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

(Paperback)

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This profoundly illuminating, entertaining book could well change the way we "read" the visual world around us, and certainly help open our eyes and minds to its astonishing riches. The language in which we speak about art has become steadily more abstruse, a jargon that only art critics and con-artists can understand, though for thousands of years this was not the case. Today, we live in a kaleidoscopic new world of images: Is there a vocabulary we can learn in order to read these images Is there something we can do so as not to remain passive when we flip through an illustrated book, or download images on a screen Are there ways in which we can "read" the stories within paintings, monuments, buildings and sculptures We say "every picture tells a story" - but does it

Taking a handful of extraordinary images - photographed, painted, built, sculpted - Alberto Manguel explores how each one attempts to tell a story that we, the viewer, must decipher or invent. A History of Love and Hate is not about art history or theory - it is about the astonishing pleasures and surprises of stories.

Reviews

"Alberto Manguel is an expert explorer of what the French call the imaginaire -- a word that combines imagination, imagery and the formation of images in the mind. He is the author of a very practical Dictionary of Imaginary Places. His History of Reading is a brilliant account of the ways in which reader and writer meet and change each other. He understands the logic of Lewis Carroll's world of wonderland and mirrors better than almost anyone else. His own imagination is supple and generous, and his work is full of surprises. he is in fact someone who works accurately and idiosyncratically in ordinary language, to our delight. Each chapter ranges widely and sure-footedly around its chosen subject, using Manguel's wide learning to make new connections.It is the scrupulous, high-powered conversation of a learned man, rather than professional "criticism," and the better for it.his own reflections, so unconstricted, so clear, so strange, are so very satisfying to his readers." -- A.S. Byatt, Washington Post, Sunday, October 28, 2001

All of it is fascinating. -- Calgary Herald

A fascinating treat. -- Today

Invaluable. Marvellously informed. Alberto Manguel is an entertaining guide to the world of art [who] offers remarkable insights. -- The Gazette (Montreal)

Insightful and entertaining. -- The Toronto Star

For an absolutely gorgeous gift this DecemberManguels latest work is the answer. A beautifully crafted achievement, filled with hundreds of works of art. -- FFWD (Calgary)

A worthy companion to his bestselling book, A History of Reading. Reading Pictures succeeds admirably [as] a guide for us to follow as we learn to look at, think about, and appreciate art again. -- The Edmonton Journal

Magnificent. If you care about art, let the one book you give (or receive) this Christmas be Reading Pictures. -- The New Brunswick Reader

Eclectic and intriguing. -- Ottawa Citizen

A readable romp through a visual landscape. -- Macleans

Fascinating. Alberto Manguel looks at art and finds stories and parallels that might give us a whole new perspectivethis may be the ultimate visual self-help bookWith many stunning images from our pre-computer-enhanced past, it manages to coax us into looking at them in ways we may have forgotten.Each of the books 12 chapters could stand alone as an essay. Be changed and enriched. -- The Vancouver Sun

This is a book that demands all our attention, and, for all its richness, deserves to get it. -- The Times-Colonist (Victoria)

Manguel knows the value of books, and the art of reading them.... The result is delightful. -- The Times U.K.

"Alberto Manguel (is) a keeper of the word and a guardian of the book. -- The Globe and Mail (Dec. 5/98)

"Alberto Manguel is a tireless champion of the written word. He cares about books...with a deep, unswerving passion because he believes they are -- still, despite our electronic progress -- essential links between the individual and the world." -- The Vancouver Sun

"Like Pablo Neruda wrote regarding the Argentinian Julio Cortazar, one could say that not to read Alberto Manguel is an invisible and serious illness that, in time, might have terrible consequences.... Not to accompany Manguel on a jubilatory and salutary stroll through the world of words, museums and books, would be nothing short of madness." -- Sud-Ouest Dimanche

As a teacher, [Manguel] is profound and unpredictable, world-wise and erudite. The artists Manguel chooses are surprising and fresh, and his sidetracks occasionally ignore standard biography. But the book provides plenty of appropriate visual images -- only some of them familiar -- alongside lovely, compassionate sentences. -- Quill & Quire, starred review, December 2000

A book for readers who enjoy virtuoso performances. Manguel leads the reader on a merry chase through the worlds of art history, literatureand philosophy.[A] splendid meander through his fascinating mind. -- Smithsonian

There is so much in this book to admire, the sheer sweep and soar of ideas is invigorating. The writing, for all Manguels erudition, is quick and clear, stimulating in the extreme.This may be one of the best books you will read this year. --The Independent

Quite the most entrancing aspect of this rich, venturesome book is its authors humility in the face of all he knows and his generosity in sharing it with us. --The Spectator

This delightful book will fascinate anyone who enjoys looking at pictures.In his charmingly calm, unruffled way, Manguel forces you to reexamine your own assumptions and convictions about art. This is a book to cherish. --The Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Alberto Manguel is the acclaimed author of several award-winning books, including A Dictionary of Imaginary Places and A History of Reading, which was an international bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, a Times Literary Supplement International Book of the Year, and Winner of France's Prix Medicis. He is a widely sought-after speaker, and will lecture at museums worldwide, including the Louvre, ont he publication of Reading Pictures. He was born in Buenos Aires and lives in France.