drj's reviews
85 reviews

Art of Protest: Creating, Discovering, and Activating Art for Your Revolution by De Nichols

challenging hopeful inspiring fast-paced

5.0

A delightfully produced book that should inspire us all to art as much as possible and direct our emotions to productive and artful protest. Many examples, illustrations, and exercises.

Wilding by Isabella Tree

challenging funny sad slow-paced

3.75

Creative Graphics by John Cownie

adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

This is a small but jam-packed book. There are many standalone programs to illustrate various graphics techniques and capabilities of the BBC Micro. Proper attention to these programs will give you a good grounding in doing graphics in BBC BASIC. It will also (somewhat unintentionally) give some insight into BBC BASIC programming itself. The relevant parts of BBC BASIC and VDU codes are explained, but somewhat briefly. It would be a good idea to have a BBC User Guide on hand if you are not already familiar with BBC BASIC.

Typing the programs in (which i did on an emulator prior to this review) is a good exercise in accidental debugging and the importance of semicolons.

The chapters are quite fun and varied, covering symmetry, 3D, animations, fractals, and narrative composition. Highly recommended.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Women in the Picture: Women, Art and the Power of Looking by Catherine McCormack

challenging hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

This book will change the way you look at art, and everything else. It is most excellent.

A Message From Ukraine by Volodymyr Zelensky

challenging hopeful inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Never again.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Picture This: How Pictures Work (Art Books, Graphic Design Books, How to Books, Visual Arts Books, Design Theory Books) by Molly Bang

adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0

Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit

hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

Acorn - A World in Pixels by idesine

adventurous informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

A slog to sit and read through, but cram packed full of interesting tidbits, reviews, and interviews with industry insiders. Interspersed with amusing anecdotes and lusciously reproduced artwork. Occasionally letdown by a little repetition or obvious filler, and the white-on-black Avenir typography is largely terrible.

On the whole a glorious celebration of everything that is Beeb.