This is a beautiful book that is sure to tickle the fancy of Carousel lovers. As the publisher says, "Circles of Delight" celebrates the beauty and diversity of these traditional, hand-carved wood carousels of the Golden Gate City. With its vibrant photos and informative profiles, it is bound to delight carousel lovers of all ages.

The brief history of each carousel depicted gave enough information to learn about the creator/carvers as well as the age and the number of times it had been moved and/or renovated, but it is the illustrations that make the book. The detail of the animals is amazing, and the colours are so vibrant. Even the scenery panels and sheilds were included. I could almost hear the music and the laughter of people riding on the carousels. For the horses with hair tails, you could practically hear the swishing. I am planning a trip to San Francisco next year and will definitely be on the lookout for these carousels after checking out this gorgeous book. This would be a welcome addition as a coffee table book especially for those who love carousels.

When my daughter was young, the only ride she would go on, at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was the Carousel, which was over a hundred years old. It has been kept up, painted, and loved, and it is a delight, believe it or not, to ride it, hear the music, try to catch the brass ring. I know it sounds dumb, but going round and round to music can be quite enjoyable. And there is nothing like elegantly carved horses, nothing.

So, seeing this beautiful photography, coffee table book of the three classic carousels that now reside in San Francisco was a delight. The photographer shows his love of the horses, giraffes, ostriches, stags, lions tigers and other carousel animals. Many of the photos show the detailed carved saddles, and brightly painted decorations on each carousel creature.

Perfect book for the carousel enthusiast, as well as an excellent coffee table book.

ARC Kindly provided by Netgalley for an honest review.
Absolutely stunning photos, showing the brilliant color and fine workmanship of the carousel animals.
Truly beautiful photos.

LOVED this book! Beautiful photos, and I love how the author shows the differences between the running head and the jumping head, etc. I never knew that. I also love the photos of the saddle detail. This book would make a lovely gift.

Beautiful photography enhances this book about carousels and their figures. It won't look good on a regular kindle, but it should look outstanding on a Kindle Fire. I read it using my laptop, and everything looked fine. There is so much color that it would be a waste of time to view it any other way.

The imagination and skill of the carousel carver is simply amazing.

Who doesn't love a carousel horse? One of my fondest dreams has always been to get my hands on one. Do I have room for it? Nope. Do I still want one? Second only to a sword, yep. Actually, if I really had my wish I would have gone into carousel restoration, but that's a whinge for another day.

Carousel horses are never the common chestnut, that uniform brown that has always made me perk up anytime I saw a gray horse entered in the Kentucky Derby. No, these horses forever frozen in mid-leap are always glorious, gorgeous splashes of color and dramatic markings – or, if brown does occur, it's a rich red or golden brown that's hard to ignore.

The three San Francisco-area carousels, by my favorite companies/artists Looff and Dentzel and Herschell Spillman, each receive just about a third of the book; a single page of text outlines the history, followed by page after beautiful page of photos of the circular menageries – the horses and rabbits and tigers and giraffes and goats and camels and cats and even more fantastical animals, bedecked with ornate saddles and bridles and flags and mascots and – my favorites – occasionally armor. Even those parts of the merry-go-rounds that always interested me least, the scenery panels from the center and top canopy and chariots, are shown to their best advantage. I was expecting much less from this book, and was delighted to find over 100 photographs. I couldn't ask for more.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

A wonderful look at a more magical time that has sadly passed by

A unique topic and a wonderful approach! It is hard to establish which of the carousels wins the beauty queen crown but this is not exactly the point of the book. Both the writing and the images are a pleasure for the eyes and the spirit!

What a delightful book this is, full of magnificent photos of carousel animals, not just horses but a whole range of fascinating wooden animals to ride around on a merry-go-round. The workmanship on these figures are amazing - There is no text to each pictures but it isn't needed, the photographs just invokes glorious reminders of childhood magic, and marvel at the colour and imagination of these wonderful images. Thank you for the ride.

In this photo book three vintage carousels in San Francisco are photographed, with a format of a general photo on one page, followed by a close-up. Each merry-go-round gets its own chapter, with the figures further divided into jumping, standing, and chariot.
Of the first carousel my favorite was the tiger, the sculpture and color so beautiful. I don’t know much about these devices, so I have no idea if giraffes, ostriches, pigs, deer, and even bunnies are common, but these made me smile.
The second carousel is housed in a glass building, which makes it so much brighter, especially for photographs. Unfortunately its pieces weren’t as lovely as the first one’s, so that was a bit of a letdown.
The third has the most dramatic drawings on the horses, and even features a unicorn and a sea dragon, plus a tiger with a mermaid on it. The camel looks amused.
There’s no doubt both the craftsmanship and the photography is gorgeous, but it takes a serious merry-go-round buff to make it through the whole volume in one sitting without losing focus.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

Circles of light

If you like carousels this is the book for you! Each carousel featured has a brief history of where it has been and interesting facts then various vivid photographs of various details and design. Lovely photography and intresting part of history.
Not 5 stars only because I would have liked to see either more carousels or more history about them. Beautiful photos but simply 3 days of vacation photos not as dedicated of a work?

A delightful book with beautifully done photographs. These are part of my family history as my family grew up in San Francisco. I have heard tales of little girls riding the Golden Gate carousel after school and favorite horses they loved. My Mother had talked of riding the Golden Gate carousel at the Worlds Fair in San Francisco and how beautiful it was. To children in San Francisco at that time it was thrilling and I remember her saying the lines were very long to ride it but everyone waited patiently with joy. To see it here so beautifully photographed and described is a delight. I will definitely be making this book part of my home library. The author truly captured both the magic and the beauty of these iconic parts of San Francisco history and for some of us, a part of our long lost family history. . Well Done.

Since I was little I have loved the carousel ride. I looking though the lovely photographs of this book takes me back. It is a lovely way to remember a childhood joy.

'Circles of Delight: Classic Carousels of San Francisco' by Aaron Shepard is a pictorial look at three carousels in San Francisco. The city boasts carousels by all three of the most important American carousel makers.

The three carousels featured are at the San Francisco Zoo, Yerba Buena Gardens, and Golden Gate Park. Each section begins with a history of the carousel, such as where it was built and where it was located before it ended up in it's current location. Also included are renovation dates and unusual features of the carousel.

After the introduction, pages are devoted to photographs of the carousel animals, close ups of interesting details, and shield and rounding board details. Of the three carousels featured, my favorite was the Golden Gate Park carousel, which is the last one in the book.

The photographer spent three days photographing the carousels while on a business trip to the city. The pictures are good and the detail is worth studying. I enjoyed reading the brief history of each carousel, and looking through the photos.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Shepard Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Beautiful images capturing the magic of a classic form of entertainment!