A slim but idea-rich volume that is as visually engaging as it is intellectually stimulating.
Short essays on how art affects those who create and/or experience it.
Eno, the distinguished British musician, begins this book with the observation that “making art seems to be a universal human activity.” But the question he seeks to answer, apart from why people need it, is what art actually does. Beginning with a definition, Eno suggests that art is the product of anything that is done beyond what is strictly necessary “for the sake of the feeling” that the creative act engenders—which includes anything from painting to cutting hair. Throughout the book, feeling is in fact at the heart of his considerations. For Eno, art is unique for the way it can safely allow observers to experience potentially life-changing feelings, including negative ones, without “real-world consequences.” Art also invites engagement with “fragments” of different worlds that can stimulate the imagination and amplify the richness of individual existence. People not only learn to identify what they like or enjoy best but also participate in what Eno calls “a reservoir of shared experiences.” Art is “the lifeblood, the lubricant, the circulatory system of community.” It is thus a catalyst for transformative change. “Art allows us to share complicated concepts and feelings with each other,” Eno writes. “This cultural conversation opens doors to shifts—in ourselves and in society.” Set in inventively arranged type that alternates between black and pink, and illustrated throughout with Dutch artist Adriaanse’s playful, watercolor-enhanced black ink drawings, this accessible, intelligent book invites readers to think deeply about the function of art in their lives and the wider world around them.
A slim but idea-rich volume that is as visually engaging as it is intellectually stimulating.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780571395514
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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