International Design Yearbook 3 (International Design Yearbook)

Customer Reviews:

psalm to the mechanics of design and the power of tourets.......1998-09-27

Once again Starck shows us his bold vision uniquely brought together from under his fathers drafting table to the stuttering dominoes of his thinking. An architect who sees the world as a prism of fleeting ideas that can barely be contained in a cerrebellum going a thousand miles an hour.

psalm to the mechanics of design and the power of tourets.......1998-09-27

Average customer rating:

DEFINITIVE STARCK !
he's not only skin-deep

Philippe Starck (Jumbo Series)
Philippe Starck
Manufacturer: Taschen America Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Entertainment | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 3822885002

Customer Reviews:

DEFINITIVE STARCK !.......2000-04-22

This is an updated and expanded version of this Taschen title originally published in 1996 as part of their "Jumbo" series. This second edition has been published at a more convenient size as well as at half the price of the original. The first edition was the most complete volume on the full breadth of Starck's prolific output. This second edition retains all of the visual impact and stylish layout of the original while including numerous Starck projects of the past several years. IF YOU BUY ONE BOOK ON THE WORK OF PHILIPPE STARCK - THIS IS THE ONE TO GET! *****

he's not only skin-deep.......2000-01-03

This book epitomises who Philippe Starck is. There are a lot of surprises & fun in this book that got me grinned from ear to ear. Who needs literature of him when the pictures of his works speak louder than words? Having said that, essays written by the great man himself at the end of the book potrayed him as a great visionary, a man ahead of his time rather than being a populist culture buffoon that some of my friends described of him. In today's rat-race world, it's good to have someone like him producing items that manage to stir our emotions & making our hearts miss a beat. In more ways than one, he's very French: unpredictable, daring, romantic, playful, enchanting, elegant,& just be himself! Viva La France~~ I can't help wondering what's next?

Piero Fornasetti: A Conversation between Philippe Starck and Barnaba Fornasetti (Memoire)

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Piero Fornasetti: A Conversation between Philippe Starck and Barnaba Fornasetti (Memoire)
Brigitte Fitoussi , and Phillipe Starck
Manufacturer: Assouline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Contemporary Art | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 2843236797

Excess: Fashion And The Underground In The 80S

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Excess: Fashion And The Underground In The 80S
Charles Jencks , Bruce Weber , Tom Dixon , Massimo Iosa Ghini , Tommaso Grattoni , King Kong , Shiro Kuramata , Denis Santachiara , Daniel Weil , Leigh Bowery , Jenny Holzer , Barbara Kruger , Andrea Branzi , Gilbert & George , Boris Sipek , and Ron Arad
Manufacturer: Charta/Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Fashion | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 8881584654
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

Producing a book on fashion in the 1980s is not merely a question of immortalizing one of the most feverish periods of invention, creativity, and variety in our recent history. It also means providing a window on the increasingly pervasive advance of show-business society, and on the origins of the designer "total living" environment in which we are now permanently submerged. Ralph Lauren pillowcases, anyone? How about a sip of Absolut from my Calvin Klein Home champagne glasses? Excess: Fashion and the Underground in the 80s chronicles the achievements of the fashion establishment in Italy and the rest of the world via its protagonists and trends. It considers the who, what, where, when, and why of an industry that has become an economic phenomenon, with enormous influence on global culture and communication. It catalogues a world in which fashions by Armani, Versace, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferra, Fendi, Missoni, Moschino, Dolce & Gabbana, Fiorucci, Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Katherine Hamnett, Azzedine Alaea, Calvin Klein, and John Galliano appear in magazines like Vogue, Elle, Donna, Mondo Uomo, Harper's Bazaar, The Face, i-D, Interview, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Visionaire. It features work by 80s hotshot artists like Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Robert Mapplethorpe, Barbara Kruger, Gilbert & George, Pierre et Gilles, and Leigh Bowery. Empirically organized as an index, Excess offers an indispensable point of reference for fashionistas, critics, and students. Rather than operating chronologically, it functions thematically, under such categories as Career Women, Sexy Women, American Gigolo, Night Clubbing, Wild Boys, Yuppies, and Graffiti. A special section curated by Peter de Potter is dedicated to the Neo OE0s, featuring fashions by Jeremy Scott, Louis Vuitton, Berhard Willhelm, Balenciaga, Veronique Branquinho, and Bottega Veneta, as seen in the pages of Butt, Dazed & Confused, SleazeNation, Spin, Self Service, and Another Magazine. Additionally included are a series of appendices--equally balanced between mainstream and underground--which catalogue the new professions, new words, and new fashions.

Philippe Starck: Subverchic Design (Cutting Edge)

Average customer rating:

Avant-garde Designer.
Inspirational
Worth the money?
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Philippe Starck: Subverchic Design (Cutting Edge)
Fay Sweet
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Furniture Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 082301200X

Customer Reviews:

Avant-garde Designer........2005-06-29

Stark was born in Paris in 1949. His spectacular design ideas sparked off one sensation after another since the early 1980s. He had already done interior design for Paris nightclubs. His first company was started in 1968 producing inflatable objects and, in 1979, he founded Starck Product. He ventured out in 1982 to Dallas Texas.

Then he did a lot of work on French President Mitterand's private apartment in the Elyse Palace. This book shows photos of the products and buildings he has designed before retiring. He even taught the reader some French: Le Civisme Est D'avamt Garde means "To be a good citizen is to be avant-garde; L'amour Est Une Espece Ezvoiede Disparition means "Love is an endangered species."

In 1997 he gave the control tower at Bordeaux-Merignac Airport an ultra modern look, as he did the Beer Hall in Tokyo, restaurants in Hong Kong and Madrid, Spain, and a building in Japan. He was very versatile with his ultra-modern gadgets. The bear toy on the cover is called The Bear Band; now, why he left off the right foot is perplexing.

In addition to all the pictures the book is handwritten by Starck in answer to questions posed to him by Fay Sweet who put the book together for him. She has written ALESSI: ART AND POETRY and some architecture books.

He is quoted as saying, "It is not not enough to make things of beauty; they must also be good." He created a series of "Good Goods," which he describes as "nonproducts for the nonconsumer."
His irreverent humor and showmanship (pranks) show him to be a hippie from the Sixties. But a good one -- what's with all the eyes on inside covers, another perplexing thing. Must be French.

Inspirational.......2000-01-31

This man is amazing. He's an all around great designer with morals and ethics in today's society. I bought this book as well as 2 other Fay Sweet books. She gets at the heart of the designer's philosophical views and concepts for design.

Worth the money?.......2000-01-09

Well, not quite. This book is more a catalog of his designs than a real musthave. My advise: search the internet for his designs and contact the manufacturer for a (free) catalog. Then you'll probably have the same. By the way, his designs are great!

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.......1999-05-06

All these books pertaining to Starck are basically the same. Just imagine a book on Starck pertaining to his real magic: Hotel / Restaurant Interior's, dovetailed with great photo details. For example a complete overview of his Hotel Designs for Ian Schrager. Theres a book that would give you the same feeling you have when entering one of these hotels, that being; "You can check out but you can never leave!"

Philippe Starck (Universe Architecture Series)

Average customer rating:

Nice design Book
Well done; designed to enlighten and entertain.

Philippe Starck (Universe Architecture Series)
Conway Lloyd Morgan
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Reference | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Decorative Arts | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Style | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0789302276
Release Date: 1999-07-30

Book Description

From New York's famous Paramount Hotel to the official apartments of former French president Francios Mitterand, Philippe Starck's designs are as popular and as well-known as they are ubiquitous. You can stay in a Starck hotel in New York, Miami or London; you can mail-order a Starck design for a rural cottage; and you can buy a Starck motorcycle, a Starck lamp, or a Starck toothbrush.

Filled with photographs, descriptions, and Starck's own commentary, this book features his recent and current work in architectural and industrial design, including the forthcoming Covent Garden Hotel in London.

Customer Reviews:

Nice design Book.......2005-08-02

I Love to get designers books. And in this case, the Philippe Starck one is one i picked up a while ago.
I had this book in my hands before, and its so nice, that i decided to pick up one for me, and an other for my girl friend!

I recomend this book to any design-lover

Well done; designed to enlighten and entertain........1999-07-25

An entertaining and thoughtful journey through the career and the mind of this prolific celebrity designer. Illustrates hundreds of furnishings, objects, interiors, and architectural projects; some of which are documented here for the first time. Clean and interesting graphic layout by Keith Lovegrove captures the spirit of the "Starck aesthetic". Conway Lloyd Morgan's essays and commentaries by Starck himself do much to explain the inspiration and creative process of this enigmatic and controversial most-modern designer. Numerous books about the work of Philippe Starck have been published over the past several years, some on par with this one however, at the published price (and even less through amazon.com) this is a wealth of entertaining information for a small price.

Book Description

The Stedelijk Museum opened its doors in 1895, the same year as the first Venice Biennale. It was a "quiet, civilized museum for the Amsterdam bourgeoisie in a time when there was nothing as troublesome as modern art." Initially, the museum exhibited the legacy of the eccentric Sophia Augusta de Bruyn, DouairiAre Lopez Suasso: a heterogeneous collection of antiques, coins, jewels, timepieces, silver knickknacks, and other curiosa. Period rooms, from canal houses that had been demolished when Raadhuisstraat was driven through, helped create a presentable whole. The museum's renowned furniture collection was not begun until 1934, but since then it has grown to include more than 1000 objects from circa 1850 to the present, with an accent on the twentieth century. Chairs, settees, tables, folding screens, cabinets, and even complete interiors are included. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of the Stedelijk Museum's furniture collecting activities from 1934 to 2000. It charts the museum's rich collection, which includes work by H.P. Berlage, K.P.C de Bazel, Piet Kramer, Gerrit T. Rietveld, Martin Visser, Piet Hein Eek, and Marcel Wanders, as well as international furniture classics designed by Michael Thonet, Charlotte Perriand, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Joe Colombo, Arne Jacobsen, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck, and Ron Arad. Besides a complete overview of the furniture collection, this annotated catalogue includes an introduction to the history of the collection and its exhibition activities. In addition, the volume explores various themes, such as international and Dutch icons, and contrasts and evolutions, in greater depth in a number of short essays.

International Design 1997 (International Design Yearbook)

Average customer rating:

International Design 1997 (International Design Yearbook)
Conway Lloyd Morgan , and Jennifer Hudson
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0789202921

Le Cas Philippe Starck ou De la construction de la notoriété

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Le Cas Philippe Starck ou De la construction de la notoriété
Christine Bauer
Manufacturer: L'Harmattan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2747504689

Book Description

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I hate Valentine's Day
Just like you.

One of the top wedding photographers in town, Liv Hetherington, steadfastly single, hates Valentine's Day. This year she's putting her foot down and has vowed there'll be no dinner party set-ups, speed-dating frenzies or any other form of accidental dating organized by her father, flatmate or best friend.

What she hasn't counted on is that, this year, they've given up on her.

Liv's ecstatic, to say the least. Now she can concentrate on more important things like setting up her own studio and polishing off her Dickens collection. But are relationships really not for her? Drew, the new man in Liv's life, would beg to differ. As would Cupid, who's had enough of Liv being stubbornly single and sends the ghosts of Valentine's Day Past, Present and Yet-to-Come to teach her a lesson or two where love's concerned . . .

Valentine's Day . . . bah, humbug.

Or is all that about to change?

Download Description

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I hate Valentine's Day
Just like you.

Liv's ecstatic, to say the least. Now she can concentrate on more important things like setting up her own studio and polishing off her Dickens collection. But are relationships really not for her? Drew, the new man in Liv's life, would beg to differ. As would Cupid, who's had enough of Liv being stubbornly single... Valentine's Day...bah, humbug. Or is that about to change?

Customer Reviews:

An okay Valentine's Day story.......2007-02-15

This book is more like a modern day A Chrirstmas Carol, only with Valentine's Day as the main theme. Liv Hetherington, a wedding photographer, is a humbug about Valentine's Day. Mostly because of the break up she went through two years ago ON Valentine's Day, that she never got over. Between her dead co worker and three spirits visiting her and a new man named Drew trying to enter the picture, Valentine's Day just might turn around for Liv this year.

Scrooge for Valentine's Day.......2007-01-09

Another great story by Rushby. While the plot was slightly borrowed from Dickin's, it explained how most single women who've been burned feel about Valentine's Day. Rushby's heroine learns valuable lessons that push her from hatred to wanting to take chances on men once again. Great read.

A cute v-day tale.......2006-08-13

I bought this book around Valentine's Day and for about a week I just couldn't put it down. It's a cute Valentine's Day tale with a twist off of 'A Christmas Carol'. I like the idea of this, but the ending in my opinion just ruined it all.

Good, but could have been much better.......2005-06-30

I bought this book based on the title and graphic alone, thinking that the plot sounded intriguing.

After being dumped on Valentine's Day two years prior by Mike who left her for his ex-wife, Liv has no use for the holiday; except that she makes her living as a photographer and weddings (particularly romantic VD themed weddings) are her bread and butter.

Liv is reluctant to enter into any more romantic entanglements, despite the efforts of her friends and family. She never really meets anyone she likes until she runs into Drew. They go out a couple times, and through a series of misunderstandings, have difficulty trusting one another, and she won't give Drew the same second chance he afforded her when she misconstrues his intentions toward a former flame.

So it is off to not trusting. She is visited by the ghost of a former colleague who warns that she will be visited by 3 Valentines ghosts (just like a Christmas Carol). Each ghost provides insight - into her relationships past, present, and potentially future.

You know there will be a happy ending, but getting should be half the fun. For the most part it is, however, after all the build up and narrative, I was expecting a little more out of those last 40 pages. The ending seemed so rushed, and the last visit with the ghost did not pack the wallop I was hoping for. It could have been so much better wit a tad more development and attention to detail in the end.

Read Dickens lately?.......2005-05-05

We've seen this premise work before.

Embittered gal works up courage to date again, backs out, sees life flash in front of eyes and lives again. . .

This time it's dolled up in the form of a Valentine phobia, replete with the three spirits of the day (aka Ghost of v Past, Present & Future, as in the "of Christmas..").

Liv the heroine narrates it all in the first person, and as she seems a trifle tedious, or the author cannot/willnot leave anything to the readers imagination the tale is a very long, very straight, very boring one. If you skip past the tiresome beginning, the tiresome middle, to the last chapters you'll find a little quick bit of romance which'll make you grin.

Unfortunately the morose Liv merely pulls the book down with her, and author takes no advantage of her setting in Brisbane, Australia, but pretty much neglects the setting when it could have been exploited to make a more interesting novel.

There is one funny scene when Liv as a wedding photographer is on the job, but it's only one.

Could have, should have, wasn't. Don't bother.

kotori ojadis@yahoo.com

Wedding Bell Blues: 100 Years of Our Great Romance with Marriage

Average customer rating:

A truly entertaining book!
Wedding Bell Blues doesn't make me blue at all!

Wedding Bell Blues: 100 Years of Our Great Romance with Marriage
Michael Barson , and Steven Heller
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Marriage | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0811821544

Book Description

Bargain Books are non-returnable.

Love and marriage, horse and carriage, they may go together in that old classic croon... But in twentieth-century America-hang on tight-the horses have run wild and it's one bumpy ride! Welcome to the world of Wedding Bell Blues, a romp through our endless fascination with that most august of domestic institutions: marriage. Celebrated (and bemoaned) in every medium imaginable, weddings and marriage are as much a part of life as birth, death, and taxes. Hundreds of nostalgic images, from advertisements to magazine covers to movie posters, display the full range of romance and allure of real and fictional brides and grooms. Seasoned advice from the likes of Archie Bunker to turn-of-the-century marriage manuals lend a note of unsolicited, and often absurd, guidance to the uninitiated. Whether you're already hitched, have been, or vow never to be, tying the knot will hardly look the same again.

Customer Reviews:

A truly entertaining book!.......2000-09-02

I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering, since at the time I ordered this book, no reviews had yet been written.

But I'm delighted I ordered it from Amazon!

It is a compendium of the most interesting, funny "pieces" about marriage, from marriage manuals of the 20's to movie posters that as stand-alone objects, are absolutely hilarious.....to songs about love and marriage...you name it, it's in here! The editors/authors really obviously had just a ball writing and collecting this, and their humor and enthusiasm carries, BANGO, right through to the reader.

If you've been reading too much heavy literature, as I had when I ordered this book, this will really lighten you up.

I nearly died laughing over the blurb about "OPEN MARRIAGE" by the O'Neils in the late 60's (or was it early 70's). In my first, most ludicrous marriage on earth, my first husband was a great believer in this, had me read it, and at the time, I took it quite seriously. What a hoot to read it again now and see how truly ridiculous it was! And it was such a sign of the times!

Each and every entry takes you back to the time it was written (even if you weren't around then), and really gives the reader a strong sense of the times.

The only things I'd have changed? I would LOVED to have read more deeply into the marriage manuals of old, would have loved to have read much more in detail on those....and I would have really loved to read at least a longish blurb from the "marriage/romance comic books" they mention only by title. I think lengthening these two aspects would have made me give this book a five-star rating.

No matter how you feel about marriage, you simply won't be able to resist being entertained by this book.

Wedding Bell Blues doesn't make me blue at all!.......2000-06-07

Wedding Bell Blues takes a refreshing look at marriage through a different angle than just another "how-to" or "this is what's supposed to happen" book. It has a vast compilation of movie posters, advertisements, and magazine covers that chronicle the marriages of fictional and real couples. If you are an entertainment buff like I am, you'll like this book as it has many quotes from entertainers and the like. One of the best parts of this book is reading through the obsolete sex/marriage manuals. This book is great for anyone, not just newlyweds or soon-to-be weds!

Candid wedding photography guide (Modern camera guide series)

Average customer rating:

Candid wedding photography guide (Modern camera guide series)
Kenneth S Tydings
Manufacturer: Amphoto
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0817402179

Dreams & Schemes: Love and Marriage in Modern Times

Average customer rating:

A perfect wedding gift

Dreams & Schemes: Love and Marriage in Modern Times
Abigail Heyman
Manufacturer: Picture Project
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963255134

Book Description

Dreams & Schemes is a powerful examination of marriage and long-term love and commitment. The deeply moving photographs have all been taken at weddings, but they penetrate the surface manners and ethnic rituals of "wedding photographs." They have another side. In her often very personal text, Abigail Heyman shows us the underlying drama: the fears within the dreams, the nobility within the schemes. Not just the bride and groom, but also their parents, their children, their stepchildren, their former lovers all appear. And all of their lives are changed.

Customer Reviews:

A perfect wedding gift.......2000-03-28

I love this book! A good friend gave it to me at my wedding. Heyman is a gifted photographer who always seems to catch the pivotal moment, the look, the doubt, the excitement, the fear, the judgment, the pure moment of truth. This intoxicating cross-cultural collection of wedding photos from various stratas of society makes a perfect wedding gift!

Average customer rating:

The book that started the wedding photojournalism trend

Modern wedding photography
Suzanne Szasz
Manufacturer: Amphoto
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0817424113

Customer Reviews:

The book that started the wedding photojournalism trend.......1999-07-03

Suzanne Szasz was one of the all-time great magazine photojounalists, and her book on wedding photography is the book that actually began the trend to wedding photojournalism which has become a prominent part of today's wedding scene. Her pictures are full of the life and spirit of the wedding and even though made more than 20 years ago, are better than most of those displayed on the web pages of today's photographers who bill themselves as wedding photojournalists. Her photographs, which expertly and artistically document the wedding as it happens, will not please the traditional wedding photographer, who seeks to impose upon the event his own interpretation of a wedding fantasy, rather than letting each wedding reveal its own individuality and beauty.

The Wedding Photographer's Handbook: a guide to modern wedding photography

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The Wedding Photographer's Handbook: a guide to modern wedding photography
Gene Ho
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Professional | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Reference | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0595442285

Book Description

The Wedding Photographer's Handbook instructs the photographer in all they need to know about getting into the lucrative wedding photography business.

The book is designed for two types of photographers:

For photographers who are already in the wedding business but may want to get an edge.
For photographers who have worked in other fields but may want to start taking wedding pictures.

The Wedding Photographer's Handbook gives step-by-step instructions on how to book the weddings, what to photograph and how to deliver the end product.

Amazon.com

Bonnie and Kip are getting married. Tansy, the married sister, doesn't approve of marriage, and George, Kip's brother, is on his fourth union. As quirky as its characters, this uniquely conceived and designed "novel" isn't one in any conventional sense. It delivers what it promises--pictures, both verbal and visual, of a wedding, capturing the event, of course, but more compellingly, the currents beneath the surface.

The vignettes are comprised entirely of dialogue, and they're enlivened by Kathy Osborn's art (which will be familiar to aficionados of the New Yorker). The dialogue is so natural that it'ss all but spoken aloud from the page. Although presented with refreshing simplicity, there is nothing simplistic about Wedding Pictures; Bonnie and Kip tumble from a kind of insouciant, urbane bliss into sticky conflicts. Whose job is more important--his or hers? Who (he lives in New York; she in D.C.) will move for the sake of the marriage? And because it unfolds so breezily, their gender-war banter has an almost Hepburn-Tracy feel.

The collaboration is a perfect fit. Both the verbal and visual styles betray sly wit and a passion for the sort of details that pinpoint the artifacts and obsessions of a generation.

Average customer rating:

Winning isn't everything...

Brilliant book

A thought-provoking book that goes steadily downhill

Interesting Book by 2 Top Notch Economists

An Explanation for the Growing Economic Inequality

The Winner-Take-All Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us
Robert H. Frank , and Philip J. Cook
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Class | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Luxury Fever

Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class (The Aaron Wildavsky Forum for Public Policy)

Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status

What Price the Moral High Ground?: Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments

Passions Within Reason

ASIN: 0140259953

Customer Reviews:

Winning isn't everything..........2007-05-06

Although this book is a little outdated, the authors make a convincing case as to the spiraling salaries of Fortune 500 CEO's, sought-after-free-agent-superstar-athletes, box-office movie stars and the like. Winning begets winning, that's the gold standard of life. "In order for top CEO's to capture their full economic value, a second factor must also be present-namely, there must be open competition for their services." For what high level profession doesn't this rule apply? Pursuit of success is intrinsically woven into the tapestry of this nation and history has always been faithful to the winner; thus, the past is a recording of HIS STORY! It's unfortunate that vanity prevents so many people from accurately assessing their talents, but I don't thinks it calls for the reshaping of national policy as the authors suggest.

Brilliant book.......2007-01-09

Brilliant book, though the practical outlines of reversing the trends that drive our society towards a winner-takes-all-society may not be easy, or simply feasible. The argumentation is very solid and based on different literature, which makes the bibliography equally interesting. Though the numbers are outdated, one can only see that in current society the numbers for the winners have only - and extremely - augmented. Which proves the book was right but the ideas haven't made the political agenda.

A thought-provoking book that goes steadily downhill.......2006-09-25

The first half to 2/3 of this book makes some very good points that have escaped most of the popular discussions of economic issues. The authors point out, persuasively in my opinion, that certain industries and professions have "winner-take-all" characteristics that pervert the usual reward/punishment consequences of free-market economic policies.

The markets for which the authors have the strongest evidence of "winner take all" characteristics are presented earliest. As the book goes on, however, it falls into the same pattern of thousands of books before it: the authors have made one important and interesting observation, and they proceed to claim that virtually everything in the world that they disapprove of can be accounted for by this one observation. They assume, without plausible evidence, that the declines in education and popular culture are the direct consequence of winner-take-all markets. In a couple of cases they even admit that the evidence for winner-take-all characteristics in a particular industry or occupation is scanty or even nonexistent. But that doesn't prevent them from offering further arguments and policy recommendations based on the assumption that every one of these markets is dominated by winner-take-all distortions.

By the end of this book, where the authors make policy recommendations, they come close to leaving reality behind. They make these recommendations based on the assumptions that the **entire economy** is dominated by winner-take-all characteristics - a proposition for which they offer no evidence whatever. It is hard to escape the impression that their goal in writing this book was to justify a more socialistic economic policy on the part of the government, rather than to evenhandedly examine and explain an important issue.

In short: read the first of half of this book, because it makes a lot of worthwhile points and observations. Read most of the rest if you're retired or have a lot of free time. Skip the last chapter, with their policy recommendations.

Interesting Book by 2 Top Notch Economists.......2006-08-12

This book basically says that the rat race is harmful and we should constrain spending, because happiness isn't really what we have, but what our neighbor has; therefore, by creating incentives to spend less, we can create a trickle-down effect of less consumption and have more time and less coarseness in culture. The only problem is that the authors--as bright as they are--do not spend much time explaining exactly how a consumption tax would work. One gets the feeling that they felt going into specific details was inappropriate for a mass-market book. Along the way, we also learn about fun variations on game theory, the predecessor to Paris Hilton, and some prescient warnings on steroids. Despite the negative comments about lawyers in the book, I enjoyed it very much. The author reminds his readers, through facts and research, to be more humble and to remember that because the number of top positions is few in the U.S., it cannot be the case that all our dreams will be realized. While depressing on the surface, one may wish the participants on American Idol had read this book before appearing on national television.

An Explanation for the Growing Economic Inequality.......2002-10-02

The basic premise of this book is that the U.S. has too many markets where the "star" or top performer gets a large percentage of the proceeds. Examples are the sports market, the movie star market and the publishing market; The reasons given are;

-Technology. National distribution channels such as network television make it easier for an individual to penetrate the market. For example, at one time villages and towns had their own musicians. Now a singer can make a CD and sell it nationally.

-Falling transportation and tariff costs. Goods have gotten lighter. It is easier to send computer discs all over the world than books. CD's are lighter than phonograph records

-- Mental shelf space constraints. We have a limit to the number of items we can keep in our head..."the amount of information we can actually use is thus a declining fraction of the total information available."

-Weakening of regulations and civil society. At one time, informal and formal rules limited the winner take all markets. Now, like free agents in baseball, the top performers have the leverage to demand high prices.

-Self-reinforcing processes. This is another way of saying "success begets success." For example, a sales person does well and gets bigger customers. A person does well and the word of mouth referral causes them to saturate the market. This virtuous cycle increases the income and power of top performers.

The author argues that winner take all markets are not good for society. People are unrealistically optimistic about their own chances of winning "a prize." Thus they are siphoned off from other productive endeavors.

This book was helpful to me in understanding today's economy and job market. If anything, the winners are doing better than ever today, long after the book was published. Just take a look at the latest article on CEO salaries.

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The Winner-Take-All Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us
Robert H. Cook, Philip J. Frank
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ8F1I

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