For some reason, the first part of the book was not as impressive to me as the last 3/4s. I think part of this is that a lot of this part was old news for me. It could have been I was just feeling grumpy. The last 75 to 80% was quite interesting though. Some I knew but learned new stuff about that too. And after taking university art history, that's pretty darn good. ( )

I enjoyed this quick run through art history, although as other reviewers mentioned, pictures would be great. I googled the pictures as I went but I got easily sidetracked by other works of art along the way, which I wouldn't list as a negative. I wasn't clear on the audience, the vocabulary was fairly basic, suggesting younger readers, but the content didn't always match the tone set by that simple vocab. It made me want to look at more detailed works of certain periods though and it exposed me to artists I'd never heard of so a success overall. ( )

I really liked this!

I knew much of the history that the book covers, though in far less depth than the author -- so it was easy to follow along despite the absence of any images in the book. (This was done, I imagine, to keep licensing costs from breaking the publisher!)

I learned a great deal, and enjoyed the author's voice. I was grateful that the book was divided into thematic chapters, so that I could take a break every so often to digest what I had learned.

Very good! ( )

[Making a Mark: Letter to a Grandson on the Story of European Painting] by [[Marjorie Ann Watts]] both hits and misses the mark. (Pun intended.) It was offered as an Early Reviewers title and I requested it because I justed started to paint and I thought a refresher on European art would be interesting. And it was, to a point.

The author started wiith cave paintings and ended with 21st century art. Information is provided on the artists, techniques and historical events. In that area the book achieved what it set out to do and on that bases I recommend it.

Where it completely missed the mark was the publisher's decision to publish it solely as an ebook. An art book without pictures is not an art book. Detailed information is provided whereby the reader can look at pictures on the internet, and while this maybe helpful for some it didn't work for me. Leaving the book to search the internet interrupted the flow of the book and became a nuisance, which meant I stopped doing it. Having run a publishing company for seven years and thus have some background in the publishing process, I really question the assumptions the publisher made about the book's audience and why they short-changed both the book and it's author by publishing [Making a Mark] as an ebook.

Ebooks are useful to readers who are looking for portable libraries, who don't want to be bothered by heavy, cumbersome books, who want to be able to adjust the font size. They are great for straightforward books. But, for me, once illustrations, photos, maps and the like are introduced they start to fail the reader as the technology does not support these in a large, clear format. This is where [Making a Mark] failed me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 For the text.
⭐️⭐️ For presentation
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Overall ( )

Although the intended audience is teenagers, and I'm sure they would like the electronic version of this book, I think I'd prefer it as a print book. I was rich in the history of art and I enjoyed it immensely. Check it out, and if you are a young person or if have a young person that you know, then buy for them as a gift. It's a great way to learn about art history in an entertaining way. ( )