Last month I started thinking that I’ve been reading way too little. I wanted something for the soul, and something I could reread more than once. The choice fell on a book by Edward Tufte (Edward Tufte), “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”. I love all sorts of things connected with books: how they’re made, how they’re laid out, how they’re typeset. And here it’s just paradise for the soul — the presentation of quantitative information.
Chronology
On November 20 (Saturday) I ordered this book on Amazon. Initially they promised that my shipping type, International Standard Shipping, would deliver the package in
Already on November
Hm. It’ll be here in two weeks? And you call that “delayed”? Apparently they don’t know what it’s like when you wait half a month for one miserable postcard from a neighboring country. I decided to double-check that date on Amazon’s site. Apparently there was a mistake in the email, because the official site predicted the delivery date for as far off as January
Today the mail lady brought a notice: a parcel was waiting for me at the post office. So, all told, 24 calendar days passed from the moment of ordering to receiving it.
Unpacking
I know, you love unpacking.
This is the kind of little box Amazon sends little books in. The cynical smirk is the Amazon logo. From the return address with the words “Deutsche Post,” I figured that either the book came from an Amazon logistics center in Germany, or it was simply repacked there.
View from the back. This time the smiley is already sad, because it knows: any moment now, such beautiful packaging is going to be torn open.
Their care for customers is striking. Usually, domestic packages with books have to be gnawed open with your teeth to dig the valuables out of there. The capitalists, however, came up with a special flap that opens the parcel quickly and easily.
Surely this technology is protected by a dozen patents, so we simply couldn’t reproduce something like this without violating copyright. Or maybe no one here has thought of it yet. As the person who recommended this book says: “But you’ll have Skolkovo.”
“Vzhiiiik!” said the flap. “Ooooh, fuck!” said Vova. The most important thing showed itself from the packaging.
For extra reliability, the book was wrapped in thin cellophane. For fans of “What? Where? When?” there’s a nice opportunity to show off your quick wits and write in the comments what’s depicted on the cover.
A random spread, selected on the fifth or sixth try. The book is solidly made. The paper is white, the typography and layout are excellent.
The binding, like that of any good book, is unpretentious, but firm and pleasantly rough to the touch.
This book will take the place of greatest honor on the bookshelf.
And that’s the end of the unpacking; good for you if you were listening.