introductory texts

[egypturnash]

Here's an intruiging thread: What single book is the best introduction to your field for laypeople?

Animation and art seems to be conspicuously absent from the list of Things People Who Paid Five Bucks To Metafilter do. One person mentions that all their animator friends like Frank & Ollie's "The Illusion Of Life" but damn, that's an expensive tome no matter how you hunt it down.

My 'animation for the layman' book would not be that. It would, instead, be Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice and Magic", a survey of the history of animation in America from its beginnings to somewhere in the 70s, when it was published. There's some information on how it's done, but it's more about all the studios that came and went. It was here that I first heard of the legendary insanity of the Fleischer shorts, for instance.

The drawing book that I think is the best for the layman? Not the Blair books on drawing for animation - those are invaluable, but they're tutorial texts, ones to work from when you start being serious. It was a thin tome by Jim Arnofsky titled "Drawing Life In Motion". In a package the size of a typical children's book (Arnofsky did a number of those), there are a lot of little thoughts on how to create drawings that feel alive. Stylized, but observed, and dynamic. Even a couple of pages on the slow, subtle reachings of plants. It's relatively short on details, and long on the magic of a lively world. Unfortunately, it's out of print. It wasn't my first drawing book, nor was it my last, but something about it stayed in my mind all these years.

What's your 'introduction for the layman' book? Where would you send someone interested in an overview of the hows and whys of the fields you're into?

Comments

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

For me, I imagine it would be Set Phasers On Stun by S. M. Casey. That was one of the first books I was exposed to in college and one I kept referring back to sheerly for it's wonderful case examples of bad design. (Comment reposted with correct title)

[kamenkyote.livejournal.com]

I guess I'd have to pick cartooning? I dunno. For that, I really like the Ben Caldwell cartooning books as they have a lot of action in them though they're not so good at instructing anatomy. The Blair book has some good stuff in it as well. "Understanding Comics" is too dense, I thnk for someone coming from nothing. Umm... That's a really tough question. Perhaps, really something more like 'Contract with God," or one of the other stand alone Eisner books as they really show the depth comics can do without spandex or unnecessary violence. They're about people and they're high art as well. Or "Blankets." Yah. Either "Contract With God," or "Blankets."

[xyzzysqrl]

...god, I dunno. Three or four back issues of GAMEFAN I guess.

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

If they would only read The Catcher in the Rye and understand it, I mean really understand it, then they would know why I killed all those people!

[ineffabelle]

Well, in the realm of Programming, I'd say oddly enough that the PHP.net manual is a good way to pick it up. Once you've gotten through that whole tutorial, you should know enough to learn any C-based language. And almost any web host these days allows PHP scripting.

In the realm of Economic History, two great starter books are A History Of Money And Banking in the US by Rothbard, and The Autobiography Of Big Bill Haywood. Those will teach someone to think economically about history, from two very different perspectives. From there, they'll find books that will lead them further on.

In the realm of Existential Philosophy, Sartre's Essays In Existentialism is a great starter book. From there, all the rest of the existentialist writing will have a pretty solid context. It was written before existentialism became politicized much.

[martes.livejournal.com]

For comics, probably Eisner's "Comics & Sequential art," plus McCloud's "Understanding Comics."

For writing, Stephen King's "On Writing" plus Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style."

"Of Mice & Magic" is good, but it describes an animation industry that no longer exists. I'm not sure what would be a good introduction to the craft as it is today.

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

Want me (http://www.metafilter.com/user/28729) to tack it (with/without a pointer back here) on?

[baxil.livejournal.com]

"My field" could mean half a dozen things, so let's pick the hardest and leap straight for my college degree.

An introductory text for the layman for mathematics? Oh, dear lord.

I don't have a specific book, but I'd say the best place to start would be a book of math-themed games and/or logic puzzles. Math involves a lot of study, and a lot of concepts, but the one thing that most people have the most trouble cultivating and/or picking up is the curiosity and confidence that turn the subject from a chore into an exploration.

If you want to pick up the field of math, start by enjoying it. If that's even possible (and you haven't been traumatized away from it for life by shitty high school teachers).

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

J. Bryan III, Hodge Podge

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Also Ray Mungo, Famous Long Ago; Theodore Roszak, Making of the Counterculture; Ken Kesey, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.