Rating: 
Summary: Useful, but photographic reference would be better
Review: Bridgman gets a lot of credit for his mastery as an illustrator. Nevertheless, as a tool this book would have been more useful with photographic references of hands in various positions. By using Bridgman's illustrations as a guide, you end up simply aping his style to some extent. The end result is like when you photocopy a photocopy: a little grainier, much muddier version of the original.
Rating:
Summary: Useful, but photographic reference would be better
Review: Bridgman gets a lot of credit for his mastery as an illustrator. Nevertheless, as a tool this book would have been more useful with photographic references of hands in various positions. By using Bridgman's illustrations as a guide, you end up simply aping his style to some extent. The end result is like when you photocopy a photocopy: a little grainier, much muddier version of the original.
Rating: 
Summary: What is this book for?
Review: Certainly not for helping you learn to draw hands! I bought this book to help me to understand the difficult anatomy of the hand, but it's just a collection of very rough line sketches reproduced on a small and grainy scale, with basically no instruction. There's no denying Bridgman was a master, but I can't get practical information out of his loose sketches. Sometimes I can't even tell what position a hand is in, much less use it as a reference. A book of photographs, or a drawing tutorial, would be a better choice for someone at the beginning or intermediate level. I haven't found a whole book devoted to the hand yet, but the few pages of information in "Drawing the Head and Figure" (ISBN 0399507914) are fifty times more useful to me than this book.
Rating:
Summary: What is this book for?
Review: Certainly not for helping you learn to draw hands! I bought this book to help me to understand the difficult anatomy of the hand, but it's just a collection of very rough line sketches reproduced on a small and grainy scale, with basically no instruction. There's no denying Bridgman was a master, but I can't get practical information out of his loose sketches. Sometimes I can't even tell what position a hand is in, much less use it as a reference. A book of photographs, or a drawing tutorial, would be a better choice for someone at the beginning or intermediate level. I haven't found a whole book devoted to the hand yet, but the few pages of information in "Drawing the Head and Figure" (ISBN 0399507914) are fifty times more useful to me than this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent beginning to intermediate book at a good price
Review: There are two excellent books that I know of that focus specifically on the anatomy of the hand for the artist. I was given this book early in my aspiring art career by my grandmother (an accomplished artist) but lost it some while later. I had forgotten the title and ended up buying Hogarth's "Drawing Dynamic Hands" as a guide after failed attempts to locate this book again. I would actually recommend getting them both, but start with this book first. In the end I got alot out of both, but there were many times using the Hogarth book that I missed "Hundred Hands".Hogarth's style of illustration in all of his books is much more imbellished by his use of soft shading to illustrate volume. His look is extremely useful but it can also be an obstacle to a beginning to intermediate student since end result is a more stylized appearance. With Hogarth's books, the student can find themselves inadvertently adopting the look of his images in their own style. Bridgeman's illustrations are much more loose and sketch-like. He uses little or no shading but his understanding of volume and structure rivals Hogarth's. The simplicity of his examples are much easier to get started with. He accomplishes just as much if not more with a few loose lines as Hogarth's vivid shading. More importantly the sketch-like quality can be much less intimidating early on. While it's true Hogarth's book is definitely nicer to look at, I believe Bridgeman's is a much better learning guide for starters. The price of this book also makes it affordable to use them as compliments to one another if you decide get both.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for detail
Review: This book is good for learning to draw different hand positions. It contains different values and details on drawing all kinds of hands. It's a good learning tool for beginning artist and it's worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: disorginized confusing drawings
Review: This book is not for beginners. I checked it out at the library. On the left side of some pages their will be a discription like "the pinky points out at this angle", then on the right side of the page will be some mysterious sketchy drawing that doesn't show the pinky. To understand this book you'll have to have a good understanding of the anatomy of the hand, but if you already understand that then the book will be usless. A good alternative to this is Burne Hogarth's "Drawing Dynamic Hands".
Rating:
Summary: disorginized confusing sketches
Review: This book is not for beginners. To understand this book you'll need to have a good understanding of the hand's anatomy, but if you already understand the hand then this book will be useless. Some pages are organized so on the left will be a description like "the pinky sticks out at this angle", then on the right will be an ink blot test looking drawing where you can't even see the pinky. A good alternative to this is Burne Hogarth's "Drawing Dynamic Hands".
Rating:
Summary: Book of Hands
Review: This is a fantastic resource for any artist wanting to understand the human hand. Bridgman breaks down the hand to basic shapes and then builds up to the rendered hand showing you along the way how the bones, muscles, tendons and veins relate to the overall shape of the hand. I highly recomend any of Bridgman's books for a better understanding of drawing the human body.
Rating:
Summary: A Very 'Handy' book!
Review: This is a superb little book to have around the studio at all times. Although there are one or two better books on the subject of drawing this most difficult of body parts (Burne Hogarth's 'Drawing Dynamic Hands' is the best), there is nothing to match this one for sheer value for money. While Bridgman's illustrations are a little sketchy for my taste, you can't beat the sheer convenience of having a book containing one hundred different hand positions around when you need a quick reference for a particular hand position...and all for under eight dollars. What more do you want? A chocolate cover? Great illustrations, good, informative text, a handy size, and great value for money. What are you waiting for? Buy this book now!
| 
