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River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West First Printing Edition

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Rebecca Solnit (Author)
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Rebecca Solnit (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 35 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0670031764
ISBN-10: 0670031763
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Adult; First Printing edition (January 27, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0670031763
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670031764
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #770,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe Father of the Moving Image
By Rob Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on February 24, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Everyone knows about the inventions of such men as Edison and Marconi, the sorts of inventions that truly brought us to the modern age. It sounds like a stretch to claim that the man who definitively answered the question of whether a trotting horse ever completely leaves the ground also changed the world. However, Rebecca Solnit has written an original biography of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, _River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West_ (Viking) which centers on how Muybridge, by splitting motion into split-second bits, changed the nature of our perception of time and space in a way that brought us inevitably to Hollywood and to Silicon Valley. She writes, "Muybridge was a doorway, a pivot between that old world and ours, and to follow him is to follow the choices that got us here." As biography, the book is inevitably thin. Muybridge kept no journals and there are few letters, and details about his remarkable life are hard to come by; the basics, of course, are here. Solnit says, "Most of what is known about Muybridge makes him seem a hollow conduit for his work, with only a few vain remarks to personalize the prodigal accomplishments." Rather than biography, as a series of essays on the importance of his work, the book is original and fun.
Muybridge's life and work are inextricably bound with the brand-new state of California, but he was born in 1830 over a family shop in England, in Kingston-upon-Thames. He lit out for San Francisco, where he worked as a bookseller. He made a name for himself in photography, however, which was a relatively new and demanding art. He was among the first to photograph the wilderness of Yosemite, using huge plates for images that are still dramatic.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAnnihilation of time and other concepts
By A Customer on August 8, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Rebecca Solnit has created a provocative masterpiece! This is not a simple biography about one of the great innovators of the field of photography. It is a richly, intellectually layered work that explores the big ideas of time and our relationship to it; the fusion of politics, science and industry in the 19th century; and links today's Silicon West to what we call the Wild West of our past. She possesses exceptional writing skills. This is book well worth reading by those seeking inspiration to invent the future, or for those who wish insight into the concept of progress.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMore than just the photos
By Bruce Appelbaum on May 10, 2004
Format: Paperback
Like many people, I had seen Muybridge's motion studies before, but had never considered the man behind the pictures. Solnit presents a compelling portrait of a man who is at the same time probably certifiably nuts, a genius years ahead of his time, a lousy husband and father, and a murderer. As Solnit points out, his groundbreaking work was really the basis for motion pictures and much of other technology we take for granted today.
I took this book with me on an overnight flight to Brazil and compulsively read it cover to cover while I should have been sleeping.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMuch more than Muybridge
By A Customer on May 1, 2004
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I wasn't especially interested in Muybridge, but this book is a good deal more than that. Though not stinting on detail, Solnit's writing and intellectual abilities provide a grasp of the transformations of time and space that occurred in the past century and a half; she addresses, and conquers, the challenges of making another age vivid and profound as has no book I've yet encountered. "She writes like an angel," one critic said, and it's quite true; through her supple and sensitive prose she reflects on Muybridge's life and times, examining them from every angle, and in so doing gives a clinic in how history of any kind may be most richly approached.
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4.0 out of 5 starsBrain exercise
By Ravel on July 22, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Certainly much more than a biography, this book on Muybridge is full of other subjects. Solnit angle on time is quite special, as it comes back again and again. We tend to forget how everythig has thoroughly changed since the victorian era. This book confronts our acquired attitudes and what we take for granted today.

It is always a surprise and an experience to read on a subject and find much more on the way.

This book is a mind expander.
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4.0 out of 5 starsfascinating story and history
By Katya Cohen on February 13, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Not the most scintillating writing I've ever read, but an eye-opening story of an artist (Muybridge) whose work helped shape our world. In fact, before reading this book, I took him entirely for granted and did not even consider him an "artist", just a photographer who took pictures of things in motion. He is a heck of a lot more than that, and his photographs are beautiful! The book also gave me (a foreigner who did not study the history of the formation of the west) a glimpse at the fascinating and almost incredible history of the formation of San Francisco, and at how truly rapidly this country developed the roots of what it is today (for better and for worse). This should be required reading in history classes.
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5.0 out of 5 starsStunning writing
By Allan H. Clark VINE VOICE on June 11, 2007
Format: Paperback
Rebecca Solnit is an amazing writer. She brings to the surface all the hidden currents of the Muybridge story in a narrative that is at once informative and moving. This book constantly surprised and delighted me with its deep insights and fascinating details. Not only is it well researched, but the results of the research are germane to the story and are all neatly brought together. It was a pleasure to discover that fine writing like this still exists. I can't wait to read her other books now that I have found her.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 starsProbably one of the most boring books I've read

Probably one of the most boring books I've read. Was a selection for my book club or I wouldn't have finished it

Published 1 month ago by John Kensey
1.0 out of 5 starsI couldn't say enough bad things about this book to justify how...

I'd rather claw my eyes out than read this book again. I couldn't say enough bad things about this book to justify how terrible it was.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 starsLove photography, love Muybridge, bored silly by this book

I got through 150 pages of this book by active skimming but finally gave up. Solnit buries a fascinating story under a blizzard of details about the historical context of... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Nice book. Thank you Rebecca.

Published 10 months ago by Brian Erle
4.0 out of 5 starsBrava!

Muybridge is the thread that allows us to see how life changed with his invention. Well written. Well researched. You'll come away smarter and with a broader perspective. Read more

Published 11 months ago by book person
5.0 out of 5 stars... fascinating and able guide in ways that give a good name to...

Soltnit is a fascinating and able guide in ways that give a good name to intellectual associative writing: she knows how to do it without sounding anything but genuine in her... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Eileen O Malley Callahan
3.0 out of 5 starsHow movies got their start.

very informative but way to long for what the author appears to want to do. but interesting.

Published 20 months ago by Paula A. Barsamian
5.0 out of 5 starsMemorable and should not be missed

An unusual penetrating study of the beginning of photography, of Muybridge's life and his 'movement studies.' Mr. Read more

Published 20 months ago by a
5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing Book

When this book was first assigned to me, i was skeptical about how interesting this topic could possibly be, but solnit is such an incredible writer! Read more

Published 22 months ago by Ahmed Bahgat
2.0 out of 5 starsThe Wild West, Hollywood, Modernism and other myths

Mostly when people mention the Wild West they do so in the full knowledge that this largely mythological landscape is a product of Hollywood. Read more

Published on February 27, 2014 by Welschrisby

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