SKU: 49443983339

What We See When We Read

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Description

What We See When We ReadA San Francisco Chronicle and Kirkus Best Book of the Year A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader. What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented

A San Francisco Chronicle and Kirkus Best Book of the Year

A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading--how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader.

What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page--a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so--and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved--or reviled--literary figures. In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literature--he considers himself first and foremost as a reader--into what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 08/05/2014
ISBN: 9780804171632
Pages: 419
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.40w x 1.00d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2014
Booklist 07/01/2014 pg. 4
Shelf Awareness 08/05/2014
Library Journal 09/01/2014 pg. 107
Publishers Weekly 09/29/2014
Kirkus Best Nonfiction 12/01/2014 pg. 36
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SKU: 49443983339

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willis asbury
Dallas, US
★★★★★ 5
Highly Recommend!
Format: Hardcover
Love this book!
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Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2026
D
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Deborah S.
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice
Format: Hardcover
Nice
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Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2025
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Chris
Belleville, US
★★★★★ 4
Pretty, But Only Part One
Format: Hardcover
Absolutely beautiful copy, but does not include part 2, “Good Wives,” which is pretty commonplace in publishing today. And I could not find a part two that would match, so I still had to buy a separate book with both.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2026
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Christina
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 1
Not the Complete Book
Format: Hardcover, Format: Hardcover
This review is for the Wordsworth Classics Luxe edition of Little Women. Quality issues aside - the first thing to know is that this is NOT the complete version of this book. It is only chapters 1-23, or Part 1, and the full book has 47 chapters including Part 2. It is rare to see the book split like this, and wasn't even something I considered when purchasing it. It doesn’t say this anywhere in the product description. Now, onto quality: The good: This book has a lovely cover and interior page design. It also has a nice orange coloring on the sides and a standard quality ribbon. The text seems to be a good size and would be comfortable for reading. The bad: The overall quality is very poor. The book is made of what feels like construction paper, and it arrived with many blemishes and defects to its sides and corners. This book looks like it’s 25 years old, and is definitely not worth a cost of $20. Even if you were to purchase a new copy in relatively good shape, I can’t see this offering any kind of long term durability. Overall, I would not recommend this product to someone looking for a nice reading or display copy, or the full version, of Little Women. As a note: I also purchased the Luxe edition of Jane Eyre which had the same quality issues. I left a similar review on that page, although the full contents of that book appeared to be there.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2023
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Tiffany haynes
Los Angeles, US
★★★★★ 5
Beautiful Cover
Format: Hardcover
love the cover of this book. It's gorgeous
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Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2025

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