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inkandinsights's review
5.0
This book gives that odd satisfaction of knowing where your favorite stationery comes from, not just physically but, in terms of history too.
I am that guy who still relies on pen and paper when I want to organize my thoughts. Writing keep me sane. So, I do have a sacred relationship with stationery.
I have always been curious about stationery, its purpose, how they come to be, and so on the backstory of these little things that help us accomplish big things. I chanced upon this book by sheer luck. The Universe certainly was listening to me.
I love how James has traced the long history of most stationery products we use in our daily lives. The research is commendable. The writing is witty and captivating. The book has only fanned my romanticism towards stationery making me want to hoard more of them.
A great read for anyone who is still using analog stationery in the digital era.
I am that guy who still relies on pen and paper when I want to organize my thoughts. Writing keep me sane. So, I do have a sacred relationship with stationery.
I have always been curious about stationery, its purpose, how they come to be, and so on the backstory of these little things that help us accomplish big things. I chanced upon this book by sheer luck. The Universe certainly was listening to me.
I love how James has traced the long history of most stationery products we use in our daily lives. The research is commendable. The writing is witty and captivating. The book has only fanned my romanticism towards stationery making me want to hoard more of them.
A great read for anyone who is still using analog stationery in the digital era.
em_being's review against another edition
2.0
What would be a good history in the trivia of modern objects becomes instead a padded dinner conversation with the author, who is chummy beyond my tolerance, thinking that because we both like pens too much we have many more things in common. Was greatly discouraged, especially in the second half when all the good stories were over and we were left talking about highlighters and Office Space staplers.
squiggs's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
A narrative journey through the history of stationery supplies, told in a light funway. As someone who has a massive collection of stationery this was the perfect book to give me new appreciation for my glue stick and notebook.
kirabug's review
4.0
There's something about the perfectly-balanced pen in your hand, or the feel of a smooth sheet of writing paper. There's something about the smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil or the fwip of a Post-it note coming off the pad. We start using stationary supplies (such a generic name) when we're in elementary school or younger, and no matter how old we become or how much technology we use, they're always with us.
James Ward provides an interesting and often humorous look at the history and design of our stationary supplies, from erasers to paper clips to the Rolodex. The book is from the UK so the humor is generally of the dry British sort. I consider this a plus. The products similarly aren't focused only on the US (a nice change) but cover UK and European inventions as well.
The history of the design decisions made - from the flat cone of a highlighter to the different shapes a stapler can produce, provides insight into the world we live in. That sounds trite, but really, it takes a special kind of person two years to create the right kind of ink in a pen, and most of us don't put any thought into it past "the line keeps skipping" or "eew ink blobs". James Ward is interested in how these decisions are made, and he makes those decisions interesting to the rest of us, thus sneakily teaching us design skills we'd otherwise lack. (You'll give your spiral bound notepad a second look when you're done this book.)
This is the kind of book I enjoyed reading, and will keep, not so much for its reread-ability but because the little facts of interest will be great fun to quote back to designers and developers at work (where I do web design) for quite a lot of time to come.
James Ward provides an interesting and often humorous look at the history and design of our stationary supplies, from erasers to paper clips to the Rolodex. The book is from the UK so the humor is generally of the dry British sort. I consider this a plus. The products similarly aren't focused only on the US (a nice change) but cover UK and European inventions as well.
The history of the design decisions made - from the flat cone of a highlighter to the different shapes a stapler can produce, provides insight into the world we live in. That sounds trite, but really, it takes a special kind of person two years to create the right kind of ink in a pen, and most of us don't put any thought into it past "the line keeps skipping" or "eew ink blobs". James Ward is interested in how these decisions are made, and he makes those decisions interesting to the rest of us, thus sneakily teaching us design skills we'd otherwise lack. (You'll give your spiral bound notepad a second look when you're done this book.)
This is the kind of book I enjoyed reading, and will keep, not so much for its reread-ability but because the little facts of interest will be great fun to quote back to designers and developers at work (where I do web design) for quite a lot of time to come.