Escher Interactive CD Rom [CD-ROM]

Abrams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A gallery of some 600 images by M.C. Escher, the Dutch graphic artist whose intricate division of a plane into interlocking geometric forms baffled even some mathematicians. As a student, he was an utter failure at math, but as an artist, his perspective was brilliant and spellbinding. Supplemented with an audio and video narrative by Escher's son George and biographer Doris Schattschneider, the disk follows the artist's development from his early linocut of a skull in 1917, to the dramatically magical "Ghosts," created shortly before his death. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Ultimately, this is a disk that doesn't quite know if it wants to be a game or a reference tool. -- New York Times Book Review, Harold Goldberg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• CD-ROM
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; CD-Rom edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810951509
• ISBN-13: 978-0810951501
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,357,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Software, September 15, 2000

By 

N. J. Huston "Movie Nut" (Knoxville USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escher Interactive CD Rom (CD-ROM)

I have had the Escher Interactive CD for a while and I just love the ease of use and the extensive ways you can use it. Not only does it show how some of his things are done, but it has so many ways you can create your own art using his techniques. Its good for hours and hours of fun!!! Its great computer fun.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the 60$ price tag., August 17, 2001

By 

Jeff Wood (Evanston, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Escher Interactive CD Rom (CD-ROM)

This CD looks and feels more like a students mid-term programming project, rather than a commercial piece of software. As others have hinted there is a tessalation kit included, but is fairly limited. TessalMania, software for less than half the price of Escher, offers more ideas, tutorials, and features as escher but still has the basic ease of use. Included are some animations of morphing, which could be a nice feature except they only took advantage of three morphs. The puzzle assembler feature is moderatley challenging. It shows the "impossible geometry" behind some of Escher's most popular works. It is entertaining, until you complete the first puzzle, afterwhich each puzzle feels repetitive. Also, despite the fact that this edition was released after Windows 95, it still relies on old 16-bit Windows 3.1.

Despite these lackings, the Gallery, as well as Convex and Concave features of the CD-ROM are somewhat enjoyable. The gallery simply shows his works in chronological order, but is very complete. Depending on the works it can give details, commentaries, or in some cases videos. The C&C game is nice entertainment, and is quite a bit more challenging than the Puzzle Assembler.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the 60$ price tag, August 17, 2001

By 

Jeff Wood (Evanston, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Escher Interactive CD Rom (CD-ROM)

This CD looks and feels more like a students mid-term programming project, rather than a commercial piece of software.

As others have hinted there is a tessalation kit included, but is fairly limited. TessalMania, software for less than half the price of Escher, offers more ideas, tutorials, and features as escher but still has the basic ease of use. Included are some animations of morphing, which could be a nice feature except they only took advantage of three morphs. The puzzle assembler feature is moderatley challenging. It shows the "impossible geometry" behind some of Escher's most popular works. It is entertaining, until you complete the first puzzle, afterwhich each puzzle feels repetitive. Also, despite the fact that this edition was released after Windows 95, it still relies on old 16-bit Windows 3.1.

Despite these lackings, the Gallery, as well as Convex and Concave features of the CD-ROM are somewhat enjoyable. The gallery simply shows his works in chronological order, but is very complete. Depending on the works it can give details, commentaries, or in some cases videos. The C&C game is nice entertainment, and is quite a bit more challenging than the Puzzle Assembler.