I’m totally engrossed in Chip Kidd’s ‘The Cheese Monkeys’ at the moment. Apart from being an extraordinary book designer he is one of the most talented writers that I have ever had the pleasure to read. I savour every word and wish that I had the skill to create such beautiful paragraphs of delicously descriptive tales, not to mention the wry humour which makes me giggle to myself even in a crowded train.

I made the mistake of reading his second novel first, and although they can be read as stand alone, I recommend that you read this one first.

Every designer who reads this will be filled with nostalgia that will take them back to the days when they were training as designers.

Here is great morsel that I just have to share….

“…And that’s when I realized things like this had been occurring to me a lot lately. All signage-indeed, any typesetting, color schemes, and printed materials my eyes pounced on were automatically dissected and heald to Draconian standards of graphic worthiness. It was all I could do to keep from grabbing the station attendant by the shoulders and shaking her into sense, screaming, “None of it’s CONSISTENT! Don’t you understand?! Somebody DO SOMETHING!!”

There is another really funny section in which he describes ideas as ‘whores’ which is absolutely hilarious, but I’ll leave that one to those who read the book.