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But the only problem I had with the book is that I wanted to learn more about the artist himself. Tschichold's bold, at times abbrasive tone comes out in his pen sketched notes on a number of reprints and in-house drafts, leading the reader to believe he was probably one obnoxious, colorful, temperamental character. Instead, "A Life in Typography" sheds little light on the 'life' of Tschichold, and focuses instead on images with little explanation.
Were there no interviews with Tschichold that could have been reprinted? A larger window into his persona would have really helped understand his persistance and drive for typographic perfection.
But of everything reprinted in the book, quite possibly the most stirring, worthy part is a four page reprint of "Composition Rules" written by Tschichold and distributed to employees of the Penguin Book company. It's forceful, blunt, and essential reading for anyone involved in typesetting. He explains in detail how to treat capitals, italics, paragraph indents and punctuation marks. His thoughts and opinions about typography leap off the page.
So if you need a quick reference of his work, or are someone who just discovered the name Tschichold, this is a must have for your design library.
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My problem with this book is its astonishingly poor design. The layout of the pages works well, even though there are few illustrations. The paper is a shiny, bright white that positively hurts my eyes. If the book featured photography, I could understand. But it's all black type on snow -- nasty. Not to mention that the stock itself stinks. It has a heavy chemical odor, and consequently is difficult to hold at a comfortable reading distance.
If Rauri McLean did not want to use ligatures, he should have choosen a type that did not require their use. The crashing fs disturb me. Also, the beginnings of chapters are not flagged well. They begin with a drop cap followed by a short introduction in italics. This would probably work if the drop caps were larger, or in a different color. As it is, it's difficult to pick out a subject by simply thumbing through the book.
I understand that McLean was trained by the great typographer Jan Tschichold, whom I admire enormously. However, I don't see much of his influence in this glaring white, smelly book.
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