Ratings10
Average rating3.7
Lots of interesting anecdotes and history of various typefaces. I was generally happy with the examples the author gave (often when describing a typeface the first few sentences would be in that font) but there were some times when a lot of effort was used to describe the character of a typeface but the letter or font was not actually shown. In these cases, the description left me with a feeling somewhat akin to when a person describes a comic without showing the pictures.
Another, slight, I found was that a lot of ideas and concepts were not overly well defined or laid out. For example, the author talked in detail about the competition between the Linotype and Monotype companies without really getting into detail about how either machine worked or why one would be advantageous over the other (this was touched on but it was not overly clear).
All in all, though the book is a great introduction to the world of typography and has enough interesting anecdotes to be engaging to someone with even a marginal interest in typography.