Items20The creator’s order
  1. 1Chromatopia (2020)Chromatopia (2020)Published 1 Jan 2020A photograph of pigment can be enough to make you curious about its history. Coles follows the origins of colours, with Adrian Lander’s photographs giving each material a strong visual presence. Choose a pigment that catches your eye and follow that story; the separate histories offer a satisfying…0i
  2. 2Accidentally Wes Anderson (2020)Accidentally Wes Anderson (2020) 6.7/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2020A striking photograph can do the inviting before a paragraph asks anything of you. Koval gathers real places with symmetry, colour and an offbeat air, then supplies the stories behind their façades. Browse by whatever building holds your attention. These are photographs of actual locations, with a…0
  3. 3The atlas of beauty (2017)The atlas of beauty (2017)Published 1 Jan 2017Noroc’s portraits of women around the world come with accounts of their lives, giving each spread a person to meet. You can stop with one photograph or follow an unexpected detail into the next caption. The appeal is attention to individual faces and circumstances, without a plot to finish or a…0
  4. 4Schott's original miscellany (2002)Schott's original miscellany (2002)Published 1 Jan 2002Schott’s small lists, diagrams and unlikely pieces of information make the jump between subjects part of the entertainment. Open at an oddity that interests you and follow it as far as you like: this deliberately incomplete miscellany rewards a wandering eye.0
  5. 5Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021)Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2021Koenig invents words for difficult-to-name feelings, then gives them poetic definitions. An entry might recognise something familiar or set off a new thought, without needing its neighbours to make sense. Browse this constructed dictionary as an imaginative collection; the coined terms are part of…0
  6. 6Thing Explainer (2015)Thing Explainer (2015) 8.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2015A large labelled drawing gives you somewhere to look before you decide how much to read. Munroe explains complicated systems with a deliberately restricted vocabulary, turning familiar things into visual puzzles of recognition. Follow one diagram that interests you, then shut the book. The simple…0
  7. 7How To (2019)How To (2019) 9.2/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 2019Munroe’s charts and stick figures pursue wonderfully impractical answers to ordinary problems. Pick a chapter by its question and enjoy the reasoning that makes an absurd proposal collapse; finding out what a lava moat would involve can be enough of a reading project for one day.0
  8. 8The Museum of Whales You Will Never See (2020)The Museum of Whales You Will Never See (2020)Published 1 Jan 2020Iceland’s unusual museums give Greene a series of entrances into the human urge to collect and remember. Try the institution whose subject sounds most improbable and follow her reflective account from there. The illustrated essays reward wandering attention, though they are more thoughtful than a…0
  9. 9Word Drops (2015)Word Drops (2015)Published 1 Jan 2015Jones lets one curious bit of language history lead to another through surprising associations. Follow a word that catches you, skip to a different connection, or linger over the oddness of a familiar expression. The pleasure is linguistic play, with no cumulative argument to keep in working memory.0
  10. 10Amphigorey (1972)Amphigorey (1972) 9.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1972Gorey’s detailed pen-and-ink drawings invite you to look before the strange little narratives explain themselves. His separate illustrated works mix poetry and prose, so a complete visit can be one peculiar tale. Expect macabre humour, grim fates and unsettling versions of children’s-book forms.0