Almost cinematic in design and construction, truly, "The Magic of M.C. Escher" is a breakthrough book on the works of this artist. Every page is filled with inspiration and surprise. Designed by a gifted art director named Erik The' and produced by Andreas Landshoff, this book flows together to form a loving catalogue of Mr. Escher's visions. It is unlike other books based on Escher which tend to be either tutorial or biographical in nature. Whereas these past books, more or less, deconstruct and analyze his works mainly through words, "The Magic of M.C. Escher" successfully accomplishes this through the images themselves, revelling in their sheer beauty, from his preliminary studies all the way to the finished prints. There are many double foldout pages to better impact Escher's mastery of his craft. Some of the pages are filled, corner to corner, with extremely detailed, magnified sections of specific works that allow the reader to closely experience what it's like to be "nose to nose" with the actual prints.

This book catapults the reader into Escher's world immediately. Before you even open the title page, you discover that the inside of the dust cover reproduces, in full color, of course, "Metamorphosis III" in three horizontal panels each measuring an astounding 39" across. This book brings us along on a visual journey ajoined by Escher's own words, as if he is personally giving us insights on a guided tour of his works. It thoughtfully limits itself to short excerpts from Escher's lectures and letters whose sole purpose is to compliment glorious, detailed photographs of original work. It's filled with Escher's never-before published pencil studies and sketches, extreme closeups of his prints, and detailed photographs of his original carved wood blocks. The pencil studies from his notebooks allow us to follow his thought processes and fully appreciate the endless hours he joyfully and dutifully spent on formulating the precise combination of graphic elements to arrive at his finished images.

The book makes side-by-side visual comparisons of earlier works that inspired Escher to create more self-satisfying images that better convey his "relative division of the plane" and other spacial concepts. Most of its visual content were supplied by two sources: The M.C.Escher Foundation and Michael Sachs, a private collector and print dealer from Connecticut.

Overall, this is book is a stunning, loving homage to this master of printmaking and genius to the graphic arts. Nothing is spared in this book's construction and design. If the adage is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, "The Magic of M.C.Escher" could fill a library.

Wonderful coffee-table book of Escher's best drawing illusions. Even the jackets is two-sided and imaginatively done with style.

Given as a gift by a special friend of mine, the book has always adorned the coffee table in the living room as a centerpiece that never fails to attract the attention of both art lovers and art dabblers alike. Perhaps it could be said that my interest in the two seemingly disparate field of mathematics and art motivated that friend of mine to purchase the book, as Escher himself apparently believed and proved that those two seemingly unrelated fields could be beautifully synthesized in a brilliant fusion of creativity. The result is more than convincing.

Escher was a Dutch wanna-be mathematician, who expressed himself through incredibly intricate, creative works of art. This book contains hundreds of his drawing as well as his notebook sketches, which is interesting to look at because you get to see how he developed his drawings. Accompanying most of the pictures in this book are excerpts of letters that he wrote to various people. If you want a book on Escher's work, then this is the one to buy! Fantastic.

High-quality reproductions of the amazing artworks. Minimalistic style of comments and excerpts from artist's letters gives you a focus on subtle details and motives, and lets images tell you the rest.