About the Author

Maira Kalman is an illustrator, an author, and a designer. She is the author of And the Pursuit of Happiness, The Principles of Uncertainty, Beloved Dog, Cake, and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Illustrated. She is the illustrator of Michael Pollan's Food Rules and the bestselling edition of William Strunk and E. B. White's The Elements of Style. Kalman's work is shown at the Julie Saul Gallery in Manhattan.

Reviews

“Sublime . . . Kalman’s elegantly witty and at times melancholy narrative runs arm in arm with her unmistakable paintings on a serendipitous romp through the history of the world.” —Vanity Fair
 
“Wildly original . . . there’s nothing else even remotely like it . . . This hilarious, wise, and deeply moving volume [is] the ultimate picture book for grown-ups.” —O Magazine
 
“An odd treasure.” —Ariel Levy, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Within this work, as much literary as artistic, one finds the assurance (the certainty!) that the human condition is inescapable but not insurmountable.” —The New York Observer
 
“In her distinctive, muscularly whimsical paintings with sad-funny handwritten annotations, Kalman encounters, well, everything . . . More personal than much of her previous work, the book is simultaneously idiosyncratic and universal. And utterly lovable.” —Culture + Travel
 
“This is a unique, warmly intelligent book for the enjoyment of artists, writers and anyone who delights in works of genuine imagination.” —L.K. Hanson, Minnesota Star Tribune
 
“My absolute favorite book of recent memory: an exquisite and delightful and peculiarly illustrated memoir about . . . well, the search for the meaning of life. I will be giving this book to everyone I know.”  —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love