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Click on the thumbnails and watch as the coming
Renaissance unfolds before your eyes
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Imagine before turning off the lights, curling up in bed with the blueprint for an astonishing new Renaissance. Goodbye Gutenberg presents 860 gorgeous, full color images from the great art and manuscript traditions of the world, many never seen by an American audience. The combination of ancient literatures with cutting edge page designs creates a scintillating, multisensory experience.
Goodbye Gutenberg was printed on a high quality offset lithographic press and uses exeptionally fine Japanese matt art paper. The sections are thread sewn to perfection and case bound with two color end sheets, one of which is among the most gorgeous you will ever see in any book. |
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| Beginning with Chapter 1, The First Generation, you will discover how best-selling author Amy Tan’s vision for a future of digitally illuminated manuscripts is about to be realized... Learn about the new “Botticelli of the Book” and the new “Raphael of the Written Word”… Discover why the current generation of writers has “hit the biggest jackpot in literary history… And why our Golden Age is literally ahead of us. |
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| In Chapter 2, Birth of the Designer Writer, you will witness the birth of an entirely new kind of book, the designer book, which “marries the left and right brain in a delightful new way,” as one reviewer wrote… You will also witness the birth of a new kind of writer, the designer writer, who creates page designs as rich and imaginative as the words themselves. |
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| In Chapter 3, Writing With Body Language, you will discover the hidden truths about Emily Dickinson’s poetry… The visual innovations that made Tristram Shandy a classic… The secrets of creating electrifying typography… And the next new font styles after bold and italics. |
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| In Chapter 4, Writing in the Color of the Stars, you will join the author on a deeply personal journey strolling through the streets of New York City… You will be amazed by this stunning new style of writing, a rhapsodic marriage of rhyme and alliteration, Hubble photographs and famous medieval manuscripts… You will even learn about different regions of the brain that are activated – and deactivated – at night. |
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| In Chapter 5, Writers on Designer Writing, you will discover how painters such as Delacroix saw colors as a keyboard, in the musical sense, and how writers will see colors as a keyboard, in the literary sense… The new writing instruments and software programs that will transform the written word — forever… Techniques writers can use to “make their pages smile more.” … Plus a sneak preview of what books will look like in the future. |
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| In Chapter 6, The Visual Prophet: William Blake, you will discover Blake’s prophetic vision for the future of publishing… How Blake used calligraphy to express himself visually… The five colors of ink Blake used for his poetry… and why finally, after 200 years, his dreams are about to come true. |
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| In Chapter 7, The Gutenberg Cliché, you will discover the dramatic difference in how books looked before, during, and after Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press… How writers of antiquity used variation in color, type size, and page layout to achieve dramatic effects on the page… How Montaigne invented a new medium after the printing press, and how writers today are poised to do the same. |
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| In Chapter 8, Designer Writing in Egypt, you will discover how Egyptian scribes used color coding to portray such complex subjects as the hunt, the conquest of enemies, burials, even their hopes for the afterlife… Why the Egyptian word for "color" had a double meaning, and what it means for writers today. |
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| In Chapter 9, The Visual Secrets of Greece and Rome, you will discover little known secrets about reading, writing and publishing in ancient Greece… The Roman writer who is regarded as “the Gutenberg of his day” for inventing a way to mass produce colorfully illuminated manuscripts… The archeological evidence which shows that works by Homer, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Hesiod, Terence and Aesop were colorfully illuminated. |
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| In Chapter 10, Dawn of the Designer Poet: China, you will discover Chinese inventors who developed a color printing process 700 years before Gutenberg… Chinese calligraphers who used colorful papers to influence the mood of their readers… What Western writers can learn from Chinese calligraphers … and how new technologies allow them to create their own calligraphic works |
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| In Chapter 11, The Philosopher Painters of Maya, you will discover gorgeous Mayan books made of tree bark, painted in color and bound in jaguar skin… A staggering number of color combinations that Mayans created from a very limited color palette … Lady Scribes, philosopher painters, visual astrologists, chocolate vases, pink glyphs, ritual traditions, and much more. |
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| In Chapter 12, The Golden Ecstasies of Islam, you will discover visually stunning techniques that Muslim scribes used to highlight individual words… How Muslim book artists used gold to create remarkable emotional effects… The power of Islamic calligraphy and what it can teach Western writers… Gorgeous full-color reproductions of Korans from Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan. |
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| In Chapter 13, These Are the Images: Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts, you will discover evidence of the Golden Torah scrolls of antiquity, and the controversy they caused… How medieval Spanish Jews created “sanctuaries of God” with their colorfully illuminated Bibles and prayer books… Kabbalistic teachings about the meaning of the shape of Hebrew letters… Reproductions of dozens of spectacular, full color Hebrew manuscripts |
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| In Chapter 14, Thinking in Images: Aristotle in Medieval Europe, you will discover why Aristotle’s works were banned from medieval European schools, and how they later helped launch the Italian Renaissance… How King Charles V used illuminated manuscripts to shape the opinions of an elite audience of powerful individuals… Gorgeous, full color reproductions of many of the actual images used by King Charles V to reach his political vision. |
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| In Chapter 15, Seeing the Divine in the Hindu and Buddhist Traditions, you will discover colors used in sacred books to represent different spiritual states of the Buddha… Why Buddhists often made their books from tree bark, palm leaf, sheets of ivory, and fine cloth… and why they lacquered the sacred teachings and inscribed them in gold and silver… Dozens of gorgeous, full color reproductions of rare and exotic Buddhist manuscripts from India, China, Japan, Tibet, Korea, Thailand, and Nepal |
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| In Chapter 16, Godmother of Designer Writing: Christine de Pisan, you will discover the remarkable story of how an impoverished young widow became a best-selling author and among the most famous women in Europe… Gorgeous, full color reproductions of Pisan’s manuscripts, in her own handwriting, plus never before published close-ups of her feminine calligraphy. |
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| In Chapter 17, Feminine Fonts, you will discover the five famous women writers of the Middle Ages who calligraphed and even illuminated their own manuscripts… the secrets of what makes a font “masculine” or “feminine”… An exclusive look at a new genre of books for young female writers |
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| In Chapter 18, Booklady: A Modern, Feminine Font, you will discover why the next generation of bestselling writers will use font design to brand their books… The key differences between handwriting and typographic fonts, and how writers will leverage these differences for maximum impact… A revolutionary new classification system for fonts… and why light, bold and italics may become relics of the past. |
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| In Chapters 19 & 20, Beauty and the Book, you will discover techniques St. Augustine used to convert the Irish to Christianity — techniques still in use today… The novelist who in 20 years will be more studied than Joyce, Kafka, Dickens or Dostoevski… The three colors of ink – other than black – that Faulkner wanted to use for the words of his first masterpiece, The Sound and the Fury… The mysterious lure of the Book of Kells — and why visitors still flock to see it… The unique achievements of graphic novelists such as Art Spiegelman and Marjani Satrapi… plus the name of a new kind of novel, revealed here for the first time… |
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| In Chapter 21, Color in Education, Advertising and the Arts, you will discover why color improves reader response rate by 34%… The impact of color on eye movement, neural activity and heart rates… Medieval textbooks that used color to improve reading comprehension… How geometry was taught in color in 3 rd century China and 19th century America. |
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| In Chapter 22, Color, Reading and the Brain, you will discover startling facts about how color influences the brain and our emotions… Which parts of the brain are stimulated by colorful page designs… and which parts are not stimulated by black and white reading… Visual intelligence and why it is critical for education today… Stunning, full color designs that integrate the iconic works of Pierro della Francesca with modern neuroscience. |
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| In Chapter 23, Edgar Allan Poe, you will discover Poe’s little known vision for our literary future… a future in which writers would design their own fonts, based on their own handwriting, as well as do their own page designs and publishing… How colorfully designed versions of Poe’s works improved reading comprehension and test scores, increased classroom participation, and helped avoid discipline problems… Evidence that a literary and visual Renaissance has already begun. |
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| In Chapter 24, The Eye is Full of Deceit: Plato, you will discover innovative new techniques for getting students excited about Plato… Detailed student comments and what attracts them to visual literature. |
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| In Chapter 25, Birth of the Comic Book: Homer, you will discover the astonishing range of archeological evidence showing how Homer was colorfully illustrated in ancient times… The remarkable influence of Homeric manuscripts on medieval Bible illumination… Full color reproductions of the oldest surviving, full color manuscripts of Homer over 1,600 years old. |
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| In Chapter 26, Measuring the Immeasurable: Chaucer, you will discover the five colors of ink Chaucer used to write his Canterbury Tales… Full color reproductions of medieval Chaucer manuscripts… Modern designs of the Canterbury Tales for classroom use, plus student comments on reading Chaucer in color. |
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| In Chapter 27: Image Magic in Ethiopia, you will discover how the Ethiopians used imagery as medicine — literally… Over a dozen full color reproductions of Ethiopian scrolls… plus the most unusual ingredients the Ethiopians used to create them. |
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| In Chapter 28, A New Generation of Visual Theorists, you will discover why the four theories of learning that have predominated the educational practices of the past 25 years – sociolinguistic, constructivist, reader response, and interactive – are about to be entirely uprooted by a new educational paradigm… What has been missing from “the revolution in the study of the mind” — until now… An adaptation of Louise Rosenblatt’s theories for the digital age. |
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| In Chapter 29, Writing Outside the Box, you will discover eye-popping, full color page designs with stunning special effects… Giant, full color reproductions of the 4,000 year old Phaistos disk and Hebrew micrography from the Middle Ages… A gorgeous spread on the French poet Stephané Mallarmé and his remarkable influence on the art and literature of the 20th century… plus his portrait by Renoir… A full color spread on Guillaume Apollinaire and the history behind his influential pattern poems… with a colorful pattern poem over 1,000 years old… An outrageous spread on Fillipo Marinetti, with quotations and reproductions from his famous “words in freedom” manifesto. |
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| In Chapter 30, Chaos in the Classroom, you will discover an outrageous day in the inner city classroom, with students playing music, talking on their cell phones, fighting, setting books on fire, and throwing sneakers, pencils, pens, fruit, and candy bars… The realities of the inner city classroom and why it is difficult for the toughest administrators, even the police, to maintain order… A deeply personal meditation on the author’s values, faith, ideals, and hope for the future. |
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| In Chapter 31, Critics of Designer Writing, you will discover a stunning two page spread showing our literary past and literary future… The almost comic reactions of editors, publishers and academics to designer writing… What it means to be a pioneer, and why each of us must pursue our destinies, regardless of what people say at the moment… The “new breed of genius” that will launch a Renaissance in book design in the coming years. |
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| In Chapter 32, Words on Trial: Ornament and Decoration, you will discover dozens of gorgeous, full color reproductions of medieval manuscripts, many illuminated in gold... The deeper meaning behind manuscripts decorated in gold… how and why deeply religious people used gold as an expression of faith… Stunning new opportunities for writers to write in gold and silver. |
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| In Chapter 33, A Revaluation of Visual Values, you will discover Nietzsche’s biggest blind spot… revealed here for the first time… The rise of “visual perspectivism,” and how it builds on, and undermines, Nietzsche’s thinking… The tablets Nietzsche never smashed… smashed here. |
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| In Chapter 34, Dawn of Designer Prose, you will discover full color close-ups of Rubens’ famous painting, The Four Philosophers, with a brilliant new exploration of its symbolism… The reasons why Derrida’s works have failed to inspire younger generations of readers… A provocative new interpretation of Wittgenstein’s philosophy… A sneak preview of a revolutionary new kind of writing. |
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| In Chapter 35, The Visual Vernacular, you will discover the “real” translator of the King James Bible, and why he was burned at the stake… Unprecedented opportunities for young writers to create a new vernacular… not seen since the days of Shakespeare … Dozens of gorgeous, full color, computer animations inspired by the Book of Kells… never before seen in a book. |
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| In Chapter 36, The Old Way of Reading and the New, you will discover the trap that many publishers and educators have fallen into with ebooks… and how to avoid it… How a famous manuscript from the Italian Renaissance prophesied our predicament with ebooks... An ancient Greek vase with a student working on a “laptop”… Lessons from movie director Peter Jackson that no writer can afford to miss. |
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| In Chapter 37, Terror in the Arts, you will discover how artists and illuminators of ages past have experienced similar terrors… and how they transformed their suffering through art... Why Picasso promoted the “terror” in his art, and the lessons we can learn from it… The strange Master of the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, and why he created such a beautiful, yet terrifying masterpiece. |
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| In Chapter 38, And So Begin the Beautiful Books, you will discover heart wrenching stories from an inner city classroom… The daunting challenges teachers, parents and administrators face, with a message of hope… A famous New York publisher turns the author away — and her resolve to persevere with her unique vision… The creation of a new identity for the author… Plus an invitation to the bold young writers of her generation to join her on an amazing new journey. |
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