Book from the Ground: from point to point (Mit Press) Paperback – November 6, 2018

so far so good i havnt read it all yet but it got here earlier then expected, im so far on page 23. it reads faster then a normal book if you can get use to reading this one, and just know that if you buy this none of it even the index for about each chapter is typed even that is in emoji style pictures. but so far im loving this book and it got here with only a very very small fault on a corner of it due to how its packaging is for shipping since its a book and was just put in a plastic bag for shipping. (and when i say very small fault im talking like wouldn't even notice it if you weren't looking for it)

Reading these emojis is a lot of fun! You can impress your friends with this unique book or even use it as a stylish piece of home decor

This book was published in 2012-2013. The idea is to tell a complete story using no written words, just pictograms like you see in airports, etc. Anyone in the world with some basic experience in a modern city should be able to follow along, even if they cannot read and write. Apparently the author was also working on a related translator program that could convert text in one language into pictograms that anybody in the world could read, regardless of which language they speak.Great idea, but...apparently the book has only been published in a few countries (irony meter offscale high) and has basically been forgotten. There are only a few reviews here on Amazon, mostly from the first year or two after publication.Similar arc as the "S." multimedia set from J.J. Abrams a few years later, which was a novel-within-a-mystery-game. That seems to have gone nowhere too, which is a shame.This book itself is an interesting exercise, and it's fun to get going with the "language". But the story itself is banal...a day in the life of a young office worker in a big city, told in tedious detail.Still well worth "reading", but to get the most out of it you should also get the companion volume that goes into a lot of detail about the concept and execution...making-of special features in book form.

Your brain may hurt but this is super interesting!

Gave it to my artist/engineer friends they all loved it.

😍📘

This book is the other side of the coin for Xu Bing's art installation Book From the Sky. Book From the Sky was designed to look like writing, but ultimately it's gibberish.Book From the Ground is attempting to create a universally accessible text by eliminating language. So, conceptually it's interesting.However, this approach limits the character development. Bing presents his protagonist as an unhappy, procrastinating, materialistic office worker who likes to go on dating sites while at work–then complain about deadlines. It's shallow material.Ultimately, the conceptual objective fails. This is NOT a text that anyone can read. The only people who can understand this are living in the early 2000s and have access to the internet. This audience is far from universal.