I finished this Megan Garber’s Screen People last night and wanted to type up a quick review.
If you know the names Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman then you can probably skip this one. If you don’t recognize those names then the first couple of chapters of Garber’s “Screen People” will feel like fresh air to you (and then skip to the last few).
The chapters of the book are named after parts of a tv show or movie and the metaphor doesn’t really carry through, the middle, very well. While I 100% agree with what the book asserts (tech issues, Trump, toxicity, media diets, etc.) it just lacked some clarity and AN INDEX, PLEASE! That was my biggest gripe – for all this effort and event citations and science paper quoting – we needed an index and bibliography. I did lots of underlining and I’m already on board with where Garber is writing from. I just want to be able to look up these bills, hearings, books, news events, and science papers to do more digging.
All the usual suspected are here with the politics, miopic tech leaders, QANON, etc. and Garber does a good job early on showing how our current networks and technology enable and help all those bad actors.
“Social media is a mini narcissism engine.”
“Americans often talk about ‘the algorithms’ in the same rough ways that ancient people used to describe their gods…”
Screen People mentions lots of bad things right alongside the word “platforms”, but never connects the dots & doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions either. I am bumping it up to a 3/5 because I absolutely agree with the subtitle How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency. That is indeed spot on.
I recently read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, and I was blown away. This book came out in 1993, and I know that makes me really late to the party, as I’ve seen this recommended quite a few times, but I’ve never stopped to read. Joe Crawford threw this title out as the November 2025 IndieWeb Book Club read, and I’m so glad I joined in (both because I enjoyed the book and I am thankful for the chance to try out webmentions, which is also new to me).
McCloud does a masterful job of explaining how and why comics work so well when it comes to storytelling.
He dives into the way our brains work, how culture affects what we perceive, and the physical restraints of the medium. He spends time explaining the difference between a cartoon, comics, icons, illustrative art, etc. He shows how commercial and artistic interests sometimes push and sometimes hinder development.
He dedicates whole chapters to time, color, and spatial perception.
All of this is so well done, there were times I was wondering if this book needed to be on my books about books shelf or my media philosophy shelf.
While there are many takeaways that will stay with you and are worth ruminating on, it was Chapter Three – Blood in the Gutter, when he explains the concept of ‘Closure’, that I knew I was hooked. He boils down some big ideas and simplifies things so you understand the complexity of what happens in your brain when you read a panel of a comic and then read the following rectangle panel next to it, essentially skipping the small white space (called the gutter) separating the two.
A great way to illustrate and explain the idea of “closure”.
So much can happen in the gutter between two panels. McCloud breaks down the six most common.
McCloud then goes on to demonstrate how storytellers can use that gutter to connect action and get your brain involved in the storytelling. It’s so well done.
His explanations of why different levels of detail/realism in a comic directly influence how much the reader will immerse themselves into a story were amazing and something I haven’t quit thinking about.
I now see that I’ve only looked at the surface of comics and not considered the other layers involved, which just makes one appreciate the form even more.
McCloud also excels at plotting different ideas and formulas when it comes to types of comics and illustrated storytelling. While I don’t know enough to call this book a masterclass, it is certainly one of the best any casual reader could pick up. His book Understanding Comics is to comics as baking shows are to cakes. You really start to understand the vocabulary, see how all the pieces work together, and why. And you have a blast while learning all this.
I highly recommend this one to almost everybody. It’s one of the few 5-star reads I had this year. Contrary to what I’ve always thought, this is not just folks who get comics and “are into it”, but anyone who likes books and thinks about storytelling in any form (even reports at work where you have to present things sequentially). This book really does open things up.
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As I stated at the top, the fact that I read this book is a celebration of the cool parts of the IndieWeb. I am posting this using something called webmentions, which is new to me, and I am anxious to see how these notifications, pings, and conversations happen.
This week’s Nonfiction November festivities are being hosted over on Rebekah’s site, She Seeks Nonfiction, with the prompt being:
“Diverse Perspectives: Nonfiction books are one of the best tools for seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. They allow us to get an idea of the experiences of people of all different ages, races, genders, abilities, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, or even just people with different opinions than ours. Is there a book you read this year from a diverse author, or a book that opened your eyes to a perspective that you hadn’t considered? How did it challenge you to think differently?”
You guys are going to have to forgive me if I fanboy for a bit, as I am a huge fan of Amos Kennedy and his work. I have quite a few posters and have been following him ever since our conversation at the 2009 Alabama Book Festival. I have to say that this book (which came out in 2024) more accurately captures Kennedy’s view of the world and his processes than any other book or interview that I’ve read about him. If you enjoy typography, letterpress, and handcrafted art, you should check out his book. If you like your art to communicate with clear, bold, and inspiring images and color, then you need to own some of his art. Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. has never strayed from his mission of social justice, Black history, and culture.
It’s pretty amazing how so many books about race in America can be distilled down to a single broadside poster printed with a true artist’s eye.
Citizen Artist does a solid job of not just showing how Kennedy shares what he’s saying (lots of people dig his art), but the essays in here do a good job of highlighting what Kennedy is saying through his art.
Kennedy is at his best when he is giving weight and emphasis to other people’s words. Some names you’ll know, but many are voices that often get left behind as time marches on.
And, if you’re not sold on him yet, Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. loves books! He gets the need and power of having books close at hand and lining the bookshelves at home.
The book features more than 800 pieces of art, a fold-out poster page, and a few thoughtful essays by a handful of scholarly folks. But Kennedy’s art and message always stay at the front, helping you see the struggle, work, pain, and hope for social equality here in America. As many times as Kennedy’s work pokes me in the eye demanding I pay attention, it is often sad, but never painful, and always feels like fresh air.
I hope we all find some new books this week to help gain some hope and a fresh perspective on the people around us.
BONUS: Here is a flip-through video that Kennedy’s publisher made and posted online. It gives a wonderful view of just how great this book is.
The authors’ credentials are plentiful: record producer for Prince, doctorate degrees, literary awards, science and music awards… but you the whole time you’re reading you can tell – these folks love music. Which is something I can read about all day long.
The premise of the book is simple: all of us have unique “listener profile” defined by your brain’s handling of seven key dimensions that music has: Authenticity, Realism, Novelty, Lyrics, Rhythm, Timbre and Melody. Each one of those characteristics gets its own chapter explaining how your personal physiology, childhood, adulthood, language, etc. affects how your brain translates music into toe tapping, goose bumps, tears, smiles, screams, frowns and head bopping. It was fascinating and I’ve loved playing some of my favorite tunes recently and trying to pay attention to what Rogers and Ogas outline. It certainly has not made my actual tunes more enjoyable or anything, but the experience has been fun trying to figure out when I’m listening “with my head” versus when I’m listening “with my heart”.
This Is What It Sounds Like is full of percents and statistics. Some of my favorite are along the lines of when people here a song, a certain number of them visualize the musicians playing, some folks’ brains start up a movie in their head trying to storyboard the lyrics, some folks have memories triggered and if you’re of the right age you’re probably picturing the music video. Anyway, the authors have stats and some experiments to back things up all along the way.
The book is certainly full of opinionated takes which are fun to argue with (but debates I think I’d lose if were really face-to-face with someone who worked with Prince for so many years).
I think the book scratches the same itch when a foodie reads stories about the founding of famous restaurants and recipes or a cinephile reads how Alfred Hitchcock decided to frame certain shots. This Is What It Sounds Like will just make listening to music a little richer. And the book makes for great cocktail party conversation.
