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Goodbye Gutenberg: How a Bronx Teacher Defied 500 Years of Tradition and Launched an Astonishing Renaissance (Designer Writers)
by Valerie Kirschenbaum
Product Group: Book
Publisher: The Global Renaissance Society (2004-10)
ISBN: 0974575038
EAN: 9780974575032
Dewey Decimal #: 709
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 416 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 8202009495
Condition: New
Comments: 0974575038 New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This widely anticipated verbal and visual masterpiece by Valerie Kirschenbaum, a high school teacher in the Bronx, has early reviewers raving. With 860 gorgeous, full color images from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Maya, India, China, Japan, Tibet, and medieval Europe (many never seen by an American audience), Kirschenbaum provides what world renowned graphic designer Milton Glaser described as "the visual history of the universe and its relationship to writing." She combines the breathtaking beauty of illuminated manuscripts with today’s latest technologies to create a scintillating multisensory experience. But Goodbye Gutenberg is more than just a book. It is a cultural heirloom for your family, a gem to own and cherish for a lifetime. This is a once in a lifetime chance to own a limited first edition printing. Full color spreads from the book can be freely downloaded from the author's website.
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Customer Reviews
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A Gorgeous, Delicious Feast of a Book that Doesn't Completely Satisfy
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-08-04
Goodbye Gutenberg is, above all else, a gorgeous, delicious feast for the eyes. The colors and images leap out at you from the page and, for some, even assault them. This is not an easy book to ignore!
If you love books and history and technology, as I do, then you will like this book - or at least parts of it. Valerie Kirschenbaum's central thesis is that the technology available to writers today has evolved to the point where we can all be writer designers who custom make our own books, complete with all of the colors and images we could wish for. Technology is in some ways returning us to the age of illuminated manuscripts where each page is itself a work of art and not just the medium for a message.
I am wowed by what Kirschenbaum has achieved in writing/designing this book, and my first reaction was to delight in and begin to devour the book. But ultimately, I find Goodbye Gutenberg" to be a feast that doesn't completely satisfy.
Kirschenbaum claims many other things in addition to her central thesis, some of which are true, and some of which are not. It's true that the cost of production of desktop publishing and color printing have gone down. It's true that the book is evolving and that books such as hers are more visually attractive than plain black and white text books. It's also true that we are in a more visually oriented age and that "designer writing" is now possible and will liberate many more such writers to be published.
On the other hand, it's not true that color and images necessarily enhance education or that such books are necessarily the best way to learn or process all information. It's also not true that such books are as cost effective as she suggests: how many people who have read this book actually paid $47.95 for that privilege? This method of producing books is extremely labor intensive: it helps if you have a grant money and lots and lots of free time. Ultimately, the market will tell if this kind of book is here to stay.
One of the things that was most off-putting and even embarrassing is the shameless self-promotion. The subtitle is "How a Bronx Teacher Defied 500 Years of Tradition and Launched an Astonishing Renaissance." Really? If Kirschenbaum can claim this with a straight face, then it diminishes the reader's trust in the other things she claims as well.
Surprisingly, there is no or little mention of the possibility of e-books. A revolution in publishing is, indeed, happening, but it is in self-publishing and e-books. The e-book can better accomplish some of what Kirschenbaum hopes to accomplish: it's much less expensive to publish e-books with all the colors and images that she desires. In some ways, her book may even, paradoxically, be seen as the last dying gasp of "Gutenberg"!
Other reviewers made the important point that too much color and design actually takes away from a deep experience with much literature of various genres. Her book is in keeping with the spirit of these postmodern times, in which a pastiche of wildly clashing, sensation-producing elements are thrown together without regard for style, elegance, or appropriateness. It seems as if she's thrown in everything but the kitchen sink (wait, I think I saw that, too, on page 73!) This is, perhaps, a matter of taste, but it matters to some.
In spite of these criticisms, Kirschenbaum is indeed a pioneer in showing one (not the only) direction that the new publishing revolution may take in the hands of dedicated and passionate "writer designers" such as Kirschenbaum. I debated for some time between giving this book 3 or 4 stars, but any book that can make me think and see this much, in spite of its notable flaw, deserves 4 stars.
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A book for every book lover--and every book non-lover
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-12-23
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
With Gutenberg's printing press, the invention of movable type, the concept of the mass production of books eventually led to what we have today: 90% of our books are black type on white paper and completely uninteresting from a visual perspective. In other words, while various authors may sound different, both in subject matter and style, they generally look the same on paper. This is very odd and curiously limiting since books are primarily a visual rather than an auditory medium. When books were hand printed, and thus generally full of imaginative and inspirational illustrations (e.g., medieval illuminated manuscripts), there was a liveliness and energy that engaged the reader on more levels than the purely mental. Our current books are supposed to mentally engage us with the stories they tell, and perhaps with the images that those stories help paint in our mental imaginations. But the incredible popularity of visual storytelling in such media as theater, television, and movies shows that people hunger for something different. Many adults spend the bulk of their free time watching TV, and reading continues to decline even as technology brings us more books than ever before.
Valerie Kirschenbaum, a teacher in the Bronx, was at a loss as to how to reach her bored and completely distracted students until a day in 1998 when one of her students asked why our books are no longer generally in color as they used to be. This started Kirschenbaum on an odyssey that would change her life and that of her students. She discovered that by simply putting the words of one of Shakespeare's sonnets into various colors, she captured her students' excitement and imagination in an overwhelming and completely surprising way. Kirschenbaum embarked on a quest to study imaginative illustration with a depth and fervor that allowed her to devour hundreds of books on various cultures' hieroglyphics, calligraphy, scrolls, and illuminated manuscripts. Realizing the power of these visual symbols to capture the heart and imagination, Kirschenbaum developed an unprecendented visual vocabulary that produced her stunning first book, Goodbye Gutenberg, which ushers in a new genre Kirschenbaum calls "designer writing."
Goodbye Gutenberg is truly a one of a kind book. With an incredibly eclectic variety of typefaces (including the original font Kirschenbaum invented for the bulk of the text), traditional hieroglyphics and calligraphy, old and new symbolic designs, drawings, photos, and paintings--all in a wealth of colors and with endlessly differing page set-ups and borders--Kirschenbaum enlivens our senses, inspires our hearts, and awakens our imaginative sense of play while she thereby very effectively tells the story of the evolution of books and illustrations in various cultures, especially the fascinating history of Western (popular) culture and its gifts to us: opportunities for our creative imaginations to truly flower. Goodbye Gutenberg is in essence a demonstration of how radically ideas can change depending on how they are presented visually. It is in this sense a call to socio-political action through the freeing of the imagination.
Therefore, while Goodbye Gutenberg is currently one of a kind, Kirschenbaum hopes to spark a revolution with its publication in which many more books like hers will follow, "a new flowering of the verbal and the visual arts," feeding the senses and imagination of future readers of any subject on multiple levels. Perhaps ironically, the logical extension (the computer) of the very technology (printing) that stripped books of their imaginative beauty to make mass printing possible is what now makes it possible to easily and affordably add that illustrative beauty back in exciting and endlessly new, even wild, ways. Anyone who loves books--and especially those who don't--will be fascinated, even stunned, by Goodbye Gutenberg. Kirschenbaum has created a truly must-see book for everyone!
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Interesting Concept With Some Good Points
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-10-21
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ms. Kirschenbaum, a school teacher, has set out to change the face of book-making and books for the future by proving how easy it is, using modern computer technology and easily-obtained software, to produce books that are not only informative, but works of art. By appealing to the visual learner in all readers, these new books just might transform reluctant readers into individuals who, while they might still not relish reading the written word, will at least be pulled into the text through other means. As a visual learner myself, I found this book to be one delight after another. However, her premise that this idea is revolutionary is perhaps over the top, since many publications already employ many of the ideas used in the book.
I do agree with some reviewers that the text is repetitive and that at times, the visuals and color seem excessive and actually hijack the reader's attention. Some of the fonts are also less readable and tend to be distracting. Less sometimes is more, and more sometimes is too much. However, I don't think that was the author's intent to present this book as what each book should look like. She is simply setting examples before the reader. As to the charges of shameless self-promotion, I take it that the reviewer who wrote that has never attempted to publish a book that is outside the mainstream of the rather bland fare that publishers tend to focus on---medical detective thrillers, Da Vinci code rip-offs, and Sci/Fi fantasy appropriations of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. Those with new ideas are forced to take drastic measures to get them heard. I applaud the author's efforts. If you don't like the book, fine, but don't assault the marketing method.
I do wonder how much a classroom set of such highly colored, high quality books would cost. As a teacher in a poorer state, I am well aware of the constraints on textbook purchasing because of money. Still, if the technology allows these books to be produced in mass and at low cost, this is a positive step in the history of book publishing.
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Wonderful Book that will be Right at Home on Your Coffee Table
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-11-04
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Valerie Kirschenbaum sent me this book about a year ago to review, but when I saw it, I knew I just couldn't. The book was so different from anything I'd ever seen that I was at a loss for words. I didn't know if I liked it or not. Some of the fonts were hard to read and they were not printed on a white background. Plus there really wasn't a story or thread I could follow. This is not a book to be read cover to cover.
So, not wanting to give a bad review of something I didn't really understand, I chose not to review it at all. However, for the last year this book has mostly been living on my coffee table. Scores of my friends have leafed through it, all liking it. I've picked it up more times than I can count, opened it to a random page and found myself enjoying it for ten or fifteen minutes.
Then just tonight it hit me, like a bolt out of the blue, I like this book. I've gotten hours of pleasure out of it and will probably get hours more. Many of my friends reach for it as soon as they sit on my sofa. They've been through it again and again, but they can't seem to get enough. A great conversation piece, this book is. Will it revolutionize printing or modernize books, I don't know. But I do know now that I'm glad I have it and I am glad that I finally got around to giving it the five star review it deserves.
If you are reading this Ms. Kirschenbaum, I am sorry it took me so long to pen this, but I have now and I sincerely hope that my little missive helps you sell some copies of this wonderful book that will feel right at home on any coffee table.
Reviewed (finally) by Vesta Irene
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Overambitious, bombastic eyesore.
Rating  (1)
Date: 2005-08-31
17 out of 23 customers found this reveiw helpful
The author-slash-huckster's talent for assaulting the eye is perhaps only exceeded by a knack for self-promotion that even Ron Popeil would be proud of.
From the first page--nay, the dustjacket--"Goodbye, Gutenberg..." promises to be a stroll down Self-congratulation Lane, followed by a long saunter along Arrogance Avenue. Just as we should be wary of Franklin Mint trinkets touted by the manufacturer as valuable, limited edition collectibles, we should be cautious about a book so heavily praised by its own author. The blurb inside of the back, imploring the browser to buy this, one of only 4700 first editions (of course, she does promise many more printings), makes me wonder if Ms Kirschenbaum is trying to launch a writer's revolution or line her pockets.
Similar books, she confides, sell for as much as $100 or more. But you can get your copy of "Goodbye Gutenberg..." for the low, low price of only $47.95! I am only surprised she didn't promise to include an individually numbered certificate of authenticity and a handsome, mahogany-finish display cabinet. Or that she didn't tell us to wait, there's more! If you act now, you can receive a second copy at no additional cost! And if you order within the next ten minutes, she'll throw in an amazing instant meat defroster for free, so you'll never have to wait three hours for your chicken to thaw out again! That's a total retail value of over $125, but only if you order today! (Sorry, no C. O. D.'s.)
The blatantly commercial aspects of the work aside, "Goodbye Gutenberg..." is a visual nightmare. For countless years, writers have worked alone or in collaboration with designers to produce works that, through a combination of good writing and engaging graphic design, strengthen the reader's comprehension of the information therein. The key of these works' success seems to be that the reader synthesizes the text and graphics without being more aware of one or the other, allowing each to enhance the value of the other. Unfortunately, "Goodbye..." slaps the reader with its distracting and confusing computer-generated visuals and then whispers its information with a soft and easily missed sans serif font (a neo-Comic Sans MS affair designed by (who else?) the author).
I saw this work in a bookstore and tried to give it a chance, but found it to be an astonishingly taxing read. While I don't claim that minimalism is the only way to go, there is certainly a lot to be said for elegance and knowing what it means to be "over the top."
I strongly suspect this is the first published work of its kind for one of two reasons: 1) no other person alive has had enough free time to see such an unwieldy, pointless project to fruition; 2) such works exist, but no publishing house has previously dared print them.
Incidentally, unless Ms Kirschenbaum is trying to revolutionize the act of printing, I am not sure why she bids farewell to Gutenberg, who pioneered the printing press, not the aesthetics of books.
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