Glass

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Pause and look, and you will see that you are surrounded by glass: light reflects off and refracts through your windows; it encircles a glowing filament above you; it's in a mirror hanging on the wall; it lies shattered in a dented corner of an iPhone; you're drinking water out of a pint glass. Taking up a most common object, rarely considered because assumed to be transparent, this book draws evocative connections between historical depictions of glass and emergent discourses within the technology sector that envision glass as holding unique promise for new forms of interaction. Grounded in examples familiar to most readers, this book offers a series of surprising-often counter-intuitive-insights into how we see the world and see ourselves in the world. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in the The Atlantic.