We just got copies of this book in the office, and something confusing happened that has never happened to us before.

We know that when we send books to the printer, they're not going to look like the print-outs we make in the office, as the printer uses different kinds of ink and a different printing process than our color printer does.  And of course when we send things that need to come back being in foil or with spot gloss, there's no way to do that here (though I have heard of home-made spot gloss success using clear nail polish). 

But usually what we send to the printer is pretty much what we get back — on different paper, in a slightly different shade, but basically having the same awesomeness quotient as the thing we sent.

This book surprised us. 

The cover is pretty awesome to begin with — our designer, Colleen AF Venable, did an amazing job with it.  It's graphic and striking and unique.  So we expected something pretty cool back from the printer.

What we got was something that was even more awesome than we had expected.  After a few days of staring at the book, I'm still not sure what it is — a sense of dimensionality that can't be conveyed by an on-screen image?  Matte finish for the win?  Whatever it is seems to be an ineffable undefinable quality.

In conclusion: the book looks even better than the pictures of it do!  The world seems to be a strange but wonderful place.