The title of the book is "Design in Theory and Practice" It was written by Ernest J. Batchelder. And it was published in 1910.

It is a book about design and it has a lot of interesting stuff about beauty, art, craftsmanship and more when it comes to designing anything from buildings to fabrics and furniture.

One of the most interesting things about the book is the very last paragraph. It really struck me how this is telling us exactly what has gone wrong with the internet and modern technology.

Here is the paragraph:

"Last of all, do not be 'clever'. No term coud be more of a reproach in art than this. Art is painstaking; it demands ceaseless work, toil, drudgery it may be. That which is easiest won is generally least worth while. The worker must ever be open-minded and watch against clever mannerisms as against a drought that dries up the river at it's source."

This warns us against exactly what the internet has turned into - a big machine that encourages and rewards cleverness.