Self-Reliance

The book is a rumination on the famous essay of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance. It is repackaged in distracting graphics which play up words and phrases to call our attention to that emphatic visual device. A famous graphic designer (Saul Bass) told me that the purpose of typography is to be read. Well, this author/designer stands the type on its head, reverses it out, and renders it virtually unreadable.

The book is touted as elevating Emerson’s wisdom, quite a noble undertaking, indeed! I’m sure we must eagerly await other transformations of classic writers into a rebranding exercise. Whilst the theme of the original essay is to trust oneself and become an original unique human being, this republication veers away from that simple philosophy and screams for attention rather than mere non conformity. In reading Emerson, one enters into reverie. Emerson values nature and simplicity and this reader found that theme much at odds in this reimagined volume.