The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
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Book Reviews of The Elements of Typographic Style
Book Review: Very good, but can be improved
Summary: 4 Stars
The Elements of Typographic Style (version 3.1) is certainly a very well written book that contains not only a great deal of useful information but also interesting insights of a more subjective nature. However, it is not as perfect as practically every other review posted here suggests, and I would like to point out a few aspects in which it could be improved.
Little more than half of the 382-page book is filled with what I would call the actual "core" of the work. The other half is dedicated to analyses of the author's favourite typefaces (about 80 pages) and several appendices. There is nothing inherently bad about this distribution, but unfortunately some of the core parts were only given a cursory mention, when in my opinion they deserved more in-depth discussions.
So, for example:
(a) In chapter 8, Shaping the Page, the author lists countless page and textblock proportions and provides a large number of geometric figures representing page formats, but does little more than give each proportion a name ("Full Cross Octagon page", "Turned Hexagon" etc). He then gives a few examples, but not nearly enough, and leaves the reader wanting for more details on which proportions or formats would, in the author's analysis, be more appropriate for this or that type of text. And most of the numbers and diagrams merely take up space in the book, since just knowing about their existence does not help much.
(b) Two diagrams on page 6 (just before the table of contents) are supposed to show the reader how the author came up with the proportions for the book's pages and textblocks. Unfortunately, the hexagons, circles and intersecting lines are not accompanied by any kind of explanation (and reading chapter 8 is not enough to decipher them), so instead of serving as a useful practical example they do little more than decorate the front matter.
(c) In chapter 10, Grooming the Font, Bringhurst advises readers to mend defective glyphs and make glyphs that are missing from a font, but does not suggest ways in which these tasks might be accomplished. One can more or less guess how he went about making the corrections to Photina shown as an example, but it would be useful to be given a little more detailed information. Someone who needs to be told to fix a font certainly needs to be told how to fix it.
(d) On pages 204 and 205, the author shows "part of a text file designed to test for missing or dislocated glyphs". Why not give the reader the full file, as an appendix perhaps? Why not save the reader the trouble of trying to reproduce the full test text (after googling in vain for it), which probably will not be nearly as good as the one Bringhurst, a master typographer, has produced over the years?
(e) The author's suggestions for further reading are not annotated in any way, and many, if not most, of the books mentioned are out of print. The reader will seldom find information about the contents of the out-of-print books (which are often not made clear by the title) on Amazon.com, so comments by the author would have been extremely useful.
Another slightly disappointing feature of a book that has a section on page design is the fact that, at least in my humble opinion, the textblock is a little too close to the spine for comfortable reading - but maybe there wasn't much the author could have done to anticipate the way the binding would work.
In the end, anyone serious about typography will want to get this book anyway: not only because it is probably the best in its class, but also because Bringhurst is a master from whom a lot can be learned. Having said that, until the issues mentioned above are addressed (perhaps in a future edition?), I would not consider this book worthy of "bible status".
Book Review: Type Bible to end all Bibles?
Summary: 4 Stars
This book would seem to be the only book you'd ever need to fully understand all the inner workings of typography, or at least thats what your type teacher will say. One could easily make that case, but we must also remember that NO book should be able to attain that status. What makes me really happy to see however is the fact that Bringhurst does in fact endorse breaking all those stringent rules of type, only one must do so knowingly... aka after reading HIS version of the typographic word of god.
That said, at its core we have a beautifly written text about text, which isnt nearly as dry as you'd imagine. I would recomend this book for anyone who ever has touched a keyboard and used microsoft word, as well as for the most seasoned design professional who has yet to read it.
Book Review: Elements of Typographic Style, Bringhurst
Summary: 4 Stars
An excellent book; extremely densely written. Everything you wanted to know about typography: rules, opinions and explanations of good typesetting, spacing, design, structure of the book, creating the page (with mathematical structural references and histories). There is a chapter on analphabetical symbols. Appendices A through E cover extensively the working alphabet (international)- including the alphabets of many type faces; characters; terms; type designers; and typefoundries. His first rule: respect the text.Book Review: The typographic standard but flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
Everyone (including me) presents this book as the standard, and it is for a reference of special characters and basic font knowledge. His design opinions are seriously flawed in my opinion, but then that is merely my opinion. His explanation of orphans & widows is poetic, for example, but he completely ignores the definition of widows that really matters - those short line fragments at the end of a paragraph. In fact, his book is littered with them.Book Review: A great resource
Summary: 4 Stars
As a designer, you can't argue the value of having this book as a resource. Reading through it can be heavy at times but the amount of great information far outweighs anything negative you could say. It's become an important part of my collection and has given me a great perspective when approaching any projects that need a typographic punch. Well worth a purchase and will be for some time.