the best book ever (results)
By:
October 7, 2009
I asked you to describe the ideal book, one that would save the publishing world and the public sphere in one stroke. And with responses pouring in — nearly three dozen of them — it's time to take stock of the results. A large plurality of respondents, 38%, chose "paper" as the ideal cover material. Pretty innovative! Interestingly, the second-most popular binding choice was leather, at 28%. I'd suggest we split the difference: a paper cover embossed with leather texture. Rawhide! Serif type carried the day for 59% of respondents. A tiny fraction, however, took the more daring choice of "manuscript hand." Another compromise: what we want is a serif text face with handwritten marginalia. Pre-defaced books — another example of how to think our way out of the box of mainstream publishing. As for sourcing and locale, results were pretty nearly split evenly among a bookshop, a library, and a labyrinth. The one place I know of that meets all these requirements, perhaps, is the Seminary Coop Bookstore (@SeminaryCoop, tweeps!) in Chicago's Hyde Park. Although the overwhelming majority of respondents (72%) prefer fiction, a slight plurality (34%) want copious illustrations throughout (only 22% of booklovers eschew illustration altogether). Perhaps not surprisingly, my cohort believes the work of the late W. G. Sebald will save the book as we know it. As for the contents of the book to rule them all? Google docs provides a helpful summary of responses, as follows: Dreams and felicitations. Vague harkenings. Veiled threats about love and creativity. The two activities we human being can truly be proud of. The rest is crap. Historical secrets, prophecy, explanations of how nature and the human mind works, plans for fantastically effective practical devices. Recovery from abuse. Basically just a bunch of descriptions of cool stuff. Also, this time he's teamed up w/ Paul Pope so every fourth page, there's an image. Black and white, strong lines. Doesn't so much illustrate as extend. Wait, these are supposed to be imaginary, right? An axe for the frozen sea within us, indeed.