Member Review
Review by
Tara H, Media/Journalist
The concept behind Flow, Spin, Grow -- that patterns in nature surround us and that we can learn something about an object or entity based on the pattern it shows -- is a wonderful one to explore, and the art in the book is captivating. I utterly love the cover image, and several others throughout delighted me: they are precise but playful, comprehensive yet simple, filled with easily identifiable patterns on every page yet never repetitive. I also loved the diversity of people shown in the images and the balance between pages with people and pages with just nature.
That said, the text does not do the images justice. The book's text focuses on each of the title words roughly sequentially: things that flow, things that spin and things that grow. But the parallelism isn't as eloquent as it ought to be because of confusing inconsistencies, odd pacing, too much wordiness and illogical organization. The first part talks mostly about branches, which indicate that sometimes is flowing -- flow. But the next section talks about things spinning, with no mention of what spinning is associated with (as opposed to branches being associated with flow). It goes from here into the pattern of spirals, which the book says indicates something is growing.
First, I'm not sure I agree, based on what I know of science and of spiral patterns in nature, that spirals always indicate "that something is growing or shrinking." But even if I accept that, the attempt to tie the title words together is confusing in terms of the emphasis, such as this excerpt: "Branches tell you that something is flowing. Moving objects make each other spin. Spirals mean that something is growing or shrinking." That sequence would lead to title words of "Branches Moving, Growing," perhaps, which isn't parallel. Flow, Spin, Grow is parallel, but there's no noun/objet to associate with "spin," which makes it feel like it doesn't fit. This comes out in the text as well since the first part discusses branches first, then how branching means flow. That's followed by a second part that focuses on spinning and then vaguely mentions that moving objects make things spin (which doesn't really make sense to me either). Then the third section returns to the pattern of the first part, first mentioning spirals (the noun) and then what they mean (growing, the verb). The pattern is off. This comes through in the examples as well. I felt like the examples of these patterns jumped around too much. Part of the book's point is to show how things overlap and are connected, but the text couldn't effectively pull it altogether. At the least, I wanted the words and syntax to be more lyrical, thoughtful and deliberate, but they don't feel that way either.
The concept behind the book is a great idea, and there was plenty of opportunity to "flow" from one concept to another to show how various patterns throughout our world and our bodies, from the tiniest atoms to the largest galaxies, are connected. That's clearly what the book tried to do, literally from atoms to galaxies, but the execution feels like a first, or maybe second, draft that needed tighter editing, more thematically united language and much stronger, intuitive organization of ideas.
That said, the text does not do the images justice. The book's text focuses on each of the title words roughly sequentially: things that flow, things that spin and things that grow. But the parallelism isn't as eloquent as it ought to be because of confusing inconsistencies, odd pacing, too much wordiness and illogical organization. The first part talks mostly about branches, which indicate that sometimes is flowing -- flow. But the next section talks about things spinning, with no mention of what spinning is associated with (as opposed to branches being associated with flow). It goes from here into the pattern of spirals, which the book says indicates something is growing.
First, I'm not sure I agree, based on what I know of science and of spiral patterns in nature, that spirals always indicate "that something is growing or shrinking." But even if I accept that, the attempt to tie the title words together is confusing in terms of the emphasis, such as this excerpt: "Branches tell you that something is flowing. Moving objects make each other spin. Spirals mean that something is growing or shrinking." That sequence would lead to title words of "Branches Moving, Growing," perhaps, which isn't parallel. Flow, Spin, Grow is parallel, but there's no noun/objet to associate with "spin," which makes it feel like it doesn't fit. This comes out in the text as well since the first part discusses branches first, then how branching means flow. That's followed by a second part that focuses on spinning and then vaguely mentions that moving objects make things spin (which doesn't really make sense to me either). Then the third section returns to the pattern of the first part, first mentioning spirals (the noun) and then what they mean (growing, the verb). The pattern is off. This comes through in the examples as well. I felt like the examples of these patterns jumped around too much. Part of the book's point is to show how things overlap and are connected, but the text couldn't effectively pull it altogether. At the least, I wanted the words and syntax to be more lyrical, thoughtful and deliberate, but they don't feel that way either.
The concept behind the book is a great idea, and there was plenty of opportunity to "flow" from one concept to another to show how various patterns throughout our world and our bodies, from the tiniest atoms to the largest galaxies, are connected. That's clearly what the book tried to do, literally from atoms to galaxies, but the execution feels like a first, or maybe second, draft that needed tighter editing, more thematically united language and much stronger, intuitive organization of ideas.
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