The Principles of Uncertainty

This is a great collection of her work. Her writing is fun. It’s a great, very eclectic book. Like a picture book for adults. Just fabulous. And her art does not dissappoint. A **lot** of her paintings in this book!!!

I enjoyed Maira Kalman's lovely illustrations and her musings about the mysteries of the world. Having read many of her children's books, I was not surprised at her trenchant observations about the more grown-up parts of life, but I was gratefully surprised at the delicacy, poignancy and humanity of her images. Her work deserves admiration for its honest portrayal of reality, but with the wonderful twist that a real artist can bring. The Principles of Uncertainty is structured around the journal or diary form and I think it benefits from being read that way rather than reading it from front to back. It's hard to stop,once you start, but save a little for later!

Love the illustrations and the stories that go with them. A real keeper, and would make a wonderful gift as well.

An illustration student myself, I fell in love with Maira's style of painting when I was introduced to her by a great professor. She is now a huge inspiration for my own work. It is apparent through this beautiful book that she believes in the human connection, empathy and positivity. She does not put herself above the viewer with overly rendered, overly designed painting or wordiness but lets simple journal-like musings and her paintings speak volumes. She lets herself be unaffected by opinion as we used to be as children scrawling out whatever came into our heads and appreciating the colors we made. Her paintings are very intimate and inviting for those reasons. Though her style comes from that childlike reaction, her experience and sense of design is apparent. Short of wanting us to show up on her doorstep and be her best friend, she seems to be reaching out for connection with us. More broadly, I believe she wants us all to connect with each other and to be able to empathize with the stranger because we are all weak in so many similar ways and strong in others. We're all the same really. This book is really wonderful. I wish I could sit in the kitchen with her drinking tea, eating cake and looking at her collected treasures but after reading this book, I feel like I have.

In about 80% of the episodes in this quirky, imaginative, hilarious book, Maira Kalman looked into my soul. She is a fabulous satirist, subtle and accurate.

Maria Kalman isn't just a genius. She's the best kind of genius there is. The painter-illustrator-storyteller widow of Colors magazine founder Tibor Kalman is precisely the kind of person you'd imagine as your fantasy next door neighbour. Someone who thinks nothing of wearing feathery pink hats on warm summer days. Who invites you over for gingerbread biscuits and music. And tells you why she's had a lifelong crush on Abraham Lincoln. Her simple illustrations and seemingly random observations about grass, fresh pickles, the weather or ruffled collars are so dense with energy and joy they force you to take quiet pauses in between pages. Whether you flip through her books, or follow her "visual column" in the New York Times […], you can't help but look at the world a little differently. You may even spot a few more butterflies and ladybugs than you're used to. My favorite page in "Principles of Uncertainty" is this: 'On the wall was a dress i embroidered. It said "Ich habe genug", which is a Bach cantata. Which i once thought meant "I've had it, I can't take it anymore". But I was wrong. It means, "I HAVE enough". Which is utterly true. I happen to be alive. End of discussion. (But i will go out a buy a hat).'

Maira Kalman's book is peerless, and increases in depth with every reading. I love her conscious stream of consciousness, the way she connects thought, feeling, and fact, and her paintings are enchanting. It's funny, witty, and heartbreaking, and a remarkable achievement from an artist of great humanity and wit, but most of all, heart and feeling. When the pieces first appeared every month on "Times Select" (New York Times features for subscribers), there would hundreds of comments by morning. She has a vast and appreciative audience, and from her children's books to this one, her style and subtlety continue to grow.

Quirky topics, wonderful artwork. As a daily writer of nonsense, and a loose-sketch artist, I find it fun and inspiring. It was suggested by my daughter, who checked it out from the library. I ordered two used copies, one for me and one for her. One had a cloying inscription which was much fun -- "We'll be together forever" sort of thing, and the book ended up in the Salvation Army collection a year after the date of the inscription; the other might have been dropped in a puddle, but each was special in its own way.