We’ve all been told never to judge a book by its cover but have we all listened? Probably not. At one point or another you’ve probably most definitely judged a book by its cover and who can blame you – it’s hard not to! Whether you’re perusing Barnes and Nobles (or an indie bookstore) or glancing at Amazon Books, chances are you’ve noticed a book based on its bright colors, large font, steamy couple on the cover, textured surface, and so on. That is what the artists and publishers behind a book want – they want you to notice it. I stumbled upon an infographic recently published by Invaluablewhich uncovers key points about the process of creating book covers and offers some awesome fun facts behind 18 famous book covers!
Here are some interesting tidbits and publishing secrets using 18 of the most famous book covers out there!
Badass female characters give life to works of literature, film, and art in general. From the outspoken feminists in Jane Austen’s Victorian novels to the modern-day trailblazers in action films, female representation in art, and their empowering messages, has inspired generations of audiences throughout time. Thanks to an infographic published by Playground Equipment, the empowering words spoken by the most influential female characters will continue to be celebrated. Here are 50 Empowering Quotes From Fictional Female Characters!
Note: The quote from The Fault in Our Stars is actually said by Augustus Waters. In addition, some of these quotes are spoken by fictional characters inspired by real-life figures. For example, Margaret Thatcher is a real woman, however the quote included in the infographic is from the fictional character in The Iron Lady who is based on the real-life Thatcher.
Featured Image Via Warner Bros. and Focus Features
It’s strange to think of a world that speaks just one language. Considering how language colors our worldview, a monolingual world would be relatively colorless. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and today there are over 7,000 languages being spoken. In keeping with the saying, this makes our world pretty spicy.
The issue is some languages are spoken by billions of people, and some are spoken by just a few. Some living languages are spoken by just one person, sadly. The good news is there are people out there trying to protect endangered languages, such as The Endangered Languages Project, which is where much of the information in the infographic is from.
Ethnologue is another key resource for understanding global languages. Although thousands of languages are spoken around the world, according to Ethnologue, just twenty-three languages account for half the world’s population. There are about 7 billion people on the planet, and over 1 billion people speak the various forms of Chinese. Check out the infographics below to begin to get an idea of some of the world’s wildest language facts. 7,000 is a big number, and let’s make sure we keep some of these lesser-spoken languages kicking. As already established, variety is the spice of life!
Some authors you think of and you imagine them drinking hard, staying up late, and listening to like jazz music or something. Maybe they have interesting parties with friends or something. What you probably don’t imagine is them waking up at the time your cool friends fall asleep.
The good folks at Brain Pickings put together a helpful infographic in which they break down the sleep habits of many famous writers. Some standouts include Honoré de Balzac who woke up at 1am. Haruki Murakami wakes up at 4am (and goes for long distance runs or swims every morning). Check out the full infographic below, and pick a copy up for yourself here.
Perhaps in the last few weeks you have seen Guillermo del Toro’s gorgeous new film The Shape of Water, for which he just won the Golden Globe for Best Director. The film is about a lonely janitor played, by Sally Hawkins, who falls in love with an amphibious monster-man who is being held captive at the government base where she works. The charming love story that unfolds between them is captured by del Toro in the most aesthetically pleasing of ways, and showcases the simplicity and innocence of a love between two entirely different individuals.
Image Via Rolling Stone
In his acceptance speech del Toro said
Since childhood, I have been faithful to monsters. I have been saved and absolved by them. For monsters, I believe, are patron saints for our blissful imperfection, and they allow and embody the possibility of failure. For twenty-five years I have handcrafted very strange little tales made of motion, colour, light and shadow… these strange stories, these fables have saved my life. Once with The Devil’s Backbone, once with Pan’s Labryinth and now with The Shape of Water.
Over the last two decades writer-director de Toro has mapped out a territory in the popular imagination that is uniquely his own. Those fascinated by his work would jump at the chance to see the inner workings of this man’s mind, and luckily, there’s a way 2013 saw the release of Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessionswhich offers us a glimpse into the personal musings of this creative visionary over the last twenty-five years. Most if not all of his films were conceived on these cluttered pages filled with small, neat script and wonderfully detailed sketches of the monsters he loves so much.
Image Via Amazon
The following images are taken from his personal notebooks which are featured in the 256 page collection which, through reading, he hopes other people like him who create and fawn over the fantastical domain of writing and art will have the chance to meet a kindred spirit over oceans of time and geography, and in turn perhaps their lives, their stories, their art will be positively effected. The book reveals the inspirations behind his signature artistic motifs, sharing the contents of his personal notebooks, collections and other obsessions.
Image Via Pinterest
Image Via Rolling Stone
The Cabinet of Curiosities includes a running commentary, multiple interviews with the creative visionary and annotations that contextualize the ample visual material. These pages show the meticulous planning of the Pan’s Labyrinth monsters.
Image Via Amazon
The book contains a forward by famous Canadian filmmaker James Cameron, an afterword by none other than Tom Cruise and contributions from other luminaries including Neil Galman and John Landis. The image above showcases the musings behind Hellboy II.
The next image shows the creative process and illustration behind Pacific Rim.
Image Via Pinterest
And finally, here are a few images from the notebook that created At The Mountains of Madness.
