Gardners art through the ages 16th edition

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy/rent this book on Kindle!
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022

The first photo is from a museum’s web page and in it you can see the texture of the paper the Japanese woodblock print is made on, the detailed patterns on the women’s kimonos, and the beautiful earth tones of the print. The photo on the right is a screenshot from Gardner’s on Kindle. What an embarrassment. I literally have to look up each artwork for myself on the internet as the illustrations contained in the Kindle version just pixelate as soon as you try to zoom in to see any detail or texture. Many of the sidebar layouts are broken as well—there’s clearly no quality control here as a publisher can refresh a file at any time. As another review points out, none of the figure references are hyperlinks (grr! In this day and age?! Really?). So you have to guess what page number a chapter is on if you come across a reference to something in another chapter. The text is fine when you can read it (you can’t read it on the pages with the broken sidebars); the content of the book is very good. But the e-book production values make the Kindle version virtually worthless as an art history reference book. Don’t rent this book for your Kindle. You’ll regret it and waste money and time having to look everything up elsewhere to actually see the images.

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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2022

This hardcover is beautiful! The fonts are small but I was aware of that before purchase. The pictures are vivid. While my online structure is great and provides pictures, this sure beats looking at the pictures on my online class. I’m happy with this book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 21, 2022

I'm having difficulty reading the text because the font is so small, and the kerning is very tight to shove more words on a page. This is not a book you can cozy up on the sofa with because there is no way to hold it due to its size, weight, and smooth cover that has no traction.

Since this is required for an art history class, I am reading it in spurts, with lots of lighting and a magnifying lamp.

The written content is full of information, but many of the thumbnail images at 1.5x2cm are worthless.

This book should be offered in two parts.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 17, 2021

Was looking for art books as Christmas gift for my girlfriend who has been taking beginner-intermediate painting classes over the past couple of years. She had pre-owned art history book, art student textbook, and art dictionary on her wish list. I was told by librarian this was considered by many to be the quintessential history volume every library needed. GF was a very happy camper.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 25, 2021

eh its a textbook, same as always

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 27, 2019

Beautiful book. The scope is breathtaking, and the text and visuals pleasing. Helpful framework of world history. Concise summaries at the beginning and end of each chapter. My only quibble would be the omission of some artists who should be acknowledged, but aren't: Piero di Cosimo, Hockney, Yves Klein, Wayne Thiebaud, Joan Brown and a few others. Also, the chariot of Bacchus in Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne is driven by cheetahs, not leopards. Notwithstanding the nits, this is a Worthy book. It especially excels in the ancient art sections at the beginning. If the cost is prohibitive I highly recommend Art: The Definitive Visual Guide.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 14, 2020

Huge Heavy Book
Nice Big Pictures
Well packed when recieved
Daughter needed for her Art Class at College.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2020

I loved studying Art History with this book. From the Venusof Willendorf to The Terra-cotta Warriors this book informed me and taught me so much! I still could take Art History 2 and 3 to finish the book but I graduate in June with my BA. I plan on finishing the book this summer bc it fascinates me and thanks to Amazon for gifting my rental and letting me keep the book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 18, 2022

I purchased the Kindle version this book due to needing it for a college course. Every single time I try to open it, it crashes my app. It has left me stranded during class times when I really need to access the information, and prevented me from doing assignments. When it does work, it is great, but if you are buying this as a textbook that you will need to access often, it may be best to try another option. I don't have another option at this point, and just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best when I need to access the material I guess. This has been an issue since Fall 2021 Semester, and is continuing into Spring 2022 Semester for those concerned at how long this has been taking place for.

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