Theo Jansen: The Great Pretender

Theo Jansen has a good sense of humor and a very likable writing style. This book is a down to Earth and very enjoyable mix of the story, philosophy, and details behind his kinetic sculptures.

I was hoping for something that would be more like an instruction manual on how to make some of Theo Jansen's terrific stuff. I love the book, and recommend it, but it raises more questions than answers. The questions for me are of two types. Type 1 question: Might there be a non-biological (and non-computer) path to creating life? I don't think we're even close to being able to ask this question, or for anyone to have even thought of it. Yet Theo Jansen did. What might someday become a scientific question, Jansen has prematurely raised it as an aesthetic question. This puts him in league with Leonardo and Jules Verne. Maybe aesthetic/backyard-inventing stuff question--there is a lot of Mythbuster and Rube Goldberg here. Type 2 question: How can I steal as many ideas from him as possible? And where in the U.S. can I get that terrific cheap thin PVC??? (I used to be able to get it). I've never before seen a photo of a shop-jig that I couldn't figure out. I can't figure out most of the one's in the book. Still there's a lot of information, and the videos on the DVD are terrific. I admit my type 2 questions aren't reasonable, but I still want to know more. I won't be satisfied until my students are making walking widgets that are chasing dogs, teachers and their friends around the school yard. Buy this book and someday a strandbeast will be happily stomping a beach near you.

I'm mostly writing this to say that yes, this book comes with a DVD, attached in a clear plastic sleeve to the inside of the back cover. The DVD contains "the" full-length beach-animal video (17min) as well as a few shorts of Jansen's other artwork, pranks, and a little more beach-animal footage. (I don't know if it's PAL or NTSC or what zone... I use Linux!) The book itself is somewhat of a raw, archetypal thing. The pages have a matte finish rather than being glossy. The color is muted, not vibrant. Jansen is, in my opinion, a very bad doodler, and there are many of his sketches scattered throughout. The color photos are good, though many of the layout elements (background colors, fonts) are crude. There are many images of the jigs he uses to actually form beach-animal components, and these are exceptionally beautiful. I won't comment on the written content, but there is a lot of it. This book is essential for anyone who is seriously curious about Jansen's beach-animals, though it falls short of demonstrating how to construct them.

Beautiful book

Bel libro rilegato e con splendide foto con descrizione. Theo Jansen è un geniale inventore e progettista, le sue macchine sono stupefacenti.

I was fascinated by the concept and existence of the Strandbeest, and I had hoped that the book would provide a lot more background. Sadly it doesn't deliver on that score. It was very expensive for what it is, which is a lot of photography and not much information. Jansen really labours the point about their "evolution" far beyond what it can take. Initially I thought that was a bit of fun, quite quirky, but seeing "family trees" and hundreds of made up names was too much.

Like an old friend who shares the variety of sensitivities, the book store's customers' service is professional and that adds the good impression of commanding and receiving the book.