E. M. Ginger

I've been reading quite a few books on typography and design this month, and (considering the topic is so fascinating) they've been a bit dry, or fluffy--either extreme. This one hits the sweet spot, straight through the middle--not so academic as to bore the bejeezus out of you, not so jejeune as to induce eyerolling. Lots of fonts explicated along the way, with coherent explanations of what makes them special. Very recommended. (I can't hand out 5 stars willy-nilly--it's not going to win any literary awards, and it didn't move me to tears, so 4 it is.)

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!… (plus d'informations)

If you already agree that "typography is an important element of written communication" then there doesn't seem to be too much here. There's some talk about kerning, tracking, font weights, and their effects on how a piece of text feels. However, I don't have as sensitive of an eye as Spiekermann so the examples showcasing an obviously better or worse chunk of type didn't work so well for me. I could have done with a bit more hand-holding and in-depth analysis of *how* different fonts had different characters, or how the way one piece of text was set mattered to the reader, etc.… (plus d'informations)