Rich Gold: The Plenitude

One could of course start with something tangential: this book is beautifully made. It uses a set of extraordinarily pretty fonts (Scala, Scala Sans), and it, quite obviously, was designed by someone familiar with the centuries-old formulae for laying out pages well.

In the same vein: some of the Amazon commenters are quite hostile — here they are, picking a book about design and they get some hifalutin babble. For crying out loud: there are absolutely no practical tips and tricks in the whole goddamn thing…

Somebody once asked me if I could recommend some reading that would make that person a better photographer. I pointed to The Red Wheelbarrow, of course, truly believing that once you fully understand that poem, your photos would inevitably be better. Oh, how I enjoyed showing off my cleverness.

In a sense, though, I still think I was right at some level. In much the same way that Plenitude of course can teach you design, if you care to try and read it. Really read it_.

It is a beautiful book, in so many ways. How many people, having lived such rich and varied lifes, who had been wearing so many different hats, would be able to distill the essence of their endeavors into a tome this condensed and yet crisply clear? Highly recommended, indeed, but it may well be the case that your mileage will turn out differ. No sweat: as long as you read it.