Some really nice pages, but some drawbacks
340369
There are several reasons I can only give these books three stars. My husband bought me the set because I love to colour with markers and it said it was printed on 'extra-thick paper'. It is indeed very thick and sturdy paper, but the ink soaks into the paper too fast and makes for blotchy colouring with marks on the back side of the page where more ink went down. (note, this is colouring with water-based markers, which work just fine in my more expensive colouring books. Alcohol-based markers will soak through ANY paper or cardstock so I don't use them.) Also, the books are double-sided so if you want to display or mount them, you're going to lose 50% of the book. I attached a picture of the back side of a page so you can see the ink leakage - it's not terribly bad, but it would make it very difficult to use both sides of the page without spoiling one of them. The other reason I downgraded my rating is that the geometric designs book in particular is a mixture of very simple mandalas and 'stained glass' pages, and very complex fine-line patterns that would drive me crazy to colour, so essentially half the book is suitable for people with not-particularly-good co-ordination and vision, and the other half requires a magnifying glass and an ultra-fine tipped pencil. It would have been more practical for colourists if they'd split it into two seperate volumes - Geometrics (Easy) and Geometrics (Complicated). The Animals and Scenery volumes are much more consistently in the 'middle' and I won't have to skip any pages because of difficulty. The up-side of these books is that they came with a free weekly emailed image for you to print out, so if you have access to a printer you will get a new picture for your collection every week, and there is a small but growing facebook group for colourists to share their work, if they're not in too many other colouring groups already. :)
1962661
Most people have been focusing on the positives, and I agree with them; it's a great book.

I have two main grievances against the book, however. First, it's immensely thick. I find it difficult to carry it around with me to class if I have both my netbook and binder with me; my backpack is not small. My other grievance is almost as bothersome. The pages are very thin, which makes the ink from the next page show up clearly (to a point where you can usually make out what the next page says without flipping pages.) Here's a photocopied page, hopefully which constitutes fair use. [...]

An e-book version of this would be perfect, but I didn't see one of this, plus I don't have an e-reader yet. Again, it's a great book, but a pain to use. I have to take off two stars simply for that.
2105402
I love the quality of the printing and layout of this book, and the overview of the V&A's collection of Lucile designs is very nice, but it leaves much to be desired as a thorough survey of this couturier's work. The images are fantastic throughout, although they tend to date to the earlier half of Lady Duff-Gordon's career (pre-1910). The sketch album facsimile takes up most of the book, and while this is quite beautiful and the descriptions of the drawings are excellent, the chapters on Lady Duff-Gordon's life are rather meager. As a visual record of her house's early aesthetic this book is a fine resource but as a biography it is not. I would suggest readers interested in a fuller treatment of her career get the new biography, Lucile - Her Life by Design by Randy Bigham, an independently produced title that might not compete with V&A production values but surpasses its Lucile volume in completeness.
4754874
Not as user friendly as i had hoped... a few of the pages are off too, makes printing a headache
738662
A nice approach in the wholistic sense and a lot of good effort but some issues. My copy has a strange layout issue with page 20-21 where self-compassion pages are inserted between pages of Thyroid and Thyroid definition pages. Also surprised by the pork recipes, since when is pork part of a healthy meal with healthy fats? Olive oil is mentioned in a frying recipe, which doesn't have a high enough smoke point p. 186. There is a reference to the symptom tracker but it's missing the list of what kinds of symptoms to look for. Many of my clients were not aware of what to look for aside from the obvious bloating, diarrhea, gas. A list could have been helpful in this case. Also, many people don't tolerate stevia well, and sesame is often an allergen, as are eggs.
1220451
Some the images feature repetitive wall-paper style patters, which I'm not so fond of, but there are some that I love in there, too. I used gel pens and they worked well on the paper. If I were to use colored pencils, I am thinking a high quality soft-center type would be best -- Prismacolor would probably be a good choice. One of my favorite features of this and other Creative Haven books is that they have clean-tearing perforations.
923732
This is a very well illustrated book with tons of lovely and intricate designs. The quality of the paper is thick with a nice feeling to it. I mostly color with ultra-fine point Sharpie or Bic Mark-It permanent markers, so I was very disappointed to get it home and see that the designs are printed on BOTH sides of the paper --- I know for a fact that my markers will bleed through to the opposite side. So I guess I will have to get out my colored pencils in order to color this book, which I can deal with, but I would MUCH prefer to use my markers. Also, because so many of the designs take up the entire page, they are printed way too close to the binding to be accessible. It's extremely difficult to hold the book open with one hand while trying to color in these intricate, tiny little places virtually inside the spine of the book.

Here's my suggestions to make these coloring books BETTER:
1) Keep the good quality paper but only print the designs on ONE side of each page.
2) This book should be SPIRAL-BOUND. It would allow you to completely open the book up to each page and get into all those tiny spaces near the spine of the book. It would be easier to color as you're not trying to hold it open with one hand and color with the other. I would be willing to spend double the price ($20) for a coloring book of this quality that is spiral-bound.

Overall, I'm glad I was finally able to purchase this book (it was always sold out on previous attempts to order it). However, with my suggested changes, this VERY GOOD coloring book would be FANTASTIC!
2897461
If the PDF blocks were user-friendly, I would rate this book 5 stars. it is a great idea generator, and does a pretty good job of explaining how to alter blocks to get what you want. The chapter on altering patterns is quite good. The section on digitizing patterns, while basic, is nice and it's simplicity makes it less intimidating. However, the PDF blocks come in a single 106 page file. All the sizes are there, but they aren't organized in any meaningful way. Pieces for one block might be on pages 4,66, 67 and 90, and you have to determine that for yourself. This means you will spend hours just to get a few blocks together. for the price of the book, a guide to printing the blocks seems essential. How hard would it have been to have a little guide to what pages to print to get the bodice/skirt/pant block in the size you are looking for. For such a well-thought out book, it's a seriously irritating oversight.
1045116
This book is super cute. The pictures are well done and humorous, but here's where my problem lies. The pages are double-sided and some of the pictures span across two pages. So, first off, the pages do not tear out and the book is not spiral bound, so you can't fully open it up to color the parts of the picture that run into the binding of the book. This is pretty annoying for me, because the book is stiff and it's hard to try and pin it down and color the detail. Secondly, since the pages are double-sided, there goes my love for my fine-point Sharpies. I started coloring my first picture with them, without thinking about it, and they bled completely through, making the picture on the back useless. You'd have to stick to only colored pencils or something else that doesn't bleed. Overall, with a few minor tweaks, this book would be fantastic! However, because of those issues, I wouldn't buy it again. I'll stick to single-sided pictures that can be torn out.
4564679
The book is a great concept and nicely constructed. I like it's functionality, but I would really like more of the grid or blank pages for note taking. I probably will not end up using it for it's calendar feature (though I'd really like to) so for me the biggest carrot are the pages for notes/drawing, the bookmarks, and the whiteboard paper. The whiteboard paper is one of my favorite things.

One more thing: I think they should add a pen holder to the bottom like they do on the top so that you have a place for your dry erase pen as well.
602158
Lots  of Beautiful  Full color  plates, However I felt there was way  too much  text for  an art book,  FAR too  much  detail  and exposition ,  Also  too  many  supplemental  and B&W  progressive  pieces,,  I  believe  the book  could  have  supported  at least  20 more full  page illos.  had these elements  been  condensed,  Overall  well  worth it  and a fantastic book, But hopefully In the future  we will see another  volume  with only  full page  illos and minimal text
2768403
The images are beautiful and I like the thickness of the pages, but I cannot handle that the pages fall out almost immediately. If you want to make use of this coloring book and keep the pages inside, you are likely to have a problem. If you plan on just taking them out anyways, maybe it won't bother you as much as it did me.
2818794
I got this book to occupy my grandchildren on a road trip. It has some wonderfully challenging pages to augment the hidden pictures, such as dot-to-dot puzzles which can be completed only after solving mathematical problems, and color-by-number pages in which the picture is composed of geographical shapes that don't give away what the picture is (otherwise, it would just be another coloring page). My major complaint with this book is that the hidden picture pages use a lot of very dark colors. Some of the hidden images are black line drawings on top of very dark brown or green (almost black) backgrounds, such that they cannot be seen unless you are able to tilt the book various ways in extremely bright light. This not only increases the difficulty unnecessarily, but can cause a great deal of frustration--a serious downside to what is supposed to be a fun activity. (Fortunately, there is a key at the back of the book!) I suppose the intense colors are intended to be more engaging for kids, but I think the darks are just too dark. I think this book would be greatly improved by lightening the colors.
401317
I wish the format were simpler-honestly it's hard to tell which color the pages are focusing on because there's so much going on.
2194878
Beautifully bound book, pages are printed great, has great feel to it. About 20 "how to" pages on the golden ratio, golden spiral, and fibonacci sequence. The rest of the book is reference of logos and branding material that uses the golden ratio and co. Most logo aren't my cup of tea (gradients, poor typography) but make good use of the golden ratio, which is what the book is about.

Overall, a good purchase with some useful information, however in my humble opinion, not the best curated examples. There may be better books out there on this topic.
4525035
This book has some very neat designs, and I love paper folding.  However, I think the images and instruction on connecting the pieces to make the larger units is appalling.  Which is weird because the instructions on the paper folding are just fine. I have had to figure out the connections myself, requiring a lot of unnecessary time on my part.  When I do finally figure them out, I am even more baffled by the book because the instructions aren't even close.  It's really weird.  Cool designs though.
3204981
I love the larger size and more detail. But they should overprint each page a bit - the parts I want to see are in the margins too often and hard to see.