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Minor Transient Documents of Everyday Life are three line recipes, short stories, jokes, riddles, science projects, love notes, horrors, confessions, and memories. A collection of haiku written between the years 2022-2024. buy it -
The strange world of plankton is revealed by Julian Cremona in these intricate images from his new book
Meanwhile on , Jake Tapper is rewriting .
I'm being 100% serious when I say that need to counteract these false narratives in *published* .
Agatha Panza von Sparkles settled into Needles pilot seat for the very first time.
Hammajang Luck was fun, a vault heist in space with strong themes of social justice and found family. There isn't a ton of gender discussion, but something like half the characters are just matter-of-factly trans. It wasn't super deep, but it was entertaining and engaging.
Tagging even though I'm extremely late to the party
Books finished in 2026:
31. Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm (1941)
30. Walking With The Comrades by Arundhati Roy (2011)
29. Wild Seed by Octavia E Butler (1980)
28. Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (2020)
27. The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett (2001)
26. Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton with J Herman Blake (1973)
25. The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (1955)
24. Granny Made Me An Anarchist by Stuart Christie (2004)
23. The Day of The Triffids by John Wyndham (1951)
22. Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970)
21. Secolo Nuovo: Or the Times of Promise, A Novel by Fulvia Ferrari (2021)
20. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Friedrich Engels (1880)
19. Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance and Rebellion by Working Class History (2020)
18. The Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley (1922)
17. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (1992)
16. The Red and The Black by Stendhal (1830)
15. The Book of Sand (1975) and Shakespeares Memory (1983) by Jorge Luis Borges
14. Anarchist Feminists In The Philippines From Etniko Bandido (2016)
13. The Unseen by Nanni Balestrini (1989)
12. Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare: A Guide to the Armed Phase of the African Revolution by Kwame Nkrumah (1968)
11. Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1792)
10. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011)
9. Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker (1911)
8. Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1996)
7. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (1991)
6. The Nation On No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition by William C Anderson (2023)
5. baedan - journal of queer nihilism - issue one (2012)
4. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)
3. They Will Beat The Memory Out Of Us: Forcing Nonviolence on Forgetful Movements by Peter Gelderloos (2024)
2. It Cant Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (1935)
1. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (2006)
This is an investigation into why fascism is so attractive to modern man. Using psychoanalysis (while rejecting some of Freud's conclusions about character development) along with historical analysis of the social character of peoples, Fromm points to alienation and fear stemming from changes in society that leave man emotionally unfulfilled while giving him a very specific kind of freedom that is not supportive or conducive to spontaneous action but instead drives man to work incessantly without a logical end. Perversions that lead to a desire to submit to authority and behave sadistically towards the weak are described in detail along with their origins. Comparisons are drawn between medieval man as well as the role of the Reformation in mankind's social development.
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White Supremacy on Its Deathbed (full book, Round 3)
Let's workshop my book-length lyrical essay, which aims (1) to mock white "progressives" and (2) to promote genuine black empowerment by exposing the harmful implications of their so-called antiracism
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The Games Of A Lifetime
The cover features a bespoke illustration by pixel-art specialists Army of Trolls, which is packed with numerous references to Jaz's illustrious career in games.
Reprints due 14th September, get a stock alert here:
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See I can be good at vagueposting too, if I put my mind to it.
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The picture was made by Muhammad Khaleeq and taken from Vecteezy (source: ). Free download/Attribution required: <a href="">6 Vectors by Vecteezy</a>
"Looking for your next club pick Want to support emerging Why not do both!
These writers have broken through barriers and written that captivate , all while infusing their work with Judaism, whether its in the people, the history or culture. Magical realism Family drama Secrets These have something for everyone. So pick one or pick them all your friends will thank you!"
Optimisez Votre Site Web Avec Des Solutions Visuelles InnovantesOptimisez Votre Site Web Avec Des Solutions Visuelles Innovantes Dans Rappeler des solutions visuelles en tant qu'optomblanche , Hesham Nebr offre des conseils pratiques et innovants. Un incontournable pour optimiser votre site web et engager votre audience ! Post link: ...
BOOK REVIEW - PIRANESIEverything Ive learned today about dildos I have learned against my will.
Read more about my impressions from Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil book by V. E. Schwab here:
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My review of by Daisy Pearce is live on !
A thoroughly engrossing, character-led tale overbrimming with tension and dread.
Check out my review...
Elite - BBC Micro Computer - Featured in our book - The Games Of A Lifetime
Features behind-the-scenes titbits, facts, surprises and some pretty funny anecdotes.
Reprints due 14th September, get a stock alert here:
Are you part of a club Give one of our short stories a try Each one comes with suggested discussions questions.
philosophy
Eline's a PI in the 2080s. She's been hired to find out who has been trying to kill a popular and attractive influencer named Brin. Eline dodges calls from her deceased mother's digital doppelgnger and doesn't dodge the advances of Brin's ex, Maris, or Brin's neighbor, the seductive and supportive Vick.
This book has stalking, a brat, probable cyber crime, spankings, influencers, the digital ghost of a nagging but supportive parent, mostly ethical non-monogamy, and it's Too Hot for Amazon.
Buy by Midge Hollerin today!
livros monitos de r.p.g ( fico fantastica) pro cs GRATIS :
Dragon Quest :
Eldhora parte 1:
Terras Vermelhas :
Book Crime, passion, religion: Celeterra.
The single biggest lesson from COVID for governments
Hiroshima, 8:15
"...Hiroshima, 8:15 is a remarkable eyewitness account of this devastating moment of history."
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My review of Phaidon's The Art Book (2020 Edition): 600+ artists, spine tests, recall tests, and an honest verdict.
The Art Book by Phaidon, Reviewed After Three Weeks of Testing
A friend of mine lent me his copy of The Art Book three weeks ago and told me, half-joking, Just dont spill coffee on it. I did not spill coffee on it. I did, however, drag it around for twenty-one days, stacked it under three other design books to test the spine, flipped through it during two client calls (sorry, old habit), and left it open on my kitchen table more nights than Id like to admit. Thats the only fair way to review a book like this. Not a skim. A full occupation of your living space for weeks.
The Art Book, published by Phaidon and now in its Revised and Expanded 2020 Edition, is one of those titles youve probably seen on a shelf somewhere and assumed you already understood. You havent, not really, until youve sat with it. It covers more than 600 artists from medieval painting to contemporary installation work, organized alphabetically by artist name instead of by period or movement. That single structural choice changes how you read art history, and Ill get into exactly why later in this piece.
The Art Book (Revised and Expanded 2020 Edition) by Phaidon EditorsIs The Art Book Still Worth Buying in 2026
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: It depends on what youre expecting from it. This is not a scholarly monograph, and it doesnt pretend to be. Each artist gets one page, sometimes a spread, with a single key image and a tight explanatory text. If you want deep biographical detail on any single artist, The Art Book will frustrate you. If you want a working visual reference you can grab off a shelf when a client mentions something like Agnes Martin but warmer, and you need to remember what Agnes Martin actually painted, this book earns its price in the first month.
I run a design publication, so I test books the way editors test software. Does it do the job under real conditions, not ideal ones For The Art Book, the job is fast visual recall paired with just enough context to sound informed at a dinner party or in a client meeting. It does that job well.
Whats Actually New in the Revised and Expanded Edition
Phaidon added 40 new works to this edition, and the additions arent token gestures. Hilma af Klint is in there, which matters given how long her abstract work sat outside the mainstream canon before the 2018 Guggenheim retrospective finally forced the art world to catch up. Zanele Muholi, Kerry James Marshall, Jenny Saville, Takashi Murakami, Wolfgang Tillmans, and the Guerrilla Girls also made the cut. So did Cao Fei, whose digital and video work sits oddly next to medieval altarpieces on the page before her, which is honestly the most interesting part of the whole book.
Thats not a criticism. Its the entire premise working exactly as intended.
The A-to-Z Distortion Effect
Heres a framework I built specifically for this review, and Im naming it because I think it explains why The Art Book works better than most survey books twice its size. Im calling it the A-to-Z Distortion Effect. When you organize art by artist surname instead of by chronology or movement, you get unexpected pairings on nearly every spread. Botticelli sits near a page that eventually leads to Louise Bourgeois. A Renaissance altarpiece shares breathing room with a 1990s photography series. Your brain, trained by every art history class youve ever taken to sort things chronologically, has to stop doing that. You start comparing composition and color instead of period. Thats a genuinely different way to look at 600 years of image-making, and I dont think Phaidon gets enough credit for how deliberate that decision is.
Most survey books sort by movement because its easier to teach. The Art Book sorts by name because its more honest about how people actually encounter art now, out of order, out of context, one image at a time on a screen or a shelf.
How I Actually Tested This Book
I didnt just read it front to back, because nobody reads a 592-page A-Z reference front to back, and nobody should pretend otherwise. Instead, I built a small testing routine over the three weeks I had it.
The Spine Stress Test
At 5.24 pounds and 592 pages, this book needs to survive being opened flat, repeatedly, without cracking. I opened it flat more than thirty times across three weeks, including several times to entries near the very front and back, which is where cheap binding usually fails first. The binding held. No loosening pages, no glue crumbling, and no spine creasing that didnt spring back. For a book this size, thats not a small thing. Ive had hardcovers half this weight fall apart in less time.
The 60-Second Recall Rule
This is the test I care about most, and its the one I made up for this review specifically. Id open the book at random, look at an entry for exactly 60 seconds, close it, and try to recall the artists name, the works title, and one fact from the text a day later. Across 15 random entries tested this way, I recalled the artist correctly 14 times and the specific fact roughly half the time. Thats a strong result for a reference book. The writing is doing real work in that one page, not just filling space around the image.
The Coffee Table Threshold
Not every book that sits on a coffee table earns the right to stay there past the first week. Im calling this the Coffee Table Threshold, the point where a book stops being a display object and starts being something you actually reach for. The Art Book crossed that line for me around day four, when I caught myself flipping to the Clara Peeters entry just to double-check a detail Id mentioned in an unrelated conversation. A book that gets picked up unprompted, outside of a work assignment, has passed the test.
Who Should Actually Buy The Art Book
Designers, illustrators, and creative directors get the most obvious value here. When you need a fast visual reference across six centuries without hunting through fifteen different specialist texts, The Art Book compresses that search into one A-Z sweep. But Id also point this at anyone building a home library who wants one serious art reference instead of five thin ones. Students studying for general art history survey courses will find it useful too, though it shouldnt replace a proper textbook with deeper analysis.
I would not recommend this book to someone who already owns a specialist library and wants depth on specific movements or single artists. Thats simply not what this format is built for, and expecting it to be that will only leave you disappointed.
Where The Art Book Falls Short
Because the text per artist is so short, some entries feel thinner than others, especially for artists whose work resists a one-paragraph summary. Anyone deeply invested in a single artists career arc will likely find their favorite entry frustratingly brief. The alphabetical structure, while great for discovery, also means you cant easily trace a movements development across pages the way a chronological book would let you. Youre trading narrative flow for breadth and surprise. Thats a fair trade for most readers, but it is a trade, and its worth knowing that going in.
The Art Book at a Glance
DetailSpecificationTitleThe Art Book: Revised and Expanded EditionPublisherPhaidon PressPublication DateSeptember 23, 2020Page Count592 pagesArtists Covered600+New Additions in This Edition40 new worksStructureAlphabetical by artist surnameISBN-13978-1838661342Weight5.24 poundsDimensions8.6 x 1.63 x 10 inchesBest ForDesigners, home libraries, general art history referenceMy Honest Verdict on The Art Book
I went into this expecting a coffee table book that looks impressive and gets opened twice a year. Instead, I got a reference I reached for constantly, without meaning to, over three weeks. The Art Book earns its reputation because it solves a specific problem well: fast, wide, visually driven access to art history without the gatekeeping of a specialist text. It wont replace a deep dive into any single artists catalogue raisonn, and it isnt trying to. For what it is, a broad, browsable, A-to-Z sourcebook covering medieval painting through contemporary installation art, its close to the best version of that format currently in print.
My prediction, for whatever its worth from someone whos watched design publishing shift for over a decade now: the next revised edition, whenever it lands, will need to grapple with how AI-generated imagery fits into an artist survey, if at all. Thats a much harder editorial call than adding 40 new artists, and I dont envy whoever has to make it.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Art Book
How many artists are in The Art Book by Phaidon
The Art Book covers more than 600 artists, spanning from medieval times through contemporary practice, each represented by one key work and an explanatory text.
Is the 2020 edition different from the original Art Book
Yes. The Revised and Expanded 2020 Edition adds 40 new works, including artists such as Hilma af Klint, Kerry James Marshall, Jenny Saville, and the Guerrilla Girls, expanding the books historical and contemporary range.
How is The Art Book organized
Unlike most art history surveys, The Art Book is organized alphabetically by artist surname rather than by period, movement, or region.
Is The Art Book good for beginners
Yes. Its one-page-per-artist format and plain-language explanatory texts make it accessible to readers with no formal art history background.
Is The Art Book suitable for professional designers
It works well as a fast visual reference for designers and creative directors who need to recall an artists work quickly, though it isnt a substitute for specialist texts on individual movements.
How big and heavy is The Art Book
The Art Book weighs 5.24 pounds and measures 8.6 x 1.63 x 10 inches across its 592 pages, making it a substantial hardcover suited to shelf or table display.
Check out other great books on art and design here at WE AND THE COLOR.
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