Interesting and entertaining info on the business of art from a real insider. Aside from being an excellent writer, Hook is pretty funny and self-deprecating, in true Brit fashion. My only issue with both of Hook’s books is the lack of quality color plates. Of course, the reason is the cost of these plates, but it took me longer to read because I had to keep referring to my laptop! Nonetheless, if the topic is interesting to you- highly recommended. ( )

Philip Hook's Breakfast at Sotheby's is a quick and enjoyable read. 'Perhaps most of us are train-spotters at heart' (page 182) wasn't a sentence I would expect to read within it. But there it is in the section explaining why some art collectors buy railway paintings. Hook even suggests that railways changed the way people painted, for instance a quick day return may have encouraged a speedy Impressionist approach. I now know that anger doesn't sell as well as angst. Smiles are popular but if there is no smile existentialist turmoil may do. Suicide lifts prices, for example. I wasn't aware of the suggestion that Van Gogh was shot by a man out shooting rabbits and did not kill himself. The rabbit ending would have seriously diminished the value of Van Gogh's paintings as well as his fame and reputation. ( )