The literary world has almost always looked down with disdain at the so-called ‘coffee-table books’. These books are considered as a not-so-serious-dabbling into their subjects, there only to serve the purpose of decoration and casual browsing. Though not all coffee-table books deserve such treatment, this one lacks the merit to be a work worthy of respect.
While I bought this, I was so glad at having added another book of art history to my collection. But this book has more flaws than merits. Grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and even a glaring factual error make for uneasy reading. Just imagine the level of carelessness in preparing and editing the work, when it calls John Ruskin as the ‘ninth century art critic’, instead of ‘nineteenth century’. Another annoying aspect is that there are many photographs of artworks that are not discussed in detail and there are discussions on art pieces for which there is no photograph presented. This book thus fails to fulfill the role of an encyclopedic tome too.
The writing is not much inspiring either. If you have already gone through ‘The Wonder That Was India’, by A.L. Basham, then you can simply skip this book, unless and of course you want to own a nice-looking coffee-table decorative piece. This is a book that could have been and should have been better, considering the richness of the topic it is dealing with and the number of awards the author has won. But, alas, this book simply stirs up a passion for Indian art and leaves it unquenched.
A masterpiece this isn’t meant to be!
While I bought this, I was so glad at having added another book of art history to my collection. But this book has more flaws than merits. Grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and even a glaring factual error make for uneasy reading. Just imagine the level of carelessness in preparing and editing the work, when it calls John Ruskin as the ‘ninth century art critic’, instead of ‘nineteenth century’. Another annoying aspect is that there are many photographs of artworks that are not discussed in detail and there are discussions on art pieces for which there is no photograph presented. This book thus fails to fulfill the role of an encyclopedic tome too.
The writing is not much inspiring either. If you have already gone through ‘The Wonder That Was India’, by A.L. Basham, then you can simply skip this book, unless and of course you want to own a nice-looking coffee-table decorative piece. This is a book that could have been and should have been better, considering the richness of the topic it is dealing with and the number of awards the author has won. But, alas, this book simply stirs up a passion for Indian art and leaves it unquenched.
A masterpiece this isn’t meant to be!
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