Reviewer: Ruth Henriquez-Lyon
amazon.com top 1000 reviewer

In this book, Valerie Kirschenbaum takes on the Gutenberg model of the printed book--that is, the black-text-on-white-paper books we've all grown up with. According to her, books have the potential to be much more visually captivating-- and thus more interesting-- to young people, many of whom nowadays prefer viewing images online or on television to reading. But the book's premise goes beyond making books more enjoyable to kids. "The designer book" has the potential to become a new art form, one which stimulates both sides of the viewer's brain, weaving together text and image to create a multi-media aesthetic experience for all of us.

Ms. Kirschenbaum first started thinking about making books visually appealing while teaching literature at an inner city high school in New York City. Working mostly with disadvantaged kids, she found it a challenge just to maintain classroom order, much less get her students to read or do homework. She discovered that printing out reading assignments in color immediately grabbed her students' attention. The vast majority preferred these colored assignments, and read them.

Taking her cue from her students, Ms. Kirschenbaum decided to research the history of what she calls "color writing." She studied the vast treasury of ancient illuminated manuscripts from almost all the major literate civilizations, in order to see how people before the time of the Gutenberg printing press combined words and images. These are perhaps the most beautiful books ever made, created in each of their cultures for a powerful minority schooled in reading and aesthetic appreciation.

But according to Kirschenbaum, this same beauty can be enjoyed by a broad audience today, thanks to computer graphics. She trained herself in this medium, in addition to learning about color and design. The results of her work are evident in this book: it is one of the most beautiful and visually exciting modern books I've ever seen. Every page is in color, and contains images which range from very ancient to modern. Despite this variety, the book design is a unified whole.

As for the text, it tells the story of her work with her students, and much else besides. In addition to her visual studies, the author poured over research on topics such as literacy and education, linguistics, neurology, and philosophy. (She provides these sources in an extensive bibliography at the book's end.) Thus there is information on a wide range of topics: color writing used as a mnemonic device in ancient times; color reading and brain science; poetics; the nature of visual thinking; books as sacred texts; the sexual politics of font design; and much more. The writing is inspirational, and the visual layouts make turning every page a wonderful surprise.

Ms. Kirschenbaum encountered much resistance from academic experts while researching and writing this book. They were opposed to her theories about priming the left brain for reading by using color and imagery. One professor she spoke with called her "Madame Nobody."

But some of the best ideas are initially rejected by pompous experts before finally catching on, and I do believe the seeds she has sewn with this book have been planted in fertile ground. Her notion of merging visual imagery with written text mirrors an ongoing cultural movement to merge intuitive thinking with the rational mind, feminine ways of knowing with masculine ways, and the wisdom of early cultures with the scientific culture we now inhabit. In short, this book is about the integration of the human mind, and the creative leap forward it will engender.

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