A few days back I reviewed the Historic Photos of Minneapolis photography coffee table book and today it's time for the companion book featuring St. Paul.
In the time I've had to page through and read both of these books, I found them informative to say the least. Seeing the two side by side lets the reader truly compare and contrast Minnesota's Twin Cities and if you are lucky enough to read both of these photo books, you'll know that St. Paul and Minneapolis couldn't be more different. St. Paul, to me, has a much grittier past and it is a much more grounded and well-balanced city in current times.
Particularly interesting to me was knowing that Northwest Airways (now Northwest Airlines) had its humble beginnings at downtown St. Paul's Holman Field. One not-so-surprising tidbit was knowing the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (now 3M) begin in the city as well.
A bit of praise is that Historic Photos of St. Paul tends to give at least general and sometimes specific locations for each of its photos. Kudos to author Steve Trimble for meticulously compiling all of this information from both the Ramsey County Historical Society and Minnesota Historical Society. This book seems to be of higher quality than that covering its twin city with more succinct information and more details and is almost worth the MSRP of $39.95 (although I'd prefer about $10 less).
If you're interested in meeting the author -- historian Steve Trimble who wrote the captions in this book -- Thursday, August 21 is your lucky day. Be at The Rathskeller at 318 Summit Avenue at 7 PM. Be sure to RSVP (info is in the link above). I wish I had the time on Thursday to drive across town and meet a very meticulous researcher and fine author to share how I enjoyed this book and pick his brain on his techniques.
Oh, and if it's photos you like, MinnPics is the place with stunning photos from across Minnesota and a whole gob of pics from a recent air show in a certain southwest suburb. Oh, and if you're looking for camel toe or nipple photos from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, they'll be right here soon enough. It takes a lot of research.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
An honest to God book review
If you are a history buff or even remotely interested in the days gone by and live in or have ties to Minneapolis, Minnesota, there's a great book full of fabulous, clear, crisp and detailed photos ranging from the city's beginnings in the 1850s to more recent times in the 1970s.
The book, Historic Photos of Minneapolis,
has such high quality photos thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minneapolis Public Library and the Library of Congress. If prints of these historic photos were used in the production of this book, they must have been well taken care of from day one but I presume that negatives were used in the assembly of this collection of 200 photos.
Not stopping at just photos, the book also contains well-researched, brief but informative captions written by the manager of the Special Collections Library at the Minneapolis Public Library, Heather Block Lawton. Ms. Lawton obviously spent quite some time researching and writing captions for the 200 photos contained in the book.
Some of my favorites included finding out that Northrup King seed company had very humble beginnings on Hennepin Avenue in a one room house. It's kernels (pardon the pun) of information like that which I can truly appreciate due to being a mere ten years removed from the farm.
Another high point in reading through this book is seeing the striking architecture of the buildings of the past and being able to truly appreciate them in the simple black and white format which is so striking to me. I feel that James Lileks would be particularly jealous of this aspect of Historic Photos of Minneapolis (even though his collection of historic photos is pretty cool to see too) however I would have liked to see at least the name of the original photographers to give the book an added sense of historical significance.
I can safely say that the folks at Turner Publishing have done an outstanding job with this title in laying the foundation for what could evolve into a series of in-depth eras of photographic history and have included a satisfying mix of scenery, people and architecture photography from the vast history of Minneapolis and I can't wait to write my take on the companion book for St. Paul.
If it's photos you're after, you know the drill... MinnPics... every day, something new and awe inducing from Minnesota photographers.
The book, Historic Photos of Minneapolis,
has such high quality photos thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minneapolis Public Library and the Library of Congress. If prints of these historic photos were used in the production of this book, they must have been well taken care of from day one but I presume that negatives were used in the assembly of this collection of 200 photos.Not stopping at just photos, the book also contains well-researched, brief but informative captions written by the manager of the Special Collections Library at the Minneapolis Public Library, Heather Block Lawton. Ms. Lawton obviously spent quite some time researching and writing captions for the 200 photos contained in the book.
Some of my favorites included finding out that Northrup King seed company had very humble beginnings on Hennepin Avenue in a one room house. It's kernels (pardon the pun) of information like that which I can truly appreciate due to being a mere ten years removed from the farm.
Another high point in reading through this book is seeing the striking architecture of the buildings of the past and being able to truly appreciate them in the simple black and white format which is so striking to me. I feel that James Lileks would be particularly jealous of this aspect of Historic Photos of Minneapolis
(even though his collection of historic photos is pretty cool to see too) however I would have liked to see at least the name of the original photographers to give the book an added sense of historical significance.I can safely say that the folks at Turner Publishing have done an outstanding job with this title in laying the foundation for what could evolve into a series of in-depth eras of photographic history and have included a satisfying mix of scenery, people and architecture photography from the vast history of Minneapolis and I can't wait to write my take on the companion book for St. Paul.
If it's photos you're after, you know the drill... MinnPics... every day, something new and awe inducing from Minnesota photographers.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Meet enemy number one
As I drove to the office today, I caught part of an interview with an author. Normally, author interviews bore me to death. This one, had it been any typical authoritative topic, would have been the same had it not been for the title of the book, "Skinny Bitch".
Sure, the book is geared towards women but if I remember my science classes accurately men are basically 49% female so I kept listening.
It turned out to be basically a diet book but the most interesting chapter that sparked discussion was about my favorite type of humor, toilet humor. Pooping to be specific.
Pooping is a subject near and dear to my heart. I like it so much that I sometimes deal the fudge twice in one day.
Pooping, too, is the secret to being healthy. Eating fiber, said the author, is the key to having those oh-so-satisfying movements (and not in the Beethoven sense). She went on, after one of the wacky morning zoo DJs asked a serious question about fruit juice, to explain that the most hated substance in the world by yours truly, high fructose corn syrup, is in nearly every product we eat and that, contrary to popular belief, the fake sweeteners in diet sodas are actually worse than those used in the full calorie sodas. That was news to me but it makes sense that putting something man-made into your body is sort of, well, dumb. It would be equal to drinking Drano and expecting to feel great after doing so.
After hearing that, I'm not going to do much to change my ways. I've cut back to one can of soda per day and I hate the diet brands so I'm in luck there. My precious V-8 Splash juice which I religiously guzzle for breakfast might go by the wayside ans I discovered that its second ingredient -- before any fruit or vegetable juices -- is high fructose corn syrup.
Why is the American food industry so reliant on that particular sweetener? When did it gain its like dominance and dethrone the king of all sweeteners -- sugar -- from its high power? Why did the author being interviewed feel the need to mention that some women (we all know that women don't poop) only drop the Browns off at the Super Bowl twice weekly?
Sure, the book is geared towards women but if I remember my science classes accurately men are basically 49% female so I kept listening.
It turned out to be basically a diet book but the most interesting chapter that sparked discussion was about my favorite type of humor, toilet humor. Pooping to be specific.
Pooping is a subject near and dear to my heart. I like it so much that I sometimes deal the fudge twice in one day.
Pooping, too, is the secret to being healthy. Eating fiber, said the author, is the key to having those oh-so-satisfying movements (and not in the Beethoven sense). She went on, after one of the wacky morning zoo DJs asked a serious question about fruit juice, to explain that the most hated substance in the world by yours truly, high fructose corn syrup, is in nearly every product we eat and that, contrary to popular belief, the fake sweeteners in diet sodas are actually worse than those used in the full calorie sodas. That was news to me but it makes sense that putting something man-made into your body is sort of, well, dumb. It would be equal to drinking Drano and expecting to feel great after doing so.
After hearing that, I'm not going to do much to change my ways. I've cut back to one can of soda per day and I hate the diet brands so I'm in luck there. My precious V-8 Splash juice which I religiously guzzle for breakfast might go by the wayside ans I discovered that its second ingredient -- before any fruit or vegetable juices -- is high fructose corn syrup.
Why is the American food industry so reliant on that particular sweetener? When did it gain its like dominance and dethrone the king of all sweeteners -- sugar -- from its high power? Why did the author being interviewed feel the need to mention that some women (we all know that women don't poop) only drop the Browns off at the Super Bowl twice weekly?
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