Books, Design and Culture
Tom Gauld has a new collection of his science-based cartoons for the New Scientist, Physics for Cats, out this week.
Tom talked to the New York Times about the previous collection, Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, in 2020.
Leave a CommentHere are a couple of cartoons I saw this week that feel pretty representative of how things are going…
And this, by the late, great Sam Gross, is from the September 1, 1980 edition of The New Yorker.
Comments closedAs it is Friday afternoon here are a few recent book-related cartoons that I enjoyed…
Asher Perlman‘s collection of cartoons Well, This Is Me was published last year.
Grickle‘s kids graphic novel Eerie Tales from the School of Screams is weird and fun.
Tom Gauld‘s new collection of cartoons Physics for Cats will be out in the fall.
Comments closed
This is pretty much why I don’t write anything I don’t have to.
Asher Perlman’s book of cartoons, Well, This is Me, is available now.
Comments closed
I feel like I’ve posting a lot about to-read piles recently. It’s mostly because I feel guilty for not reading more.
Comic by Errant Science.
Comments closed
I love this illustration by Klaas Verplancke for the recent ‘Style Issue’ of the New Yorker (which has a fun animated version of the cover on its website).
It works on lots of levels, but it also feels like a bit of nostalgic throwback. People look at their phones these days (although I did see someone with a word search book on the Toronto subway this morning, so some people are keeping it old school at least).
Grid patterns suit the cover of the New Yorker so well though. They work as a representation of Manhattan’s city grid and its skyline, as well as magazine layouts and puzzles. I was reminded me of Sergio García Sánchez’s “Modern Life” cover from a couple of years ago (itself a riff on Piet Mondrian’s New York-inspired painting “Broadway Boogie Woogie“). Chris Ware divided the cover into a comic book (ish) grid during the pandemic too. I’m sure there are more examples. (Grids are good!)
Drew Dernavich for the New Yorker. My to-read pile probably isn’t structurally important, but I wouldn’t pull a book out of the bottom of the stack that’s for sure.
Comments closed
Tom Gauld for the New Scientist.
By weird coincidence this tribute to Ingmar Bergman from the 1981 TV special “The Muppets Go to the Movies” with Beaker as Death also popped up in my timeline this week.
Comments closed
Tom Gauld‘s Midsummer’s Eve cartoon for The Guardian is from last month (obviously!), but I’m borrowing it to make a bit of boring and overdue social media housekeeping more interesting!
While I haven’t yet asked Wizard Toby to deactivate the Casual Optimist account like a some kind of despairing Baphomet, I have pretty much abandoned Twitter. It’s disappointing because I’ve met some great people through the app and it has always been a tremendous resource, but I can’t support it any more.
I’ve always hated Facebook and I haven’t posted to the Casual Optimist page there in at least a couple of years. I did, however, start an Instagram account which I’m trying to update at least once a month if you want to follow along there. I think it’s pretty unlikely that I will do anything with Threads.
I’m not on Bluesky, but I am trying out Mastodon. It promises a lot, I’m just not quite convinced by it yet (and I gather from more prolific posters than me that there is something of a sea lion problem there). I’ll post a link if/when there is a proper Casual Optimist account. In the meantime, you can find me here.
There is an RSS feed that you can subscribe to if you still use a reader (I use the Old Reader FWIW; I’m not sure what the cool kids are using), or you can get it as an email (it’s not perfect but it works).
Updates are also sent automatically to Tumblr if you’re still rattling around that haunted abandoned mansion.
Anyway, sorry for being very online and tedious. I’ll try to post some more interesting stuff soon (if I don’t quietly pack it in completely and put myself out to pasture…)
Comments closed
