Inside Paragraphs

Inside Paragraphs is a cool book because it explains typography using a completely different approach from other books on the subject. As you can infer from the title, and certainly from the cover, this book focuses not on the anatomy of the glyphs themselves, but the space between the glyphs.

The book makes you think about typography differently. You learn to see the micro-whitespace between individual characters, words, and lines. All these pixel-sized spaces seem insignificant but Highsmith explains why treating these spaces with attentive care is essential for quality typography.

The 1950s, Saul Bass-esque illustrations and appropriately beautiful typography makes this book a joy to read. I wouldn’t recommend this as a primary text on typography, but it’s a great companion text!