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Summary: Great for non-typographers as well
Review: This book is a treasure for anyone who loves beautiful, readable text; you need not be a professional typographer to enjoy and benefit from it. Though I rate as an amateur (in the sense of one who does a thing for the love of it, rather than for pay) in document design and calligraphy, I design software and web content for a living. I found Bringhurst's book to be a thoroughly useful and inspiring source and resource, and can recommend it without qualification to all my IT and web design collegues.
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Summary: Only five stars?
Review: How can I possibly only give this work five stars? Robert Bringhurst's "Elements of Typographic Style" is more than a list of prescriptions. It is a definitive reference which explores the history behind typography, and uses that history to explain in its clear, lucid way why rules exist. Where the antiquated rules have no practical basis, Bringhurst is quick to dispell their necessity - but he neither dismisses them nor rejects them.The visual beauty of this book is apparent upon opening it - it is a model of all it preaches. It addresses ongoing issues of basic formatting and page shaping, but also modern needs such as setting more than one language in one text - including those that read right to left (e.g., Arabic scripts). The simple yet elegant writing style makes reading this work a pleasure in itself. Anyone who deals with type - and this now means most everyone - should read this book; its advice is complementary, or even superior, to a style manual. The Amazon editorial above lays out its sections, and as that shows, the book covers the full breadth of modern typography and page composition. I strongly recommend this book. It is an honour to read it.
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Summary: Finally an in-depth book on digital typopgraphy.
Review: Bringhurst is a poet AND an artist, and both gifts he brings to this important book. His explanation of proportion is excellent, as are his historical overviews of type design and page construction. His survey of available types is thorough and marvelously critical -- this man is not afraid to give his opinions. I am perplexed by his statements about word spacing and ragging as his other ideas about "harmony and balance" show great care and thought -- this book must be complimented by Geoffrey Dowding's Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type, as Mr. Dowding's instruction produces a much more pleasing result on these two counts. The book is beautifully set though, and any professional typographer will benefit from studying it.
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Summary: Maniac!
Review: This perfect book explores "classical" typography and page layout issues so deeply you won't have to ask more. Very interesting historic backgrounds, especially about font families and styles, absolutely rigorous definitions about page layout and line formatting. As a graphic designer, mainly for multimedia, I found this book a little frightening for his level of detail. Really A MUST for everyone into graphics design.
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Summary: If You're a Designer, You Must Have This Book. Period.
Review: A designer not having this book is like a writer not having a dictionary. Or maybe as severe as a Priest not having a Bible. I could go on but the other reviews cover it very well. Just get it. You will not be disappointed.
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Summary: Useful and Beautiful
Review: While many of the reviews here mention the fine and useful contents of this book, none seem to mention the incredible design of the book itself. It is an unusual shape, with the text blocks positioned on the page with rare elegance. It is well bound and sturdy. Before reading this book, I had a vague idea that it was wrong to double-space after a period in a proportional font. After reading, I have the backing of an authority on the subject. My documents are prettier, and I have an appreciation for the typographer's art that I simply hadn't before. There is a good deal of content dealing with proper typography in non-English languages also, which may prove useful to you. Well worth the money.
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Summary: Should be required reading
Review: This book should be required reading for every graphic designer, book designer, typographer and certainly anyone directly or indirectly responsible for unleashing the current wave of awful typography on an unsuspecting public. Bringhurst covers everything from the basics of type styles to advanced kerning principles to the finer points of page proportions, all in a succint yet engaging way. Bringhurst does an excellent job of laying out a series of rules and guidelines, while making it clear that these are a starting point, a foundation for good type design, not a set of limitations. He is a poet as well as a typographer, and his eloquence pays tribute to the field as no one else has. The book features a good deal on the evolution of typography and includes great side-by-side comparisons of typefaces to illustrate specific points. He also deals extensively with punctuation marks, diacritics and the duty/joy of designing type with languages other than English in mind. I find myself returning again and again to the section on the subtleties of page proportions. He also achieves the nearly impossible balance of singing the praises of the old masters while not being afraid of the best of what's new and experimental.
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Summary: keeps the editors away
Review: Just from perusing parts of this book, my level of typographic style, awareness, and confidence was elevated over the course of a single project. And as a publication designer, I actually felt remiss about not having known or used many of the classic style elements covered in Bringhurst's book. Every design student and professional should own this, and live by it. Just as editors live and die by "Web 10."
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Summary: A fantastic introduction to making your creations beautiful
Review: In this book, Robert Bringhurst welcomes us into his world of typography, gently showing us how to approach typesetting problems, how to select fonts, how to conceive of a page and the like. He also describes how historical reality should be taken into account in the design, as well as giving a detailed description of the history and style of many, many typefaces. The book is written with great passion, and contains very sound advice. This book is a must for anyone seriously trying to create a beautiful, readable book.
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Summary: The book itself stands as physical proof of the content...
Review: From the elegant black cover and quality paper to the superbly clean and balanced layout, the book itself stands as physical proof of Bringhurst's skill and credibility in all matters typographical. The content is interesting, highly informative, and extremely comprehensive. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on classical typographic style, but the reader is given the reasoning behind everything, and given the knowledge needed to make informed decisions and conscious departures from the 'rules'. This book has done more for my web design skills than any number of 'web design' manuals. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone working with any form of text in any medium.
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