#LetsBlogOff: What’s the best book you’ve ever read?
Dammit. I knew I shouldn’t have read any of the other posts before I wrote mine. Bob Borson wrote about his favorite book as a kid, which made me think of books I loved as a kid.
I decided to highlight 2 books – one from my single digit years, and one as an adult because:
- Bob’s post took me back to my single digit years, and
- I haven’t read much lately (& that really should change)
A Picture for Harold’s Room (The Purple Crayon book)
Being a very visual person, this deceptively simple book rocked my world as a kid. How cool, that a line could be so many things, take you so many places, make you tiny or a giant, become something you can swim in!
Hell, if you need something, you just draw it.
It’s funny, because until I looked at it again this morning, I didn’t even remember it had words.
As an adult, I realize there are other things this book taught me that influence my design work to this day:
- Simple is better. It gives your brain something to play with.
- White space is the bomb. What isn’t there makes what is there that much more effective.
- Perspective. Is that flower 20′ tall or are you?
- It’s your world to shape as you will.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
I didn’t get into reading books without pictures until I was in my 30′s. Being stuck on planes & in airports drove me to it. It made me realize I can still be visual even if I’m looking at hundreds of black & white shapes on a page.
This story of a bank robber who captured a nation’s sympathy in post-Communist Hungary is a rollicking tale told with glee and flair. Attila Ambrus sneaked over the border from Romania into Hungary in the waning days of Communist rule. After talking his way onto a Hungarian hockey team, he turned to robbery to make some cash in the Wild West atmosphere of the early 1990s in Eastern Europe.
This guy proved that you can be an adult, but still play! I didn’t know that history could be a fun subject until I read this book. I certainly had no idea what was happening in Hungary & Romania in the early ’90′s.
In fact, he only recently was released from a high security prison in 2008-ish, where he earned his college degree to pass the time.
What’s not to love about a bad-guy-to-good-guy story?
Interesting choices, I must say! When I grew up children’s books were not the empire they are now. We did have Golden Books, I believe, but I began reading more mature books almost immediately, and have been at it ever since. You’re right about history. It can be a very fun subject as I have discovered in the second half of my life. More and more these days, historians are writing what they call narrative histories, and it makes them so much more fun to read.
Hi Joe! I can appreciate where you’re coming from, with the classics, too. I didn’t read Great Expectations until about 4 years ago, & really enjoyed it!
Basically if it lets me visualize & takes me places it’s a book I dig.
Dang it! I KNEW I should have included a kids book on my list. Now I just feel like the smelly kid hanging out by himself on the playground.
In the spirit of better late than never, Horton Hears a Who. That is my favorite kids book.. which isn’t really a kids book…
HA! Funny you mention Dr Seuss; whenever I hear the term hipster, all I can think of are Star-Bellied Sneetches.