{"product_id":"the-look-of-the-book-isbn-9780399581021","title":"The Look of the Book","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy do some book covers instantly grab your attention, while others never get a second glance? Fusing word and image, as well as design thinking and literary criticism, this captivating investigation goes behind the scenes of the cover design process to answer this question and more.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY \u003ci\u003eTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the outward face of the text, the book cover makes an all-important first impression. \u003ci\u003eThe Look of the Book \u003c\/i\u003eexamines art at the edges of literature through notable covers and the stories behind them, galleries of the many different jackets of bestselling books, an overview of book cover trends throughout history, and insights from dozens of literary and design luminaries. Co-authored by celebrated designer and creative director Peter Mendelsund and scholar David Alworth, this fascinating collaboration, featuring hundreds of covers, challenges our notions of what a book cover can and should be.\u003cb\u003ePraise for\u003ci\u003e The Look of the Book:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A book about books that deserves a spot in every bibliophile’s collection.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eCover\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In the past decade, Mr. Mendelsund has designed about 600 book jackets, ranging from a sober, sophisticated cover for Tolstoy's \u003ci\u003eWar and Peace\u003c\/i\u003e to his whimsical Pop Art-like treatment of Kafka's novella\u003ci\u003e Metamorphosis\u003c\/i\u003e, to the hypnotic fluorescent swirls on Stieg Larsson's thriller\u003ci\u003e The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Cover\u003c\/i\u003e is foremost a visually enticing tour of some of the most important books of recent times, made even more memorable by Mendelsund's daring covers.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eWhat We See When We Read\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAlexandra Alter, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Mendelsund, throughout this thought-provoking book, helps the lay reader contemplate text in ways you hadn't thought about previously.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A welcome and fascinating new book.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Mendelsund\u003c\/b\u003e is the former art director at Alfred A. Knopf, the creative director of \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, and the author of a design monograph called \u003ci\u003eCover\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as \u003ci\u003eWhat We See When We Read\u003c\/i\u003e, which has been translated into fourteen languages, and the novel \u003ci\u003eSame Same\u003c\/i\u003e. His writings have appeared in the\u003ci\u003e New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and other magazines.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid J. Alworth\u003c\/b\u003e is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He teaches and writes about modern and contemporary literature, media, art, and design. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eSite Reading: Fiction, Art, Social Form\u003c\/i\u003e and his essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003ePublic Books\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in various scholarly journals.\u003cb\u003eJudging a Book by Its Cover\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e We’re not supposed to do it, but we do it anyway. The book cover is the outward face of the text, the all-important first impression of the text, but it’s also incidental and easily replaced. The same text can take many different covers without losing its identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e These contradictions started to intrigue us the more we thought about them. Eventually, they got us\u003cbr\u003e thinking about the book cover as a specific medium of communication, graphic expression, design, and perhaps even art. There really is no other medium quite like it, but as is the case with all media in the twenty-first century, the book cover is being transformed by the digital revolution. Until recently, talking about book covers meant talking about physical books: either hardbacks (with or without paper jackets) or paperbacks. In the era of e-books and audiobooks, however, book covers exist as digital images that can float free of the texts that they cover. These days, we are likely to see a new book in the form of a publicity image before we can purchase it. As visual designs, book covers must accomplish a nearly impossible task: they have to be as effective at 1 1\/2 inches tall, which is the size of an Amazon thumbnail image, as they are at 9 inches tall, displayed in the window of the brick-and-mortar bookstore. For this reason and others, the look of the book matters now as never before.","brand":"Ten Speed Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44886593831141,"sku":"NP9780399581021","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780399581021.jpg?v=1767740313","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-look-of-the-book-isbn-9780399581021","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}