Yeah, I’m excited about that one. Ever since his feature in Eye I want to get my hands on anything Unger. Will you review it for Typographica? I’ll get you a copy.

Already preordered my copy. Can’t wait for the end of the month when it ships!

The Dutch version is available for 10 years already and it‘s a very nice book. Gerard Ungers is a good writer and of course a very good typedesigner. The book is a must have!

Pieter

I am almost done with my review of the English release of Unger’s book for Mark Batty Publisher and will try to complete it this weekend while vacationing in Maine... a book of Unger, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread :^)

I’m halfway through the Italian translation done by Alessandro Colizzi, titled Il gioco della lettura, so far so good.

I can sort of read Dutch, but with something so good, I want to really be able to digest the text. I heard that the English edition was coming out soon, and was excited. I’ve just placed my order now; thanks for the heads up!

Looks like Norbert beat me to it, Stephen! :-)

And Pieter, thanks for the info on the original edition.

Sick! I really dug his ESAD talk. I can’t wait to track a copy of this down.

Argghhh...maybe if I chain myself inside the house for a week I can finally get caught up on my reading and get to this.

To...many...good...books!

I’ve wanted to read that book for 2 years now, it’s about time I do it... especially since the Dutch version exists for 10 years already now.. ;)

Can one expect to find a copy of it at the ATypI bookstore this year? Will there be a book store?

I bought the book at TypeCon and immediately read it through. A good book with a lot of interesting information.

Bits that were particularly new to me personally:

1. The idea that the ’edge effect’ intensifies both the white and black near a stroke. I think I read this also in G. Noordzij, but here it is applied in a practical way. I realize it is closely related to what we here on Typophile have debated about ’notan’.

2. Unger’s characteristic handling of the mn branches is partly due to a theory that bigger counters will intensify contrast, making the blacks more forceful.

3. The observation that Newspaper type has become progressively bigger and narrower over the past 15 years.

I wonder, how much was the book updated from previous Dutch editions?

I have had the book on preorder from Amazon for 2 years and they keep pushing back the release date. I was annoyed to see a printed copy at the TypeCon book store and wonder why Amazon is blowing smoke about the release date!

ChrisL

Chris, one thing I noticed about the Amazon page for this book is that it says the book was published in January 2006, when the book I saw at the bookstore clearly says 2007 on the copyrights page... I guess Amazon needs to update their info more frequently.

When I checked Amazon two months ago, I preordered the book to be shipped at the end of August. It’s weird that they changed the date and now make it seem like it’s already out. I just hope I get mine soon.

Why are you looking to buy from Amazon? I know it’s convenient, but if you want the book quickly and want to suppport the publisher/author, get it from the source!

a recent review FWIW http://www.p22.com/terminal/unger.html

I probably should have in retrospect, but I was using Amazon to get a whole bunch of type and design books, so for batch orders I got everything in one place.

On using Amazon. They have done so much right that I am generally happy to give them business. I also had ’While You’re Reading’ on back order with them. When I saw it at TypeCon I just bought it and canceled my order with Amazon.

I’m sure that the publisher will get a bigger cut if you order directly from them, but not necessarily the author. The basic author percentage is I believe usually based on retail price. But if Amazon negotiates a reduced price from the publisher, then it may reduce the cut to the author, depending on how the contract is written...

I cannot believe I missed buying this book at Typecon! Ack!

Oh well. I am sure I will have it soon.

Bill, ( or anyone) will you talk more about what Gerard Unger means by ’edge effect’? This sounds interesting.

Also nice, as Yves pointed out on his blog, a video of his conference at Personal Views

> Looks like Norbert beat me to it, Stephen!

Ricardo, I wouldn’t let that stop you from doing a review. I’ve had Unger’s book for over a month and have been remiss in completing my reviews.

Besides, my reviews (plural, one for design/typographic readers and one for general readership) are more focused on Unger’s research, views and speculation on readability and user experience. Plenty of room for other viewpoints.

Ties: I watched the Unger lecture (great, by the way, I also recommend you check out Spiekermann’s one), but at about 57:40 it stops playing. I proceeded to re-download it completely but it still isn’t working. I would like to report this to the Personal Views people but there’s no email contact on that page, duh.

I had the same problem too...

Eben, I’ll start another thread on the edge effect, as I think there is a lot of interesting stuff in it that is relevant to type design.

same... happy to see i’m not alone! ahah

ps: ...sorry...

> Why are you looking to buy from Amazon? I know it’s convenient, but if you want the book quickly and want to suppport the publisher/author, get it from the source!

Buying from Amazon will not short the author ... unless the book is remaindered ... then the author gets diddly. I suppose some small publishers prefer to sell direct, but most of the biggies look at single sales as a nuisance, and prefer to sell to distributors and larger retailers, who get their own cut, but handle all the small sales.

Some publishers won’t even sell to small bookstores, let along end users.

Ricardo, I wouldn’t let that stop you from doing a review.

Thank you, Norbert. :-) It sounds like an intereting book, from the comments being posted here. Stephen, I will accept a copy of the book for review purposes now! Thanks in advance. (EDIT: I’ll send you my current mailing address by e-mail.)

And Ties, thanks for those links — I will check them out when I get a chance.

Ah, that is a very nice link, Ties.
I saw the site once before, but hadn’t watched any clips, and haven’t found the site back since. I’ve been watching a couple of presentations in a row now.

The non-availability of this book has nothing to do with Amazon. The publisher is notorious for non fulfillment and delays in publishing (whatever happened to the new edition of Joseph Moxon’s Mechanicks of Printing?). If you go to their website they direct you to Powell Books. If you go to Powell Books, they are out of stock from the publisher.

Gerald