Synopses & Reviews
The New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type and On the Map offers an ode to letter writing and its possible salvation in the digital age.
Few things are as excitingand#151;and potentially life-changingand#151;as discovering an old letter. And while etiquette books still extol the practice, letter writing seems to be disappearing amid a flurry of e-mails, texting, and tweeting. The recent decline in letter writing marks a cultural shift so vast that in the future historians may divide time not between BC and AD but between the eras when people wrote letters and when they did not. So New York Times bestselling author Simon Garfield asks: Can anything be done to revive a practice that has dictated and tracked the progress of civilization for more than five hundred years?
In To the Letter, Garfield traces the fascinating history of letter writing from the love letter and the business letter to the chain letter and the letter of recommendation. He provides a tender critique of early letter-writing manuals and analyzes celebrated correspondence from Erasmus to Princess Diana. He also considers the role that letters have played as a literary device from Shakespeare to the epistolary novel, all the rage in the eighteenth century and alive and well today with bestsellers like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. At a time when the decline of letter writing appears to be irreversible, Garfield is the perfect candidate to inspire bibliophiles to put pen to paper and create and#147;a form of expression, emotion, and tactile delight we may clasp to our heart.and#8221;
Review
"By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history." Chicago Tribune
Review
"In an engagingly simple manner...Garfield takes us by the hand through the mysteries of science....[His] study is far more than a social history of fashion. It has much to tell us about the accidental nature of scientific discoveries...and the relationship between science and industry in Victorian times." Daily Telegraph
Review
"Garfield's engaging story...is an informative mix of science, history, and biography." Boston Herald
Review
"[T]he delight of this book is seeing parallels to present-day trends." New York Times Book Review
Review
"[A] book salted with fascinating data..." New York Times
Review
"Like those excellent and tastefully packaged true stories Longitude and Arcanum, Mauve is a stirring tale of triumph over adversity, of scientific progress made through the extraordinary exertions of a single person." Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Review
"An engaging and airy history." Marcia Bartusiak, New York Times Book Review
Review
"In an engagingly simple manner...Garfield takes us by the hand through the mysteries of science....His study is far more than a social history of fashion. It has much to tell us about the accidental nature of scientific discoveries...and the relationship between science and industry in Victorian times." Daily Telegraph
Review
"Garfield has fashioned a stylish compound of biography, cultural and scientific history, and literary detection....Mauve-lous." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Although Perkin's discovery was a stroke of luck, he was, as Simon Garfield's appreciative biography shows, the kind of exemplary juvenile who was almost bound to make his mark sooner or later." Sunday Times London
Review
"Like those excellent and tastefully packaged true stories Longitude and Arcanum, Mauve is a stirring tale of triumph over adversity, of scientific progress made through the extraordinary exertions of a single person." Associated Newspaper
Synopsis
"By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history."Chicago Tribune " A]n inviting cocktail of Perkin biography, account of the dye industry and where it led, and social and cultural history up to the present." American Scientist "Garfield leaps gracefully back and forth in time, as comfortable in the Victorian past as he is in the brave new world of petrochemicals and biochemistry." Kirkus Reviews starred review. " T]he delight of this book is seeing parallels to present-day trends." "New York Times Book Review"
Synopsis
Mauve is the story of a man who accidentally invented a color, and in the process transformed the world around him. Before 1856, the color in our lives the reds, blues, and blacks and clothing, paint, print came from insects or mollusks, roots or leaves, and dyeing was painstaking and expensive. But in 1856 eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color in a factory.
Working on a treatment for malaria in his London home laboratory, Perkin found mauve by chance. His experiments failed to result in artificial quinine as he had hoped, but produced instead a dark oily sludge that happened to turn silk a beautiful light purple. Mauve became the most desirable shade in the fashion houses of Paris and London, and quickly led to crimsons, violets, blues, and greens, earning its inventor a fortune. But its importance extends far beyond ballgowns.
Before mauve, chemistry was largely a theoretical science. Perkin's discovery sparked new interest in industrial applications of chemistry research, which later brought about the development of explosives, perfume, photography, modern medicine, and today's plastics industry.
Perkin is honored with the odd plaque and bust in colleges and chemistry clubs, but is otherwise a forgotten man. With great wit, scientific savvy, and historical scope, Simon Garfield delivers a fascinating tale of how this accidental genius set in motion an extraordinary scientific leap.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-215) and index.
Synopsis
In 1856 eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color. In a "witty, erudite, and entertaining" () style, Simon Garfield explains how the experimental mishap that produced an odd shade of purple revolutionized fashion, as well as industrial applications of chemistry research. Occasionally honored in certain colleges and chemistry clubs, Perkin until now has been a forgotten man. "By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history."-- "[A]n inviting cocktail of Perkin biography, account of the dye industry and where it led, and social and cultural history up to the present."-- "Garfield leaps gracefully back and forth in time, as comfortable in the Victorian past as he is in the brave new world of petrochemicals and biochemistry."-- starred review. "[T]he delight of this book is seeing parallels to present-day trends."--"
Synopsis
A delightfully inquisitive tour that explores the rich history and the subtle powers of fonts.
Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product that we buy. But where do fonts come from and why do we need so many? Who is behind the businesslike subtlety of Times New Roman, the cool detachment of Arial, or the maddening lightness of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)? Simon Garfield embarks on a mission to answer these questions and more, and reveal what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world.
Typefaces are now 560 years old, but we barely knew their names until about twenty years ago, when the pull-down font menus on our first computers made us all the gods of type. Beginning in the early days of Gutenberg and ending with the most adventurous digital fonts, Garfield unravels our age old obsession with the way our words look. Just My Type investigates a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seemingly ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and what makes a font look presidential, male or female, American, British, German, or Jewish. From the typeface of Beatlemania to the graphic vision of the Obama campaign, fonts can signal a musical revolution or the rise of an American president. This book is a must-read for the design conscious that will forever change the way you look at the printed word.
Synopsis
A delightfully inquisitive tour that explores the rich history and the subtle powers of fonts.
Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product that we buy. But where do fonts come from and why do we need so many? Who is behind the businesslike subtlety of Times New Roman, the cool detachment of Arial, or the maddening lightness of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)? Simon Garfield embarks on a mission to answer these questions and more, and reveal what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world.
Typefaces are now 560 years old, but we barely knew their names until about twenty years ago, when the pull-down font menus on our first computers made us all the gods of type. Beginning in the early days of Gutenberg and ending with the most adventurous digital fonts, Garfield unravels our age old obsession with the way our words look. Just My Type investigates a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seemingly ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and what makes a font look presidential, male or female, American, British, German, or Jewish. From the typeface of Beatlemania to the graphic vision of the Obama campaign, fonts can signal a musical revolution or the rise of an American president. This book is a must-read for the design conscious that will forever change the way you look at the printed word.
Synopsis
Cartography enthusiasts rejoice: the bestselling author of Just My Type reveals the fascinating relationship between man and map. and#160; and#160; Simon Garfieldand#8217;s Just My Type illuminated the world of fonts and made everyone take a stand on Comic Sans and care about kerning. Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps. and#160; Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mappingand#151;not languageand#151;is what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorersand#8217; maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our historyand#151;and reflect the best and worst of what makes us human. and#160; Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing and#147;pocket mapsand#8221; on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet, On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfieldand#8217;s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who loved Just My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe. and#160;
Synopsis
Cartography enthusiasts rejoice: the bestselling author of Just My Type reveals the fascinating relationship between man and map. and#160; and#160; Simon Garfieldand#8217;s Just My Type illuminated the world of fonts and made everyone take a stand on Comic Sans and care about kerning. Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps. and#160; Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mappingand#151;not languageand#151;is what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorersand#8217; maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our historyand#151;and reflect the best and worst of what makes us human. and#160; Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing and#147;pocket mapsand#8221; on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet, On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfieldand#8217;s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who loved Just My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe. and#160;
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type and On the Map offers an ode to letter writing and its possible salvation in the digital age. Few things are as excitingand#151;and potentially life-changingand#151;as discovering an old letter. And while etiquette books still extol the practice, letter writing seems to be disappearing amid a flurry of e-mails, texting, and tweeting. The recent decline in letter writing marks a cultural shift so vast that in the future historians may divide time not between BC and AD but between the eras when people wrote letters and when they did not. So New York Times bestselling author Simon Garfield asks: Can anything be done to revive a practice that has dictated and tracked the progress of civilization for more than five hundred years?
In To the Letter, Garfield traces the fascinating history of letter writing from the love letter and the business letter to the chain letter and the letter of recommendation. He provides a tender critique of early letter-writing manuals and analyzes celebrated correspondence from Erasmus to Princess Diana. He also considers the role that letters have played as a literary device from Shakespeare to the epistolary novel, all the rage in the eighteenth century and alive and well today with bestsellers like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. At a time when the decline of letter writing appears to be irreversible, Garfield is the perfect candidate to inspire bibliophiles to put pen to paper and create and#147;a form of expression, emotion, and tactile delight we may clasp to our heart.and#8221;
Synopsis
"Garfield's engaging story of William Perkin's accidental discovery is an informative mix of science, history, and biography."--Boston Herald
About the Author
Simon Garfield is the author of twelve acclaimed books of nonfiction. He lives in London and St. Ives, Cornwall, and currently has a soft spot for Requiem Fine Roman and HT Galeria.
Table of Contents
Part 1. Invention. The celebrity -- Not the land of science -- Floating in the air -- The recipe -- Hindrance and synthesis -- Mauve measles -- The terrible glare -- Madder -- Poisoning the clientele -- Part 2. Exploitation. Red letter days -- Self-destruction -- The new eventuality -- Physical acts -- Fingerprints.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Simon Garfield