Book Description
More than 220 creatures are described in the Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, which promises to be the most impressive collection of original D20 System monsters to date. The entries that fill this weighty volume's 368 pages go beyond the atmospheric description, evocative illustration, and solid stats for which Penumbra is known, providing adventure seeds designed to inspire GMs and players alike, and extras like new gods, new spells, and new magic items.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing Book of Monsters.......2006-04-12
This book greatly exceeded my expectations. It easily met the standards set by the various D&D Monster Manuals put out by Wizards of the Coast.
All of the 200+ monsters are solid, campaign neutral additions to my d20/D&D games. A few maybe a little over or under powered, but overall balance is good. Challenge Ratings range from 1/8 through 20+, with little bias toward any particular CR range. There is also a nice range of good and neutral aligned monsters.
The descriptive text is very well done. The best feature of the book is probably the 'Adventure Seed' paragraph included in each monster description. The 'Seeds' give GM's a quick and easy way to incorporate the new beasts into their game.
The only potential weak point of the book is the artwork, which ranges from somewhat campy 1st Edition AD&D style line art to some excellent charcoals. All of the art and text is in black and white. I'm more interested in content and consider artwork to be secondary, however. The text descriptions of the monsters more than make up for any of the art's shortcomings.
Overall, this is an excellent addition to my d20 collection.
Average customer rating:
- Graphic SF Reader
- Good book
- One of the best Tolkien resources out there.
- not worth your while
- THE MONSTERS OF MIDDLE-EARTH
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Tolkien Bestiary
David Day
Manufacturer: Gramercy
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Similar Items:
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The Children of Húrin
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Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-earth
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The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth
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The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)
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A Tolkien Treasury
ASIN: 0517120771
Release Date: 1995-02-05 |
Book Description
Here is the comprehensive reference guide for the millions of fans of the Hobbit and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. All of the imaginary beasts, monsters, fauna, and flora of J.R.R. Tolkien's lush fantasy worlds of the Middle-Earth and the Undying Lands are presented in more that 100 black-and-white illustrations and 36 full color paintings. A Chronology of all the historical ages, a general index, genealogies of the races of men, maps, and a special index referring to Tolkien's original works are also included.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
The Tolkien Bestiary is a work that has a lot of illustration, and it is done in a highly detailed fine style. You get examples of all the monsters and races and other stuff from Tolkien's world, even some plants are included. Some pretty impressive artwork in this guide, so it is well worth a look for Tolkien fans.
Good book.......2007-03-29
I bought this book for my son because the school told him that he could not keep checking it out over and over. He earned it as a reward for bringing his grades up. He worked hard to get it, so I call that high praise indeed.
One of the best Tolkien resources out there........2007-02-16
The illustrations in this book are simply the best, this is my third copy, as i have given the first two to friends. A great book for anyone who loves Tolkien.
not worth your while.......2005-06-13
There are many great reference books out there to guide fans both old and new through the intricacies of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. This is not one of them. While this book does contain a good deal of accurate information, much of the rest is either David Day's own invention or just plain wrong. The composite map at the beginning of the book scarcely even makes sense when compared to those drawn by Tolkien himself. The book is an interesting conversation starter, but it is not faithful to The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. It gains a second star primarily because of the beauty of some of the illustrations it contains. For a true encyclopedia of Arda, search elsewhere. There are any number of other books, as well as on-line resources, that are much better researched.
THE MONSTERS OF MIDDLE-EARTH.......2004-05-09
"A bestiary is a book about beasts," writes author David Day in the introduction to his own splendid addition to that unique literary genre, a class of books that has come down to us from the medieval imagination and refuses to be extinguished by modern science altogether. And Day's book is indeed about the beasts and alien life of Tolkien's wonderful world (fire-drakes, dwarves, giant spiders, elves, eagles, orcs, trolls, ents, half-orcs, and of course Hobbits, to name but a few), but it is so much more as well. Intermingled with all the articles and descriptions about Middle-earth's various monsters, animals and even races are valuable nuggests of information and history tied in to virtually every facet of Tolkien's beloved dreamworld, plus a quality map of Middle-earth and a pair of timelines helpful for sorting out some of the historical background at a glance. Turning through this book's beautiful pages is not only an opportunity to savor monsters of myth and magic, but a chance to see how the various elements of a great writer's imagination all fit together to create one of the most enduring literary landscapes of all time. Be that as it may, it is still a book that fulfills its face purpose masterfully. The alphabetized catalogue of Middle-earth's legendary denizes is written in a clear, rather academic but eminently friendly and engaging style that makes reading its contents an easy, almost compulsory task. The illustrations, both color and monocrhome, are eye-catching, classy, and distinctive. Perhaps too distinctive for some tastes; attractive as the pictures are individually and as a whole, they are highly stylized and often quite unrealistic. Those who are accustomed to more true-to-life pictures may not be satisfied with much of this book's otherwise outstanding artwork. Overall, however, the book is both visually appealing and intellectually stimulating, and one that most any Tolkien devotee or fantasy afficianado should enjoy through many repeated perusals. Definitely recommended.
Average customer rating:
- A Scholarly Read Not to Be Missed
- hungry for zhiguai ^__^
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A Chinese Bestiary : Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas
Richard E. Strassberg
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Penguin Classics)
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Tales from China (Oxford Myths and Legends)
ASIN: 0520218442 |
Book Description
A Chinese Bestiary presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China. The Guideways through Mountains and Seas, compiled between the fourth and first centuries b.c.e., contains descriptions of hundreds of fantastic denizens of mountains, rivers, islands, and seas, along with minerals, flora, and medicine. The text also represents a wide range of beliefs held by the ancient Chinese. Richard Strassberg brings the Guideways to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts and recent archaeological finds to create a lavishly illustrated guide to the imaginative world of early China.
Unlike the bestiaries of the late medieval period in Europe, the Guideways was not interpreted allegorically; the strange creatures described in it were regarded as actual entities found throughout the landscape. The work was originally used as a sacred geography, as a guidebook for travelers, and as a book of omens. Today, it is regarded as the richest repository of ancient Chinese mythology and shamanistic wisdom. The Guideways may have been illustrated from the start, but the earliest surviving illustrations are woodblock engravings from a rare 1597 edition. Seventy-six of those plates are reproduced here for the first time, and they provide a fine example of the Chinese engraver's art during the late Ming dynasty.
This beautiful volume, compiled by a well-known specialist in the field, provides a fascinating window on the thoughts and beliefs of an ancient people, and will delight specialists and general readers alike.
Customer Reviews:
A Scholarly Read Not to Be Missed.......2004-01-02
Geoffrey E.R. Lloyd and Nathan Sivin in, The Way of the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece, raise the following questions: "In what circumstances did inquiries about the world outside human society begin? and What paths [my own italics] did those inquiries open up?" One such "path" or "guideway" is found in the Shan hai jing , or "The Scripture, Classic, Canon, Warp-text [and now Guideways]--however one wants to render jing--Mountains and Seas," as Robert Ford Campany puts it in his review of Riccardo Fracasso and Anne Birrell's earlier translations. He goes on to say, "The list is the trope of plenitude, and an overwhelming plenitude of anomaly is what this book conveys." The Shan hai jing is one of the earliest Chinese works that attempted to provide a description of what was then believed to be "the world outside human society." It sought to provide an embodiment of taxonomic reckoning of its landscape and all of its natural and supernatural fauna and flora, especially to those who ventured into it. There gradually arose amongst the ancient Chinese intelligentsia a weltanschauung, or "world concept" of their biophysical and socioanthropological environment in which they conceived of themselves as being an integral part of the cosmos and intrinsically interjoined with its spiritual, physical, and moral "influences."
To explore the Shan hai jing is to undertake an odyssey in search of its mysteries. This literary venture can easily boggle the mind, especially when it comes to accomplishing a creditable translation with a plausible exegesis of its contents. Many of the traditional commentaries are, for the most part, useless, since the commentators were themselves ignorant of the folklore and palæozoology that underlies this venerable and probably composite text. It requires a whole critical apparatus built around it before an even reasonably full interpretation can be achieved, especially by the philological unwary. Richard Eric Strassberg, Professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California at Los Angeles, offers us an exceptionally fine work of scholarship in his thorough editing, excellent translation, and extensive commentary of this ancient work. He provides his readers with a new and invigorating approach to wandering through this arcane world. He leds us along this jing, or "guideway" and familiarizes us with its passages as a jing, or a "classic." As our guide, he points out in his introductory remarks (p. 5), as a daybook to guide the reader in "choosing auspicious days for travel and avoiding danger from gods and demons." As its expounder, he penetrates its "sacred geography filled with strikingly unusual denizens" (p. xiv) and acquaints us with its mysteries.
Strassberg reminds us that he has "undertaken the risky venture of providing translations whenever possible of the names of creatures, places, and things. Though well aware of the risks involved in the more polysemous case, I offer these translations as reasonable significations that would have occurred to traditional Chinese readers both to facilitate the readers contact with this difficult text and to stimulate further consideration among specialists of what these names might have meant." (p. xviii) One can never be too exacting when it comes to translating ancient Chinese words, nor should such exactitude be so constrained as to preclude the full rein they must be given in order to convey the splendor of their exquisite implicitness. And, again, one can never be too careful when it comes to avoiding renderings which are vitiated by the bland assumption that they meant then what they mean in later dynastic periods; accordingly, such assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. The author has adroitly avoided such pitfalls and he does not misguide his readers.
The contents of A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas (hereafter cited as A Chinese Bestiary) consists of eight parts: List of Illustrations; a Preface; Editorial Notes; a meticulous introduction, followed by 76 plates of the rare illustrations found in the 1597 Yaoshantang reprint of the earlier Wang Chongqing edition as well as 345 descriptions of its demoniac/theriomorphic denizens; extensive Notes; an inclusive Selected Bibliography; and a thorough Glossary Index to Plates. Strassberg has gone to considerable effort to cull through resources in order to provide his readers with what is regarded as being the earliest surviving illustrations of woodblock engravings from the above rare work, making the illustrations available perhaps for the first time in any foreign publication, thereby, providing his readers with an artistic tour de force into the realm of a Chinese bestiary.
In discussing the origins of A Chinese Bestiary, the author refers to how "the yi-physicians credited Divine Farmer (Shennong) and the Yellow Thearch...with having written important medical and pharmacological treatises." (p. 4) One is reminded of Angus Graham's remarks that "legends of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor develop in interaction as representatives of rival tendencies to political centralization and decentralization...." This political dichotomy within medicine also reflects a gradual division within Chinese society between the illiterati (the bearers of oral traditions, including folk medicine) and the literati (the bearers of written traditions, including what would later become known as traditional Chinese medicine). Consequently, one can with caution suggest that materia medica may have been later more closely associated with folk traditions even though it is referenced in the Huang di nei jing su wen, or "The Inner Canon of the Yellow Thearch, Basic Questions" which forms in part the literary foundation of Chinese medicine.
As for minor suggestions, I would offer the following remarks: It would be more convenient for the reader to have the ideograms side by side with their Romanized counterparts, not to mention having the footnotes at the foot of each page for immediate and convenient referencing; there are a few entries, such as guai, yi, xi, and qiu whose ideograms are missing in the Glossary Index; there is some question to rendering of yu and jin as "jade" and "gold,"or zhen as "minister," since in most texts as early as this they mean "precious stones," "precious metals," and "magnate." Similarly, jing bi shi probably means "azure pi stones" (bi is an unidentified stone in early texts, used for making arrowheads; its use as a color word is much later); and, even given all of Strassberg's extensive footnotes, the undaunting quest for more appears to be an insatiable need (e.g., the guanxiong min, or "the people with perforated chests" (pp. 163-164) may refer to those people who were carried on planks of simple construction before the advent of sedan chairs).
The contents of A Chinese Bestiary are not vitiated by bland assumptions of contextual meanings misplaced in dynastic disorder or by a "highly imaginative rendition" (p. xvii) in which assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. Strassberg's literary astuteness and refined linguistic sensitivity provide his readers with an encompassing grasp of its numerous subtleties and variegated shades of meaning. He has not failed to afford his readers, specialists and nonspecialists alike, with an exceptional opportunity of improving our appreciation and understanding of this fascinating ancient Chinese text. It joins the ranks of Yuan Ke's Shan hai jing jiaoyi, Rémi Mathieu's Étude sur la Mythologie et L'ethnologie de la Chine Ancienne and Riccardo Fracasso's Libro dei monti e dei mari (Shanhai jing): Cosmografia e mitologia nella Cina Antica, as being the best translation in its language--English--as well as a must read for those whose penchant is ancient Chinese studies.
hungry for zhiguai ^__^.......2003-03-26
Dr. Strassberg has done some intensive researches on the zhiguai genre as well as the Chinese Travelogue tradition (the two in fact has a germane connection). This book is to provide you with a collection of pictographs of the strange creatures from Shan Hai Jin, an eerie...no, no, no sacred book about the landscape of si-hai (four seas) and jiu-zhou (nine provinces) of the middle kingdom (ancient China). I have both of his two books (this & Inscribed Landscape) and will be more than happy to recommend them to anyone who either has an interest in the study of ancient mythology, Chinese literature, or the so called "sacred geography" of eastern mysticism.:)
Book Description
Have you ever seen a yellow elephant, glowing in the jungle sun?
Have you seen a green frog--splash!--turn blue?
Or a red donkey throw a red-hot tantrum?
In this bright bestiary, poet Julie Larios and painter Julie Paschkis cast a menagerie of animals in brilliantly unexpected hues--encouraging us to see the familiar in surprising new ways.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant Bestiary.......2007-09-08
Here are some stunning and colorful illustrations, mostly in an African style, which illuminate some wonderfully descriptive and fun poetry full of clever imagery that shows us how words can actually create a picture in one's mind - great examples for classroom teaching. One of my favorites... "Blue Turtle, slow in the blue shade of a blue-leafed garden." Some work better than others, but in general the artistry of both poet and illustrator come together to make a most delightful menagery that will appeal to children as well as adults.
See also Cool Melons - Turn To Frogs!: The Life And Poems Of Issa
One of the Best Poetry Books for Young Children.......2007-03-07
Rarely have I come across such a wonderful poetry book for young children. My 3 year old is mesmerized by this book--its lovely verses about animals and the beautiful illustrations make this a favorite in our house.
animal poems.......2007-03-03
This is a book of poems about various animals. The poems are great; their content is funny and rhythmic. Through the poems we learn about the various animals. The illustrations are very creative collages that are unique compared to most other children's books.
The poems are short and to the point, and his illustrations are extremely creative.
This would make a great read aloud during a unit on poetry animals.
YELLOW ELEPHANT A BRIGHT BESTIARY.......2007-01-15
A lovely and tantalizing world of colors and shadings and large animals with significant personalities.
Even a three year old remains mesmerized by an orange giraffe or a red braying donkey with red tantrums and the startling pink of a lazy kitty.
The text might appear difficult for a young child, but the words merge easily and fascinate with divergent tones.
Imagine a green frog that becomes incandescent blue with a hop into water.
Jeweled illumination, fiery gems for you, only for you..........2006-11-02
A beautiful gift from a friend brought this book to me for use in my 1st grade classroom and to lighten my teacher tired spirit. It's a book of poems with animal and color ,truly a bestiary....evoking the East and things exotic. I love the poetry not only for their insight into the animal but for their depth of understanding of nature and her grandeur. In fact for some reason they made me think of G. M. Hopkins poems.. Poetry for children should be as poetry is for an adult, rich with word, evocative, and never "easy". Here is one written for the Gold Finch,
"Clinging to a prickly thistle,
the gold finch flutters, whistles,
then flies away.
Some say
his song is only as long
as his tail feathers,
three gold notes,
that float."
The illustration that accompanies this verse is as elegant as the finch, which if you have had the pleasure of knowing golden finches you will relate so well to this delightful work. My grandmother had finches in her yard and many a summer I watched them...
The book has poems on frogs(my favorites), owls, donkeys, kitties, gulls, and more. I would definitely consider this as a fresh and wonderful present for child or classroom ....it has filled my cup with great inspiration tonight. Poems are word images, alone in their ability to connect us to feeling and experiences. Quite good work.
Customer Reviews:
Controversial.......2002-02-28
Yeah, it's good for the storyteller, and players of mage would surely prefer seeing a dragon or a griffin every once in a while to the everyday werewolf, vampire and the so. However, the advise not to use it for player characters because characters are too powerful is something that needs to be kept in mind. Rather just use it sporadically to add up to the fun, not just to let beasts roam the mortal world. Be cautios, but outside of that, the supplement is fine.
One of the best peripherials for Mage.......2000-03-13
While intended foremost for use with the game Mage: Sorcerer's crusade, a medieval spin-off of the popular Mage: The Ascension game, the Bygone Beastiary is can practically stand alone (if you're already familiar with *some* white-wolf game), and is a fantastic addition to any Mage game, particularly if you don't want to incorporate the banality of predictable Garou and Kindred on every streetcorner, and/or you like custos, familiars, and so on, but don't own the anciently-out-of-print Ascension's Right Hand. (This is more comprehensive than Ascension's right hand for Consors and mythic beasties, anyhow.) Also very creative, mythic thinking.
An entertaining supplement.......1998-09-15
Not the best supplement for White Wolf that I've seen, but definitely useful and I like that they paid more attention to background and story than stats (though..check out the health levels for mundane frogs, I laughed). Get it if you work at all with changeling or the dark ages/Renaissance games.
Customer Reviews:
The aliens get their due in this fun background book for Warhammer 40,000........2006-07-05
A huge percentage of Warhammer 40,000 (aka 40K) background material focuses on The Space Marines as they are still the most popular miniature range for the tabletop game, but the aliens get their due at least a little bit in this fun background book for the popular science fantasy game. Fans of a particular alien race may be disappointed at the short amount of material devoted to their favorite "xenos," but the positive side to this is that nearly all of the aliens from 40K get some attention in this book; it's an alien autopsy smorgasbord! Please note that this book review assumes some knowledge of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game universe, so if you're reading this review and feeling lost, please check out Games Workshop's website for more information at games-workshop dot com.
The premise of the book is that it is a report based on the lab contents and notes of a "heretical" Imperial inquisitor. The report was supposedly made by an inquisitor sent to shut down the lab and document the contents before destroying them. The contents of each page are designed to look like a hodgepodge of notes made in haste about each specimen and document found in the lab. This includes notes on alien physiology and behavior with anatomical diagrams and more. There are even a few lesser known alien creatures documented in the book, though most material is devoted to well-known alien species like Orks, Tau, Eldar and Tyranids.
At the time of this writing Amazon is selling this book at a huge 37% discount off the list price and I definitely think this book has enough fun background in it to be worth buying at such a bargain price, although the list price is a little steep for what is here. In fact, I've only rated this book with 3 stars because of the steep list price, which I feel is a bit excessive. In short, buy this book here at Amazon at a nice discount if you enjoy these background books even a little bit, but don't bother with it at the full list price unless you enjoy these types of books enough that you feel you absolutely must have it.
An intricate and illustrated investigation into the science fiction adventure world of the Warhammer .......2006-04-11
Xenology: Notes And Dissections From The Alien Bestiary Of Biegel, And Studies Of Its Vile Specimens, By Those Present At Its Destruction by author Simon Spurrier is an intricate and illustrated investigation into the science fiction adventure world of the Warhammer 40,000 and a substantial amount of the physical embodiment of the many alien species that inhabit it. Contrasting in-depth information and detailed and well crated artwork, Xenology definitively accounts for a previously unknown study of this heretofore abstract world. Xenology: Notes And Dissections From The Alien Bestiary Of Biegel, And Studies Of Its Vile Specimens, By Those Present At Its Destruction is very strongly recommended to all Warhammer 40,000 universe, readers, fans, and rolegamers, especially those wanting a greater understanding of its diverse inhabitants.
know thine enemy!.......2006-03-30
Rebeccasreads highly recommends XENOLOGY as an extraordinary background book for WARHAMMER 40,000 devotees complete with awe-inspiring artwork, macabre notations & nightmarish images which are bound to give the lads some lovely frissons of spooky fear!
A superbly detailed, mesmerizing catalog of aliens, their anatomy & visions of galaxies, which, incidentally, includes a bit of a mystery.
Xenology: Chock full of background and a fun read to boot.......2006-03-24
Xenology is not the most visually stunning art book to come out of the black library, but it does have loads of background that should intrigue any 40K fan, and an amusing framing story with a surprise twist at the end! The data is presented in the form of an "Inquisitorial Analysis", with dissection notes, eyewitness reports, heretical texts secured from Inquisitorial vaults, and first hand observations.
Several mysteries unfold as the reader progresses though the findings, told from the viewpoint of an ill-fated Inquisitor and a reluctant Genetor Scientist. It reads like a murder mystery, with a horrifying ending that goes well outside the scope of the characters involved.
There are several new aliens described (Umbra), in depth information on races only alluded to before (Hrud), and comprehensive summaries verifying information on races already well developed (including insight into the roles and motivations of all four types of Eldar). Most importantly, connections are drawn between each case study that point to the role the Slaan and C'tan play in the fate of all the races of the galaxy, as first suggested in Codex: Necrons. In fact, this is an excellent companion book to the Necron codex for those hungry for more background information on all the races of the 40K universe.
To sum up, the value of this book comes from the amusing presentation of a wealth of xenos information, and the black tale that unfolds as the reader explores its contents. The art should be considered a bonus. Enjoy contents of this book while you can, for the Inquisition will not be far behind...
Cool concept, poor execution.......2006-03-06
The concept to explore some of the lesser known alien races of 40K universe was very solid, but this book really didn't deliver on the little details. The kroot anatomy is wrong (the picture depicts their hands wrong and they don't have noses). Tau are also messed up (their feet). Like many of GW's products, there doesn't appear to be any consistency when it comes to checking the small things and this book suffers greatly because of it.
Average customer rating:
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A Medieval Book of Beasts: The Second-Family Bestiary. Commentary, Art, Text and Translation.
Willene B. Clark
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0851156827 |
Book Description
The bestiary - a book of animals, both real and mythical - is one of the most interesting and appealing medieval artefacts. The `Second-family' bestiary is the most important and frequently produced version (some 49 known manuscripts exist). Of English origin and predominantly English production, it boasts a spiritual text `modernized' to meet the needs of its time, and features exceptional illustrations. This study addresses the work's purpose and audience, challenging previous assumptions with direct evidence in the manuscripts themselves, linking their use to teachers at the elementary-school level, and exploring the art, the text, and the cultural context for the bestiary. It includes a critical edition and new English translation, and a catalogue raisonné of the manuscripts. Fully illustrated. WILLENE B. CLARK is Professor of Art History Emerita at Marlboro College, Vermont.
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- An Egyptian Bestiary by Philippe Germond, Jacques Livet, Philippe Germont
|
An Egyptian Bestiary
Philippe Germond , and
Philippe Germont
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
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The Animal World of the Pharaohs
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The Cat in Ancient Egypt
ASIN: 0500510598 |
Book Description
Of all the world's early civilizations, it was ancient Egypt that fostered the closest relationship with the animal world. All aspects of life, both secular and sacred, gave prominent place to man's vital involvement with living creatures of every kind. Peasant and craftsman, ruler and priest treated animals not as mere utilitarian objects, but as symbols of creation equal in the hierarchy of life to humans themselves and closely tied both to everyday existence and to the realm of the gods. The magnificent photographs in this volume show the incomparable richness of the Pharaonic fauna in all forms of artistic expression—painting, sculpture, relief carving, architectural ornamentation, and even in hieroglyphs. They range from astonishing realism in the depiction of birds and beasts, both wild and domesticated, useful and harmful, with which the people of the Nile Valley came into daily contact, to hieratic stylization in portraying the pantheon of animal-headed gods and the sacred and fabulous creatures that inhabited their devotional, funerary and magic world. The scholarly descriptions and informative captions that accompany this amazing bestiary place each animal depicted in its proper context in relation to man, to the environment, and to the gods. From geese to monkeys, crocodiles to scorpions, the list is virtually endless, while the superb artistry and extraordinary range of the subject matter will open the eyes of Egyptologists and naturalists alike to a subject that has never previously been so superbly displayed and explained. 250 color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
An Egyptian Bestiary by Philippe Germond, Jacques Livet, Philippe Germont .......2007-01-03
arrived promptly and in excellent condition.
Book Description
The (Expanded) Social Scientist's Bestiary addresses a number of important theoretical and philosophical issues in the social sciences from the perspective of contemporary philosophy of science. This expanded and revised edition contains four new chapters tackling such contemporary beasts as Popperian rules, narrative research, and various forms of constructivism. The chapters presented in this volume are, as far as possible, self-contained so that each chapter can be consulted without the necessity of having read the others, thus making this volume an invaluable guide for faculty members and graduate students in the whole of the social sciences and related applied fields.
Average customer rating:
- Simply A Fine Reading Experience
- this book rocks
- this book rocks
- The Best Magical Animal Book
- Great way to teach students about the Middle Ages
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Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts
Jonathan Hunt
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0689812469 |
Book Description
Black Dog stalks travelers on the moors, and just hearing its footsteps can kill. A single glance from a basilisk is fatal. Wyverns -- two-legged dragons with wings -- attack castles and villages from the air.
Hundreds of years ago, medieval scholars believed the world was filled with strange and terrifying creatures. They wrote about them in bestiaries -- collections of facts, myths, and stories about animals. Here are twenty-six creatures from those medieval legends, from the two-headed amphisbaena to the fierce ziphius, a water-owl that preys on ships and sailors. Detailed, dramatic paintings based on illuminated manuscripts will transport you to the Middle Ages -- when much of the world was still unknown and mysterious terrors haunted the night.
Customer Reviews:
Simply A Fine Reading Experience.......2006-03-15
Pleasing to the eye and stimulating to the imagination, this book describes and depicts twenty-six "fabulous beasts" who were once the thing of everyday legend in times past. An excellent book to refer to time and again, and one children should love. Well-illustrated and nicely-written, this is a good work to add to the home library of anyone who loves the past, the landscapes of Medieval fantasy, or who simply appreciates colorful art.
this book rocks.......2005-01-20
I thought that it was very good if you like monsters that where thought of real in the middle ages. All ages should like it. This is a good book for people that like Monsters
this book rocks.......2005-01-13
I thought that it was very good if you like monsters that where thought as real in the middle ages. All ages should like it.
The Best Magical Animal Book.......2003-08-21
My sons and I have been reading and rereading this book for four years, since they were 4 and 7 years old. At 8 and 11, it's still our favorite. Just the right amount of information, great illustrations, and a starting point for terrific imaginings!
Great way to teach students about the Middle Ages.......2000-05-19
I have taught at both the Middle and High School levels and found that Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts and Illuminations both by Jonathan Hunt are a wonderful way to introduce the medieval period to young adults. These books are not just children's books. Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts and Illuminations introduce the students to important vocabulary words and mythological creatures from this fascinating time period. This is a great way for students to relate to the period in a nonthreatening manner. These books allow me to make the Middle Ages fun. They are both filled with information as well as visually stimulating. The author takes each letter of the alphabet and associates it with something medieval in Illuminations and something mythological in Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beast. The illustrations are breathtaking in both. You will learn something new with each reading. I highly recommend both books to young and old alike.
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