Just started reading the follow up to Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton’s classic Last night a DJ saved my Life – actually i’m still yet to read that one but its definitely a classic! The record players documents the stories of those who were there when it all began from Jimmy Savile to Grandmaster Flash, Weatherall to Pete Tong. In depth and personal  interviews alongside photos and track listings from the time – great book if you like that kinda thing! Check it out over at DJHISTORY.

Alberto Hernández is a Spanish graphic designer currently living and working in London. Whilst completing his MA in graphic design at LCC last year, he came up with the idea for a ‘hybrid novel’, combining the text of a story with strong graphical elements, in order to embelish and enhance the reading experience. Appropriately taking on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Alberto’s first hybrid novel is, simply put, a brilliant idea executed beautifully. I kind of wish I’d thought of the hybrid novel, but seeing as I didn’t, I got in touch with the man who did to find out more.

Continue reading for the interview and more images…

One of the best things I got for Christmas this year was a set of twenty books, forming the first collection of the Penguin Great Ideas series. Across four collections and a soon-to-be-published fifth, Penguin draw together works by influential writers and thinkers, emphasising the thesis that it’s ‘great ideas’ that shape the course of history. Fair enough. In series one, for example, you get everything from Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life, to George Orwell’s Why I Write, via Machiavelli and Marx, and a whole bunch of other familiar-sounding stuff that you should have probably read but actually know nothing about. Aside from being a fascinating collection of books, however, the real key to this series is in the beautifully designed covers, each one good enough to frame on your wall.

See more covers and continue reading after the break.