Dec 15 2008
Better Than Pop-Up Videos… Pop-Up Books!
Birdscapes -by Miyoko Chu
Past a certain age, pop-up books no longer seem like an appropriate style of book to have prominently displayed on the bookshelf or laying out on the coffee table. Most would probably choose a leather-bound world atlas or a lovely photography book of, say, Paris, over any pop-up book. After all, pop-up books are always for kids, right? Well, as you may have guessed, there are adult-friendly pop-up books too! And we have two of them: Birdscapes, A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stereo Sound and Modern Architecture Pop-Up.
These two books are carefully designed and crafted by “paper engineers” (yes, that is the proper title for pop-up artists) whose attention to detail proves that pop-ups can be truly complex and artistic.
Birdscapes includes seven beautifully conceived North American habitats with dozens of birds depicted in each and accompanied by recordings of their various songs. For the novice or the expert, this book will sing (literally) to all birding enthusiasts.
If you love modern design but you don’t have the time to build your own scale models of your favorite buildings, paper engineer Anton Radevsky has done the work for you in Modern Architecture Pop-Up. This book will transport any reader from the abstract steel facade of Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain to the distinct prairie-style floor plans of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Chicago homes.
Whether you like birds or buildings, are eight or eighty, you’re sure to have fun opening and re-opening these 3D books. I rate them “E” for Everyone.
Read more: Art & Architecture, Book Reviews, Christmas, Holidays, Nature & Wildlife, News, NYT Notable BooksJess is a GCB alum and now contributes to the travel blog as often as she can. Jess attended Middlebury College so she loves the Green Mountain State. She also studied abroad in Paris for a semester and has traveled through much of western Europe and the UK. Her most recent travels include trips to Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA and Spain (Madrid and Andalusia). She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
