I have had this book for a year now, and I still get fits of joy every time I take it in my hands or just get a glimpse of its spine on the bookshelf. It's the book I always wanted as a child and never got. Though it contains no children's stuff (of airy-fairy kind or other), it somehow touches the wondering child in me. I wish it had nine more volumes - or better still, McSweeney's dedicated itself exclusively to alternative comics. Congratulations for designer and editor Chris Ware for creating a deeply endearing experience instead of what could have been just an ordinary anthology.

One of the best books in the history on humankind... recommended for all who want to know where the book as a form of communication has been going for the last 100 years and will go from here on ...

For those few who cares, the design of this book is breath-taking. Chris Ware does, not, slack. Every bit of this book is given great level of attention in making sure the details are absolutely perfect.

If you have any love for 1) Comics or 2) Book Design at all, this book is a MUST GET.

Chris Ware; most important Designer and Cartoonist right now.

No kidding. Even outside of the inherent quality of the content, this thing is a joy.

I echo the comments made by other reviewers that this book is beautifully and cleverly designed, setting a standard that promotes ownership and collectability at a very reasonable list price. The content overall is worthy as well, although I do admit to varying degrees of engagement with it. I was aware from time to time of what seems to be a trend in (I'm assuming) younger artists to seemingly construct autobiographical pieces that seem (to me) overly self-involved, self-referential and ultimately fairly trivial. These pieces may not even be truly autobiographical and perhaps only seemingly so but, still, not all that compelling. What I felt was that this somewhat sophomoric content seemed a bit out of place in this type of anthology and I was left feeling that surely there must be far better works that could have replaced these and made the anthology stronger and classic, particularly when accompanied by the essays and historical material. The book's subtance doesn't quite live up to it's style in this case, so I'm deducting a "star" for that but still recommend it as a purchase. Bonus for including SETH!