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About The Book

Fresh out of college in the summer of 1961, Happy lands his first job as a graphic designer (okay, art assistant) at a small Connecticut advertising agency populated by a cast of endearing eccentrics. Life for Happy seems to be -- well, happy. But when he's assigned to design a newspaper ad recruiting participants for an experiment in the Yale Psychology Department, Happy can't resist responding to the ad himself. Little does he know that the experience will devastate him, forcing a reexamination of his past, his soul, and the nature of human cruelty -- chiefly, his own.
Written in sharp, witty prose and peppered with absorbing ruminations on graphic design, The Learners again shows that Chip Kidd's writing is every bit as original, stunning, and memorable as his celebrated book jackets.

About The Author

Photo Credit:

Chip Kidd is a designer/writer in New York City. His book cover designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked nonstop since 1986, have helped create a revolution in the art of American book packaging. He is the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, as well as the Use of Photography in Design award from the International Center of Photography. Kidd has published two novels, The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners, and is also the author of Batman: Death By Design and the coauthor and designer of True Prep, the sequel to the beloved Official Preppy Handbook. His 2012 TED Talk has been viewed 1.2 million times and is cited as one of the “funniest of the year.” He is most recently the author of the bestselling GO: A Kidd’s Guide To Graphic Design.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (February 19, 2008)
  • Length: 272 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416564881

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Raves and Reviews

"The Learners is dark as India Ink and its fine lines are sure and sharp and funny. As in life, people behave badly, and truly, and are only occasionally redeemed but often sorry. Kidd has created an unexpected narrative voice that moves and provokes and a novel that is, startlingly and even sweetly, not like anything else."

-- Amy Bloom, author of Away

"This story isn't simply told. It's painted. And the true treasure of The Learners is the ultra-stylized, deco-vision view that comes from staring at the world through Chip Kidd's forever-impressionable eyes. Blurbs always lie; this one's true. When you're done, you will see the world differently."

-- Brad Meltzer, author of The Book of Fate

"This gleefully roguish satire of 1960's advertising-gone-mad is delightfully shrewd, droll and urbane. And any novel that includes the phrase, 'bloated dirtpig' and features the beloved Milgram Experiments earns a place on my shelf. A must-read for the ambitious, creative, or chemically unbalanced."

-- Augusten Burroughs

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