Books for February, 2011

These are the books I read, in addition to Tithing by Douglas Leblanc, which I reviewed here.

Covenants: God's way with his people by O. Palmer Robertson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
We recently used this book for the basis of a Sunday School class. As with the other time I read it, I found it to be a very approachable, helpful way to get a sense of covenant theology. It is definitely written for a lay-level audience (not for academics or even for seminary-trained pastors), which is wonderful because there are far too few volumes of this nature written at that level.
There is a study guide available for this book, which is useful in suggesting ways to approach the teaching times; however, for teachers/leaders looking for fortification for the content, they would do well to employ Robertson’s Christ Of The Covenants, which is also a very readable text.

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As an introduction to typography and thinking about type and text in terms of page and book design, this is a fine book.

The author wrote the book as a text for her introductory level class on the subject. As a result, it is helpfully inclusive of history and even philosophy in addition to technical details, and yet it handles these concisely. It is far from an exhaustive volume when it comes to this subject, but it does offer a comprehensive look at the basics.

If you already have a solid sense of the various aspects of typography, this book may be a bit elementary for you. If you don’t know the difference between kerning and tracking, however, that may be a symptom that this book would be a great starting-point for a more informed use of type.

On Book Design by Richard Hendel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great book on book design and typography. The author, a designer for a major university press, invests the first half in sharing his own experiences and methods in designing books, and the second in dialoguing with other designers about their processes and decisions. It is well-illustrated, with many examples from actual projects and interaction about why they are designed as they are. This is a solid read for anyone involved in typography.

View all my reviews