Hands reaching and feeling, noses sniffing, eyes scrolling: the magic at book shops and at book fairs is also very much a tactile one.

But what exactly is the tactile, in a world in which a rising technocracy exploits the designed environment we feel? Who authorises and who writes, what tradition do we stand in and how can we touch base?

This reader explores how our interaction with printed matter affects us through theory, thoughts, and practices in the field of graphic design, materiality, philosophy, science and art.

Although the core of this book rests upon theory and thoughts, with eight writings from scientists and philosophers to a paper-specialist and art writers, this book also compiles practice-based experiments by six international artists and includes animated introductions of printing techniques in the form of fictionalised characters.

Contributors: Lars Bang Larsen, Sema Bekirovic, Matthieu Blanchard, Christopher Breu, Lieven De Boeck, Johanna Drucker, Frederic Geurts, Alessandro Ludovico, Esther Krop / De Monsterkamer, Ulrike Mohr Thomas Rentmeister, Rik Peters, Marieke Sonneveld