Tim O'Brien's Roadside Pics & Picks: The Huge, The High, The Half-Buried

You can usually tell early-on if a writer really loves his subject matter. I knew as soon as I saw the first chapter of Tim O'Brien's book of roadside oddities that Tim loved writing the book.We have all seen our share of interesting, even a bit wacky roadside attractions as we've driven this great land. They are pure Americana, and, some would argue, rise to the level of legitimate folk art. Most of Tim's subjects would never fit inside the walls of the American Folk Art Museum in NYC. This is a book about the bizarre, the larger than life, the odd, the inspiring, the always interesting, as seen from a car or truck wandering the mostly side roads of Highway America.The book is a smorgasbord of highway art, two acres of half-200 buried farm combines; 200 bottle displays; over-sized dinosaurs, pink elephants; enormous multi-colored fish; half-buried cars; 10-foot high ice cream cones; multi-colored chickens the size of pickup trucks.The book is a vast visual treat: colors, shapes, backgrounds, locations, structures. However, Tim also provides well written, concise text to accompany his presentations of roadside oddities. Each location and each display has a story to tell, and Tim is a storyteller.Kudos to Jennifer Wright for marrying Tim's words and images in way that holds your eye from start to finish.After you have read "Pics and Picks" leave it in a place where others will see it. They will want to have a copy of their own.> H. John Hildebrandt

In the era of Instagram and selfies, it's nice to sit down with a good old fashioned photo book full of weird and interesting photographs from, as the title suggests, the "huge, high and half-buried." I was left with two big impressions while taking the book in with my eyeballs. First, I want to go to there! Seriously, I want to go on a road trip. And second, I want to go on a road trip with the author Tim O'Brien. Of course, if I were to go on a road trip with the author, I think I'd force him to actually get an Instagram account because I was frustrated that I couldn't find his account because I wanted to see more photos from his adventures.

I love Tim O'Brien's Roadside Pics and Picks! This book is a treasure. The author wishes his readers "a fun journey flipping the pages," and I certainly had fun reading it. His writing is crisp, funny, and personal, and there are so many photos, some of which made me sit for a long while to d take in all the detail, pondering the motivation of the creators of these eccentric installations. I am a big fan of quirky, off-beat roadside attractions and I went from a smile, to a chuckle, to out-loud laughter leafing through, looking at all the amazing crazy, quirky sites O'Brien has photographed, and letting the compilation tickle my funny bone; the effect of which built up with each successive page. What an impressive collection of experiences and photographs! For me, it's his cataloguing of all these Huge, High, and Half-Buried artworks, constructions, icons, and life-story-projects into categories that amuses me the most. That there is actually more than one giant pink elephant out there just slays me, so a couple of pages of elephants, or donuts, or Muffler Men, gives me the giggle, and makes me want to hit the highway in search of gigantic and things on poles. Tim O'Brien has lovingly curated a wonderful literary exhibition, literally,

Unlike a lot of today's photo books, Tim O'Brien's latest has hundreds of colorful pictures collected into what he calls an exhibition. He has presented a great selection of photos representing his years of traveling the back roads of America. Who knew there were THAT many half-buried vehicles in the US?! I love the sections where he grouped the familiar together - like the Muffler Men throughout the country. In the Prelude to an Exhibition opening chapter, the author describes himself an observational photographer, one who sees something and documents it as is, where is, without any manipulation or computer enhancements, which I find refreshing in this day of photo shopping. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys whimsy and unconventional art!

Tim has lifelong, genuine love for the way life was. He eschews the fast lane. He extolls the creativity, enthusiasm for life, and art of people along roadways before interstate highways became too fast, homogenized and boring. His photos capture and reawaken the thrills we once experienced on the roadways of America.

Tim O'Brien has an amazing background in the amusement industry from being the amusement editor for Amusement Business Magazine, VP of Communications (retired) for Ripleys, numerous appearances on TV shows on amusement parks and of course author of many books on the amusement industry.In a departure from his usual in-depth writing, for this latest book, he went the other way and FILLED it with great photos of roadside attractions across the US. Buy this book and plan a trip to see them yourself before they join the rest of disappearing Americana.

Enjoy a plethora of playful, bizarre, and artful roadside masterpieces, thanks to Tim O'Brien! This collection shines a light on roadside art parks far from the beaten path and oddities you might be driving too fast to appreciate. Slow down, stop by, and see the world through Tim's quirky lens. You'll definitely see something new. And who knows? You might even see art in the seemingly ordinary places you drive by every day.

This is a nice sampling of the many pictures of interesting roadside goodies that Tim O'Brien has taken over his years as a photojournalist. "Huge" and "Half-Buried" are self-explanatory. "High" means things mounted on poles. There are sections devoted to each plus one on “Roadside Art Parks”. Even though I'm sure this sample is a small part of O'Brien's photo collection, 400+ pictures is not, in most people's minds, a small sample.