I need a hook right now, because if you've read much writing about typography, you're probably only granting me a paragraph or two to grab your attention. At least that's the attitude I carry going in to writing on letters. Many type essays, despite good intention, are bristling with academic narcissistic maximalism—sometimes to cover up that there is really only a paragraph of content or so, sometimes in an attempt to raise writing about typography to the beauty and evocative mystery of type itself. Such an important subject, so difficult to deliver— which is ironic since the words themselves are set in the subject. But the beauty of the letters is inconsequential unless the text it's rendering carries its own weight. The opposite is also true: a poorly typeset work of genius will render the work difficult to comprehend and the reader will not blame the type, they'll blame the writer.