PORTRAITS OF THE WORD by Timothy R. Botts

Portraits of the Word: Great Verses of the Bible in Expressive Calligraphy is a 2002 book by calligrapher Timothy R. Botts. This is more of the same from Botts - seventy-five passages from the Bible illustrated with Botts' phenomenal expressive calligraphy. More of the same is exactly what we want from Botts - the way he uses fonts, colors, shapes, angles and arrangements to breathe life into the texts never ceases to be amazing.

These are Botts' seventy-five favorite pieces, and he accompanies them with his thoughts on the creative process as well as brief prayers that respond to the verses. This book is arranged thematically. In Botts' own words, from the introduction: "The sequence of the art begins with who God is and his revelation through Jesus Christ. Then it progresses from our response to our privileges and to our responsibilities."

My one gripe with this book is that it's too small - about eight inches high by seven inches across - it's simply not big enough to do his work justice.

Botts' calligraphy is always fantastic, and Portraits of the Word contains some of his best work.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

DOORPOSTS by Timothy R. Botts

Doorposts is a 1986 book by calligrapher Timothy R. Botts. It contains sixty passages taken from The Living Bible and rendered in expressive calligraphy. These verses are presented here in the order in which they appear in the Bible, and each has a few comments on the design from Botts on the facing page.

Botts' calligraphy is nothing short of magnificent. He uses color, font, shape, angle, size and arrangement to bring these verses with life. This creativity and the amount of thought he puts into each work is what makes this art spectacular. And what is perhaps most impressive is that he can create so many different pieces without significant repetition, and yet every piece is still distinctly Botts.

I never get tired of Botts' work, and I don't have enough good things to say about it. Whether you're already familiar with his art or not, Doorposts is a great collection.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL by Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a 1970 novella by Richard Bach with photographs by Russell Munson. It’s about a seagull who shuns the social conventions of his flock to pursue his love of flying.

The book is divided into three parts, beginning with a predictable follow-your-dreams story and then moving into an Eastern-style cycle of self-perfection and reincarnation, and then there’s some business about love and forgiveness tossed in at the end.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a short book, but even within these confines Bach does little to give the book much ambition or depth. The seagull flies this maneuver, the seagull flies that maneuver, the seagull spouts some platitude about transcending reality. There’s no sense of setting, no real insight – just flying birds and superficial philosophy. Bach’s writing is otherwise unimpressive. There’s at least one continuity issue, and it does feel rather absurd that these birds have such amazingly accurate internal speedometers (Bach rather belabors that point).

Munson’s photographs of seagulls and beachscapes help to set the mood, but the low quality in which they are reproduced in every version of the book I’ve ever seen just doesn’t do them justice.  Nevertheless, they do imbue the book with a certain charm that it badly needs.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull basically comes down to banal fable and trite spirituality. There are a innumerable better “follow your dreams” stories out there, most of which don’t get into this unlocking-the-unlimited-freedom-inside-you nonsense.

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THE HEART OF A FATHER by Ken Canfield

The Heart of a Father: How You Can Become a Dad of Destiny is a 1996 book on fathering by Ken Canfield, founder of the National Center for Fathering. Based on the research that organization has collected, Canfield offers a three-part “blueprint” for good fathering.

First, Canfield says, every father should resolve his relationship with his own father so that he can effectively build relationships with his children. Second, a father must be involved, consistent, aware, and nurturing. Third, Canfield offers perspective on each stage of fathering, from having an infant to becoming a grandparent.

For what Canfield has to say, this is a long book (288 pages). Part of the problem is that Canfield loves to belabor his points. He does a ton of recapping, whether from chapter to chapter or paragraph to paragraph. It doesn’t help that the content within a number of the early chapters doesn’t feel well-organized.

When it comes to problem-solving, Canfield is always frustratingly general, as he tends to drop out of his anecdotes at key moments. So we never get to hear how this fathering expert disciplined his children in any specific situations, and he often presents challenging problems without offering solutions of any kind.  

Canfield is more specific with the long-term approach a father should take. Yet his list of mandates feels inhumanly rigid – no one could possibly do all of it and still keep any ambitions of his own. It gives the book a feel of, “Kids are great, but you’ve got to abandon all your hopes and dreams to raise them right.” He also advocates effusively praising your children on a level that feels disingenuous.

Canfield is right on the basics: listen to your children, love them unconditionally, be involved in their lives, build them up, and so forth. No one’s disputing that. But this book isn’t the best way to get these points across.

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