By Pam Walatka

“Book One” by Chip Kidd, the nation’s top designer of book covers, shows hundreds of samples of his work, including these shown.

The book cover caught my eye from across the room in the Los Altos main library. “Book One” (Rizzoli, 2006) has the most unusual cover I have ever seen, appropriately enough because it’s about book covers. The author, Chip Kidd, is arguably the most successful book-cover designer in America. If you look through the book, you will recognize many of the covers he has done.

He was once the subject of a Jeopardy answer/question: “His work at Alfred A. Knopf made Chip Kidd a superstar in designing these.” “What are book covers?”

But his book has a terrible cover. The hard cover only goes half-way across the width of the page - the outer half of the book is uncovered. It works for getting your attention, but it does not work for reading the book. It’s unwieldy. The book flops around in your hands; reading it is annoying unless you like to read with your book on a table. Reading it, I found myself saying, “Stupid book!”

Too often, someone who has been very successful is allowed to publish something that should have been restricted by people who know better.

Still, “Book One” will fascinate almost anyone with an interest in graphic arts. It’s inspirational. Readers who are planning to publish a book would do well to study this book, both for ideas and to learn how much goes into book-cover designing. People new to the book arts tend to underestimate the importance of cover design.

“Book One” may be the world’s only autobiography-by-book-covers. Kidd briefly relates the story of his life, especially his career, with graphics for every point. There are some family photographs, some doodles and some early pieces from his student years, but mostly illustrations of book covers. He shows his failures as well as his successes, and in many cases shows their development from sketches through final mock-ups, then explains why one was chosen and others were not.

The text is not fascinating but mercifully short, just bits woven around the images; most of the words are captions explaining the evolution of the cover designs. Kidd writes with modesty (under the circumstances), generosity to his collaborators and a sense of humor.

John Updike, who wrote the preface, is among Kidd’s illustrious list of clients, who include Joan Didion, Martin Ames, James Gleick, Dean Koontz, Richard North Patterson, Larry McMurty, Anne Rice, Michael Crichton and a long string of others. As part of his talent for design, Kidd has the ability to read a book and find its most interesting image. He understands the heart of what he reads.

“Book One” is available at the Los Altos main library, 13 S. San Antonio Road.