Typo

Typo Synopsis

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Anyone who has used a keyboard or a computer or a cell phone has almost certainly made a typo - and probably not just one. Typos may be as close to a universal experience as we have in our technology-obsessed, computer- and phone-driven societies.

Typos are inconveniences and embarrassments and frustrations, but, as Matt Bell poses, they offer opportunity alongside risk. A minor mistake on the page can take us somewhere unexpected, at times funnier or cleverer than what intended. And then there are the typos that have dangerous or expensive outcomes, like the infamous missing punctuation in the code of the Mariner 1 space probe's rocket that caused it to be destroyed immediately after launch.

Combining criticism and personal anecdote with a playful approach to the subject, Typo tells the story of the typo's appearance and its place in our culture and daily lives, arguing that a life without typos would be easier to navigate but also subtly poorer.