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Random House
August 2014
On Sale: August 5, 2014
448 pages
ISBN: 0804171637
EAN: 9780804171632
Kindle: B00IHMFAKS
Paperback / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of readingβhow we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader. What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a pageβa graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just soβand other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our belovedβor reviledβliterary figures. In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literatureβhe considers himself first and foremost as a readerβinto what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.
 Media BuzzPBS News Hour - August 28, 2014
Studio 360 - August 16, 2014
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