Inversions: A catalog of calligraphic cartwheels

Backword by Jef Raskin

"Inversions" are words that read the same upside down or in a mirror. Or words cleverly hidden inside other words. Each has something to fool the eye, a special visual trick; at the same time the words Kim has chosen to illustrate in this imaginative catalog of challenging visual wordplay reflect the idea of symmetry, both in art and in science.

Sixty pages of images portray short and long words, words describing symmetries, variations on Gödel, Escher, Bach and on calligraphic themes, and contemporary, historical, and personal names. They are followed by an illustrated text that explores the skills that go into making inversions: symmetry, vision, and letterforms; processes and examples; and associations with music, wordplay, and art. The book is designed so that the text is also symmetrical - what is said in the lefthand column of a page frequently matches the meaning of what is said in the righthand column.

Scott Kim is a PhD. candidate in computer science and graphic design at Stanford University.