rwcarter
Got this book in the mail yesterday and since I'm sick anyway, I read the whole thing while laying in bed. Very interesting book, although it does have some flaws.
There are a number of proofreading/translation errors that will hopefully be fixed in future editions of the book. My other major complaint about the book is what I'd call "a feature, not a bug" in the computer world - the book seems disjointed. I'm sure that was intentional so that people could jump around and read any given chapter without having to read any other chapters where the information had already been covered. But having read the book from cover to cover, I was somewhat annoyed to have the same information thrown at me again and again.
Of course the book introduced me to a deck I hadn't known about that I must now have - Tarot of Tharbon.
I found Pietro's section on the "first" RWS edition interesting. (And I thought I was anal retentive
) My only complaint about that section was that it would've been nice to have more of the figures on the same page as the text that talked about them. Reading about a detail and then having to flip back 2 or 3 pages to see it, then reading about another detail on the same page as the first and having to flip back again broke the flow for me.
It was quite interesting seeing the development process laid out in the book. It never even occurred to me that a tarot deck would have a script! I wish they had said more about the whole borders/multi-lingual titles issue than "The cards are scaled to an appropriate size, borders are added, and keywords and titles are superimposed as needed." And considering how useless most people find the LWB's I found it interesting that the book encourages people to read them.
I also think some of the alternative takes that didn't make the final cut on certain decks/decks put on hold/decks in early stages of development would make interesting decks anyway:
It also would've been nice to have an Index in the back of the book that lists decks, artists, etc and where in the book they're discussed. It also would've been nice to have a list of illustrations for the same purpose.
It was nice putting faces to names. It was also nice to read the intent behind certain decks that I've bought and just don't "get." The book also made me realize just how many LoS decks I actually have in my collection. All in all, I've very glad I bought the book.
Rodney
There are a number of proofreading/translation errors that will hopefully be fixed in future editions of the book. My other major complaint about the book is what I'd call "a feature, not a bug" in the computer world - the book seems disjointed. I'm sure that was intentional so that people could jump around and read any given chapter without having to read any other chapters where the information had already been covered. But having read the book from cover to cover, I was somewhat annoyed to have the same information thrown at me again and again.
Of course the book introduced me to a deck I hadn't known about that I must now have - Tarot of Tharbon.
I found Pietro's section on the "first" RWS edition interesting. (And I thought I was anal retentive
) My only complaint about that section was that it would've been nice to have more of the figures on the same page as the text that talked about them. Reading about a detail and then having to flip back 2 or 3 pages to see it, then reading about another detail on the same page as the first and having to flip back again broke the flow for me.It was quite interesting seeing the development process laid out in the book. It never even occurred to me that a tarot deck would have a script! I wish they had said more about the whole borders/multi-lingual titles issue than "The cards are scaled to an appropriate size, borders are added, and keywords and titles are superimposed as needed." And considering how useless most people find the LWB's I found it interesting that the book encourages people to read them.
I also think some of the alternative takes that didn't make the final cut on certain decks/decks put on hold/decks in early stages of development would make interesting decks anyway:
- Ghiuselev's take on the Etruscan
- TdM purists would hate it, but I would buy Andrea Serio's modernization of the TdM in a heartbeat!
- Baggi's take on the Egyptian Tarot
- Gaudenzi's Fantasy Tarot
- Castelli's take on the Pagan Tarot
- Evangelisti's Tarot of Shadows
It also would've been nice to have an Index in the back of the book that lists decks, artists, etc and where in the book they're discussed. It also would've been nice to have a list of illustrations for the same purpose.
It was nice putting faces to names. It was also nice to read the intent behind certain decks that I've bought and just don't "get." The book also made me realize just how many LoS decks I actually have in my collection. All in all, I've very glad I bought the book.
Rodney
