This book was done without the authorization of the Ansel Adams Photographic Trust, as was duly noted in the book. The volume reproduces Ansel Adams' images in a way that badly distorts his style. Most of the images are so dark and over inked that all you can see are the outlines. Adams' work was all about light and using details to show connections among objects. The only benefit you will get from seeing these images is to realize why Adams insisted on such tight control over his work. You will also come to more fully appreciate his comments about how his "reality" depended on what happened with the print, not with the negative.
Miraculously, a few images were reproduced in wonderful fashion. But you have to look long and hard to find them. Don't bother. I suggest you stick with the authorized versions of his work instead, which are all published by Little Brown. The main flaws of those volumes is that Little Brown designed the books in many cases to make the images too small.
Why, then, did I assign this book two stars rather than one? Well, I rather liked the essay by Eric Peter Nash about Adams. Nash provides a good balance between writing a short biography of Adams as a person, his development as a photographer through using new techniques, and Adams' reflections on his contemporaries. The essay is much longer than in other books about Ansel Adams and added usefully to my knowledge about his photographic techniques.
My advice is to read the essay and consider it in the context of images in other books. I would suggest you avoid buying this book.
After you have finished reading the essay, I suggest you consider how your purposes might not be followed as you wish when you are no longer alive. For example, do you have any possessions that you would like to have given to a certain person or handled in a certain way? Do you have a will that provides for those events to take place? Do you have an executor of the will who understands your purposes and is likely to outlive you?
Pass on your insights with care!
