I'm a big fan of DK's recent "The XYZ Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained" series. They cover Science, History, Philosophy, and even Shakespeare and Movies. So naturally when I heard they were making an Art book I was excited. Because my wife is an artist and I'm a lover of art.
After looking into this book I have realized a couple of things. The "Art" subject isn't really correct. It's more an "Art History" book than an art book. Others may disagree, but I found it's coverage of the subject to be primarily relegated to the classical history of art, akin to what you would find a college course about art history, as opposed to a class on Art itself. So be forewarned, you are not getting a big book on art techniques and great artists, you are getting an art history book. If you were expecting loads of comic book artists, manga illustrators, animators, industrial designers, video game creators, and performance artists, you will NOT find that sort of thing here (though it strikes me that someone really ought to do a book covering the substance, if not the history, of all those divergent forms of art). No, instead you are getting something far more predictable and even a bit unexpected considering how refreshingly modern many of the other Big Ideas books from DK are. All that said...
If you read this book you ARE getting a top-notch education on the history of (primarily classical) art. Read it cover to cover and you can walk into a museum and appreciate the period and ideas represented by what you are looking at. For a history buff like me this is great stuff.
As usual in this series there is beautiful page layout, great writing, beautiful imagery. I disagree with both those who say the content is dense and those who say the text is small. To my eyes it no denser or smaller than any other books in the series (maybe those people need to get new eyeglasses?), and I've certainly seen paperbacks with smaller type that's harder to read (the super-crisp white paper and dark consistent black helps). This is not a dry, dusty tome for college students even though it covers the same material. Think of it more as a cliff-notes version of the subject.
If you want to just read an art history book this is highly recommended if like me you want your book to be readable. If you are looking for a definitive source there are whole encyclopedias written on this subject that might be more up your alley. Overall, another excellent coffee table college course from DK and I'm looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeve next. I'll be reading this one for the rest of my life to educate myself and refresh my memory on art history.
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