Type Rules!

Rating:
Summary: concise content coverage, love the binding
Review: I am currently employed as a typesetter and ordered this wondering if I needed another type book. But I was pleased with my purchase because while it has only 160 pages, it covers type from the origins of writing to customizing and designing your own fonts.

It has well chosen illustrations and covers some of the intricacies of setting type on the computer. I think it would make a good textbook for a college course in typesetting. I plan to use some of the illustrations to clarify things for people I work with who don't know what typesetting is all about.

And something I really appreciate about it is the binding. I have the 2001 hardcover edition (only one available, I think), and when I open the book and set it on a table, it stays open and it lies flat. It has stitched signatures without an excess of glue. (Unfortunately, stitched signatures are not a guarantee a book will stay open. Sometimes the binders glob on the glue after the signatures are stitched.)

Rating:
Summary: A Contemporary Type Teaching Tool
Review: I've been searching high and low for an up-to-date book to teach a graduate Typography course. Phil Meggs, Typographic Form and Function ©1985, is a wonderful tool, but recent students were critical of the "dated" nature of some of the material. "Type Rules!" is a great alternative and/or supplement.

Strizver makes her point clear from the get go - setting type is a craft, not something the computer does for us. Also, type communicates a message all by itself, and many of us are ignorantly communicating the wrong message.

However, the author never gets pompous or overly theoretical. The points she makes are accurate; clearly articulated; ground not only in research, but in a true understanding of type; and are communicated in a contemporary manner.

The "rules" are real-world tools and are applicable for novices as well as professionals. Please note: this book was not created to be a bullet point check off list for administrators and anyone who owns a computer with some fonts to pick from. This is a book for people who work to communicate a message with type, beyond the content of the written word. It's a well written, easy to read book with lots of fabulous examples from many of the men and women who got typography and typographic design where it is today; all very useful examples for teaching.

Rating:
Summary: Decent book, but I've seen better
Review: Very, very disappointed. That's how I felt after falling for the hype...and buying this book, and its companion, "Type in Use". I already own a copy of Robin William's "Non-Designer's Type Book", and that book covers the exact same material in much better detail. "Type Rules!" has a few decent examples, but not enough to justify buying yet another book that covers the exact same topic.

If you're looking for a good book on the foundations of typography, check out Robin Williams "The Non-Designers Type Book", instead. Except for Robin's annoying attitude (easily remedied with a black felt-tipped pen), that book is easier to read, far more helpful, and includes lots more relevant information for the desktop publisher...

If you're a designer, and looking for a good book on typography, swallow your pride and buy Robin's book. You won't be disappointed (keep the felt pen handy).