At 400 hundred pages "short" is not a great descriptive word. :) But it was to the point on the subjects it covered and a good book for covering the proper way to write about art. ( )

Although I don't recall which college class I had to buy this book for, I remember it being one of the most helpful aids in writing, particularly in the numerous history and theory classes I took. Now on its 11th edition (and nearly twice as long), Barnet's boom is an excellent primer on asking the right questions, all toward appreciating, understanding, and critiquing art, be it paintings, sculptures, photographs, or architecture. A couple decades later, the architecture advice is pretty conservative, focused solely on formal analysis, but perhaps the scope has broadened in subsequent editions to encompass broader, contemporary concerns. That said, the book best serves students by giving them a foundation of how to look at art and then how to tackle writing about it. ( )