"The Art of Chesley Bonestell" is an extremely high quality Science Fiction art collection that comes around once in a decade or two. The last Chesley Bonestell collection of this calibere, "Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell", was published in 1983. Chesley Bonestell's art goes back to the golden age of Science Fiction of the late 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. His work was displayed on the covers of SF periodical magazines, SF paperback books, and Space Science books of that era. His style is realistic and his work is breathtaking! His concepts of other-worldly-visions are naturally realistic and have a Zen-like feeling of mystery to them. The color plates in this book are of awesome quality. I guarantee this book will increase in price, as the 1983 collection has. The 1983, "Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell", sells for around $100 or more. Buy this 2001 book, "The Art of Chesley Bonestell" now, because it will only cost MUCH more after it goes out of print.

I bought this book for the space art but found out there are many other excellent paintings to go along with them. Bonestell's art makes you want to be at the places he's painted except for places like New York under nuclear attack and ancient Egypt being bombarded by comets. The space art is incredible. I only wish I could get large prints of some of the pictures to frame them. I'm even considering buying another book and cutting out some of the pictures that are barely large enough to frame.

I am among the hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of people who owe their lifelong interest in matters of astronomy and space science to a childhood discovery of the art of Chesley Bonestell. I remember vividly pawing through the pages of The Conquest of Space at the age of about ten, my mouth open as I saw the marvels of the universe displayed.

It was thus actually rather nerve-racking when I opened this new book for the first time. Could the reality of his art possibly match my childhood memories? Could all of that vividness and excitement have been magnified in my mind's eye over the succeeding decades? Was I in for a disappointment?

I most certainly was not. If anything, the fabulous art inspired and excited me even more than it had way back then.

And there's a lot of that art here -- a real feast of it, superbly reproduced. And I discovered as I kept turning the pages, hands quite literally trembling as I discovered treasure after treasure. Even more excitingly, I found that Bonestell had worked in areas of art I'd never suspected before: fabulous landscapes, stunning sketches ... I have perused many, many art books, but I've never before reacted quite as strongly as to this one.

And it gets better. There's a long, beautifully written and utterly fascinating illustrated biography of Bonestell written by Ron Miller. It's almost as if one's getting two books in one.

An earlier reviewer (who cannot spell "Chesley") talked of this as if it were an expanded version of The Conquest of Space. He was talking through his hat. This is a completely new book covering the entirety of Bonestell's career both visually and textually; it contains a big selection of illustrations from The Conquest of Space (all the best ones), but they form only a small part of the huge and sumptuous collection on display here.

This is a gorgeous book, and an extremely valuable piece of work -- the authors/compilers deserve the highest praise for having brought this treasure to us.

Not many artists can truly have been said to have changed history -- but Chesley Bonestell did. His luminous, imaginative, yet utterly realistic paintings helped convince millions of post-WWII Americans that space travel was more than an fantasy -- it could happen in their lifetime if they wanted to do it badly enough. It's unlikely that this turnaround in public opinion to support the space program, beginning in the late 1940s, could have happened without Bonestell's inspirational artwork appearing in hundreds of magazines, books, movies and on TV. With Schuetz' book in hand, anyone with access to a decent University or City library can easily locate the original printings of Bonestell's illustrations and see for themselves how and where the Space Age was born. This is easily the best book on Chesley Bonestell and comes highly recommended!

I am a space art book collector and have alway loved the work of Chesley Bonestell. It is hard to find his work since it is scattered over at least 40 years of books and magazines. Mr Schuetz's labor of love allows access to this hidden work. It is well organized and has well thought-out indices. The annotations for many of the entries are very helpful, consisting of relevant quotes and /or comments that put the entry in context. The addition of the biographical material by Ron Miller is invaluable. If you are interested in learning more about one of the great modern American artists, pick this up!

This is an indispensable book for anyone interested not only in the space art of Chesley Bonestell--the acknowledged father of modern astronomical art--but in the history of astronautics and American illustration. More than a simple catalog of magazines and books, it is enlivened by the author's commentary and annotations, as well as by a lengthy biography and detailed chronology of Bonestell's life. Three indexes make navigating the book a breeze. Every serious Bonestell collector--whether beginner or veteran--needs this handsomely produced volume. A bargain at any price