Books

January 31, 2025

New Book Explores the Fascinating Role of Optical Illusions in Architecture and Design

Much like a crossword, the confounding images in a new coffee table book, titled Illusion in Design, offer clues while withholding answers until the end. What are we to make of chairs floating in midair, or floors that seem to buckle under their own weight? The challenge in and subsequent reward of deciphering these visual puzzles is the entire point of this mystifying book.

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January 3, 2025

Bookish Intern Creates an Insightful Display Featuring the Oldest Books in His Library

Libraries big and small hold items that would surely blow your mind. For example, do you know what's the oldest title in your local library? Most surprisingly, it may not be a classic, but something that would easily go unnoticed. Jacob Blanck, who goes by u/ILovePublicLibraries on Reddit, discovered that this was the case after creating an insightful display with the oldest books held by the local library where he interns.

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December 27, 2024

Eye-Opening Photos Reveal Where World’s Food Comes From and What It Takes to Feed the Planet

For the past decade, award-winning documentary photographer George Steinmetz has been taking a look at the immense effort needed to put food on our table. With his new book Feed the Planet, we go around the world, from food processing plants in China to wheat fields in the American Midwest. Through his lens, we get an insider look at where our food really comes from.

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November 10, 2024

New Monograph Looks at Photographer Louis Stettner’s Storied Career

Louis Stettner is considered one of the great, yet underappreciated, 20th-century American photographers. His evocative images, shot in New York, Paris, and other cities around the world, capture the clashing yet contemplative feeling that only living in a large metropolis can inspire. Now, Thames & Hudson has put out a monograph that compiles the most iconic images of his storied career. The book, simply titled Louis Stettner, features about 190 photographs arranged chronologically.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.