Michelle Johnson

I enjoyed reading this book largely because it gave a bit more insight into the studies and follow-up studies and results of the psychological studies into self control. If you're coming into this book after reading other books on willpower, self control, and grit, you're not going to hear much of anything new as far as approaches. What I like about the book is how it delves more into the academic studies and some of the real-world results, with clearer connections between what they found in the studies (yes, there were multiple studies over the decades into delay of gratification by many investigators, which is another thing I liked) and the follow-ups. It helps that the author is one of the investigators who carried out the oft-mentioned “marshmallow test,” and I think that helps add some insight. He looks at the various findings and adds his insight (including a brief comment on the whole “willpower is a muscle and tires” idea).

Read if you're interested in some more details on the findings and the connections Mischel and others found to delay of gratification and success later in life. He explains how genes and environment combined have influence on individual's self control, and how delay of gratification can have ripple effects in other areas of life. But he also makes it clear that while change is possible, it is the desire of the individual that makes a difference.

I rather enjoyed this book, which was part memoir and part insight into Chuck Jones' approach to animation, and many Looney Tunes and other characters specifically. I enjoyed the humor and voice he was able to impart, which made the animation details just as much of a story and entertaining as the anecdotes he presented.

While it isn't as technical as other books on animation, or as detailed as other animation history books, I think this would be a good book to at least read through once for Jones' voice and wit, as well as the technical information. There are numerous illustrations, from sketches by Jones himself and others, as well as photos. I enjoyed studying many of the sketches to learn more about his quirks and stylings, which would be helpful if you're a fan of his work.

All in all, I enjoyed it.

If you're looking for a book on how to lose a lot of weight, this is not the book for you. This is more about maintaining a sustainable weight range, as well as a discussion on why the conventional diets we think of don't work in the long run. The author also looks at how our current culture feeds into compulsion to diet, how weight isn't necessarily tied into health (namely we use weight as the main factor for health and not always connecting to other health factors such as activity or economics), and are negatively biased to the overweight and obese.

She explores why losing weight is hard, and draws on the work of her lab to support it. I'd like more from other studies. The book is an easy to understand one, and does give you things to think about if you're looking to maintain your weight. But if you're looking for structured advice to lose weight, it's probably not what you're looking for.

I found this to be a good read and a chance to learn a bit more about pre-Mickey Mouse Walt Disney and about the Oswald shorts. If you're interested in learning more about Oswald and his animated shorts, this is the book to get.

The first fifth of the book is the history aspect, covering Walt Disney as he moved away from his earlier work on the Alice shorts through the creation and eventual loss of Oswald, to the reacquisition of Oswald and the original 26 Disney-helmed shorts by the Disney company, and the search for and restoration of the shorts that have been found so far. The majority of the book then shifts to detailed synopsis of the shorts and features concept art and production stills of the shorts.

I think the history section is well written and gives a great sense of context about Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, and the other creators at the time, the difficulties Disney faced as a contract creator, and how Oswald managed to influence the creation of Mickey Mouse. The synopsis are very useful for those who haven't or can't see the shorts that have been found, and definitely a must read for the shorts that are still missing. The quality of the images related to the shorts is also very good, and nice to see for those interested in the production of early Disney animation (I enjoyed seeing the story sheets, which are precursors to the more flexible storyboards filmmakers use now).

If you're an artist who's had problems mixing just the right shade of purple or green or anything else, this book can help by explaining why. The first 35 pages is where you'll find the theory, while the rest of the book is a series of mixing exercises so you can learn through practice how to get your desired colors. Admittedly, it may take a couple reads of the theory for it to really sink in.

At its core, Wilcox explains how the three-primaries color method misleads learning artists because it works on the premise of “pure” pigments, but pure reds, yellows, and blues don't exist. Instead it's better to use his bias color wheel uses pairs of red, yellow, and blue made of a combination of pairs that lean in opposite directions on the color wheel. You may find this information shared online in the form split-primary color wheels, which is the same idea as Wilcox's but explained as warm and cool pairings.

You might find similar information on color theory and mixing a bit more easily online and in video tutorials, but if you like reading your information and want guided exercises to help you dig into making the colors, Wilcox's book is for you. He gives around 50 color-mixing exercises in his book for you to follow along with.