discovers", is a square, or rather, almost a square. In order to satisfy Eisenman's supposition, the true square, it seems, is realized only when particular window is opened fully to the 90 degree position, thereby implying a volumetric extension of the building, which then completes the so-called purity of the geometry. The fact that other windows on other sides of the building might also be opened at the same time thereby undermining the purported geometrical purity, does not seemed to have occurred to the author so blinded is he by the supposed brilliance of this, the most pretentious of studies. Numerous equally untenable speculations flesh out the remainder of this overwrought, but ultimately fruitless examination. Terragni's classical parti is studiously avoided by the author who is largely ignorant of the precepts that underlie this, the most basic formal arrangement that Terragni carried through his design. Eisenman stretches similar guesswork beyond the point of irritation as though insulting the intelligence of his readers is one of the underlying purposes of this book. In the architectural industry, asinine speculation, masquerading as theory or as philosophical inquiry, are now the norm. This particular book has been billed as Peter Eisenman's "eagerly awaited magnum opus". Certainly the Casa del Fascio is deserving of study. However, if perchance "Giuseppe Terragni: Transformations, Decompositions, Critiques" does achieve long-lasting fame, it can only be for becoming the late 20th Century's high water mark of architectural pretentiousness and unbounded historical ignorance. [One star for the drawings; zero stars for the text.]
Opera Buffa.......2004-11-06
Eisenman dissects the Casa Del Fascio as a pathologist would examine a corpse. In simplistic diagrams the building's parts are duly chronicled in uninspired prose. One is left with the impression that he has examined a piece of graph paper with coordinates and alignments. That the building represented human endeavor, or embodied cultural aspirations seems lost on Eisenman in this humdrum attempt at scholarship.
Knowing the nihilistic, anti-human qualities of Eisenman's superficial approach to design, and the ever-mutable "logic" in his work, this is no surprise. He lacks any intuitive understanding of space or scale and a lifetime of pretentious writing has not equipped him for the serious task at hand. Ever since Eisenman indulged himself placing columns in the middle of a client's dining table, he has gotten away with his preposterous intellectual gimmickry, passing it off as "challenging", the stock-in-trade excuse for ridiculous and contrived design. [Interestingly, when it came to his own apartment, Eisenman handed off the work to another firm who produced a fairly cozy design. This hypocrisy shows a lack of sincerity in his unrefined speculations, and no thinking person should ever take Eisenman seriously again.]
This lowbrow rhetoric has served as a handy tool for the mediocre academic whose primary audience is susceptible students. But Eisenman's shaky credibility is rapidly and thankfully waning, the result of absurd quasi-intellectual hypotheses which produced crude buildings, no single one of which has achieved enduring respect. Revisionist histories already marginalize him as a sideshow huckster, an irritating distraction from more meaningful debates developing elsewhere. Worried about this legacy, and trying to curtail a widening flow of criticism about his crumbling oeuvre, the Terragni book supposedly was his pitch to more lasting fame. But this bumbling attempt at scholarship fails as a serious academic study more rapidly than his buildings failed as credible works of architecture.
Eisenman never understood the crucial difference between diagrams and buildings. This lethargic and unperceptive book offers tedious quantities of them in lieu of keenly observed criticism. For an exercise that occupied some 40 years of his life, there's very little to show for it. Ill equipped for incisive inquiry, he offers one-dimensional reporting. For Eisenman, the dubious theorist who's act endorsed nihilism and alienation as though they were virtues, history will probably deny this sad and foolish man a favorable mention. Reading this rather desperate attempt to reinvent himself as a historian, one is tempted to feel sorry for him looking back on a wasted career. But considering the lack of sincerity in Eisenman's work and his disregard for our shared environment, sympathy is hardly a suitable reason to bother with this inept dissertation today.
Shallow Investigation.......2004-05-08
For such a big book it is a paper-thin study. I was disappointed that Eisenman reduced the buildings in the most simplistic way to lines and platonic shapes. And the text is dull and lifeless. I would not recommend this to anyone.
Disappointing Exercise in Graphics.......2004-05-05
This book reduces Terragni's buildings to a series of graphic exercises in alignment and proportion. Each elevation is studied separately but there is almost no sense of the building as a whole. Totally disappointing exercise.
Excessive & Pointless.......2004-04-29
Lots of diagrams (too many) documenting various iterations of the Case del Fascio. But it gets repetitive and boring. Eisenman makes too much out of the process and almost noting out of the result. The `critiques' are mostly predictable stuff and not at all penetrating. It's just another excuse for Eisenman to spout the usual archi-speak jargon that is wearing very thin.
Customer Reviews:
It's all in the way you look at it........2007-08-05
I don't know how long these stereograms have been around ,but their complexity and fascination has really taken off with the application of computers to this art form. As a kid,I was fascinated with the device that sat on a small table at my Grandmothers, which was used to view double picture photograph cards,which appeared in 3-D when looked at through the viewer.It was probably manufactured sometime around 1900 and maybe even earlier. There were photos of WWI and lots of other things that you saw from that time sold as postcards.Later, after WWII, we saw much the same thing sold in huge numbers and found in virtually very home,namely "ViewMaster". Then, in the 50's stereograph technology was employed in motion pictures ,where the audience watched a blurry screen which came to 3D reality by wearing "special" red&Green cardboard glasses. I remember some wild action films where the whole audience was petrified by spears coming straight at them.Then there were birds and other objects that seemed to come right out of the screen and fly over your head.
For the last 20 years we have seen stereographs in books like this;and getting better all the time.
I have written reviews on several others;but this is the largest one so far,with 200 state- of the-art sterograms.The big advance in recent years is that we can view them without the aid of special devices or viewers...just your own eyes.
I suppose there are a number of categories these images can fall into;but mainly they are the type where the object is quite obvious in 2-dimension and then turns into a 3-Dimensional image. Then there is the other thing where the whole picture is just undiscernable colors and/or patterns,but no obvious imgge. Then ,while staring at the picture an object comes into view almost as a ghost. Some stereographs do both of these things at the same time.
As I went through this collection ,I attempted to pick a favorite;but in the end I wasn't really able to.
The one on pg. 24 ,a simple 2-D transformation is simply in clarity in both dimensions;as the Chicago skyline on pg.167. As for hidden or ghost images;I really liked the Shamrocks on pg 11 and 79.
Then for one which gives no hint whatsoever of any hidden object,I like the Star of David on pg.81 and the Point Burst in pg.26,which is utterly and completely hidden.Then how about the pyramids on pg.103,a little difficult to "get" ,but when you do,well worth the effort.
Then there was the Glad Plaid on pg.25 which I couldn't "get" at all.Then I turned it 180 Degrees,still no luck.Then I turned it 90 Degrees--Bingo!!!
Then I found that many could be seen turning the pages 180 Degrees.Another thing to do is;once you see the 3-D image,and while keeping it in focus,slowly rotate the page and see it disappear.
Overall,the book is loaded with some great images;but I can't but suspect we are still in for some exciting treats in this "electronic"art form in the future.
Absolutely fabulous! .......2007-07-21
I completely agree with G. Wayne that this book offers "200 of the best full color 3D stereogram images"! Completely amazing! I bought all three "Magic Eye books" plus this one and I'm glad I got it. It beats Magic Eye by FAR and they're not too shabby either! The stereograms are simply fantastic! Very detailed and highly imaginative!
Once you know how "to see" 3D most of them are quite easy. They come quickly but they last long! The only critique I can give is that since the book is fairly large and without a hard cover it's a bit tricky to lay the pages out flat which you want to do. Still it gets full points!!!
I recommend it to both adults and children.
A great autostereogram book.......2007-05-26
Images in this book are comparable to (if not better than) Magic Eye images. I really enjoyed the book.
The best of the bunch.......2006-01-22
Gene Levine and Gary Priester have elevated stereograms to the leval of fine art. Priester's images are elegantly simple 3D stereograms that are easy to view with a border of floating objects that often represent the hidden object. Levine is the stereogram grand master. Gene painstakingly constructs images that are often so complex and wonderful you could spend days looking at just one image and stil miss the subtle detail.
This large coffee size book offers 200 of the best full color 3D stereogram images I have seen. In the back is a section of large "reveals", the hidden images.
Average customer rating:
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The Magic PC Stereogram Book
Daniel Sillescu ,
Sabine Fabian , and
Guy Hart-David
Manufacturer: Sybex Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0782116620 |
Customer Reviews:
Sleek.......2004-02-17
One of the highest quality books in this area. I've worked around a lot of these types of books and I'm amazed at how far ahead this is compared to the others. It's not a large book, but it is a beauty.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Mapped-Texture autostereogram.......2006-11-11
This book showcases a type of Magic Eye images (autostereograms) rarely seen until now. I am really impressed.
Book Description
A beautifully illustrated, imaginatively designed book is packaged here with several unusual "eye magic" items. This fascinating set explores the subject of visual illusions in art and technology. The book shows and discusses many examples of trompe l'oeil (fool-the-eye) artworks, including a famous eighteenth-century painting by British artist William Hogarth, paintings by French pointillist artists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, and examples from the American Op Art movement that flourished in the 1960s. Also presented are examples of moiré patterns—optical effects produced when two sets of lines or grids overlap. Much of the psychedelic poster art of a few decades ago took advantage of the effects of moiré patterns and wildly contrasting color schemes. But Eye Magic is more than an ordinary art book. One of its extra-thick covers is really a specially designed drawer containing several "eye magic" items. They include—
A flip book showing horses that appear to leap when the pages are riffled
A zoetrope drum that comes with three zoetrope picture strips
A mylar sheet to produce a 3D illusion in anamorphic illustrations
Two moiré-pattern acetate sheets printed with black grids
For the uninitiated, the zoetrope—originally devised in the nineteenth century—is a forerunner of motion pictures. It consists of a revolving cylinder with a series of illustrations on its inside surface and evenly spaced viewing slots around its circumference. When viewers spin the cylinder and peer through the slots, they see a picture of a single object—now in motion. This book with its boxed "eye magic" items will appeal both to art lovers and to general readers who are fascinated by optical illusions. Eye Magic makes a fascinating and unusual addition to anyone's personal art book collection, as well as a truly imaginative gift item.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Optical Illusion for Young Children.......2006-03-14
This title includes some very fine examples of illusion and optical pattern art. There are also some separate pieces that are stored within the book that can be manipulated or moved to create illusions. Some of the pieces and movable parts of the book I find too fragile to allow on the bookshelf in my elementary classroom, but for individual children, it is a fascinating study.
Average customer rating:
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Stereograms
Vision Computergraphik Up
Manufacturer: Abacus Software
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Modern
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ASIN: 1557552738 |
Customer Reviews:
A book that needs buying.......2002-10-31
This is a book of fantastic stereograms. Each page has a picture that initially seems like an intricate design. However, by staring intently at the designs in the book one sees amazing 3-d images that appear to come out of the book towards you, a lot like a good hologram. For example, a field of grass becomes a 3-d image of grazing sheep. The book is fun for all ages and makes you want to look at it over and over again.
A book that needs buying.......2002-10-31
This is a book of fantastic stereograms. Each page has a picture that initially seems like an intricate design. However, by staring intently at the designs in the book one sees amazing 3-d images that appear to come out of the book towards you, a lot like a good hologram. For example, a field of grass becomes a 3-d image of grazing sheep. The book is fun for all ages and makes you want to look at it over and over again.
Product Description
Eye Tricks presents a fascinating assortment of 200 designs specially created for the book by two of the world's leading creators of stereograms. With a useful guide on how to 'see' the working stereogram, you too will be able to discover the hidden dimensions of each of these intriguing images. From sci-fi bizarre to serenely beautiful, you will discover within these pages an array of eye tricks that constitute stand-alone works of art.
Average customer rating:
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Create Stereograms on Your PC: Discover the World of 3d Illusion/Book and Disk
Dan Richardson
Manufacturer: Waite Group Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Super Stereogram
ASIN: 1878739751 |
Customer Reviews:
Just a lot of fun to do.......2002-04-25
When I was a software developer, a co-worker brought in a large portrait of a stereogram. A stereogram is an image where if your eyes focus just right a different, embedded image appears to protrude from the page. Despite my best efforts over several weeks, I was unable to "see" the stereo picture. However, I remained very interested in the concept, so I acquired this book. Finally, after looking at the pictures while riding the bus to work I was finally able to put my senses in the proper frame to see the image of the stereogram. From then on, I had a great time with the book. It is amazing how these images are put together and how our brains somehow "extract" stereo designs from what appears to be a random jumble.
The package also contains a diskette with programs that you can use to create additional images. They are fun to use and one can burn a great deal of time playing with them. Advanced monitors are not necessary, as some images are constructed from text.
There are probably some significant conclusions about visual perception that can be made from these images. However, that is not relevant here. What is important is how much fun it is to view them and how surprisingly easy it is to create them.
Average customer rating:
- Pretty good for understanding stereogram algorithms
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Hidden Images: Making Random Dot Stereograms/Book and Disk
Bob Hankinson , and
Alfonso Hermida
Manufacturer: Que Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1565299949 |
Customer Reviews:
Pretty good for understanding stereogram algorithms.......2006-05-28
This book was published back in 1994 when random dot stereograms were all the rage. Random-dot stereograms are composed of (colored) dots which when viewed correctly appear three-dimensional. Thus at first glance you think you see just a random pattern, but when viewed "just right" you might see a spaceship, or a teapot, or whatever the artist has buried in the image. These images were first described in an issue of "Stereo World" magazine in 1989, and had largely fallen from fad status by the end of the 1990's.
This book is really very good at describing the algorithms involved in creating the images. The first three chapters introduce the concept and discuss what makes the random dot stereogram have its "dual" appearance, including how your brain cooperates in the process. The fourth chapter is what gives the book value after 12 years, since it has the process broken down into algorithms with numbered steps that can easily be turned into code that performs the task. Chapter five is a companion to chapter four since it describes the "adjustable parameters" of a program that creates random dot stereograms such as pattern width, pixel density, and depth factor. Chapter six consists of advanced topics and brings up additional features you can add to your program to create more sophisticated images. Chapters 7-10 have some useful information, but because of the age of the book it is largely talking about using obsolete software such as Paintbrush for depth image creation, Polyray for ray tracing, and the included software of the book, Pop-Out Lite, as tools.
Thus I subtract a single star just for the age of the software being referenced and the fact that not a single line of code exists in the book, even though there are enough algorithmic details you can easily write your own in the programming language of your choice. Also, make sure you or an acquaintance knows how to look at these images, or else you will never know if you coded up any of the algorithms correctly. I coded up the algorithms in this book in Java and found it to be a pretty interesting project.
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Fantastic Four: Clobberin' Time Digest
Brandon Thomas , and
Michael O'Hare
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0785117385 |
Book Description
Check out the Thing and the rest of his Fantastic Four pals in their latest collection of all-ages adventures! Each of these four action-packed stories features a special guest from the Mighty Marvel Universe. Join the Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and other heroes as they combine forces with the Thing for this contemporary spin on classic Marvel tales. Collects Tales of The Thing #1-3 and Marvel Age Fantastic Four Tales #1, and Spider-Man Team-Up Special.
Customer Reviews:
It's clobberin' time!.......2005-06-20
I read this in single issue form, and you can tell that Brandon Thomas is going to be one of the leading voices in the future of comics. Michael O'Haire's art isn't too shabby either. My favorite issue was the one that featured the Invisible Woman team-up. I can't wait to see what the writer has coming up next.
Books:
- Glenn Murcutt: A Singular Architectural Practice
- Golf Course Development in Residential Communities
- Guide to New York City Landmarks
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Inside Design now: The National Design Triennial
- Intelligent Skins
- Jeweled Garden: A Colorful History of Gems, Jewelry, and Nature
- Junk Style
Books Index
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