Customer Reviews

10,000 Years of Art

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This is a small format book with tiny images. I understood it was small, but many of the images are much smaller than they needed to be to fit. I think its main value is as a quick reference, or to pique one's interest in something new. For the low price, that's fine.

For the price I paid, I can't beat the amount of entertainment I get out of this little book. Meant for people who don't have the patience to read weighty tomes on art history or never took a class on it, this volume's progression through art is more linear than other books on art history, which sometimes spend much more time covering recent art. However, the concise explanations below each work, one work per page, are all equally valuable.

Flaw-wise, the biggest shortcoming is just the small size of the artwork. But, this book has been so fun to read that I am now considering buying the larger version from the same publisher, 30,000 Years of Art. Recommended for sure if you have $10 to spare and are interested in learning a bit more about art.

This is a coffee table book I bought at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Looking at my bookshelf, it's a little bit bigger than my copy of The Hobbit, so don't expect to become an expert on art from the last 10,000 years. But it is useful in serving its purpose, which is twofold: 1) highlight major milestones and achievements through the past 10 millenia, 2) show your friends, who have the last 3 issues of Cosmo on their coffee tables, that you are more cultured than they.