【Written on the front】
Recently, I have read a variety of books, and each book involves a variety of knowledge points, which is quite difficult to digest - especially if you have to find several other books to read simultaneously for a concept. At an average rate of 3 days a book, I read 8 books for half a month – fortunately, a few of them were partial picture books or comics or were not too deep in content, and I could read them in one night.
【1】The Beauty of Chinese Makeup
Makeup, in a narrow sense, refers to the makeup of women's faces, and in a broad sense, it also involves hairstyles, clothing, jewelry, etc. The changing characteristics of women's makeup in chinese dynasties also present the changes in the social style and aesthetic trends of ancient China from the side.
In "The Beauty of Chinese Makeup", the changes in Chinese makeup from ancient times to the present are narrated, with easy opening and closing, rich pictures and texts, rigorous examination, elegant language, excellent paper, and typography - it can be described as hidden and clean, which makes people fall in love.
For details, please refer to the above long comments.
【2】Flower of the Forest
This "Flower of the Forest" is not only a book of Amazon rainforest adventure notes, but also a collection of 160 botanical paintings painted by Margaret Mi herself, which is another respect and remembrance of posterity after more than 30 years!
However, this "Forest Flower" does not include all the difficulties and dangers that Margaret encountered, and the whole book gives people the feeling of purity and beauty- pure is the text, and the beautiful is the picture.
For details, please refer to this long review.
[3] "The Secret Life of Color"
It's no exaggeration to say that this is a book of "colors"—talk about some colors that you are familiar with, about colors that you are not familiar with. These "color" stories involve art history, psychology, history, sociology, political science, chemistry, and lace gossip. Each color can extend a lot of things - although the book is not thick, it can even be said to be easy to understand, but it is very thick when read carefully.
Speaking of which, "The Secret Life of Color" is a collection of column articles on "color" written by the author Cassia St. Clair before, not a monograph, so each content is not long, 3 or 4 pages is a story, which is generally easy and pleasant to read, which is quite in line with the needs of modern people pursuing "fragment reading".
For specific content, you can also refer to this long review.
【4】The Golden Thread
Cassia St. Clair of The Secret Life of Color also wrote The Golden Thread. Set against the backdrop of 13 fabrics, the book tells readers a history of human civilization strung together in thread.
Similar to "The Secret Life of Color", the knowledge points of this book are relatively scattered, especially suitable for some readers who pursue light reading. Long reviews can refer to the link above.
[5] "99 Ways to Tell a Story"
This book is a comic book version of "Style Exercises". In my own reading experience, this comic book should be regarded as a "brainstorming" - that is, how can a simple story of a woman asking a man "What time is it now" narrated from multiple angles?
There are male perspectives, female perspectives, clock perspectives, different styles of painting (such as the style of famous cartoonists, advertising styles, map styles), different narrative lines (interludes, flashbacks) and even a form.
The rendering of this book can refer to the following figure, the left page is the "name of the method", and the right page is the rendering form. This seemingly lazy design style means that 99 Ways to Tell a Story isn't for the average reader — unless you think of it as an entertainment to pass the time.
The publishing philosophy of 99 Ways to Tell a Story is a bit like "how many ways to use a pencil", and its core goal is to make the creators who are stuck in a dead end less painful, learn to try and enjoy the "rich and diverse means of expression".
If we can realize that stories are a consumer entertainment product, then we should consider how to give readers a story that is less conventional. For the reader, even a dry story core, with different drawing styles (serious political comics, superhero comics, bear child style graffiti) can bring about a different experience.
[6] "Life is fun, but sometimes it's also very sad"
If readers don't like "99 Ways to Tell a Story", pass a boring time can also try "Life is fun, but sometimes it's also very sad".
The whole book is actually a wordless caricature, and the Russian illustrator Anton Gudim has another identity like most ordinary people - ordinary social animals. In his two-point and one-line "boring life", he actively recorded the lives he saw, experienced, and felt with a self-deprecating ritual that made people "see love at first glance, and see tears again".
Because the situation of contemporary young people is very different, although the various scenes in the book are about the author's side, if you think about it, this is the side of you and me. Well, this is actually a manga for adults (Sherenmen).
When the things around us are "distorted", we will feel "Oh, this is the case, what can we do?" ”
Reading this kind of comic book certainly can't solve the practical problems in life and work, but when we steal half a day of leisure, take it out and turn it over, and once again tell ourselves that the world is more difficult and difficult, and "beautiful things are coming" That is just a self-comforting advertising slogan, in fact, it will make the mood temporarily better for a while.
Of course, if the book is really renamed "Life is Very Sad, But Sometimes It's Fun", it will be difficult to pass.
Or that sentence, life's things are not satisfactory nine times out of ten, so often think about one or two!
【7】Kyogoku Natsuhiko Yokai Tales Collection
It should be emphasized that this is actually a delicate picture book, not a storybook with large paragraphs. In short, it was Kyogoku Natsuhiko's three stories that were handed over to three painters.
The style of the three fascicles is extremely delicate, and the atmosphere of the monster story created by the pictures alone is very subtle—belonging to the kind that makes people shiver even more cold in the winter. I think this book should be suitable for the big summer, and the chill of climbing up from the bottom of the back is actually more effective than air conditioning.
This book is quite suitable as a gift to give, or as a source of inspiration for friends who are engaged in art.
【8】Emotional Anatomy Illustrated Book
People say that time dilutes everything, is it really because time dilutes everything? The Emotional Anatomy Illustrated Book tells us that it is actually serotonin that dilutes everything.
This book on emotions written by the Tomachi Ying is too "Japanese". How do you understand Japanese? That is, each piece of content is very short and concise, and it will take only a few minutes to read; the single content has at least one picture, and the painting style is more recognizable - it looks like graffiti, the lines are very "random", and completely ignores the proportions of the human body; the book must be colored.
In my understanding, it is a reading material that meets the "light reading" needs of office workers - the content is simplified for easy understanding, and the picture and color enhance reading interest.
The book mainly talks about the causes, performance and coping methods of 37 kinds of negative and positive emotions (of which 18 negative emotions and 19 positive emotions), and encourages modern people to "treat emotions as entertainment" to cope with negative emotions and enjoy positive emotions.
After reading the whole book myself, I can't help but think of another truth in Japanese society, that is, office workers have too many repressions, grievances, etc. that cannot be released because of etiquette and rules, which indirectly makes many people seek indulgence in an extreme way - even to take their lives.
Emotions arise because of different chemical reactions in the body, and conversely, if we know the principles behind the production of emotions, can we carry out a "reverse reaction" to regulate emotions? I think that should be the original intention of this book.
In short, as an easy-to-understand psychological book, it is quite suitable for the "self-treatment" of the helpless "social animals" oppressed by work and life in contemporary times - unlike some of the healing books that are "in the form", it is dissected from the underlying principles, and it is very knowledgeable to read.
【Summary】
Pu Rui Culture's new books in recent years are committed to achieving a delicate balance between knowledge, practicality and design aesthetics.
The covers of previous books such as "Dharma Wanderer", "Sisyphus Myth", "Forest Flower", "The Secret Life of Color", "Story Writing Master Class: Story Writing Lessons that Are Popular in America" are classic representatives of practicing simple aesthetics, and at the same time, the waist seal will not have an exaggerated introduction.
In terms of the practicality of books, those "cold knowledge" books continue to introduce "light reading" knowledge books that are in line with the current fast-paced life as much as possible, which can not only expand the reader's knowledge, but also enhance the reader's reading interest.
As a publishing company focusing on the field of social science and humanities, Pu Rui has been taking the "small clear" route, in order to continue to expand sales, in addition to history, art and other "hardcore", can be out of the tome books to test the water, but also can introduce some science fiction, suspense in the field of unpopular excellent works to attract more young generation.