Book Description
Believe it or not, bees are one of the oldest species of domesticated animals. Archeologists have found evidence of beekeeping, or apiculture, in the Middle East dating back more than five thousand years. If you’ve ever tasted good clover honey, it’s not hard to understand why. But it’s not just for the honey that more than 125,000 people (and growing) in the United States, alone, keep hives. Anyone interested in nature can’t help but be fascinated by those buzzing yellow bundles of energy and the exotic world they inhabit, with all its weird rituals and incredible efficiency. Also, dedicated gardeners appreciate the extra bounty that pollinating bees bring to their fruits, flowers, and vegetable gardens.
In this easy-to-follow guide, Howland Blackiston, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on the subject, takes the mystery (and the sting) out of beekeeping. Taking a step-by-step approach to successful backyard beekeeping, he gets you up and running with all the information you need to:
- Build a hive
- Establish your first colony
- Inspect your hives with confidence
- Maintain healthy colonies
- Deal with pests and fix common problems
- Harvest and enjoy fresh homemade honey
- Bottle and market your honey
Howland Blackiston covers all the bases, from bee anatomy, society, and behavior, to identifying and healing common illnesses afflicting bees. He also offers inventive solutions to most common and many uncommon problems you’re likely to run into. Among other things, you’ll discover:
- Where to put your hive, basic equipment you’ll need, and how to assemble a hive
- The best and safest way to inspect and enjoy your bees
- Year-round tasks a beekeeper must perform to maintain a healthy colony
- How to recognize and deal with common problems with brood production and the precious queen
- How to harvest honey and decide what kind of honey you’d like to make
- Making products from beeswax and propolis
For both fun and profit, beekeeping has become a booming enterprise. A real honey of a book, Beekeeping For Dummies gets you on the road to enjoying this ancient, highly-rewarding, and oh-so-tasty hobby.
Average customer rating:
- Changed the way I veiw food!
- What can I say...
- The Katz Pajamas
- A little disappointing...
- Wonderful book, could use a little clarity in places
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Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
Sandor Ellix Katz
Manufacturer: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Canning & Preserving
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Beer
| Drinks & Beverages
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Spirits
| Drinks & Beverages
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Culinary Arts & Techniques
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 1931498237 |
Book Description
Bread. Cheese. Wine. Beer. Coffee. Chocolate. Most people consume fermented foods and drinks every day. For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed the distinctive flavors and nutrition resulting from the transformative power of microscopic bacteria and fungi. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods is the first cookbook to widely explore the culinary magic of fermentation. "Fermentation has been an important journey of discovery for me," writes author Sandor Ellix Katz. "I invite you to join me along this effervescent path, well trodden for thousands of years yet largely forgotten in our time and place, bypassed by the superhighway of industrial food production." The flavors of fermentation are compelling and complex, quite literally alive. This book takes readers on a whirlwind trip through the wide world of fermentation, providing readers with basic and delicious recipes-some familiar, others exotic-that are easy to make at home. The book covers vegetable ferments such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and sour pickles; bean ferments including miso, tempeh, dosas, and idli; dairy ferments including yogurt, kefir, and basic cheesemaking (as well as vegan alternatives); sourdough bread-making; other grain fermentations from Cherokee, African, Japanese, and Russian traditions; extremely simple wine- and beer-making (as well as cider-, mead-, and champagne-making) techniques; and vinegar-making. With nearly 100 recipes, this is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging fermentation cookbook ever published.
Customer Reviews:
Changed the way I veiw food!.......2007-10-10
This book is wonderful! Sandor Ellix Katz has a great way of conveying his personal beliefs on food systems, and how we eat affects our culture. I've been making many of the fermented foods included in his book, and hope to get around to trying to make them all! My friends all think I'm food obsessed now, but I'm completely enjoying myself and keeping myself entertained with the wonderful recipes in this book.
What can I say..........2007-09-04
I love this book, my family loves the soda, my brother wants my sauerkraut and I taught some kids who to start and maintain a sourdough starter made with the yeast from the plumbs on our tree. I can't wait to make wine.
The Katz Pajamas.......2007-08-21
I love this book. Not only is it a comprehensive (and surprising) overview of how pervasive live culture is in the foods we consume, it also is a very helpful guide to making some of these things at home. The style is casual, friendly and the information comes from the writer's own deep experience. Although one reviewer accuses the writer of being "political", there is no agenda pushed here other than encouraging the reader to try making his or her own sourdough, sauerkraut, or beer. And, there is absolutely NO dirty joke on page 10, as one homophobic reviewer claims. If you are a DIY cook or baker, you need to get this book!
A little disappointing..........2007-07-20
As soon as you open this, you get problems. First of all, the man who wrote this book is a vegan, and does not include any fermentation on meat. Good luck living in the wild without a concentrated source of energy and nutrients. We run yet again into problems where much of the fermentation isn't even wild, in particular for dairy. I understand dairy isn't usually available in the wild, but the book is about wild fermentation, right? If you want to learn about fermentation of dairy or grains, you can find all the info you need for free searching on google. Soak, sprout and ferment...If you want to ferment meat, you're going to have to find another source anyways.
The attempt at appearing philosophical at the start of the book was purtty unimpressive.
Other than all of the other problems, there is a wide variety of fermentation of products, and it will suit you well if you're a vegan/vegetarian.
Wonderful book, could use a little clarity in places.......2007-07-08
This is an outstanding book! Sandor Katz has a tremendous passion for fermented foods and it shows in his writing. "Wild" in the title refers to micro-organisms that are in the air, so this book is mostly about fermenting foods you don't need to buy yeast or other starters for. Fermenting with what's in the air appeals to me.
Katz includes a nice variety of recipes for vegetable, bean, dairy, bread, porridges, beverages, and vinegars. Notably absent are recipes for fermenting meat products.
I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 because, while I love the book, in places I found myself scratching my head trying to figure out what he was saying.
Book Description
Vintage aprons and modern designs are turning up in movies, magazine spreads, upscale shops, and hip retail venues like Anthropologie, whose trendy line of aprons is selling as fast as they can stock them. The Apron Book is an infectiously enthusiastic guide to aprons, old and new, that are suddenly everywhere.
Aprons take us back to our favorite place¿hearth and home. Vintage aprons help us remember home and family the way they used to be, while bright and sassy contemporary aprons confirm that nesting is all the rage. Actress and trendsetter Julia Roberts has a closetful of vintage aprons. Celebrity custom-made apron auctions have become an annual event for several popular charities in the past few years.
The Apron Book provides full-color photos of new and vintage aprons from the author's collection, patterns for four basic apron styles and myriad variations, recipes, tips on collecting and preserving vintage aprons, and heart-tugging stories from the author's traveling apron exhibit. The book also explores the heyday of aprons and looks at the various roles aprons still play when worn in the kitchen, around the house, by the backyard grill, on the job, and for special occasions.
Warm and inviting¿but like an apron quite practical!¿this book is a celebration of a great American icon and reminds us of what we loved about the people who wore them.
Customer Reviews:
"Apron Heaven".......2007-09-30
Wow! What a delightful book! Not only rich in history and memory, but you are given the instructions to make them come alive in the "now!" This is in the "fave" section of my studio!
Delightful read.......2007-08-31
I found "The Apron Book" book to be absolutely charming and fully engaging. Old enough to remember aprons similar to those represented being worn by family and friends, as well as being an inveterate collector of fabric, this work prompts pleasant memories as it nudges me toward my machine.
The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort.......2007-08-23
This book is a good gift, coffee table book, or reference book. It has lots of pictures of authentic vintage patterns, vintage looking aprons, and ideas for color and cloth. The vintage patterns she displays are very usefull and can easily be reinvented with modern commercial patterns.
The patterns she offers are alittle disappointing, especially for children. I was looking for a Mom and kid combo with a bib type pattern. The childs pattern has no bib and was not gathered/sewn to the waiste band but like curtins, gathering as it falls.
There is a "no frills" commercial type pattern for Mom on the back cover and the book gives good details for the patterns she describes in the book.
To me the strenght of her book is in her pictures for ideas, and you can pick up patterns that are exactly like what is pictured in her books commercially. Personally I liked her book, I like idea books with vintage styles. This book can sit on your self until the time you need "inspiration" or a quick apron idea for a gift you want to make.
The Apron Book: Making, Wearing and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort.......2007-08-17
Great find!! Such pretty illustrations and wonderful personal 'apron' stories. I loved it from cover to cover. Bought it for a gift but cannot bear to give it away now.
Well photographed book with cute APRON STORIES.......2007-08-13
This is a cute book about aprons. The photos are just marvelous---very bright and colorful!
Each sub-category, in each chapter, comes with a funny or sweet story about the various "special" aprons photographed.
I am giving it a 4-star rather than a 5-star because with over 500+ collectible aprons that the author owns, I wish she had photographed even a small array or "collage-photo", showing more of her pretty aprons. Maybe she could have added a few additional pages to her book, with a combo-photo of more of her aprons.
The author mentions so many interesting aprons that she owns in her collection (but did not show), and so I wanted to see a few more aprons she mentioned throughout the book... (for example: maybe even a photograph or two of a "collage" of just 40 more aprons would have been great).
However, maybe once the author sees how well her first book on aprons is selling right now, she will write a volume #II next time---which I will buy.
Book Description
This book provides writers with the tools necessary to create and market a successful screenplay.
Customer Reviews:
The way movies SHOULD NOT be........2003-12-30
This book may help you in the format of a script but little else. I am disgusted by the materials that are used in this book as examples for a film script. If this is the normal way movies are made than I guess I am off the wall. I am really ashamed to call myself a filmmaker and be associated with such vile evils. There are many other ways to learn script formatting, just look for it in software form. If you want to write a film that will damage our societies moral standards and cause our nation to go into further more turmoil, this book is for you. Yet if you want our society to become a place where our lives reflect good and Godly attributes, then by all means don't even consider this book!
a good book for starters.......2000-08-07
if your a begining screenwriter and want to understand the basics of screenwriting,you shouol pick this up.I'ts not the best book for starters but it helps a lot.it pretty much teaches you the basics like format,structure,charater, and dialogue.It also has exercises for you to work on as you go along but i would recommend reading the book first and then going back to do the exercises.there are dozen's of screenwriting books out there and this ranks as an ok one.there are better ones out there.
A handy reference for those interested in movies........2000-01-01
I remember growing up as a kid wanting to go to Hollywood, Write a movie script and make millions. If only I had read Screenwriting 101, I might have been able to succeed.
This book will show you, in an easy to understand and almost lighthearted way, the steps to becoming a great screenwriter. You have to make sure you have something to take notes with as you read along.
The author includes scribble exercises scattered throughout the book, this requires you to write what you are thinking at that time. Since this book is made to use over again your responses will change - have the eraser handy! Written by someone who has worked on 2 number 1 box office hits only add to an already great book. Whether you want Hollywood to notice you or your local theater group this book will certainly come in handy.
Lucid, pragmatic, and entertaining primer on screenwriting........1999-09-08
Terrific book. A lucid, pragmatic and entertaining primer on screenwriting, as valuable for veterans as it is for newcomers. Hicks has been there, in the Hollywood trenches, and knows what he's talking about. Having been in those same trenches myself, I wish I'd had this informative guide to provide helpful hints and straight talk about the craft of writing films.
If you want to write a successful screenplay, read this book.......1999-08-31
I love this book. I am a working screenwriter with ten films to my credit, including two Number One hits. If this book had been available when I started my career, I would have been able to save myself a ton of headaches and heartaches. Neill Hicks has done a huge favor to screenwriters everywhere with this new book. I find his approach to be extremely sensible and realistic...IF you are interested in writing a solidly crafted screenplay that has the highest potential for getting sold--and made.
Book Description
The beekeeper's year begins with a late winter hive inspection and ends with "putting the bees to bed" in the autumn. Richard Bonney believes that each beekeeping activity should be performed with an eye toward the overall well-being of the colony, as part of an integrated year-round program of hive management. Long-term success in beekeeping can only be achieved by understanding the intimate lives, behaviors, and motivations of honey bees ; the factors which govern the life of each colony. Richard Bonney explains the reasons behind common practices that many beekeepers perform without really knowing why. He also stresses when to take timely actions that will prevent problems in future seasons. Hive Management offers concise, up-to-date information on the whole range of beekeeping tasks, including: ; How to prevent, control, and capture swarms. ; What you can tell from an outside inspection of your hives. ; When and how to "take the crop" and harvest honey. ; How to successfully requee
Customer Reviews:
Bee Farmer.......2007-07-12
A good all round book.
The chapters lay it out for the reader, and if that reader is like me you will get a better understand of bees and their needs.
I suggest this book to anyone who is thinking about getting a few hives for the backyard BEFORE they do. Although bee keeping is a enjoyable passtime, there are things that need to be considered and this book will equip the reader with what they need to know. Good evening reading.
Awsome Book.......2007-03-14
This book is well written and laid out in a great way to make keeping bees easier to understand. Highly reccomend this one.
Nice general book.......2006-04-22
This is a very readable book - Bonney puts words together well. Not a "must have" in a beekeeper's library but a good general discussion of relevant topics. Assumes basic beekeeping knowledge. Overlaps with his beginner's book (Beekeeping: a Complete Guide); this would be aptly titled "Your Second Year as a Beekeeper."
This one is a keeper (pun intended)........1999-04-05
In the past year I have borrowed from the library all the books I could find about beekeeping . This is one I plan to add to my personal library.
Excellent, very informative, a must have reference.......1998-12-11
Cover the subject in detail for good managemen
Book Description
Pearls -- small white beads of purity and perfection. It is no wonder that they have fascinated and bewitched cultures the world over for thousands of years. But just what is it about this ancient gem that has so closely bonded it to our lives, our culture, and our bodies?
People and Pearls explores and reveals the power of pearls, with their remarkable ability to bestow upon their wearer a sense of mystery, elegance, and grace. It offers a personal look at the world's most celebrated jewel through portraits of the most memorable personages throughout civilization to have worn them -- from Queen Elizabeth to Uma Thurman, from Josephine Baker to Marilyn Monroe. It recounts the stories of particular strands of pearls that have such an enthralling history about them that they seem to take on a life of their own.
Embellishing the text are more than one hundred lavish illustrations, photography as unique as the subject of the book: These are seductive, beautiful works of ail. Some are humorous. Some are as snapshots from a personal diary. Some are breathtakingly romantic, such as the portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse wearing only her pearls. And some -- like the timeless elegance of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's -- are dreamlike visions that are simply unforgettable.
Masterfully written and beautifully designed, People and Pearls is not only a cultural, historical, and personal look at the magic of pearls-it is the definitive photographic book on the subject.
Customer Reviews:
Could Not Put It Down.......2002-06-21
This review will be short and sweet.....this book tells a very 'romantic history' of pearls. From the oyster to the necklace, the author kept me reading this book for several hours. The pictures are also beautiful, including everyone from maharajas to celebrities. If you like pearls, want pearls or want to understand why people love pearls, than this is the book for you.
Nice book and nice photos.......2001-06-04
Nice book and well written. Not quite technically though but more geared towards the people that wore/wear them; there are some interesting anecdotes in it as well. However, if you want to read about all the ins and outs of e.g. Tahitian and/or South Sea pearls, I'd recommend the pearl book by Schoeffel or "Cultured Pearls, the first 100 years". Neverthess, it remains a very enjoyable book.
an interesting, beautiful read.......2000-12-22
i would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in beautiful photography and the allure of a good story. The authors do a wonderful job portraying the pearls themselves, but also the people who have worn them. Truly terrific!
A Glimmering Success!.......2000-11-01
Gorgeously illustrated and written with a witty mastery of the subject, PEOPLE & PEARLS is an essential look at these most fascinating of precious objects. Brava to authors Hackney and Edkins for a read which proves both entertaining and informative.
Pearl Passion!.......2000-10-29
Wonderful book, with photos of glamorous people wearing stunning pearl jewelry. After reading this book, I run to my jewelry box and put on a strand of pearl, feeling glamorous myself. Truly a lovely book!
Book Description
The Craft of Tattooing was written for the beginning student of Tattooing. This easy to use and comprehensive guide will show you everything you need to know to get started as a Tattoo Artist. Inside you will learn, How to set up and tune Tattoo Machines, equipment you will need to get started, how to get started, tips on outlining, shading and coloring, plus lots more! Covers advice and technical information to help you get started toward a successful career!
Customer Reviews:
hmm........2007-07-04
Improper grammer, mispelled words, and a impending sense of being a misled republican: this aside it is a good but extremely fast read. A excellent book of pointers for the kitcher warrior, just do not expect to have any profound thoughts while reading. The greatest part of the book is explained it the chapter (well not really chapters, more as essays) on color theory.If your a scratcher and are in need of a dumbed down "how to" this piece of tattoo wonder is for you. I give it 3 stars, no more, no less. Whom ever the editor was needs to go back and take a few classes on common english grammer.
crafty.......2007-05-16
The book was good, but not for me I already knew most of the things in it. Their are some small details that will help me, and I'm sure it could help alot of others. The best part of this book is the authors reading suggestions, also I bought his more advanced book as well and am about to read that.
Craft of Tattoing.......2007-05-12
This book is great for a beginner, very detailed, shipping was also quick.
Great for beginers.......2007-05-10
This book is great for beginers like me who are taking interest in the art of tattooing. Easy to follow instructions is exellent. I did my first tattoo after I read the book.
Book Description
John Brady, editor of Writer's Digest and himself an accomplished interviewer, has put together an indispensable guide to the art of questioning. In a lively, down-to-earth manner, "The Craft of Interviewing" covers all aspects of the interview process -- getting the interview, doing research, handling the subject face-to-face, hurdling hazards, getting tough, taking notes (on the sly, if need be), taping, dealing with off-the-record types, concluding the interview, verifying it, and writing it up. Brady has also filled the book with a myriad of anecdotes revealing the experiences of some of the best known interviewers of our times. A noteworthy appendix on the history of the interview is included.
Customer Reviews:
A Smart Part of a Journalist's Library.......2003-02-24
"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady is just one book a beginning journalist should read. Most of journalism involves local newspapers covering local people, and despite how the internet has altered the speed and process of interviewing, good ol' gumshoe journalism still lives and breathes. That's why this book still matters 30 years after it first hit the college bookstores of j-school.
A good interview requires knowledge, diplomacy, fearlessness, rapport, organization, and knowing how to separate and summarize it all for a good story. This book has chapters on all of this. One complete chapter, "Off the Record" discusses some interesting approaches and policies this misunderstood phrase calls for. As you build relationships with key sources, this chapter, and others, can assist you in seeing ways through the thorny challenges of integrity and journalism.
Brady provides anecdotes about complicated interviews and interviewees. Even though these are with celebrities, the examples show the reader how to walk the line carefully and confidently.
"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady should not be the only book you read, and probably not your first. I fully recommend it as both a classroom text, and as a personal edification book. Your interviewing will be better you apply what Brady suggests.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
Not a Cookbook, but a Guide for Thinkers.......2002-05-23
Some people seem to be looking for just one way to conduct an interview: John Brady describes several. If you are looking for something like a cookbook where the specific questions you should ask and in what order are listed, you won't like this book. If you are looking to develop your own interview style and want to pick and choose from a variety of methods, then you will find Brady's book an excellent source of information. Brady covers everything from getting appointments to to research to notetaking to tape recorders to knowing when the interview is over. He shows how different people handle interviews over the phone or by letter. When you finish this book, the choice of what questions to ask and how you should go about the interview remain up to you, but Brady's book will have given you a solid base.
Just about the only topic that is uncovered (due to the date of the book) is how to conduct an interview by Internet Chat. But a smart reader can easily adapt Brady's ideas to that situation.
If you're an easily offended woman, you are not a journalist.......2001-10-18
Funny, I don't remember the parts about batting eyelashes and such. This book covers the fundamentals of interviewing and pre interview research.
I found the book to be a useful tool for conducting interviews, and think that it would be very helpful to beginners. I am a nurse turned free lance writer, and the techniques and tips for securing interviews were helpful to me.
I particularly liked the section on the "wrong questions"--this should be mandatory reading for local and national news reporters.
Great in the 70s, Outdated in 2000.......2000-04-11
It is true that the basics of good interviewing haven't change much over the years, but they have changed some. And this book, while it was surely a must-read in the 70s, is so outdated that I found myself skipping the first chapter, then the second, then the third ... then much of the rest of the book. For example: there is a full chapter, and several pages scattered through the book, that talk about research techniques. This is pre-internet, pre-much-of-what's-out-there-today, and as a result, those 75 or so pages are useless. The same is true for the roughly 25 or 30 pages that talk about how to get an interview, and how to make a good first appearance. This is pre-email, and clearly pre-women's-lib. Many of the tips for women on how to get interviews and make sure they come out successful are down right offensive to women today. Fortunately, most female interviewers no longer have to rely solely on looking nice, batting eyelashes, and agreeing with everything their interviewee has to say. Yes, there are a few good pointers, but to buy and read an entire book for mearly a few pointers isn't necessary. There was nothing here that I hadn't seen elsewhere. For a good, up-to-date book on interviewing, try "Creative Interviewing," by Ken Metzler, it's over priced, but filled with great and useful information.
This captures the essence of interviewing.......1999-10-14
I read this book ( published in 1976) many years ago. Since then, I've been a reporter and writer for the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Fortune. After a request to teach a journalism class, I purchased the book again, and found that it still captures the essence of interviewing. The examples in the book are a bit dated (it hasn't been revised ), but the underlying truths are still very close to those I've experienced in many interviews throughout my career.
Customer Reviews:
this book is right in the moment of art now........2007-04-06
With a focus on hand skills like drawing, painting, collage and other things you can't do within a computer, this is a collection of current art/design. The majority of pieces are produced/polished in the computer anyway. But to me this book is basically saying "you have to be able to do more than push a mouse around to get in this collection. actual artistic skills please."
There's just page after page of great stuff, mostly i like things that are collaged up with some messy watercolours and lots of illustration, that's exactly what i get here, lots and lots of it. There's so much talent out there at the moment.
The only criticism i'd make is that one or two artists are featured repeatedly throughout the book, mostly because their work is amazing, but i can think of a couple more artists that should be in here, that aren't Stella Im Hultberg, Audrey Kawasaki to name but two.
You will get alot of Fafi, Rinzen, Tokidoki, No Candy, Marok and OBEY GIANT to name a few.
ahhh just what I needed.......2007-03-15
It is so refreshing to see all these explorations and mix of mediums. It's not just lots of illustrations it is lots of artworks.
Pretty concise book, good layout, nice format and quite extensive. Definitively one of the best in my shelves.
Book Description
A priceless examination of the filmmaker's craft, from the renowned director of Sweet Smell of Success
After more than twenty years in the film industry as a screenwriter, storyboard editor, and director of memorable films such as The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick turned his back on Hollywood and began a new career as the Dean of one of the country's most demanding and influential film schools. His absolute devotion to the craft of filmmaking served as a powerful impetus to students at the California Institute for the Arts for almost twenty five years, with a teaching style that included prodigious notes, neatly crafted storyboards, and handouts containing excerpts of works by Kierkegaard, Aristotle, and others. At the core of Mackendrick's lessons lay a deceptively simple goal: to teach aspiring filmmakers how to structure and write the stories they want to tell, while using the devices particular to the medium of film to tell their stories effectively.
In this impressive volume, edited by Paul Cronin, the myriad materials that made Mackendrick's reputation as an instructor are collected for the first time, offering a chance for professionals as well as students to discover a methodology of filmmaking that is challenging yet refreshing in its clarity. Meticulously illustrated and drawing on examples from such classic films as North by Northwest, Citizen Kane, and Touch of Evil, Mackendrick's elegant lessons are sure to provide inspiration for a new generation of filmmakers.
Customer Reviews:
He changed me.......2007-04-14
When Sandy MacKenrick told my CalArts MFA Thesis committee that my thesis film script was, "long, much too long, and very much too long" and, "doomed to never be completed", I was shocked and terrified.
Sandy was one of the most brilliant and irritating people ever to tell a story or to browbeat an egotistical young film student. His films and lectures convey that contradiction -- his every work is a pearl.
If you were not lucky enough to get Sandy's notes while at CalArts, you must buy this book.
Odds are good, you won't have the genius of Sandy MacKendrick, but you will appreciate how much you could grow as you strive to attain what he found so simple.
I was proud to invite Sandy to the first screening of my thesis film, "Pirate's Dagger", and it still hurts that he was too ill to attend. I wouldn't have gotten it done without his special form of encouragement.
Great man, great book........2007-01-12
Too intelligent to be a director, to make compromises in the craft of film making with the studio system of his time, Alexander Mackendrick only left us a glimpse of his own potential in his body of work. He did however pass his vision and passion for creativity onto the next generation in his teaching. In this book his voice is loud and clear, without being dogmatic. It's like having a drink with a friend in a bar and having him sort out all your problems with scripts, actors and life. No director should be without a copy. From the beginner to the established star everybody can find something in this book and all conveyed in the manner both intense and unpatronising that was uniquely his.
Very, very good.......2006-06-29
Unlike most how-to directing and writing books, Mackendrick was an accomplished director with decades of professional experience. He speaks from hard-won experience, not dubious armchair notions of what makes a successful film or director. He is wise enough to know there are no "secrets" or immutable laws of storytelling, only rules of thumb. Every time I go back to it, I learn something new, and with every film I make, I am struck by points in the book which ring ever more true. This book will not make you a great director by reading it, but Mackendrick has the good sense and candor to know that a book or a course never will, only lots and lots of hard work and dedication.
How To Make Movies, Good Movies.......2005-08-19
Shaw said, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." In a strange way, Alexander Mackendrick fits both sides of that dictum. "Sandy" Mackendrick was an accomplished film director. After having worked in advertising, he started making films for the British Government during World War II. After the war he wrote scripts and he began directing. For the Ealing Studios, he made _Whiskey Galore!_, _The Man in the White Suit_, and _The Ladykillers_. Then he came to Hollywood, where he made the wonderfully biting _Sweet Smell of Success_. He could direct fine movies, and he did; but then he slipped into the "can't do" category, not for any lack of talent, but because he was not much of a deal-maker, and resented having to negotiate details with the studios. He started teaching, becoming dean of the film school at the California Institute of the Arts in 1969. He continued teaching until his death in 1993, but now filmmakers and audiences can get a glimpse of what he taught, in _On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director_ (Faber and Faber). It is a sampling of his lecture handouts, some illustrated by his own sketches, that he delivered to students over the years, and shows the richness of his thinking on the surprising complexities of artistic decisions regarding even simple shoots on tiny films. Those who enjoy movies, but don't know much about how they are made, will be astonished at how many details of technique the director has to consider before anyone yells "Action!" Those who make movies, or want to, could not do better than to study what Mackendrick has to say.
Mackendrick emphatically agrees with Truffaut, who in his interview book with Hitchcock wrote, "Whatever is _said_ instead of being _shown_ is lost on the viewer." (One of Mackendrick's many slogans: "Movies SHOW... and then TELL.") Always, regard to the audience is paramount: "Try to tell the story while always remembering that the audience has somewhere better to go and something better to do." Like a good storyteller, use curiosity, expectation, and suspense to keep them buttonholed. The reader of this book will want to be familiar with certain films to which Mackendrick returns again and again, like _The Third Man_ or _On the Waterfront_, but not all the cinema is fine cinema. In a chapter titled "Plausibility and Willing Suspension of Disbelief," he discusses the sci-fi film _Them!_ which he says is a "piece of nonsense" but shows solid, simple plot mechanisms, and follows the rule that "we are allowed only one major Incredible Thing" (Giant ants are invading!) while "everything else in the story should actually be logical, even over-logical." There is rich advice about dealing with actors. A student who asked, "How does a director get an actor to do what he wants?" took Mackendrick off guard, as he had never asked the question in those terms. It's the wrong question. "You don't," came the eventual answer, "You try to get the actor to want what you need."
Mackendrick knows you can't teach the art and inspiration that directors have to have intuitively, though there is a useful chapter titled "A Technique for Having Ideas." The craft involved in direction, though, has a possibility of being taught, and he has here covered the craft from scriptwriting through editing. I only sit in audiences for films (and the intimidating muster of factors Mackendrick brings up that the director must consider tells me I am in the right spot in front of the screen, not behind the camera), but I have a much better appreciation for what a director does after reading these fine instructions. I also wish that every director now working would simply follow these rules. The principles here, if followed universally, would benefit directors, audiences, and the quality of Hollywood's output, not to mention its bottom line.
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