A great book by a great thinker. All about how images and therefore information and beliefs can be manipulated. People could really benefit from reading it, its history and scholarship are fascinating.

This is almost a philosophy book, really. Morris carefully helps the reader distinguish between: the photograph, that which is depicted by the photograph, that which is not depicted in the photograph, the text surrounding the photograph, the inferences we make from the photograph, and the inferences we make from the text. These are important things to sort out, and to distinguish. He makes, repeatedly and clearly, with forceful arguments as to the importance of the point, this point: We imbue a photograph with too much truth, because it looks real. Skepticism is vital here, since our instincts point in the wrong direction. In this modern era, we mostly know about digital alterations, but we we tend too much to forget the many many other ways that a photograph can mislead us.

It's a good book, and one completely worth owning and reading, if you're at all interested in EITHER photography OR media.

One quibble: In the section on Walker Evans and the missing alarm clock. Curtis is simply wrong. Agee does mention the alarm clock, or to be precise the sound of an alarm clock, and suggests (in that fabulously loopy and ambiguous Agee way) that the clock is set 2 hours fast. It's right there at the end of "The house is left alone" in the chapter "The Gudger House". That Curtis would claim that Agee does not mention the clock suggests that Curtis couldn't be bothered to read the book, but only to dip into the inventory sections. That Morris would repeat the claim suggests, unfortunately, that he couldn't be bothered to read it closely either, although it's clear that he's read large pieces of it. It's a tough book to read, I'll grant you, but I am astonished that a man who would fly to Crimea to check the background for one image would fail this check on another image.

Agee's reference to the clock does not immediately resolve any questions about what it's doing in Evans' photo, at least under my reading, but the fact that his reference goes unmentioned (indeed, denied) is disturbing to me, and makes me worry about the scholarship all around, a little. It probably provides a little more evidence that the clock is Gudger's.

That quibble aside, let me end on a positive note: Morris did some great work here, and has written a really wonderful, accessible, book on an important topic.

As a photographer, I appreciated Errol Morris' book on several levels. He examines several case studies, specific photographs since the advent of photography which have in some way affected the perception of history; his choices in themselves are intreguing. Morris' style of writing manages to read as both academic and personal, and he takes advantage of all the research options available, both human and otherwise. His central point, that an image can be manipulated by both the artist and the viewing public to become something more, makes you question all of modern media.

This is not a book for a tipical or amateur photographer. This is a book por people who care very seriously about photography. This is the kind of book for people who keeps thinking about what photography really is, the importance of photography, the influence of photography, the history of photography, the mass media manipulation using photography. In other words, don't buy this book if you don't care about photography's theory. And if you do, don't miss it!

One of the most addictive, fascinating collection of essays I've ever read... Errol Morris makes deceptively simple observations about the nature of photography, and then allows those observations to take him (and us) deeper down the philosophical rabbit hole than we could possibly expect. His obsessive, driven sleuthing occasionally creates a strange kind of riveting suspense, making this book easily the equal of his greatest, most entertaining film work. Get it!

I like the book. I'm a big fan of Morris's films and am interested in what he has to say. My main problem is that it's a remaindered copy with a black mark drawn across the bottom pages, defacing the book. Anyone who has purchased remainders knows what I mean. So my complaint is that when the seller is offering a remaindered book, the description should note that in the book's description. I would not have purchased the book--even at this price--I'd known it was going to be "defaced."

Errol Morris is a documentary cinematographer. In this book, he offers up meditations on truth and still photography. His perspective is unremittingly that of a documentarian -- he has very little interest in aesthetic issues in this volume. They may impinge tangentially, as he considers issues of arranging the objects being photographed, but they are never his focus.

The style of the book reminded me of a Studs Terkel book -- he interviews people who have some relationship to each of a half-dozen photographs that comprise the nominal topics for the book's chapters. The interview approach keeps the material accessible and rather chatty, even when it delves into arcana of image processing or forensic analysis of photographs. AFAICS, there is no main point that the book is trying to put forth. Rather, it is a series of ruminations on the topic of photographs as historical (or news) artifacts.

I thoroughly enjoyed the explorations, in the way that I enjoyed the movie "My Dinner with Andre" -- I would have liked to have been present during the interviews, and reading the book is the next best thing. There are times when I was less than convinced of the correctness of points being made -- for example, the big conclusion of the first photographs examined was that it is the accidental and unimportant aspects of a photograph that are the reliable indicator of truth within it. While there may be some validity to that observation, there was also considerable value in the alternative ideas that were examined along the way.

Morris' expectation that there should be one irrefutable standard for establishing truth in a photograph was what was flawed, not the particlar standards that were put forward. The fact that they all led to the same conclusion was a much more reliable basis for believing that conclusion than any one of them in isolation, including the one he finally settled on.

But the value of ths book is not that it presents unassailable conclusions. Rather, it is in the questions with which it chooses to wrestle. If you have any interest in photo journalism, documentary photography, or history, this book will be an engaging exploration of ways in which photography can enlarge our appreciation of historical events and the ways in which it may be an impediment to that appreciation. It is well worth a read.

Though it was published earlier, this is the best book I read in 2014. It has flaws - the last third isn't nearly as good as the first two thirds - but Morris' discussion of the authenticity of the famous Crimean War picture, the scope of his intellectual engagement, his detective work, the careful approach he took to his subject is absolutely breathtaking. Consider this a seven star review minus two stars for the last section. Highly recommended.

Buch in bestem Zustand, blitzschnelle Lieferung - danke!

Un inteligente ensayo, que aunque se puede leer a través de su blog en el NY Times, el libro esta bien encuadernado y posee un tamaño de letra que se agradece. Morris es un fabulador y utiliza constantemente las técnicas del arco dramático para atrer al lector a su investigación. No escatima esfuerzos en ir hasta el final y seguir el hilo. Dilemas interesantes y contemporáneos de la fotografía. Totalmente recomendable. La sección dedicada a Walker Evans puede herir sensibilidades a los más románticos, pero de eso se trata este libro, de la desmitificación.

If you want some philosophy and some sleuthing combined in the medium of photography, then this is the book for you.

Errol Morris clearly has an intellect worth engaging but what comes through just as strongly is his sense of humour. A wonderful storyteller, he turns each of the chapters into a thriller, with a dark wit underlying the lot. It makes what could have been heavy going into a joy to read.

There are four sections, each covering a major topic on the implications of photography. And in each section, Morris uses a set of images to demonstrate his point of view.

These include;

the intentions of the photographer

what photographs reveal and conceal

captioning, propaganda and fraud, and

photography and memory.

After reading a variety of photographic theory, it is wonderful to have such a skilled practitioner re-examine photography and turn some of the basic interpretations on their head. This is a timely treatise on the nature of photography.

I highly recommend it to any photographer or documentary film director, and anyone else interested in the theory of photography and documentation.

This book is well writte in every way, its author follows several cases that are mysteries of photograph and has researched and written them well. He investigates each case from all angles, and each case is interesting and easy for the reader.