28. Spine: The Jud Fine art plan at the Maguire Gardens, Central Library, Los Angeles by Jud Fine and Harry ReeseMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book describes the research and planning that went into Jud Fine's art installation at the Maguire Gardens. The stairs, pools, and fountains trace the evolution of recorded knowledge from cave signs to pictographs to hieroglyphs, mathematics, music, languages nearly lost to those we'd recognize today.
There's a map of the world in one section and the places marked on it are libraries that were destroyed. The book lists them all with the circumstances and year as much as they're known. It's heartbreaking. But pieces survive, collections are rebuilt or started anew.
The pools trace evolution and the grotto, the evolution of civil liberties.
It is a beautiful, well researched, celebration of knowledge throughout recorded history and across the world.
A little backstory: I didn't know what this book was until I pulled it off a shelf. Its title "Spine" had been catching my eye for quite a while. I thought maybe it was a book of photographs of skeletons or... I really didn't know. The book was more fulfilling and enriching than I'd ever guessed it might be. Highly recommended!
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