I'd be interested in some solid design books, rather than ones that think crazy lettering and vague, emotive statements are helpful or interesting.
This is why I eventually unsubscribed from brainpickings earlier this year. Most of the book recommendations were basically "cool cover!" The books themselves had little meat. posted by DU at 7:15 PM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Covered in NYTimes and on Mefi today - she must be onto something? Im with you DU, sometimes the brainpickings flood can be a bit more fluff than substance and other times she's great. posted by specialk420 at 7:18 PM on December 2, 2012
Oh, you mean books about design. I though you meant DesignBindings.
But hey, at least the Roycrofters are mentioned! posted by clockbound at 7:50 PM on December 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
i'm with DU. those design books are really just focused on decoration or graphic design (which is really just a form of decoration here). and the art books are all kids' books except, i guess, for the New Yorker one. i'm sure if i weren't too lazy to get up and kick through the pile of books by my bed i could find at least 5 great art books, that are really about Art (capital A) that came out this year and might be pertinent to an artist.
these are all coffee table books; gift books. decoration is not design. posted by Conrad-Casserole at 8:01 PM on December 2, 2012
I want all 10 and more. Just skimming through the list (which I will revisit with meticulous and alert eyes after shower and food), I am completely inspired. Aided by the single page layout as well. I am in design heaven just looking at the possibility of looking at these books. May have to go to a bookstore today. posted by iamkimiam at 1:32 AM on December 3, 2012
And for those who say that these are fluffy or decorative or whatever...what are you expecting from such things? They promise only that level of depth and they deliver on it. They are not aiming to be the light shed on the obscure corners of design, or even 101 level instructional guides. But perhaps rather the highlights reels of all the pivotal turns and breakthroughs that brought us here to today's conception of design. I think we're supposed to recognize most if not all the pieces on display with the amusement being that we're reminded of our own memories of progressing through the field. Of the first time we were "wowed" by a particular concept, idea, phrase...and how that led us to expanding our repertoire or skills or appreciation. posted by iamkimiam at 1:43 AM on December 3, 2012
The balance of pictures and text (and quoted text) is quite interesting here. I wonder, as I always wonder when I look at one of BP's posts, whether this provides much push for people to buy the books, or whether these posts are primarily pinterest-eqsue eye candy for readers to skim.
I found this post by Dustin Kurtz quite illuminating on Popova's attitude towards the work from which she siphons her fire hose of content. posted by distorte at 2:23 AM on December 3, 2012 [1 favorite]
I went straight to the list of "Best Art Books", and uggh, yes, same complaints there: These are cutesy design books, the kind of thing that ends up in the bathroom for toilet reading in a few months.
It feels weird to say it, but you know what I miss? Amazon Lists. They used to be rather popular, and people were pretty good at curating some rather impressive and useful ones. Sure, it was limited to Amazon products, but that net seemingly caught 90% of published works.
Instead of that we have garbage lists like this. I did a search for best art books 2012 and got a bunch of garbage SEO pages linking to this person's post, and a bunch of other SEO garbage linking to a few other weak articles.
This gives me the impression that the entire article was just written as linkbait. Yay pictures, right?
While not nearly as prominent as they once were, here is a good example. It hasn't been updated so recently, but it's far more useful to me than any of the blog posts I found on 2012 art books. posted by Theta States at 6:48 AM on December 3, 2012 [1 favorite]
Thanks for those links, Theta States. In general I find brainpickings selections underwhelming (and, more off putting, so breathlessly hyped!) Agree with DU, there isn't much meat there. posted by MrMisterio at 10:58 AM on December 3, 2012
« Older Hanukkah draws nigh and that means latkes. [The oi... | "It’s really simple. I just w... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
This is why I eventually unsubscribed from brainpickings earlier this year. Most of the book recommendations were basically "cool cover!" The books themselves had little meat.
posted by DU at 7:15 PM on December 2, 2012 [1 favorite]