The author starts out with how to buy good brushes, paints, mediums, then moves on to different paint consistency from very thick (good for impasto) to very thinned (with medium, good for wash). Next, the author discusses a handful of ways to pick up paint and apply paint on canvas, as well as mixing them either on palette or right on canvas. Nice pictures are used to show the angle of the brush and some paintings done by the artist, in which the techniques in point are indicated briefly.

Throughout the book, several full paintings are demonstrated briefly at the end of the book to show how these brush techniques were used by the artists.

I have no comments regarding the pictures presented in the book, but to say that they are nice. Almost all of them were done over a period of time, meticulously rendered.

A few things that I feel a bit misled. For instance, the introduction mentions the use of a palette knife (implying 'knifework', or so I thought). In fact, the book only covers how to mix paints with a knife, which is shamefully basic! (Any painter who bothers to buy palette knives to use should be able to figure that out for herself!)

Anothing that disappoints me is that since all the paintings were done realistically in the Flemish style (14th & 15th century or so), the use of the brushes to create 'mystified' EDGES such as those seen in other Alla Prima painters (my style) is completely missing, at least in the demostration aspect of the book. I am in no position to critique the author's artwork and style. (Also, there are no points to do that.) However, a book about brushwork should definitely include those.

Briefly, the book is good (for beginners, especially), but it seems too basic and limited.

But this book has opened the door! He explains right away that this book has no intention of teaching everything about painting, but has been created solely to focus on the very practical issue of how to actually apply paint to a surface depending on your goal. In spite of all the instruction that is out there, there is mystery in the actual process of touching a brush to the canvas which is rarely discussed.

What brushes are out there and what EXACTLY does each one do? How does paint respond depending on how much you have thinned it? How do you physically mix paints? (there are different ways depending on what you are going for) How do you load the brushes with paint (again depending on what you want to achieve)? What angle do you hold the brush to create a smooth, blended effect & how for a rougher look? All this and much much more, including the one section less directly related to brushwork about light.

There is so much information in this book, practical and helpful. Mr. Weber has a clear respect for a wide range of approaches to paintings and also presents ones that he himself does not use.

The diagrams analyzing different brushstrokes in various paintings is very demystifying. You look at a fabulous painting & hone in very clearly on specifically how the petals of the daisies were actually physically done, or the flow of the water, or the striation (stratification? sorry, I can't remember the word) of the rocks.

Basically, the book leaves you with a crucial portion of the tools you will need in your art study & gives you a specific independence that almost all other sources neglect.

I suggest you go to a bookstore & look through this book just a bit - and if it is what you need you will know without a doubt. I am SO glad that I chanced upon it because for me it was the missing piece.

It's the perfect book for people like me, a single mom in a secure job with some apprehension about having enough for retirement, with no idea about investing. It would also be a good book for a budding capitalist just starting his or her first job or young marrieds who wanted to get on track before they invested all their hard-earned on Williams-Sonoma's color-of-the-month Cuisinart. The book has neatly packaged chapters which you can skip around in. Though if you don't skip, the chapters keep building on previous ones so you have a sense in a nicely structured way of what this whole money mystery encompasses, in level of importance. I was mostly interested in investing, though there's lots of other information that makes it possible to have something to invest after you've cut expenses and made a will and made sure your insurance is right (well, OK, I didn't read that chapter yet).

I liked the specific examples of, say, discount brokers and internet sites for further research. At the end I didn't feel like I had to be a broker to play with the big kids. So I can read the bidness news now and cross-reference anything I don't understand with Meany's book and impress my kids with my astute planning for their inheritance. The writing has a calming effect, partly because of the humor and partly because of the simplicity with which this arcane knowledge is presented. What I like about all Meany's books is that they teach you to take a deep breath, and then get on with the business at hand.

You'll learn that Pete designs courses on a sheet of paper and this is where his skills lie - understanding the land offered for the course and knowing how the wind and terrain will match in creating a great experience. Courses like PGA West, TPC Stadium (Sawgrass), The Pete Dye Club, Harbour Town and many others are discussed. One chapter per course.

Pete talks to you in this book. It's not an interview but it is presented as if Pete is telling you his life's story.

For a golfer looking for lessons, these are a different kind of lesson - from the eyes of a designer (and historically gifted golfer too). You will play better golf after you read this.

When you play a Pete Dye course, you'll remember Pete's words and how Alice was a main contributor to the design you're playing.

The book also describes the distilling and aging process. It covers all of the major American distillers and their whiskeys. The anecdotes about the people who craft the whiskeys really give you an inside view of the industry. Most whiskeys have tasting notes and it concludes with a selection of recipes and the method for conducting a tasting. This book is my guidebook to explore our only native spirit.

This trade paperback collects issues #357 - #364 of Captain America which involves a very fast paced, Indiana Jones type action/adventure, sees a kindling romance between Cap and his former foe, Diamondback, plus introduces us to a new extremely dangerous foe, Crossbones.

The artwork from Kieron Dwyer is fantastic, storytelling from Mark Gruenwald in superb, his run on Captain America being one of the best. One of the better Marvel collections out there. RECOMMENDED!!!!

One of the books in the Chicken Soup for Little Souls' series, this book offers a nice story to read to your children - a story with a moral. It's my least favorite in the series, but it's still a good book to have on your child's shelf.