Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield
Are you the sort of person who notices the type style in advertising and signs? Does it drive you nuts when something you are reading changes fonts in the middle? Do you know the difference between a serif and sans serif typeface? Then this is the book for you! (Even if you aren’t currently a font fanatic, this book will help you become impassioned about the printed word!)
Garfield takes you on a journey through the history of printing and the font revolution Steve Jobs created when his Apple software came preloaded with a number of fonts. You learn which fonts are most airport friendly, which fonts you’ll find in France and which fonts were created for special purposes and have become legendary. (You’ll also learn about some font flops and most hated fonts. Comic Sans being the most hated of all.)
If you’re looking for an entertaining read and also looking to learn something which may one day help you on Jeopardy! you’ve found a good one here. The chapters are short and basically stand on their own so you can read a bit, have a giggle or two, and put it down for a day and not lose anything.
I recommend only reading this book in its physical print form. The typeface changes to illustrate various fonts and the illustrations are wonderful.
