Recommendation: grafik
“A humanist and educator, a visualiser of the amazing things happening inside our bodies and out, Fritz Kahn was inspiring. This book is the first monograph to be published about the German doctor and scientist who wowed the 1920s world with his book ‘Das Leben des Menschen (The Life of Man)’. In the graphic design world we’re familiar with the information design of Otto Neurath and later Edward Tufte, but here is a precursor whom we (at grafik at least) didn’t know before, but are very happy to discover through this book. There seems to be no limit to the good doctor’s imagination – there is a drawing for everything from neurological functions such as ‘What goes on in out heads when we see and say Car’ to ‘Sunbathing: the twelve effects of sunlight on the skin’ and crazier investigations like ‘Man as aquarium: it would be possible to keep seahorses in human fluid …’. These make fascinating viewing not only for their beauty as drawings but also for the light they cast on society at the time.”
grafik, The Magazine for Graphic Design, issue December 2009