Entry 7: Comparing Western books to Asian books

Entry 7: Comparing Western books to Asian books

     For a while, I have been interested in how different our books compared to our Asian counterparts. In the English language we read from left to right, top to bottom. In Japanese and Chinese languages, the read from right to left, very top to the very bottom. In many Japanese books with advance characters, katakana and or hiragana is used to help readers and also to distinguish between words. Years back I received a volume of the Sailor Moon manga series. Although, it was a English copy, the book is to be read from right to left. It can be a disordinating experience if you are not used to it.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, cover by Chip Kidd

     The next picture is of the cover for Jurassic Park design by Chip Kidd. The cover is more basic than the cover for Sailor Moon. The color scheme is  just black and red. The book was written by Michael Crichton. I picked this cover  to present the sharp contrast between the two books. As this is the English version the reader reads left to right. For some reason the Japanese version comes in two volumes according to Amazon.com