Principles of Uncertainty

Maira Kalman wrote and illustrated "The Principles of Uncertainty," her column/blog, for The New York Times for a year (it ended in April 2007).


The blog became a book in 2007, also titled The Principles of Uncertainty What is it? Perhaps it is philosophy or art or memoir or sociology. The easy answer is that it is all those things, though that doesn't help classify it - if that's what you want done.

There's text, paintings, and photography. It is a year in a life. Maybe part of the uncertainty is what kind of book she wrote.

Kalman has also illustrated children's books, New Yorker covers for (including the famous map of “Newyorkistan” with Rick Meyerowitz).

She has 12 children’s books include Max Makes a Million, Swami on Rye and What Pete Ate. She also has designed fabric for Isaac Mizrahi, accessories for Kate Spade, sets for the Mark Morris Dance Company and, with her late husband Tibor Kalman, clocks, umbrellas and other accessories for the Museum of Modern Art. She lives in New York City and teaches graduate courses in design at the School of Visual Arts.

She also took on the task in 2005 of illustrating the venerable The Elements of Style and had a new way of looking at Strunk and White's reference classic with rather whimsical illustrations.

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://www.mairakalman.com/