The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization
No...not THAT Book :-)
We were completely intrigued when we caught wind of The Book three years ago, and have been following its progress ever since.
This Kickstarter project—like so many others—was derailed by the pandemic, and as a result, road blocks were encountered, delivery dates were missed, and lots of lessons were learned on its journey to completion.
We are delighted to report that, after years of delays, The Book finally began to reach the hands of its backers at the start of 2023!!!
Was the wait worth it? For our readers in the TL:DR crowed (Too Long: Didn’t Read – as in article, not book), the answer is YES!
For those who want the details, read on…
Outside
We got an email in November 2022 saying that the shipment was “on its way!” While it didn’t have an estimated arrival date, our hope was that it would arrive by Christmas. It missed it by about five months, LOL.
Still, the important thing is that it finally arrived…and the wait was absolutely worth it!
So large a tome it’s the only thing that fit in the box.
The Book is massive:
- 409 pages of amazingly detailed illustrations
- Hardcover with some incredible details
- Printed on 157 GSM high-quality matte art paper
Pretty, and pretty intriguing.
- 9″ x 13″ x 2″
- 4.5 pounds
- Lay-flat binding
Top -notch and -quality in the physical structure of the book called The Book.
Of special note on the cover is the blind embossing and hot foil stamping, details which can only be fully appreciated under magnification and close-up inspection.
Alotta lotta lotta detail – get out yer magnifying glass, Margret, you are gonna wanna look at EVERYTHING.
Inside
The illustration on the first page of The Book gives an indication of the tone of the entire project…part fantastical, part mechanical, and all absolutely wildly imaginative.
A word made into an illustration – love that.
And because the Kickstarter funding goal of $1.3M was reached, the names of all of the backers were printed on the inside covers of the book.
A thank you indeed.
EVEN with the print being this small, they still needed both front and back covers to list everyone.
The authors, illustrators, and editors have compiled a list of the ideas, knowledge, and instructions to “rebuild a civilization.” Of course, the list is not trying to be exhaustive, nor could it be even if they had wanted to.
How does one even pick which idea/knowledge/instruction to include? While not an easy question to answer, certain things are common to all functioning societies. Necessities such as food and shelter, etc., are basic for all individuals. Communications, commerce, and such would be needed for groups to interact. Art, music, and literature might be “essential” for some and “nice to have” for others.
The editors selected twenty three categories to consider. We liked their choices and look forward to enjoying each section by section.
I’ll start with…any of them, really; they’re all a wonder.
Illustrations
On our first thumb through of the book, we immediately noted the style of the illustrations were reminiscent of the Voynich Manuscript at Yale. While the contents of the Voynich Manuscript is likely fiction, the drawings in The Book, although somewhat whimsical and steampunk-ish, are of things real.
“Staple crops” for the win! And very attractive, too.
The combination of engineering drawing and medieval art were smartly blended by the illustrators to depict the topics discussed throughout. We especially enjoyed the sometimes tongue-in-cheek and sometimes fantastical depictions of ideas and concepts.
NOT just an explanation of the writing press – instructions on how to build your own! Whilst drinking your own beer, if you want.
Wattle and daub houses are for sissies – build yerself one made out of reinforced concrete!
Details
The art paper used for The Book is a high-quality 157 GSM matte stock. It is a weightier and sturdier paper, perfect for a high-end project of this type. The paper has a bit of warmth to its natural white coloring, giving the prints an overall warmer tone. The quality is subtle, but definitely noticeable.
Geeky book info: GSM means “grams/square meter,” sometimes written as g/m². It is a measure of the weight of the paper. As a point of reference, typical printer paper is usually 80–100 GSM. Quality letterhead or calligraphy paper will be heavier, around 100–120 GSM. Good watercolor stock will be something like 230 GSM.
Don’t make me shoot you with my bow and arrow…and if you annoy me enough I might use my seated crossbow contraption instead.
In order to fully appreciate the effort that Timur and Vsevolod’s team of illustrators put into this project, we thought we take a deeper look at a spread covering a topic. We opened The Book randomly and landed on the Bow & Crossbow section…awesome 🙂
For each topic there are:
- Text descriptions of purpose, principles, and/or facts,
- Detailed illustrations, parts of which may be fantastical, and
- Assorted associated / related discussions.
There are more styles of weapon-wear and and weaponry than you’d imagine, generally speaking.
- There are also breakdowns of the illustrations with callouts to the significant parts
Yep, you’ve annoyed me…now die!!!
FirstThoughts:
The Book is one of the more creative Kickstarter projects we have seen come to life. Sure it took a few more years for the creators to deliver their vision, but considering all the obstacles they had to overcome (pandemic, shipping issues, life…), it is an astounding feat that it came together at all!
As for the final product, IIATOB (It Is A Thing Of Beauty). The quality of the materials used, the creativity displayed, and the huuuge amount of effort poured into bringing this vision to completion are clearly evident in what we now hold in our hands.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the project…creators, backers, and Kickstarter. You have made something truly remarkable!!!
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