This book was one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and and his brother Hyrum. It was historical, it was unedited, and gave me a unique perspective into the events that lead to their death. I had no idea that the entire state of Illinois was virtually at war with the Mormons.

High hopes, big disappointment. I expected to find some deep knowledge on composition and design strategies. What i found were many pictures, but no real design secrets. The text is a little bit like "i created this strange object, i kinda liked it so i then did this and that. That was not quite it, so i did another this and that, looks better now."
The authors are good designers, no doubt, but this book won't help you improve your own work. There is no concept behind this book, the authors don't even know why they are writing this book. There already isn't much text in this book and about a third of that is being wasted with the authors wondering what the publisher and the readers actually expect of them and what the other three authors will come up with.
And about chaostheory and nanotechnology and all that: you'll learn more by reading an editorial review on the back of a book on these...

people dismissing this book because it does not provide step by step instructions are entirely missing the point of Brian and the other designers motivation in this book. You only have to look at a quote from him to see what I mean...

"If you want to develop an individual look to your work, my advice is not to take the accepted capabilities of a piece of software. Decide what you want to achieve first, and figure out a way of making it happen." - Brian Taylor

The book is inspirational, it shows what can be achieved, I find it strange that people expect a step-by-step account of how to create a work of art?!?!

that the first review written for this book is so negative.....
with that much said, if you are looking to learn, training manual style, this book will not help you. If that is what you want,buy a New Rider's 3DMax book and a Photoshop classroom in a book, study art and design for about a year, get cozy with the software, terms, etc, then come back and make this purchase, at $34.99 it is a steal.

So, if you are interested in reading how some of the most creative(Brian Taylor is awesome - - check www.rustboy.com) minds in the design/graphic industry function, get this book quick. It is a book done buy creative folks for creative folks, it is not written by software technicians.

IT IS NOT A USERS MANUAL!!!!

I found the writing style of this book, like most Friends of Ed books (I have two others) to be extremely personal and inviting, I couldnt put it down. Add to that the gorgeous look, and HIGH QUALITY of the works displayed, it is truly a treasure. As a graduating design student working on my SeniorProject, this book could not have come along at a better time.

chaos theory, nanotechnology, geometric analogies, awesome!!!!
the CD which accompanies the book is also excellent, it comes with fully editable Photoshop files, etc, so the tutorials are in there, and they are excellent!!!

remeber all design/art students and admirers, the learning process behind the creation is more valuable than the software which carries it out. concepts..........................

this book is steroids for the designers mind.

I have been cooking with yogurt for many years and consider this amazingly versatile ingredient a must in my kitchen. Since I am a longtime fan of Stonyfield Farm yogurt, I was really looking forward to using this book, which I received as a gift. After trying many of the recipes, however, I regret to say that "The Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook" really doesn't do justice either to Stonyfield Farm yogurt or to yogurt cookery in general. Although there are some good recipes, the majority are lacking in imagination, and the collection itself fails to take advantage of the extensive repertoire of wonderful yogurt dishes from around the world.

Meg Cadoux Hirshberg has put together a creative, varied, and inspiring collection of recipes, each including yogurt. She begins by telling readers why yogurt is considered to be a "miracle food", and after convincing us of the importance of yogurt in our diets, she then proceeds with the recipes, which are divided into chapters according to their category. Naturally, breakfast comes first, and these recipes were my favorites. They are easy to prepare, do not require too many ingredients or fancy equipment, and although they are not always low in fat, they do not call for refined sugar and, for the most part, have a high fiber content. There are many different variations on waffles, pancakes, and porridge. A chapter on bread boasts several different types of grains, the smoothie section is replete with new and fun ideas for bolstering your daily fruit intake, and the salads, dressings, dips, sauces, and meat dishes are all innovative and consistently delicious. Each recipe serves about three to six people and is followed by a nutritional analysis. I hope that you will enjoy this fabulous cookbook and its delectable recipes as much as I did!

I was an English major and have been a teacher for 16 years, so when I throw away a book, there's a problem. The little girl in the story, Whitney, gets so involved in her activities or her imagination that she sometimes doesn't hear her parents calling her. When the family goes to an amusement park, her parents accidentally leave her there. The book is written from the "real-life family episode" of a Christian singer, Michael Smith and his wife. They have 5 children, so you could see how they might leave one at an amusement park. My problem is that when they go back and find the child, it is Whitney who has to apologize to her parents for not "paying attention". The parents NEVER apologize to the girl for leaving her in a frightening situation and not arriving back to pick her up until it is night time and the park is closed. I am active in my church and teach Sunday school, so the parents' prayers for Whitney's protection and safety are fine with me. I just think they should have told her they were sorry they didn't keep her protected and safe themselves. That's the parents' job, after all. I would have preferred a book that, in the end, showed the parents' admitting they weren't perfect rather than putting the responsibility for a very scary experience onto the child. If there were a zero stars rating, I'd give it to this book.

A simple yet engaging tale of a family reunion which decides to go to an amusement park. Whitney does not pay attention and . . . well the story goes from there. My son loved the illustrations and the story was right on his level ( 4-5 year old). There actually is a religious end to the story, but considering the author, I thought God would be mentioned more.

We were trying to replace the heater core, the instructions were foggy to say the least. Further repairs or maintenance just as foggy, its a good book if you have a lot of experience with repairing the vehicle and don't need a how to. Amazingly the "Ford Tempo Mercury Topaz 1984-94" book by Mark Christman, which is by the same company, was a lot better for repairs and maintenance. But neither book helped with replacing the heater core, we eventually used other resources for more ideas on how to actually get to the heater core to get it out.

I've used this book for nearly three years now, and keep wondering why I go back to it. (Actually, it's because it's the only Tempo/Topaz book I own.) I have found several major errors in the illustrations, usually due to showing a 2.0 engine setup as a 2.3 or vice versa. Some instructions, like how to change a water pump, are just plain wrong. Electrical schematics, particularly of the instrument cluster are sketchy to the point of being useless when troubleshooting anything other than a hard failure. I suspect that much of the text in this book was a quickie cut-and-paste job of info that pertained to these same components as installed in other Ford products. It really doesn't do justice to the model-specific problems of navigating the limited space of the engine compartment or tracing an intermittent electrical circuit. Proofreading was spotty at best. It's better than doing a repair job blind, but not by much.

Chilton's Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz Repair Manual 1984-94 is not for the average car owner. It is probably not even for the average mechanic. It is written in difficult language and at times seems to display unnecessarily complicated methods of performing simple tasks. From beginning to index it offers low quality information and instruction. There are too many diagrams and not enough photos. The photos available are poor. Overall this book was not very useful to me. I have used the Haynes manual for the same car and found it much more useful.