By Chip Kidd. This is a very cute novel about how a college freshman discovers graphic design though a course on “Commercial Art” taught by one of the funniest cariacatures of the vicious art teacher, Winter Sorbeck. Chip Kidd is himself a graphic designer, and the book shows it — wide margins, painstakingly chosen typefaces, information all over the cover of the book and so on. Many might say that it sufferes from the excesses of the McSweeney’s crowd, but if you are a designer, one expects your book to be itself a design.

The story is straighforward enough, and although there were very few surprises, Kidd’s writing is so funny and engaging that I couldn’t put it down. It’s a wonderful book for a rainy afternoon or a boring commute — it’ll wake you up and you’ll be laughing.