Rating: 
Summary: One of the Few Really Fine Works on Classic Typography
Review: Along with the later book by James Felici, called "The Complete Manual of Typography" from Adobe Press, Bringhurst's book is a landmark work in English for any level of typgographic study.
Read it slowly and carefully for all the nuggets he leaves in a trail for us to follow. An amazing, brilliant effort no graphic design person should omit from his or her typographic education.
Rating:
Summary: Too Academic??
Review: I had to purchase this book for my typography class. I am a student at Pratt Institute. Though the book is great in terms of learning the formal "rules" of design it can get a little dry at points. The book is a wonderful example of "good" formal design. But maybe its me...sometimes I think some of the great design isnt with how well you adhere to the rules but how well you can fail with them. Its beautiful to take all the wonderful formal characteristics that are listed here and throw them out the window and let intution play a rule let this book influence you but dont let it hinder you
Rating:
Summary: Pure Genius!
Review: This is what you need if you are anyone who will ever use type in any area of your life...period. Do not buy any other books on typography until you have this one and digested its wisdom. They don't refer to it as the 'Typographer's Bible' for no reason.
Rating:
Summary: type junkie
Review: i had to buy this book for my typography class, this book is what it's all about. it explains in detail the origin and evolution of typography as its life is timelined to teach the deciple about what he needs. Bringhurst lets you know when to use type, how to use it, and where. as well as all the do's & dont's. I trust this man, you should too.
Rating: 
Summary: Rather long for the material covered.
Review: Good information but rather a long text for what I got out of it. Gives much positioning/spacing information that I do intuitively anyway. The industry seems to love this book but I think that it could be better with a rewrite to make it shorter and give clearer headings and divisions. For an industry person fascinated by typefaces it does include comments on many different typeface origins.
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Summary: Orientation To Fine Typography
Review: Bringhurst is individual genius who has synthesized the fragmentary knowledge about typography into a singular vision not seen since Tschichold's Die Neue Typographie. Bringhust's list of glyphs is indispensible; it has helped answer that qustion, "What is that puctuation mark called and is this how it should be used?" many times. His method of organizing type faces is historical, reflecting his romantic nature. Catherin Dixon's method of organizing and describing type faces is more practical, but does not offer the thrill that you have joined the ancient society of typographers.
Rating:
Summary: version 2.5!
Review: Please note, this is not a reprint of the 2nd edition, but "version 2.5" i.e., a revised 2nd edition.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Few Really Fine Works on Classic Typography
Review: Along with the later book by James Felici, called "The Complete Manual of Typography" from Adobe Press, Bringhurst's book is a landmark work in English for any level of typgographic study.
Read it slowly and carefully for all the nuggets he leaves in a trail for us to follow. An amazing, brilliant effort no graphic design person should omit from his or her typographic education.
Rating:
Summary: The book to own
Review: If you were allowed only one book on typography, it should be this one. Bringhurst is a poet. He loves language, written language, and all its parts. That love comes through in the text and the visual presentation of every page.Bringhurst advocates a subdued typographic style. This makes good sense in the vast majority of cases, since typography is the servant of the text that it carries. Like any good servant, it should be unobtrusive, well dressed, and competent to handle every task it is given, quietly and promptly. Bringhurst demonstrates nearly everything he says, starting first with this book itself. The book is a beautiful artifact, with an elegant and informative page layout. Body text, side- and foot-notes, references, running titles, and more - they all fit together well on the page. Each kind of information is set off only slightly, but clearly and predictably. The content is well organized: prose in the early chapters, reference material in the later chapters and appendices, and all the intermediates in the middle of the book. Diagrams and tables are minimalist and communicative. The text spans centuries, from ancient Egyptian page layouts to the rationale behind Unicode. Bringhurst is passionate about typography's history, and insists that it inform every modern decision about print and printing. He embraces the new just as much, and is careful to note the strengths and weaknesses of each typographic technology. Bringhurst discusses far too many topics to touch on here. In every case, though, he brings his poet's sense to all of the writing, using witty, descriptive language for even the most mundane of technical issues. The one weakness I saw was in the geometry of page layouts. I like his mathematical rigor and esthetic practicality. Still, I think that the number of different constructions was more a tribute to what can be done than to what serves a real need. This is the best, most complete text I know on book design. As Bringhurst points out, there are lots of other uses for type than books, but he chose books as his subject - I have no problem with that limitation. The only problem I saw, and not really a problem with the book itself, is its subtlety. The nuances (well, most of the nuances) he discusses are important. Beginners, however, may not see the significance of small matters. Once a reader's eye it tuned to the fine detail, however, this book is the most helpful I know.
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