This season we’re extending our book selection to include some favourites
on subjects unrelated to our usual offering, just because we like them
Essays in Love
By Alain De Botton
Macmillan
€15
Turning pages through this story of a fictitious couple falling in and out of love, there’s a clear pattern and chronology of behaviours identified and analysed by the author, which anyone who has ever been through the rigours of a love affair can identify with, and which separates romantic love distinctly and remotely from its kinsman - unconditional love.
Spinning out this well written, almost lyrical narrative, he makes acute observations on the vagaries of romantic love that could quite possibly lend this very human impulse to impersonal scientific theory, followed by a mathematical equation to support it. But that is romantic love in hind-sight and for those observing from the sidelines, not those bewitched by it.
In a non-fiction writer’s hand, the subject could be either sentimental or cynical, and a fiction writer might expect the rejection slips for stating such an obvious plot as presented here. De Botton is, and does, neither.
The Secret Life of Water
By Masaru Emoto
Beyond Words Publishing
€8.99
Books whose subjects seem unbelievable can have the curious habit of leaving a reader, if not wholly convinced, at least awakened to possibilities, and with an expanded mind.
This reviewer was somewhat impeded in exploring the subject of this one in-depth by not having read the author’s preceding book, The Hidden Messages in Water, but nonetheless found a clear reminder that our thoughts and words have direct consequences on the world around us.
The Secret Life of Water is based on the belief that water is affected by its environment and its interaction with human beings and their attitudes to it. This, in turn, affects its structure under the microscope, which results in magnificent crystallisation patterns where water has flowed freely and been dealt with respectfully and lovingly. Where the opposite has occurred, the water fails to crystalise, or is distorted.
How much scientific evaluation has been done by the author to support his claims is unclear, but then again, the world of science also deals with the abstract and the unproven realm of theory, and aren’t we expected to accept that?
The Way We Live
By Stafford Cliff and Gilles De Chabaneix
Thames & Hudson
€25
In rather typical Stafford Cliff style, The Way We Live is a pictorial record of his chosen subject, this time illustrating architectural and decorating styles from a variety of countries. We observe living arrangements that range from stark simplicity to lavish embellishment, with each one a reflection of the ingenuity of its particular culture and environment.
As a world tour of interior design elements, it’s interesting to note how, in many cases, styles from very diverse cultures and locations mirror one another, perhaps a testament to humans having the same needs universally.
But there’s also a sense of how travel has influenced interiors, bringing with it the style of a particular country that is then adapted for use elsewhere, dependent on the materials and skills available and needs unique to the location. Notably, we see English Georgian architecture transposed to Ireland, and details of it further informing the architectural style of houses in the Americas.
Ultimately, the book, despite being largely text-free, is a reminder that the way we live is not completely defined by where we live.
Japanese Style
By Sarah Lonsdale
Carlton Books
€9.99
Japanese Style brings together the many strands of modern design of that country, detailing the influences which have given rise to its individual style.
Full-colour images illustrate the traditions and diversity of Japanese design with sections on fashion, architecture, interiors, food and drink, transport, products, homeware, advertising and communications and packaging.
When one thinks of design, many other countries may spring to mind before Japan. But for a reader with an interest in design globally, this book is informative and accessible and provides a good introduction to the development of Japan’s somewhat idiosyncratic style, and how this is influencing, and being influenced by, western culture.
Fifty Chairs That Changed The World
By Design Museum
Octopus Books
€15
The title of the book does not convince this reviewer. Even though I have a great interest in furniture design, and particularly chairs, I’m not aware of any having changed the world, except, I imagine, the very first one ever made. What may be a more apt title for this publication is Fifty Chairs That Changed the Design World, and in that spirit it’s a very worthwhile record of iconic chairs designed and made over the last 150 years or so.
Using London’s Design Museum chair collection as its basis, it lists and describes 50 examples that range from workaday, though elegant, chairs of the 19th Century, to some of the more visually eclectic examples of the last 50 years, when design became a buzz-word for style and desirability. During this period there has been unprecedented development in chair design, helped by consumer appetites and a maverick use of new materials, which in turn testify to many of these chairs, indeed, changing the design world.
Art Deco Interiors
By Patricia Bayer
Thames & Hudson
€25
Art Deco must be one of the most recognisable styles of all times, characterised by geometric designs and the use of bold colours which flourished in the early decades of the 20th Century in Europe and the US.
Bayer’s book is less an inspirational publication on how to achieve this look, and more a written documentary of its history and application to some of the most recognisable buildings and other settings in the world. Photography, both historic and modern, supports the author’s breadth of text and helps to illustrate the extent and impact of this design movement on both sides of the Atlantic.
The 1970s and 80s saw a revival of interest in the subject, but, interestingly, it had never fallen into the fashion doldrums as such, and so avoided decades of design derision that befell the styles (though now revived) of the 1950s 60s and 70s.
70s Style & Design
By Dominic Lutyens and Kirsty Hislop
Thames & Hudson
€30
Examining the key aspects of a particular design movement must be more approachable than trying to account for it within a precise period of time that is inevitably impacted by things that came before and after. Nonetheless, what makes this book stand-up is a combination of really striking photography and illustrations, and a pleasing lack of emphasis on frayed flares and platform shoes.
Inevitably, names like Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood find their way in here, with fashion making a significant contribution to the content. But so too does other design such as the advent of Habitat and the idea of “flat-packed” furniture, reclamation of industrial materials, the rise of DIY, and the influence of Pop Art. This is all set against a background of high colour that we, forty years later, are only starting to revive after a decade of white and minimalism, and in that context the book offers us something that is at once both nostalgic and refreshing.
Woman as Design
By Stephen Bayley
Octopus Books
€60
This large, soft, creamy and tactile tome might suggest (well, as far as any square object can) aspects of the female body, in keeping with its title. Knowing the author to be a man, I expected an emphasis on the areas most likely to interest and excite the male, but as a female reviewer I hoped to learn how the shape and workings of woman’s body has influenced and informed design.
It turned out there was plenty of the former, such as images of Elizabeth Taylor’s breasts and Beth Ditto in the near nip, but little of the latter, except for the subject of bras, which he describes as “the industrialisation of the breast”. Here I see his point, as the breast has been moulded, lifted, seemingly enhanced and put on show.
There is, however, a wealth of imagery and information on how the design of the female form appears and is interpreted in design, and that in itself is interesting. But more bizarre images of cow udders, primitive sculpture, dolls, chastity belts and nuns on scooters have that unsettling effect of making the reader not want to look but, nevertheless, being compelled to do so.
Household Management for Men
Quid Publishing
€12
Let’s face it, if you receive this as a present from your partner, your relationship is in trouble or you’ve recently been made unemployed. As a domestic cleaning manual for males, it’s laid out in classic DIY format, full of illustrations that remind me of those old Readers’ Digest manuals from the 1970’s.
Written in what could be described as male and slightly laddish language, it plays to its audience, which is all very well but there still remains the fact that there’s an awful lot of cleaning to be done.
Who has time for 138 pages of it? The unemployed, the very fussy, and the man whose relationship is in trouble, that’s who.
What if the man in the relationship masters all of the cleaning skills involved? Are we now to cook and clean for our partners? Where is the justice in all of this? Although very readable and extremely well laid out, this book is a cruel blow for masculinity.
Reviewed by Barry McCarthy