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sfian's review
4.0
The current lockdown is giving me an opportunity to read books that have sat untouched on my shelves for years - in the case of this one, almost since it was published. Although I have previously flicked through it, I have never before taken the time to read it or look at the various reproduced artworks thoroughly. (Indeed, some may say I still haven't looked closely enough to fully digest the art.)
It is, perhaps, not a book to read from cover to cover as it can be, at times, repetitive in some details, both in the excellent 100 page essay on the history of SF art and artists, but also in the biographies that accompany the "gallery" section (I lost count of how many times something along the lines of "this was the first magazine devoted to SF" was written). But that's not why it loses a star in my opinion, nor is the non-inclusion (explained in the text) of art by Chris Foss, a personal favourite of mine. Rather it us the seemingly random nature in which book-cover art is detailed, varying from simply saying that a picture was a cover, to listing the title, publisher, author and date, with every variation in between. I got tired of liking a piece which was listed as being the cover of a book only to have to break off to research who wrote said book. Also, I found the forward by Ray Bradbury to be very heavy work, compared to the rest of the text.
The art itself, to this fan, is variable - I'm sure each piece has it's merits and historical significance, but I'm not, in general, a fan of the surreal pieces, many of which leave me cold. Still, there is enough variation to keep me happy and I will no doubt be flicking through this book again.
It is, perhaps, not a book to read from cover to cover as it can be, at times, repetitive in some details, both in the excellent 100 page essay on the history of SF art and artists, but also in the biographies that accompany the "gallery" section (I lost count of how many times something along the lines of "this was the first magazine devoted to SF" was written). But that's not why it loses a star in my opinion, nor is the non-inclusion (explained in the text) of art by Chris Foss, a personal favourite of mine. Rather it us the seemingly random nature in which book-cover art is detailed, varying from simply saying that a picture was a cover, to listing the title, publisher, author and date, with every variation in between. I got tired of liking a piece which was listed as being the cover of a book only to have to break off to research who wrote said book. Also, I found the forward by Ray Bradbury to be very heavy work, compared to the rest of the text.
The art itself, to this fan, is variable - I'm sure each piece has it's merits and historical significance, but I'm not, in general, a fan of the surreal pieces, many of which leave me cold. Still, there is enough variation to keep me happy and I will no doubt be flicking through this book again.
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