Digital typography

What Hacker News says

1. WillAdamsDec 2025
   Books which I have read and would recommend include:

   - _Ashley's Book of Knots_ --- everyone should be aware of knots and now at least the basics interesting, _The Klutz Book of Knots_ was also mentioned once

   - James Clavell _Noble House_ --- part of his "Asian Saga", not sure if it has aged well --- if a person could read only one of these, I'd recommend _King Rat_, based on his experience in a Japanese prison camp in WWII.

   - Hesse _Steppenwolf_ --- that Hesse is no longer read saddens me deeply, and not just because this makes _The Glass Bead Game_ less likely --- his thoughts on the difficulties of interpersonal relationships resonate even now

   - Knuth _Literate Programming_ --- I _really_ wish this style f programming would gain traction and that there would be more instances of taking famous programs and re-writing as a Literate Program, e.g., http://literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf

   - Knuth _Digital Typography_ (and not just because I have a reward check)

   - Knuth _Mathematical Writing_ --- if you do any work in math, you probably already have a copy --- if you don't, you probably need one

   - Dewdney _The Planiverse_ --- response to the classic _Flatland_, this has a real charm and despite the dated computer technology, has held up well

   - Walter jon Williams _Hardwired_ --- an amazing cyberpunk novel, part of which was published in _Omni_

   - Steven Brust's _Jhereg_ --- one of my favourite fantasy novels, which I've been reading since picking it up in a Waldenbooks when I was in high school, waiting for the last two books, and esp. glad of these since they made the "Paarfi Romances" exist --- anyone who enjoys Alexandre Dumas and fantasy should read _The Phoenix Guards_

   - C.J. Cherryh's _Regenesis_ --- her entire Alliance--Union series is amazing and books are so varied pretty much everyone will find something which appeals

   - Trevanian _The Eiger Sanction_ and _Shibumi_ --- not sure if this and _Shibumi_ have aged well or no, but the latter was a big part of my childhood

   - Ben Franklin's Autobiography --- read presidential biographies to my kind in chronological order as a trial and regret not continuing with the actual project: biographies of important persons in chronological order

   - Sanora Babb's _Whose Names Are Unknown_: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197158.Whose_Names_Are_... (ob. discl., that was my mention)

   Other books which only I mentioned:

   - Hal Clement _Space Lash_ now available in https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/939760.Music_of_Many_Sph... --- I recommend folks read it in reverse chronological order, starting at the back, then working to the front and bailing when things get too quaint/old-school/golden-age.

   - H. Beam Piper "Omnilingual" --- this should be a part of the middle school canon, lightly updated version at: http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan/omnilingual.html

   - _Foxfire_ --- a classic series what predated the "Maker" movement

   - Tolkien's _The Fall of Arthur_

   - Knuth _TeX: The Program_

   Books which were sufficiently striking that I have made a note of them to get to read (hopefully this will work out better than _The Black Swan_ which I found annoying)

   - _Visual Thinking in Mathematics_

   - _Hardcore VisualBASIC_ --- still a bit bummed that I managed to miss this and MacBasic....

   - _Phoebe and her Unicorn_ --- getting this for my daughter

   - _Harmony with Lego(R) Bricks_ --- book on music improvisation

   - Ornamental Origami

   Note that a number of books weren't actually mentioned, e.g., Isaac Asimov's _Book of Facts_

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2. jansanJul 2021
   I have a printed copy of Knuth's "Digital Typography" on my desk (hardcover from 1999). The table of contents does not look too great, but the rest of the book is a piece of art in itself.
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3. TomteJan 2021
   Donald Knuth also has two nice chapters in "Digital Typography".
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4. amygdylApr 2017
   I figure the chance of downvotes is worth it for relating the most unexpected conversation I had socially I'm prompted by the commenter who above says they struggled and preferred Word. I use Word as a daily driver because of Excel embedding, and company policy, but this is about the value of pursuing LaTeX that may open not so unique possibilities:

   Posted because there are lots more places where I think being up to speed with TeX / LaTeX can get you hired by someone interesting / or in lucrative if dull job, not necessarily as a programmer:

   Through a friend, I met and chatted with, eventually for hours, the a gentleman whose last occupation turned out to be the publisher for authorized education books... In Iraq... Under Saddam.. Why we got so deep talking at my friend's dinner party? We were arguing the real time composability of TeX. I don't know the chances of such a conversation with any septuagenarian gentleman, to start with, but I hope my friend's promise to invite me next chance we can meet will arise. I encountered a delightful gentleman programmer by nature as opposed to training; his formal education was history and languages, self taught programmer, who also mentioned MCL. I last used LaTeX in earnest in the late 90s - his knowledge, I should have asked if he was actively using, seemed current... our mutual friend a publisher, this makes me think I ought inquire if a book is forthcoming. Regardless, I think it's fascinating just how entrenched TeX and LaTex are in the minds of users. And publishers I've met who use TeX are devotees. I've been told by a couple now, that they expect associates to pick it up on the job. So potentially this might be a angle for a programmer to side move into a different field. Associates hired or promoted to work with publishers are usually tasked with longer term research into subjects and trends, it looked to be rewarding work. And in politics, economics, tech obviously, a programmers skills might be enough for the transition, especially if the publisher felt lightweight on in house abilities.

   I used to encounter commercial applications wrapping TeX frequently, in the 90s. One, by a British software house since subsumed in the XML everything, enterprise data / private equity rollup fad, I forget the names it went through, was essentially selling TeX, plus advert placement layout engine, used by FAZ, Suddeutsche Zeitung, lots of Italian dailies, the EC, for a sweet 50,000 a seat.

   Mass market Print publishers need tools to manage costs that drill down to the weight of ink used on the paper. It's a reason the InDesign ecosystem is stable- third party integrations that are expensive to write for a select audience. But smaller houses have wider tolerances, may "leave that to the printer" (hope they can get good bids without the pre press estimate), so the variety of pre press tools widens to include just LaTex and a impostor for separations/plates.

   Knuth's Digital Typography, is a excellent read, and a chapter in that, showing by how much, and how easily, major press titles can be made more readable, save space, and more, became a brilliant sales tool for my consulting. If you know TeX / LaTex, and need a gig, Digital Typography, plus the addresses of nearby smaller publishers, might be a great way to catch good work. I found so, anyhow.

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5. TomteAug 2015
   12: Knuth - Digital Typography.
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6. dfcNov 2012
   "Am I the only that thinks "Wow people actually give a shit about this?". It seems comical how much people are willing tolerate this typographical circle jerk disguised as "designing"."

   A lot of people care about the finer points of typography. If you really want to see some "circle jerking disguised as designing" take a look at a book by this nutjob named Donald Knuth:

   Digital Typography by Donald E. Knuth (Stanford, California: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1999)

   "Or when he commits binary and swapfiles into his git repository."

   Committing binary files is such an atrocious act. I for one am glad that github does not condone such immoral acts by showing the difference between images.

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