Debbie Millman Answers The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition
By Debbie Millman November 19, 2013
This November marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Marcel Proust’s opus, In Search of Lost Time (A la recherche du temps perdu), originally known in English as Remembrance of Things Past. To honor the occasion, we developed the Designers & Books version of the eponymous Proust Questionnaire, which we’ve sent out to various contributors and friends. Rather than including the questions from the original that asked about a wide array of “thoughts and feelings,” our adaptation focuses solely on the respondent’s relationship to books.
View the complete questions asked in The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition
Here are the answers Debbie Millman sent in response to the Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition:
1. Of these, your reading preference: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama:
Short stories.
2. Your favorite childhood book (or favorite childhood author):
My favorite childhood book is the The Little Golden Book of Words, and my favorite childhood author is Catherine Woolley.
3. Your favorite book character:
Cayce Pollard from William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition.
4. Your favorite book title (because you like the sound of it):
To The Lighthouse.
5. A book you could never finish:
Finnegans Wake.
6. A book you will never start:
Gravity’s Rainbow.
7. If for some reason it turned out that you could save one and only one book from among those you own, which would it be:
My signed copy of A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
8. A book you should have read but haven’t:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
9. The best “book as object” you own (how it looks over what it says):
Amateur Bout by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
10. Your reading speed: very slow, slow, moderate, fast, very fast:
Too fast: I’m impatient.
11. While you read, are you a note-taker? If yes, where do you record your notes:
Yes, I take notes and I am embarrassed to admit that I write directly in the books (in pencil…mostly).
12. Your most idiosyncratic reading habit:
Dog-ear-ing.
14. If you could be any author:
Susan Sontag.
15. If you are what you read, the book that best says who you are:
Lucky by Alice Sebold.
17. The last book you bought:
Lysistrata illustrated by Picasso, bought on eBay for $9.99.
18. Your favorite place to purchase books:
Rizzoli Bookstore in New York.
19. The book you are currently reading:
Pretty Pictures by Marian Bantjes.
20. The book you will read next:
The Power of Glamour by Virginia Postrel.
21. The current location of the book you will read next:
On my desk at Sterling Brands.
22. Your favorite format for books: paper or pixels:
Paper. The mustier, the better.
23. If you could have written any book:
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
24. A book that was particularly meaningful to, or highly recommended by, an acquaintance of yours:
Stone Butch Blues: A Novel by Leslie Feinberg.
25. If you have the chance to plan it, the last book you’ll read:
A poem by Charles Olson: “Maximus, To Himself.” It is one of the greatest poems ever written, and the greatest poem I’ve ever read.
Also see “Celebrating a Proust Anniversary with The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition.”
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast Design Matters—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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