What We See When We Read

A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualise images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.

A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualise images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader.

"A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images." - The New York Times

What We See When We Read examines the process of envisioning literary characters. Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever truly tell us what Ishmael looked like? The fragmented images on a page—a graceful ear here, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so—and other clues and signifiers help us to create an image of a character. But our sense that we know a character intimately is actually disconnected from our ability to concretely picture our beloved—or reviled—literary figures.

In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director, Peter Mendelsund, combines his profession as an award-winning designer, his first career as a classically trained pianist, and his first love, literature. Considering himself a reader above all, Mendelsund offers one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.