Rating: Summary: A gift from Mike Wilks to everyone! Review: This is a picturebook for people of all ages. I bought all 5 copies the shop had in stock when I found it about 10 years ago - kept one for myself and the rest were gratefully accepted Xmas gifts (for adults).There is one beautifully rendered, extraordinary detailed, surrealistic picture for each letter of the alphabet. Each picture contains as many items/things/people with names beginning with that letter that Mike Wilks could think of - usually hundreds and many are quite obscure at first, but so obvious later. Taking a lead from Rembrandt, each picture also contains a self-portrait of the amazingly talented artist, but although this is no simple "Where's Wally", they are similar in that what you have to do is work out as many of the items as you can. In the Annotated Ultimate Alphabet, an outline drawing accompanies each picture so you get a bit of a hint of what you're looking for, and there is a solution for each picture, often containing even more information. I've learned more about knots, kegs, parts of a horse, joints (the carpentry kind), symbols, various alphabets and arches than I've ever learned from any other one book and this one is only about half an inch thick and heaps more fun than an encyclopaedia. I have had as much fun looking at these pictures with my 34-year-old sister as my 9-year-old niece. I would love to go to the bar where one of the other reviewers encountered it - what a wonderful way to share the genius of this artist! This book is worthy of remaining in print forever. If you ever see one, grab it, because it makes a wonderful present (if you can bear to part with it).
Rating: Summary: ABCs for Grownups Review: This is an amazing book. It's an alphabet book, but a very, very sophisticated one. Each of the twenty-six gorgeously rendered paintings is made up of myriad items beginning with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. And not just concrete objects, but things like a Painter, Painting a Partially finished Panda. There are national flags, there are morse code, semaphore, rune, Hebrew, and sign language versions of letters; mythological references, obscure symbols, quirky visual puns, and much, much more. Most of the illustrations have between 200 and 500 words represented, with over a thousand for the letter "S"! The illustrations are glorious, with glowing, jewel-like colors, and somehow avoid looking cluttered or haphazard despite the vast array of items pictured. If you love words and/or puzzles, this is indeed the ultimate book. I guarantee you'll spend hours with it, and discover new things each time you look. Art lovers will be enchanted, too; the book opens with the author/artist's detailed description of his creative process. Definitely worth looking for!
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