If you have ever wondered what it would be like to enter the mind of a genius, here's your chance. Wurman, who founded the TED conferences, also mapped dozens of cities, and established an entire new branch of design—Information Architecture— has more than enough credits for several genius level resumes. He's written 85 books. He's also the author of a truly life changing article on failure in the design process.
Whereas most geniuses dazzle you with how far they above the ordinary mind, Wurman takes you along on a series of explorations in clarity. He teaches the value of contemplating a single, penetrating question, and following it to logical extremes. He likes to start by observing things with a completely empty mind, thus to see a subject more clearly. He doesn't dumb down complex material. He does lay bare the utter necessity of real understanding. The pages are filled with amiable self-talk, studded with some really remarkable phrases and sentences. "Information Anxiety", "Intellectual Jazz". "I don't write a book out of my expertise, that is finite—I write out of my ignorance, which is infinite." "I seek clarity, not simplicity."
Wurman loves jousting with highly accomplished people; he's not bashful about dropping their names. At the same time, he's always filled with insight and admiration for exceptional work. He loves people who grapple with complexity and deliver work of elegant simplicity. Architects, musicians, billionaires.
This book is a typographic playground. Fun to look at, it challenging the viewer to take in information in many ways. It is harder to really read; that is perhaps its only drawback. Because UU deserves to be really read, studied, gleaned—there are a lot of insights here for the reader who goes deeper.
Most books are written to be read front to back. Wurman—ever the keen observer of people—knows that we read by grazing, wandering, bouncing like a pinball between bright lights. So his organization is heuristic—bright lights everywhere. Articles are connected, some by time, some by personality, some by subject, some just by design. (Ok, some are just for fun.)
None of this description does justice to the experience of perusing UU. It will most certainly occupy coffee tables of many movers and shakers.
Think of it as a ticket to ride. UU is a rare opportunity to wander the mind, curiosity, and friendships of one of the most important intellects of the Information Era.
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O RiCHARD OF UNDERSTANDING
"The vivid eye,Closing upon difficultyOpens upon comparison."7lbs and 700+ pages of marvelous comparisons and contrasts spanning decades of architecture, and design, and information architecture work with lots of little stories and marginalia to get interested in along the way.
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"The vivid eye,
Closing upon difficulty
Opens upon comparison."
7lbs and 700+ pages of marvelous comparisons and contrasts spanning decades of architecture, and design, and information architecture work with lots of little stories and marginalia to get interested in along the way.
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