The Principles of Uncertainty is a book by the noted children's book illustrator, Maira Kalman, who has in the past drawn covers for The New Yorker.The Principles is Kalman's memoir of "everything that is in her heart." Her heart is filled with tales of travel, possessions, people, and other interesting things. She shares her thoughts by writing and drawing them.
This book is unique. On each of the book's 325 pages, there is a hand-drawn picture or photograph accompanied by few or no words. In this case, a picture is really worth a thousand words. Just by looking at a picture, I really understood what she was thinking in her reminiscence. Usually, I don't read heavily illustrated books but this was a great change of pace from my steady diet of prose.
The drawings in this book are phenomenal. The detailed and colorful miniatures contribute much to the story and put a whimsical spin on Kalman's memoir. The comments are in her hand in script. You can see her thought process and where she made changes and crossed words out. I had never seen that before and it was creative.
The best parts of this book are Kalman's drawings and her observations about life which are honest and relatable. A solid five out of five stars.
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