Product Description

Product Description

Product Description
This collection of outstanding photographs capture the magic of the park through the year, and the thoughtful text highlights its many notable and remarkable features. ... Read more

Product Description
The Imagineering Field Guide series answers the question: “What would it be like to walk through a Disney park with an Imagineer by your side?” A lot of fun, actually! And extremely interesting. The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World provides that experience—explaining large concepts and pointing out subtle details, revealing stories, back stories, and Imagineering insights never before heard, and showing sketches, paintings, and schematics used to develop the look of each attraction, condensed into a portable, easily referenced park guide.

These user-friendly, beautifully illustrated guides are innovative and entertaining books that will enrich the guests’ time at the happiest places on earth. And now the series is being updated to include all the new attractions, shows, and lands in the Disney parks.

Who better to tour you around the Disney parks than the Imagineers who created them? And what better than to have the most recent insider information?  It’s all in the Imagineering Field Guides.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good, but somewhat superficial
I bought this book thinking that it would provide a lot of insight into the creation of the Park.Instead, it's more of a guide that you could take with you while exploring the Park in order to learn fun facts about the attractions.The information is interesting but limited, but it does give a sense of what the Imagineers think about when they're designing attractions.My only other complaint about the book is that the small format doesn't allow the reader to really see all the details in the illustrations and photos.I can understand why they chose this small format if it's supposed to be a guide that you take with you while exploring the park. But if you're looking for more of a coffee-table book, this isn't the one for you.

Good Book for Magic Kingdom Fan, But Not Very Different From the 2005 Edition
This is a great book for anyone who is a fan of the Magic Kingdom and loves to know trivia and little details about the rides in the park.The only drawback to this book is that if you already own the 2005 edition, then there isn't much that's new in this one.There is a small blurb about the upgrades to the Haunted Mansion, the Fantasyland section is moved around (but the articles are the same), and there are other very small changes.The only "big" change is to the Tomorrowland section.There is a new set of pages on Monsters Inc. and the Timekeeper section is gone.Overall, if don't have the 2005 version, this one is worth getting.If you already have the 2005 version, this updated version doesn't have very much that's new. ... Read more

Product Description
Celebrating the works of one of the most famous contributors to American architectural history, a beautifully bound book highlights Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park/Chicago years and contains many lavish photographs. ... Read more

Product Description
June 21, 1893 dawned clear in Chicago. By mid-afternoon hundreds of invited guests and curious spectators crowded around a small platform on the Midway Plaisance at the World's Columbian Exposition. Promptly at 3:30 the official party took their places and following the speeches, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.blew a small, golden whistle. The giant observation wheel was officially open to all those who wanted the never-to-be-forgotten thrill of riding the Ferris Wheel. The miracle of engineering Ferris had built in less than six months was 264 feet tall, taller than any other buildingexisting at the time, and the 36 cars each held up to 60 passengers. Before the Exposition closed, nearly a million and a half people paid 50 cents for a twenty-minute ride on The Eighth Wonder of the World. And since then, amusement wheels worldwide that carry people up, over the top, and down have been called Ferris wheels. The idea of the Ferris wheel may be as old as the water wheel, and written descriptions and drawings of pleasure wheels go back at least four centuries. And during the last hundred years the Ferris wheel has become the universal symbol of the outdoor amusement industry and the undisputed Queen of the Midway. There have been dozens of experiments with design and construction early portable wheels by Strobel, the Condermans, Sullivan and others; one-of-a-kind wheels like Schnitzler's Asbury Park wheel with a tower and Stubb's water-turned wheel at Electric Park in Waterloo, Iowa; giant wheels in London, Blackpool, Vienna, Paris and more recently in Japan. All of these builders and rides plus others are described in Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An informative documentation of the ever-popular amusement park and carnival ride
A photomechanical reprint of the 1992 Bowling Green University Press edition, Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History by Norman Anderson is an informative documentation of the ever-popular amusement park and carnival ride. Guiding reader through its remarkable history, Ferris Wheels reveals George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.'s most creative and timeless constructions through its over one-hundred and ten year history as a key feature for American carnivals and fairgrounds. Profusely illustrated with historical photographs and line drawn sketches, Ferris Wheels is very highly recommended reading and a welcome addition to personal and community library collections.

The Ferris Wheel Bible!
This book is the ultimate authority on Ferris Wheels.The history of Ferris Wheels is comprehensive and has copious footnotes.The references go deep.There was one reference that caught my fancy, and after extensive searching, found that it is a reference in one library in England, and shows up no where else!The photographs are good, but not great.An excellent and detailed section on patents related to Ferris Wheels.Anderson has written a super 400+ page reference work.Strongly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Step right up to the magic of the great coasters as you travel through roller coaster history from their beginnings up through today! Experience the early roots of coastering in the mid-1800s and the emergence of grand amusement parks in the 1880s. Flash back to the golden age of coasters between 1900 and 1930, and witness the thrill rides' historic decline in the 1960s. Ride these radical rails in chapters chronicling coaster designers, manufacturing companies, technology, and special coasters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

solid book with lots of information
very good book about rollercoasters with lots of information and good pictures

Good Book Overall
This is a very good book if you want a look back to the predecessors of today's coasters.The coverage is very thorough and informative.The coasters covered range from early 1900's to many of today.The photos are simply great -- they made the book wonderful (though the text could easily support itself).If you like coasters, this is the book for you.

Amazing Photos
Perfect book on rollercoasters. Great photos, great history. If you were only to buy one book about roller coasters- make it this one!

Good Roller Coaster Reference
Other reviewers have given a good overview of this book.I will go into some detail on Chapter 3:Nuts and Bolts -- How Coasters Work.Rutherford begins by talking about materials used in the basic structure.His section on the evolution of tracking is excellent.Most readers will be surprised to learn about the side-friction coaster.This is a rare beast, and to my knowledge, this is the only easily available documentation available about it.

The wood track structure is well explained along with cross sectional diagrams of how the carriages (trains) are attached to the track/structure. Rutherford finishes this part with a discussion on standard bent construction for the structure.

In the next part of this chapter, the discussion continues with steelie coasters, track fabrication and wheel assemblies.Propulsion, lift chain, anti-rollback devices, other safety devices, brakes, zone blocking, restraints, etc. are wonderful background information for the teacher who wants to take their class to the amusement park for a science field trip.

The chapter ends with the nature of teh ride and what is involved in creating one of these machines.The difference between an track plan and profile are clearly illustrated.

Good addition to the library.

A "must" for all roller coaster buffs & enthusiasts!
An excellent and unusual title providing insights into American pastimesand interests, Scott Rutherford's American Roller Coaster covers the upsand downs of roller coaster history, pairing a clear text history withcolor photos and illustrations of coasters from 1900 to modern times. Thehistory and evolution covers construction as well as roller coaster stylesand development. ... Read more

Product Description
One hundred full-color photographs illustrate this history and current health of upstate New York's Adirondack Park, the first private-public partnership dedicated to the protection of a U.S. wilderness area.

"Here is the first lesson about the Adirondacks, captured in Gary Randorf's magnificent photos. It is not only alpine granite—in fact, of the park's six million acres, only about eighty-five, scattered on top of the tallest mountains, are that gorgeous pseudo-Arctic. Aside from the touristed High Peaks, the Adirondacks comprise millions upon millions of acres of Low Peaks, of beavery draws and bearish woods, of hills and hills and hills, countless drainages and muddy ponds . . . The second point about the Adirondacks, a glory carefully revealed in the words and pictures of this book, is that it represents a second-chance wilderness and, as such, a hope that the damage caused by human beings is not irreversible. It is metaphor as much as place."—from the foreword by Bill McKibben

In The Adirondacks: Wild Island of Hope, Gary A. Randorf offers 100 photographs to illustrate this unique, comprehensive history and natural history of the Adirondack Park, the first private-public partnership in the United States dedicated to the protection of a wilderness area. Situated in northeast New York, this regional park of six million acres represents a unique blend of public wildlands intermixed with commercial forests, farms, mines, private parks, prisons, scattered homes, dozens of villages, and a year-round population of 130,000. The ongoing attempts over the last century to make the Adirondacks a park have made this region a "striving ground" for living with the land, rather than outside or above it. Much of the strife is over finding a right relationship to the land, treating it not as a commodity to be exploited but as a community to which all living things belong and upon which all depend.

Today, the Adirondacks regional park with its six million acres "represents a second-chance wilderness"—as Bill McKibben writes in his foreword to this book. The concerns of this park are the same concerns that apply to all of America's parks, recreational areas, and wildernesses with the addition of how to maintain the fragile peace between human and natural communities. How that "second-chance" can be realized is the focus of Gary Randorf's text and stunning color photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Eloquent Book!
Gary Randolf has done a remarkable job of splicing natural history, Americans and psychical beauty into one great book.Traveling through time and seasons, the reader feels the words and witnesses the beauty of the Adirondack mountains.It's not just full of incredible landscape shots (both subtle and grand) but is matched with a moving narrative that warns us this island paradise will always be in danger.

Time for the world to take heed, especially in a period of history when our government seems to feel that acid rain is so irreversible here, that we can actually lower emissions standards?That the damage is already done?It's not too late, and Mr. Randorf reminds us with every page. ... Read more

Product Description
Tucked between the housing developments and golf courses of the Orange County coast lies a small settlement of rustic beach cottages seemingly frozen in time. Crystal Cove Cottages is the first history of this uniquely preserved beach spot that has lured travellers and campers since the 1920s. Deemed by the National Register of Historic Places to be "the last intact example of California beach vernacular architecture," it is now a registered state park whose cottages are newly available for public overnight visits. From silent-film location to rum-runners' hideout, scenic setting for a vibrant landscape painting community to 1950s luau-party headquarters, Crystal Cove has all the while remained a bohemian yet family-friendly village. Ten sidebars on notable individual cottages highlight the Cove's distinct and often amusing architectural evolution. Crystal Cove Cottages captures the nostalgic ambiance of seaside Americana. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Just like a visit
if you have been there,its a detailed review. If you haven't been there, read and you will know whether its worth the trip. Good job.

A Beautiful Book
This book captures a glimpse of a Camelot era of the California coast.Crystal Cove is an island in time, perhaps where our mothers and fathers cavorted.The books entices the reader on a journey to visit the early California coastal painters and the free lifestyles that they lived.It is beautifully illustrated with images of paintings and the cottages, some no more than shacks, that comprised this community.Long gone are the days of the martini flag and the bugle call for the first drink of the day.No more can the lowly and poor cavort on their private beaches.This is a beautiful walk through time of the best of days along the California coast. Enjoy.

Crystal Cove Cottages: Islands in Time on the CA Coast
From the dust cover of this beautiful book to the last pages, readers are treated to beautiful photography, copies of lovely paintings, and a narrative about the history of this unique place on the CA coast.The book is divided into time frames starting in 1917 and continuing to 2001.Each segment gives the reader a glimpse into the recent past, of simplier times and the quest for life on the CA seashore.This book is very readable, a feast for the eyes and one that will join my permanent collection of very special books.Suitable for display as a prized coffee table book. ... Read more

Product Description
Larry W. Green, a 1975 graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has put together a dynamic book of digital photographs and paintings depicting water tanks in all their glory. Water Tanks of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy grew out of one artist s vision as he started to sketch and paint the urban environment in and around Chicago. Green found himself drawn to water tanks as iconic symbols of the city. The tanks were distinctive all by themselves, and an integral part of the city s skyline. As SAIC President Tony Jones, says in his Foreword to the book, Chicago s crumbling water-tanks take on a new significance when seen in Green s paintings surely we knew they were there, they d registered, but they weren t the star of the street-show. But we ve woken up to them, become part of his celebration of them as dynamic incidents in what is clearly a Chicago landscape. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good condition
the book was in great condition however the content was not what I expected so I was disappointed. No fault of the seller but the book is very thin and does not contain much in text about the subject

A template for photographically preserving landmark constructions
Water tanks, constructed for the purpose of supplying water through a gravity driven system for businesses, buildings, neighborhoods, and communities, were once ubiquitous components of an industrial past, but are now rapidly disappearing as crumbling, obsolete relics as technologies and the city have continued to evolve. For the past twenty years, Larry W. Green is a Chicago artist who has been photographing and sketching water-tanks in and around Chicago, Illinois. Now compiled and presented to the public in "Water Tanks Of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy", Green showcases and captions 37 of those images he has preserved or recreated. The purpose in publishing his work was to inform and alert the public to the need to preserve those (often crumbling) monuments to a yesteryear Chicago for their esthetic and historical significance. A superb presentation, "Water Tanks Of Chicago" is very highly recommended and could well serve as a template or example for photographically preserving similar landmark constructions in other American communities wanting to treasure and preserve their historic past in a rapidly changing present for the sake of future generations. ... Read more

Product Description
The neon sign is quickly fading from the Chicago landscape. At one time neon signs were a common sight in every neighborhood throughout the city. The signs brought energy and excitement to a community, and would attract people to local gathering places such as restaurants, theaters, and bowling alleys. Through time and continuous exposure to harsh Midwest elements the neon signs have begun to decay. During the day the remnants of many old signs display faded paint, rusting sides, and empty holes where glass tubes were once housed. But at night some signs still glow like a beacon on a dreary street.Since 2003, Chicago librarian and artist Dan Zamudio has photographed many of these signs, and he has collected them in a new book, Chicago Neon Signs: Neighborhood and Downtown Landmarks through a Toy Camera. The toy camera is called a Diana. The Diana camera is made of plastic, including the lens. Plastic lens produce a slightly blurred focus that can create beautiful surreal images. Zamudio has used the Diana to startling artistic affect, and many of his images are not complete representations of neon signs. Instead, sections of the signs are displayed, conveying enough information for viewers to recognize the sign. The signs in the book are rendered in glorious black and white, and offer a poignant and nostalgic look back at a bygone era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful and memorably surreal images
Once a ubiquitous feature of Chicago's landscape, the neon sign is gradually disappearing because of the deleterious impact of Illinois winters. The result of the harsh climate and the entropy of neglect, the neon signs of neighborhood businesses are decaying, fading, rusting, and manifesting empty spaces where colorful glass tubes used to be. Chicago librarian and artist Dan Zamudio photographed many of Chicago's neon signs with a camera called 'Diana', which is made of plastic (including the lens) and thus produces as slightly blurred focus that creates beautiful and memorably surreal images. In "Chicago Neon Signs", Zamudio has compiled sixty of these black-and-white photographic images that will prove to be enduring monuments to this once great commercial advertising art form to be found in every Chicago neighborhood but which is now, year by year and decade by decade, disappearing from the scene. "Chicago Neon Signs" is an original compilation which is highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Photography reference collections -- and would serve as an excellent template for similar photographic studies with respect to other American cities.

disappointed
The concept of the book was good which is why I purchased it as a gift, but the actual product is very disappointing and I would be uncomfortable to give it as a gift.So now I must continue to shop, this time a little more judiciously. ... Read more

Product Description
The third in a series of pocket-sized paperbacks answers the question, “What would it be like to walk through Disney's Animal Kingdom Park with an Imagineer by your side?” The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom provides that experience: pointing out details and telling stories, back stories, and Imagineering insights never before heard, condensed into a portable, easily-referenced park guide. You'll never spend time at Walt Disney World the same way again.

Each spread contains fascinating textual information and related images (drawings, photos, graphics) such as:

¨      Set-up, backgrounds, and origins of each park/land/mini-land

¨      Concept art to compare to the finished show

¨      Timeline information (opening dates, previous shows in the same venue,

Product Description
Since its inception as "forever wild" in the 1880s, New York's Adirondack Park has served as a model of conservation for the world. The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization devotedto protecting the diversity of life on Earth and preeminent Adirondack photographer Nathan Farb here team up to reveal feats of nature that the human eye on its own would not perceive. In the tradition of Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, Farb renders the most miniscule detail as clearly as the grandest vista.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Magical timelessness
Timelessness is felt, while looking at Nathan Farb's extensive views of Adirondack's mountains's landscapes. Thousands of acres of forest and rock without roads, towns, dams, hightension lines, ski lifts etc. are shown. No anecdote pointing to our times. These pictures could have been taken thousands of years ago. For an european wilderness enthusiast like me such views are surprising. Fascinating, because it's very difficult to take such timeless pictures in western Europe. There is no equivalent to Adirondack. Farb's views show Adirondack's immensity very well. More, generally in autumn, the most colourful season. The author goes into detail of the landscape, showing big geological features, like cliffs and landslides, also hydrological like lakes and mires. The scale changes continuously, from big views to very small details of geology or vegetation, showing how much humans depend on their senses for feeling the world of their lives and how much is hidden to us, because of our own sensory boundaries. Obviously we depend so much on our senses. Farb's high photographic talent (technical accuracy and thoroughness, also inspiration etc.) and subtle feelings show what is not obvious. He looks round and finds many invisible things to be shown. A great magician for a magical book. Very strong paper, excellent binding.

Impossibly Beautiful
Nathan Farb has been photographing the Adirondacks for nearly sixty years and he has seen more square acres of this park than most people.Taking his cue from the four seasons, Farb excels at not just the grandiose panorama but also the severe details hidden in the landscape.From simple titles such as, `Follensby Pond' or `Lake Lila Sunset' to more enticing titles like, `Remains of Otter Lunch' and `Marion River Lily Pads', Farb captures nature's secrets.His seasonal photographs are timeless in beauty and impossibly simple.This collection is by far his best representation of the craft of landscape photography.A large photograph is dissected into a smaller frame to expose a landscape beauty the average person might miss.That is what sets Nathan Farb apart from other photographers - his impeccable eye for colorful detail.He truly is the Ansel Adams of modern times.

Adirondack Wilderness Photography Gold
I was a fan of Nathan's work long before this title and think it only enhances my opinion of his excellent photography. This edition is a tightly edited focused view of the Adirondack wilderness by a man who carries a large format camera deep into the woods. In it he refines his images from the iconic views typical of the previous books, to set his attention toward unusual vantage points and more challenging details which in the end are as expansive as any world we might visit.

His details are highly personal, intimate and revealing to both the experienced ADK hiker and those who simply enjoy images of American Wilderness. His landscapes are expansive and shot with a view toward the optimal seasons which allow us a glimpse of the deep woods without the consequences of weather, work conflicts and the effort these vistas would otherwise require. For lovers of these mountains he captures both the familiar and vantage points you will not be able to reach in your lifetime if you start hiking now, which makes this title all the more interesting.

Rizzoli has outdone itself with high quality reproductions of subtle images. The title is oversized, very well bound and the paper is a heavier stock then his previous titles. My only issue was with my individual copy (an advanced copy) which had misaligned front and rear inside cover spreads and inside the title were 2 spots of printer ink. Neither of these takes away from the importance of this work and when added to his other titles ("The Adirondacks" in particular), this book allows you to enjoy those days between your trips to the North Woods.

I only wish there was a higher rating (than 5*) that i could give this title, it is truly outstanding.

For more on fly fishing, additional comments and reviews - [...] ... Read more

Product Description

Welcome to Penlake!

Here lies the fascinating story of pioneer life and early cottaging on one of Muskoka's most beautiful and pristine lakes. In its 150 historical photographs and lovingly researched text, Penlake captures the essence of cottage life. For anyone who has spent time in Cottage Country, this wonderful volume will rekindle memories, reawaken the senses, delight and entertain.