[.ca] Total Tattoo Book (ISBN 0446670014)

not what i expected:
im a big fan of body art. i read and research alot about it. i also have four tattoos of my own and plan on getting more. i even dated a tattoo artist for a short period of time. i hung out at the tattoo shop every day and was around 5-10 artists at a time every day. i know my stuff. but by no means am i out writing a book on tattoos. with that said. this book was not the "total tattoo book" i expected. it mostly told me stuff i already knew, had bad pictures, and talked way to much about her personal experiences. i was bored and even skipped sentences at times just to finish it. but i did finish it out of respect for the author and give her two stars. 1 star for her efforts 1 star because its about tattoos

very dissapointing:
Amy Krakow has one small ankle tattoo, attends a couple tattoo festivals and calls her self an expert.I'd have more respect if she went under the needle a couple more times but she has one petty ankle tattoo.Big deal!The book was somewhat intertesting but she needs to go off "I'm cool because I have one tattoo", ego trip and realize thousands of us have at least one tattoo and don't write a book on how individual we are.

Not TOTAL tattoo book:
Well it was a light read and i learnt a little. It doesn't deserve its title of TOTAL tattoo book because its far from complete. The author goes off the track with personal stories on many occasions and forgets what she is supposed to be talking about, so the subtitles in each chapter are loosely connected with the text. However, i wouldn't totally discourage the purchasing of this book as I was entertained by it. After all any tattoo talk is interesting, although in my opinion the author should have stuck to one genre- either a personal recount of the artists she knows and her experience- or a profesional factual novel in 3rd person. It was a light read that was enough to pass the time.

Great Tattoo Ethnography:
"The Total Tattoo Book" is a great tattoo ethnography. Amy Krakow explores the many elements associated with tattooing and answers questions to the sociological inquiries related to the tattoo subculture. Krakow provides a variety of perspectives which both collector or novices may relate to, whether to compare experiences under the needle, or simply interested in this unique field of art.

A Must Read 4 Tat2 Lovers:
This book was hard to put down, even though I had homework to do. It has a wide variety of categories explained in plain english for newbies w/ pics. The center has a nice layout of color and b/w photos. It also has a partial directory of tattoo artists in each state (where legal or not).