An absorbing and fascinating read. A solid chunk of helpful information about film and the culture(s) surrounding it; most of it being useful for those aspiring to work with film to some extent, or just to watch film in a more intellectually stimulating way. The book's very broad and covers many aspects, so keep that in mind. You won't learn the actual practices like directing and writing screenplays, but you're provided with the rules and basics needed. Repetitive, which contributes to the learning process, yet the chapters could've been structured better in order to more entirely capture the different historical periods without fragmentation.