Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011: Simon Garfield’s Just My Type presents an entertaining history of fonts, from font "pirating" dating back nearly as far as Gutenberg to the creation of Comic Sans and Ikea’s font-change controversy. With a variety of recent, news-making examples and font samples throughout, Just My Type explains how and why certain fonts can elicit emotions or gut-instinct reactions. Garfield’s humor and historical anecdotes add to his deep understanding of how something as simple as font choice can speak volumes about our cultural climate--and why it’s so easy to agonize over what font to use on a party invitation. Whether you’re already a font aficionado or can’t tell the difference between Times New Roman and Arial, this entertaining history will give you a greater appreciation of the typefaces that surround you every day. --Malissa Kent
Review
"This is a smart, funny, accessible book that does for typography what Lynne Truss's best-selling Eats, Shoots & Leaves did for punctuation: made it noticeable for people who had no idea they were interested in such things." — New York Times, Janet Maslin
"Garfield takes readers on a rollicking tour of the world of typography." — USA Today
"Garfield's engaging history of letter design will be eye candy...[Just My Type is] stuffed with fascinating bits of information...lively, richly illustrated " — NPR.org/Books We Like
"Whether you're a graphic designer or a layperson with no background in this area, reading what Garfield has to say will change the way you perceive the written word forever. It might even lead you to make more discerning choices the next time you have a desktop publishing project in front of you. The take-away from Garfield's book is simple: Contrary to reports of its premature death, print is very much alive." — Los Angeles Times
"Just My Type, is informative, delightful - and essential reading for word geeks everywhere." — The Seattle Times
"Charming and informative" — The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"You'll find a lot to like in this book....[it] informs as it entertains." — St. Louis Post Dispatch
"Charming." — Tampa Bay Tribune
"Deliriously clever and entertaining." — The Boston Globe
"Packed with lively anecdotes" — The Boston Globe, Word Column
"Well-researched." — The Philadelphia Intelligencer
"Garfield's romping history (with multitype text) is zestfully informative." — Booklist
"Deft and downright fun." — PureWow.com
"A lively, informative survey of 560 years of typefaces and font choices that will probably make you select a font that is much more you." — Shelf Awareness
"Here is a wonderful update for those whose fondness for matters typographical predates the digital age, as well as those whose eyes need awakening to this particular enchantment. Garfield has a light touch and moves effortlessly among various aspects of typography past and present, not only from design perspectives but from accessible social, historical, and legal angles as well. Throughout, Garfield offers "fontbreaks" in which he focuses on the provenance of a particular typeface. An added pleasure: the book's own text switches fonts to briefly reflect the typeface under discussion. "Highly recommended to all, whether or not you feel predisposed to like this kind of thing! Eye-opening and mind-expanding!" — Starred Library Journal
"[A] lively romp through the history of fonts. Garfield's evocative prose entices us to see letters instead of just reading them." — Publishers Weekly
"A thoroughly entertaining, well-informed tour of typefaces...[Just My Type] offers an informed and pleasing answer, and a lively companion to books such as Robert Bringhurst's essential Elements of Typographic Style (1992) and John Lewis's classic Typography: Design and Practice." — Kirkus Reviews
"Whether you're a hardcore typophile or a type-tyro, there's something here for you: be it the eye-opening revelations of Eric Gill's utter and complete perversity, or the creation of the typeface that helped Mr. Obama gain entrance to the White House." — Chip Kidd
"There is even a photograph of a quick brown fox literally jumping over a lazy dog. What a clever, clever book." — Lynne Truss
"Did I love this book? My daughter's middle name is Bodoni. Enough said." — Maira Kalman
"With wit, grace and intelligence, Simon Garfield tells the fascinating stories behind the letters that we encounter every day on our street corners, our bookstore shelves, and our computer screens." -Michael Bierut, Partner, Pentagram Design, New York, and author of Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design
"Simon Garfield reveals an invisible world behind the printed word... the lives of the designers and the letters they've created have never been more clearly detailed with so much flair." — Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, author of Encyclopedia of the Exquisite
See all Editorial Reviews
