This book was produced for an exhibition at the metropolitan musuem of art in 1994. It shows how visions of 'the exotic' in places like asia and the middle east have affected western dress over the centuries - right up to the present time.

This volume is illustrated with numerous lovley colour photos of the exhibition pieces, which range from the 18th to 20th centuries. The text is quite light and easy to read, and the book does not have an index.

I give this book 4 stars for the photo and presentation content, but I'd have to drop one off for the text content. It's not a big book at 95 pages, but it's a nice one:)

I'm surprised that Booklist calls the text of this book "witty and informative." I found the text to be the major weakness of the book. It's vague, rambling, and completely UNinformative. I didn't learn about Beene's background, education, training, or business. All I got was a lot of fashion-speak garble about his brilliance and genius. The writing is just really, really bad.

The most interesting part of the book is the final section, which is entirely quotes from Beene himself. The photos are lovely, but 120 is too few to give a good overview of Beene's work; he has been designing for 30+ years and must have designed hundreds or even thousands of garments by now. This book shows too few of them.

Overall, this book was disappointing.

As this is one of the few books available on the artistry of Geoffrey Beene, it is both a welcome addition to the world of fashion-photography books and sadly, a very weak treatment of the how-and-why of his work. The photos are oversized and some are gate-folded, but there are not nearly enough to cover the breadth of more than 30 year's design that is Beene's history. He is and always will be apart from many American designers. His is a mixture of the ease/casual feel of sportswear, and at the same time, the epitome of the couturier/dressmaker's craft. Aerodynamic, sleek, modern, iconoclastic are just some of the words used to describe his vision. However, the publisher neglected to go into greater detail as to why Beene is described as such. It would have been helpful to read of his early days working in Paris couture workrooms picking up pins and assisting with the production of toiles. Such is one of the many stories that surround the Beene legend. The quotations from Beene himself are somewhat informative, but someone should write a definitive biography of his life and work in greater detail. A nice book to look at, but not much more.

cheers to Martin Luther for attacking the church.
jeers to Martin Luther for believing in a god.

Luther's 95 Theses is without question a very important historical document. However, I don't think most of us would buy, say the Gettysburg Address, as a stand-alone book. First, you can never find it on the shelf. Second, you can get it as part of many almanacs, encyclopedias, etc.

Luther's Ninety-Five Theses were written in direct response to the practice of selling indulgences in the 1500s. This book begins with an introduction explaining the circumstances under which Luther posted his theses. It does a good job of quickly explaining the main points one needs to know before reading the theses. There are sporadic footnotes in the text to clarify some points. I have a protestant background and found Luther's topics to be techincally Catholic. However, I did not feel lost in my reading. It would be of a great advantange to have some knowledge of the Catholicism of the time. The theses mark the start of the Reformation, and a read-through would be beneficial for any student of history or Protestantism. The book itself is very short (18 pages). Luther's Ninety-Five Theses are readily found from any internet search, and this may be a much more cost-effective option. The introduction may be the only benefit of actually buying this edition.

This casebook contained all the usual cases that are typical in a patent law/intellectual property casebook. Unfortunately, there should have been more content which described the patent process as well as the patent prosecution procedure in order to allow the reader to fit the case law into the appropriate scheme of things.