Chris Pye: Woodcarving
Recommended Books

The Figure in Motion
By The Figure in Motion Thomas Easley and Mark Smith (Photographer)

    or  

Here is the synopsis:

"Leaping, somersaulting, stretching and dancing figures animate this gallery of action poses, photographed for artists of all levels to use as a reference when portraying human figures in motion.
There are pictures of both male and female models in suspended action to show the body from numerous vantage points.
Students can practise figure drawing by copying the photographs, while advanced artists can use them as points of departure, altering body positions to suit specific compositional needs."

This is quite a good summary but it doesn't really give you the sense of dynamism in many of the poses, the incredible motion of beautiful bodies. For this reason you need to be interested in such extremes, rather than the more usual static postures.
I have found the poses inspiring for certain relief carvings and, really, there is no other book like this one.

I think you need to back this book up with others on anatomy, if only because there is a loss of clarity and detail through a grainy quality in the photographs.
However this is not much of a problem and well-compensated for in fresh approach to the human figure.

Do you want to add anything (praise or criticism) to what I've said about this book?
You can!
Use the form here in the Connect pages to add your thoughts to mine, and have them included here.