Koncocoo

Best Pop Culture Art

Go the F**k to Sleep
" Go the F*** to Sleep challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own." Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, a children's book inspired by Go the F*** to Sleep and appropriate for kids of all ages, is also available, as well as Seriously, You Have to Eat for finicky ones everywhere! Adam Mansbach's novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-selling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005.
Reviews
"I was shocked to find that some reviewers, apparently completely forgot to read the title of the book before purchasing. For those parents who do have a sense of humor and who may not find profanity particularly offensive and who live in the real world. It's real, overworked, frustrated beyond belief, about to loose your mind at 3am, inner parent monologue. Samuel L. Jackson should narrate a book for every single stage of life, from being born to the grave. This book is one that will be shared from one exhausted, fed up, delusional, red eyed, sleep deprived parent to another."
"I purchased this book as a 21st birthday gift for my best friend."
"A great shower or first baby gift for those parents with a sense of humor."
"If you have a child that fights sleep, this book may be for you."
"Then they said their baby wouldn't need it - that they knew how to make babies sleep really well."
"This book is clever and funny and says what as a parent I have wanted to say countless times - just go the F to sleep already!"
"Nor should you purchase this book if you do not have a sense of humor."
"I gave this book to my best friend who is due any day now and she could not stop laughing."
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The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"As a Zelda fan it's wonderful to have a physical book of all game events (from 1986=2011), concept images and developer interviews."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
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How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way
One of the first and still one of the best, Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way has been the primary resource for any and all who want to master the art of illustrating comic books and graphic novels. One of the nice things about being a comicbook artist is the fact that your equipment is no big deal. A simple drawing pen with a thin point, for inking and bordering. Handy for keeping your illustration paper from slipping off the drawing board. Invaluable for drawing borders and keeping lines parallel. This plain ol' hunk of any kind of cloth is used to wipe your pen points, brushes, and whatever. Of course, there are some things we omitted, like a chair to sit on and a light so that you can see what you're doing in case you work in the dark. Also, it's a good idea to have a room to work in-otherwise your pages can get all messy in the rain. E: An outline around lettering done in this jagged shape is called a splash balloon. L: The connecting "arrows" on dialogue balloons, showing who is speaking, are called pointers. O: All this little technical stuff, showing who publishes the mag and when and where, usually found on the bottom of the first page, is the indicia (pronounced in-deeé -shah). P: Copy in which someone is talking to the reader, but which is not within dialogue balloons, is called a caption. Movin' right along, we now introduce you to one of Marvel's many widely heralded close-ups, so called because the "camera" (meaning the reader's eye) has moved in about as close as possible. This type of panel, in which the reader's view of the scene is from farther away, enabling him to see the figures from head to toe, is called a medium shot. In fact, since it shows such an extreme wide-angle scene, you might even call it a panoramic long shot without anyone getting angry at you. On the other hand, when you're below the scene of action, as in this panel, where your eye, level is somewhere near Spidey's heel, we're inclined to refer to it as a worm's-eye view. A drawing in which the details are obscured by solid black (or any other single tone or color) is called a silhouette.
Reviews
"This is pretty neat."
"I have a some drawing books (like the Andrew Loomis ones), and found everything here, of course, more broadly put, but there."
"Bought it at a great discount!"
"Great references for a pretty specific set of art styles which is extremely useful when trying to develop your own style but do so in a more polished way."
"I had this book when I was a young an up starting artist."
"You get to learn movement forms and how to build a character and then how to increase dramatic effects, all things that are self evident from reading a marvel comic."
"My nephew loved this book to learn how to draw his own comics."
"The steps they use in the book to draw are nicely laid out and I think this is a great book for anyone that wants to start learning to draw comics or someone that has already started!"
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Best Graffiti & Street Art

Wall and Piece
Banksy, Britain's now-legendary "guerilla" street artist, has painted the walls, streets, and bridges of towns and cities throughout the world. His identity remains unknown, but his work is prolific, and now for the first time, he is putting together the best of his work — old and new in a fully illustrated colour volume.
Reviews
"Very interesting book, mostly great pictures."
"If anyone supposes they have a sense of humor and a little bit of irreverence, or is it reverence, for the human condition.... this book will sure to make that anyone a banksy fan."
"This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who either knows Bansky's art or wants to explore a new genre and learn how wonderfully bold and beautiful his artworks are."
"so many awesome Banksy pieces in this book."
"Interesting book & a must have for any Banksy fan."
"The shipping was faster than expected, coming at least 5 days early."
"I especially like having this book because so many of his works have been removed, painted over and stolen."
"This is more of a picture book, the written content is minimal, but still a worthwhile purchase and thought provoking."
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Best Individual Artist Essays

Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie is the most iconic artist in the history of Star Wars . Brandon Alinger is the chief operations officer of the Los Angeles branch of Prop Store and the author of Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy .
Reviews
"I haven't been as excited about a Star Wars book since Rinzler's THE MAKING OF STAR WARS. Not only does this set include the studies for his paintings, but EVERY version of each painting (with commentary). The only painting that could possibly be missing as far as I can tell is the night time establishing shot of Chewbacca's house in the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, but it's unclear if McQuarrie created that painting. I thought of how STAR WARS changed the way movies were made and seen, how it opened the door for everything that followed from Lucas, how it inspired the lives of so many artists, including my own. In my opinion this is among the most important Star Wars books ever released."
"This huge (and heavy) book set is the ultimate treasure for whoever is a greedy fan of Ralph McQuarrie's work on the classic Star Wars trilogy!"
"If you call yourself a Star Wars Fan, You Better Get this book set above ALL others!"
"Thousands (yes, thousands) of images are beautifully presented here and put in context – concept sketches, preliminary sketches for paintings, color studies, finished production paintings, matte paintings, promotional artwork, and on and on. The written text and captions are also insightful and surprisingly specific with regard to dates and details."
"This isn't just the final paintings, but it has all of McQuarrie's sketches and designs along the way."
"Ralph McQuarrie is one of those icons of the Star Wars saga and always will be."
"The authors have been very thorough in their examination of Ralph McQuarrie's Star Wars artwork."
"The packaging could be a little better, as the box the books come in was packaged in another box only slightly bigger than the box containing the books."
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Best Drawing

Wreck This Journal (Red) Expanded Ed.
Through a series of creative and quirky prompts, acclaimed guerilla artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in destructive acts — poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting pages with coffee, coloring outside the lines, and more — in order to experience the true creative process. “ Wreck This Journal encourages you to stop fretting about quality and start relishing the artistic process.” —Oprah.com. “I love this book and the playful way that Keri Smith teaches people the act of creating by putting you right on the spot. Wreck This Journal is a fun, interactive book that you will want to work in every day. “Wreck this Journal makes a great gift for someone who's going through a stressful time, needs a form of release, or anyone who could use a few minutes of fun.” — Jactionary. “Calling all bookworms and creative doodlers, Wreck This Journal is the perfect book to spruce up your summer. “A conceptual artist and author luring kids into questioning the world and appreciating every smell, texture and mystery in it.” — TIME Magazine.
Reviews
"I never even realized I was creative until this book came around."
"Somewhere in the book you will find a page that tells you to attach a string to the spine of the book and swing wildly."
"My one complaint is that if you did everything the book tells you to do, the book would never survive."
"My 10 yr old daughter loves this book."
"Bought some more as gifts for my young kids, they love the spontaneity of it, the destruction, and all around fun! We don't always follow the pages exactly and often go off and do our own little thing, sticking to it as we feel."
"I purchased 3 of these for family members for the holidays."
"I bought 3 of these as gifts."
"Such a cool idea."
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Best Commercial Graphic Design

How to Draw Cool Stuff: A Drawing Guide for Teachers and Students
How to Draw Cool Stuff shows simple step-by-step illustrations that make it easy for anyone to draw cool stuff with precision and confidence.
Reviews
"As adults, we over-complicate so much, and this book teaches us that maybe slowing things down and using just the basics can give very surprising results."
"There is a good reason why every reviewer is giving this book 5 Stars. To open the book, the author provides an extensive section on suggestions for teachers helping the beginning artist. From the Introduction: "Through Art we have the opportunity to showcase our personal strengths in a meaningful way." Some of my favorite drawing lessons: The "Ancient Masks" section, the "Basketball Hoop" drawing, and the "Foreshortened person" lesson. ▲ Honestly, Catherine Holmes has produced a MAGNIFICENT book for students and teachers alike. The amount of time spent producing this book must have been enormous."
"A discussion with a friend got me interested in trying out sketching and drawing as a fun and creative outlet. This is a great eBook for two groups of beginners: 1) the instant gratification type: you just got your pencils and sketch pad and you just want to start drawing things. Okay, drawing attempts is a better description, but my bad art is not what's reviewed here :). The second group of beginners are ones who want to learn more, in an easy to digest format. So we can't have it both ways :). The ebook is comfortable to read on the 7 inch Kindle Fire tablet (or anything larger), and you can zoom on the pictures whether you have your device in portrait or landscape orientation. Some of them have a semi-usable image zoom option (Paperwhite, classic Kindle with Keyboard), so if you are patient, you can also go through the drawing exercises with those. The tiny basic Kindle does not have image zoom, so it's not very useful if you are doing the drawing exercises (but still fine if you want to read the text parts)."
"9 year old who is an amazing artist already understood when I showed her the steps."
"Will want to buy the other books in this series now."
"This was a present for my daughter and she said it is the most helpful instruction guide she has ever gotten."
"This book was so awesome that I couldn't stop reading it's the best on the market I even read it when ever I have time."
"I bought this, along with a set of drawing pencils, for a kid."
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Best Advertising Graphic Design

Ogilvy on Advertising
A candid and indispensable primer on all aspects of advertising from the man Time has called "the most sought after wizard in the business." David Ogilvy (1911–1999) was a business executive who founded the advertising, marketing, and PR agency Ogilvy & Mather in 1948.
Reviews
"The greatest advertising book ever writen."
"David Ogilvy is one of the titans of advertising, and this book provides timeless insights into the business and psychology of the advertising business."
"If you're in the advertising industry, or aspiring to break in, do yourself a favor: stop reading this review and start reading Ogilvy's book."
"I'm a graphic designer that learned how to write copy after reading this and 'Confessions of an Advertising Man' years ago."
"Enjoyed the perspective from this book."
"The book is a little heavy on the historical nature of advertising, the advertising giants, and the men who made advertising important to consumers and companies alike."
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Best Fantasy & Science Fiction Coloring Books for Grown-Ups

Art of Coloring Star Wars: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity and Relaxation (Art Therapy)
Relax, and let the creativity flow through you.
Reviews
"Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you. The book has a nice heavyweight cardboard cover (front and back) which makes for a great solid surface to color on. The four two page designs are wallpaper style of repeating patterns and each is dedicated to a single subject: Yoda, R2-D2, C-3PO, Boba Fett, and finally, various ships in the midst of a battle. All of my markers bleed-through on this paper thought my Staedler triplus fineliners fared the best with more of a shadow image on the back of the page."
"I flipped through the book and found the images to be far better than any other Star Wars themed adult coloring options. I gave this 5 stars because it ticked all the boxes for a picky, vocal adult friend who is a Star Wars and coloring fan."
"With these books, every other page spread has a photographic design like a movie poster or normal coloring page and then on the next spread is somewhat of a wallpaper designs. Studies have shown that coloring is very good for people with anxiety and depression as it forces you to use specific parts of your brain and inspires creativity."
"some of the pages are amazingly beautiful, some are just OK, and some are downright confusing."
"The hard cover was well done, and even though I had read that some of the reviewers did not think the pictures were adult enough, I thought they were ok. Now that being said, I bought it for my 14 year old's birthday gift, so not for an adult."
"It is an ADULT coloring book which means there are a few bikini images of Princess Leia that, I suppose may be PG rated."
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Best Pop Culture Magazines

Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines
An illustrated collection of magazine covers from pulp fiction magazines looks at cover styles of westerns, erotic stories, mysteries, and horror. The covers became more and more garish, and promised ever greater excitement. Western covers went from an illustration of an Indian gently paddling his canoe to furious cattle stampedes, a huge gang of obviously ferocious savages attacking a defenseless family, and depictions of shootouts in every conceivable locale. Mystery covers went from showing a cop on the beat to villainous thugs tearing the clothes off a helpless young woman (most frequently a generously endowed young blonde) or any other sort of action that promised the reader endless excitement. Pulps became more and more specialized as their numbers increased, soon appealing to fans of jungle stories, science fiction, fantasy, railroad stories, romances, Westerns, Western romances, aviation, the Foreign Legion, engineering, the outdoors, courtrooms, Wall Street, newspapers, firefighters, and so on.
Reviews
"More than a simple coffee table book, this tome is worth repeated perusals.With original pulps rapidly rising in costs, the images in this book make nice stand-ins."
"Must have for any illustrator or writer."
"Great history of pulp fiction and wonderful pictures of cover art, illustrations, etc."
"What a wonderfull book."
"excellent collection of illustrations."
"Unlike other books I've seen, this one strives to cover the entire range of genres, subgenres, and specialized subjects, so that along with more familiar genres such as SF, horror, adventure, romance (love story and romance pulps had the highest circulation of any genre, we are told, but are the least likely to survive), detective, western, war, hero (the Shadow knows!"
"I also wanted a book which would represent the various genres of pulp covers, from adventure covers to science fiction to sexy damsels and risque covers, and this book delivered."
"Hard-boiled Detectives, mysterious heroes, shadowy villains, evil oriental masterminds, and dames in distress...they are the stuff of the pulp magazines and the subject of this wonderful book by Frank Robinson which traces the history of pulp magazines and provides covers to hundreds of these great pulp magazines, so many lost in the antiquity of time...not to mention paper drives of the 1940's war years. Argosy would premiere as the first true pulp back in 1896 and before long dozens of competitors would emerge such as Popular Magazine, All-Story Weekly, New Story and so many more. In the 1930's, detective pulps became the most popular as there were literally dozens of detective pulps being published. From there it's on to the hero pulps and the birth of the most famous pulp characters of all including "The Shadow", "Doc Savage", and "The Spider". But the genre that gave us the most outrageous and grisly covers of the pulp era belongs to the "shudder pulps". Robinson closes his book by providing an appendix to a handful of pulp dealers and notes on pulp values."
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Best Pop Culture Encyclopedias

On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
Now long out of print, John Dunning's Tune in Yesterday was the definitive one-volume reference on old-time radio broadcasting. Now, in On the Air , Dunning has completely rethought this classic work, reorganizing the material and doubling its coverage, to provide a richer and more informative account of radio's golden age. As he did in Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Prentice Hall, 1976), Dunning here provides a storehouse of information about the people and programs of radio's Golden Age (1930s, 1940s, 1950s). Devotees of classic television shows may be surprised to find out that such programs as Father Knows Best , Our Miss Brooks , Queen for a Day , and Sky-King all started as radio programs. Another recent publication, the Historical Dictionary of American Radio [RBB Ag 98], covers a wider range of topics related to radio but has far less coverage of individual programs.
Reviews
"Rather than replace "Tune in Yesterday" with this volume (or not buy "Tune in Tomorrow" at all), I'd advise people who are really into old-time radio to own both as companion pieces."
"There is no article in the book on any of the three (later four) broadcast companies - NBC (with its Red and Blue separate networks), CBS, Mutual and after 1943, ABC (which was the former Blue Network of NBC, forced to sell by anti trust legal action)."
"Very happy with my purchase."
"Very nostalgic for an old timer."
"John Dunning's book is amazingly comprehensive, but so are many other such assemblages of old-time radio data."
"I discovered this book while evaluating encyclopedic resources for my MLIS class; I could not put it down and bought it for my home library and as a gift for an avid radio enthusiast I knew would enjoy it!"
"For most of us today, it's hard to realize just how much good radio programming was available in the 1930s and 1940s, some of which has been preserved, and is available in places like archive.org because a small percentage of the old program records have survived."
"Interesting to find out that child voices were played by adults and black characters were played by whites."
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Best Popular Culture in Social Sciences

A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook
George R. R. Martin’s bestselling saga A Song of Ice and Fire and the runaway hit HBO series Game of Thrones are renowned for bringing Westeros’s sights and sounds to vivid life. A passion project from superfans and amateur chefs Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer—and endorsed by George R. R. Martin himself— A Feast of Ice and Fire lovingly replicates a stunning range of cuisines from across the Seven Kingdoms and beyond. In all, A Feast of Ice and Fire contains more than 100 recipes, divided by region: • The Wall: Rack of Lamb and Herbs; Pork Pie; Mutton in Onion-Ale Broth; Mulled Wine; Pease Porridge • The North: Beef and Bacon Pie; Honeyed Chicken; Aurochs with Roasted Leeks; Baked Apples • The South: Cream Swans; Trout Wrapped in Bacon; Stewed Rabbit; Sister’s Stew; Blueberry Tarts • King’s Landing: Lemon Cakes; Quails Drowned in Butter; Almond Crusted Trout; Bowls of Brown; Iced Milk with Honey • Dorne: Stuffed Grape Leaves; Duck with Lemons; Chickpea Paste • Across the Narrow Sea: Biscuits and Bacon; Tyroshi Honeyfingers; Wintercakes; Honey-Spiced Locusts. There’s even a guide to dining and entertaining in the style of the Seven Kingdoms. Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer co-run Inn at the Crossroads, a popular food blog based on A Song of Ice and Fire.
Reviews
"I unfortunately ordered The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook: From Direwolf Ale to Auroch Stew - More Than 150 Recipes from Westeros and Beyond before this one (my incessant need to buy anything asoiaf-related), and it was a disappointent. There's the Wall, the north, the south, King's Landing, Dorne, and across the Narrow Sea. They do this for a LOT of recipes and I think it's a really neat idea, since medieval dishes can be too unusual for some people's palates or too complex to make. With its beautiful, glossy pictures and pages, varieties of recipes, and best of all - GRRM's stamp of approval, you can't go wrong with this."
"My Boss loved it and if you read an earlier review then you know we are going to cook some of the dishes for the series finale."
"The recipes are wonderful with excerpts from the SoIaF books and historical recipes they are well documented and also suggest dish and beverage pairings. The next meal was 'Summer Green Salad' which was my first time working with Fennel and daresay I was amazed by the ingredient. The crumbled cheese gave a sharpness that paired with the tart grapes and the sunflower seeds gave it a crunch without being obtrusive to the crisp salad and to top it off the mint fennel fronds gave the entire salad a refreshing delicate palate reminiscent of mint and onion. Dinner was Corn Fritters, Honeyed Chicken, Onions in Gravy, berries in Cream custard. Berries in cream custard is a simple sweet recipe. the berries are chilled then the cream custard is a simple sauce which is thick, creamy and sweet but not overly sweet to overpower the tart sweetness in the berries."
"I love the description of the GoT series."
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Best The Beatles

All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release (9/22/13)
Every album and every song ever released by the Beatles - from "Please Please Me" (U.S. 1963) to "The Long and Winding Road" (U.S. 1970) - is dissected, discussed, and analyzed by two music historians in this lively, fully illustrated work. *Starred Review* This hefty gem of a book catalogs every recording released by the Beatles, in chronological order of album release. They know their stuff (Guesdon is a musician; Margotin, a music critic), and it shows—especially in the Production and Technical Details sections, where the type of equipment is named and described, recording speeds are discussed, and there is much talk of the number of takes each song required and why.
Reviews
"book takes the "greatest bits of info" from the Lewisohn, Babiuk, Ryan/Kehew books, as well as previously published interviews by the Beatles and associates, recording anomalies (readily available on several internet sites) and puts them together under one cover (primary songwriter, instrument/vocal credit, dates/mixing/studio location and personnel, specific instruments used, the Anthology series audio material and additional background info). You will not see photos of the EMI recording boxes nor photos of every single instrument used, however there is certainly enough visual material to make the book a valuable tool covering the studio career of the Beatles."
"This is the book for it!"
"I received this great book for Christmas.....wow....exactly what I wanted."
"I was amazed how many instruments George Martin played on some later albums."
"Beatles 4 ever!"
"Bought this as a Christmas present for my Dad and he’s obsessed!"
"Loved it all, the pictures, instruments used on each song, the history and background."
"If you fell in love with the print version, as I did, but were waiting for the Kindle version so you wouldn't have to lug around that giant physical book be warned that the Kindle version has NONE of the great photos found in the print version."
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