Reading Pictures: What We Think About When We Look at Art

Manguel continues to discover new ways to look at how we process what we read and see. I highly recommend this book or anything by Alberto Manguel.

Another wonderful book by Manguel.

This book wasn't exactly what I expected when I bought it--Amazon recommended it based on my previous purchases, and it looked interesting so I went for it. I had hoped it would be about how *I* could get more out of looking at art, but really it's about what Manguel thinks about when *he* looks at a dozen particular pieces--paintings mostly, but also photographs, sculpture, monuments, etc.My mis-expectations aside, he does know stuff and he writes it well. Each chapter is an essay about one piece; some talk about the composition of the piece, others more about the artist's career as a whole, others about other things that the piece reminds Manguel of. I was a bit disappointed that the rather interesting picture on the cover is never even mentioned, neither the photo nor the painting within it.Not easy to rate: not what I was looking for, but interesting enough I finished reading it, but then again I don't know the field so I can't really tell if he's full of it or not. Hence the indecisive three stars. (Takeaway lesson: Picasso was an incredible dick.)

Like writing style and subject.

Great book. Not exactly art-history. Manguel focuses on individual works by well-known or less well-known artists in an original way, exploring the surrounding culture and context around the works as well as looking at them carefully.