They aren't blowing their own trumpet when they say Great Ideas. That's really just the name of their latest collection of essays by people as varied as Freud, Nietszche, Plato, Confucius, Marco Polo and Voltaire to name a few. So what they're really talking about are the great ideas all these guys put into writing. What's cool about it all are the very nicely designed covers for each book. Shown above are Where I Lived, And What I Lived For by Henry David Thoreau and Conspicuous Consumption by Thorstein Veblen. The graphic styles of each cover are just as varied as the writings and are certainly a treat to look at if not read. In fact, they looked good enough to tempt me, a barbarian when it comes to books, to buy a couple. You know what, I think I will.
Penguin Great Ideas is edited by Simon Winder and now into its second series. The first collection had red highlights instead of cyan in the second but they're all very lovely. If ever you wanted to be a poseur and just had to wallpaper your shelf with books you'll never read, this is one cool way to do it. Otherwise, its also a terrific way to introduce some of these writings to people who would never have picked up any of these anyway. So for that, I'd give a thumbs up and say that is a great idea by Penguin.
