Comments on: ToC

Some readers will appreciate their typographic form, while others will see further strategies at work — informational, strategic, philosophical, literary. There are odd, even anachronistic cultural references, gestures that date these books in a manner oddly soothing.
The Next Page: Thirty Tables of Contents I found the Design Observer setup to be a tad cumbersome, so here's one of the editors' flickr photoset.
Bonus link from the same user: 33 Covers from Poetry Magazine

By: carsonb

carsonb — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:10:11 -0800

They forgot my favorite.

By: yazi

yazi — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:25:21 -0800

Your fave, carsonb, has that resounding tone of majesty, like the TOC for Nabokov's Pale Fire, given in this post. Check it out, if you haven't already (can't remember it's number). So blunt, so authoritative.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:26:33 -0800

Oh, I just like it for the irony.

By: yazi

yazi — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:36:55 -0800

I have noted your literary insight. Yikes, I haven't looked at Tristram in decades. I'm tempted to get a copy and see why the TOC exudes irony. Or else, if you want to say more about that, pls. do. I have nothing against peope instructing about things they know. Shoot away.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:51:49 -0800

Well, the title, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, hints at a biographical chronology, an easy and natural informational scheme. The first indication that this is a faulty assumption (in the extreme) is the ToC—instead of early life, school days, etc. delineation, the reader is awarded only a page location for each numericalBOOK. The plot lines for the novel (handily included deep within the text) also offer some insight on why the ToC is so obtuse. Why even bother trying to map that insanity?

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:55:49 -0800

One of my favorites

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:56:46 -0800

Another.

By: Grimp0teuthis

Grimp0teuthis — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:07:16 -0800

I love explorations of small, specific pieces of design. They give me a sense of the importance of that element vis-a-vis the whole. Since I'm not terribly well read, I can't see the literary relevance of the various designs, unfortunately. This photoset helped me come up with my own priorities for what I value in a TOC in the event that I end up designing one: A table of contents' purpose is to give the reader a sense of what lies ahead, so to that end: 1. It should be very clear, with plenty of whitespace (this is too cluttered). 2. The prominent headings should be the most important divisions in the book. 3. Page numbers packed together and far away from the chapter titles decreases ease of use. 4. Simple titles beat long ones, for an instructive book. Anyone else come up with some principles?

By: djgh

djgh — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:16:37 -0800

Is anyone else finding that in Safari the slideshow popup doesn't include a scrollbar, and as such one can't view the images in their entirety?

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:21:42 -0800

djgh...Grab the lower-right corner of the popup window and drag it until everything fits in the window.

By: everichon

everichon — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:31:51 -0800

House Of Leaves and Pale Fire are easily two of the funnest things I have ever read. Very cool post, very cool tables.

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:42:05 -0800

Thanks. That set of Poetry Magazine covers is great.

By: mazola

mazola — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:49:20 -0800

Half of those are crap.

By: D.C.

D.C. — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:36:45 -0800

Half of those are crap. Which is why this is such a good list.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:27:54 -0800

Love-Goddess Assembly Line, 93. The Mechanical Bride, 98. I came here today to post this and here it already was. Thanks carsonb.

By: johnny novak

johnny novak — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:14:57 -0800

I too came here to post this. A little late to the party as ever. However, I was going to add Alisdair Gray's Book of Prefaces.