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    The Learners
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    The Learners
    Unavailable
    The Learners
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Learners

    Written by Chip Kidd

    Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A young graphic designer fresh out of college in the summer of 1961, Happy has just landed his first job at a wacky advertising firm filled with eccentric creative artists. Everything is going great until Happy is assigned to design a newspaper ad recruiting participants for an experiment in the Yale Psychology Department. Happy can't resist responding to the ad himself. Little does he know that the experience will devastate him, forcing a reexamination of his past, his soul, and the nature of human cruelty-chiefly his own.

    Written in sharp, witty prose and peppered with absorbing ruminations on graphic design, this stand-alone sequel to Chip Kidd’s previous novel, The Cheese Monkeys, again shows that Kidd's writing is every bit as original, stunning, and memorable as his celebrated book jackets.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlackstone Audio
    Release dateFeb 19, 2008
    ISBN9781433233609
    Unavailable
    The Learners
    Author

    Chip Kidd

    Chip Kidd is a designer/writer in New York City. His book cover designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked nonstop since 1986, have helped create a revolution in the art of American book packaging. He is the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, as well as the Use of Photography in Design award from the International Center of Photography. Kidd has published two novels, The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners, and is also the author of Batman: Death By Design and the coauthor and designer of True Prep, the sequel to the beloved Official Preppy Handbook. His 2012 TED Talk has been viewed 1.2 million times and is cited as one of the “funniest of the year.” He is most recently the author of the bestselling GO: A Kidd’s Guide To Graphic Design.

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    Reviews for The Learners

    3.5/5

    70 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Not as funny as Cheese Monkeys but still really good. This one was a little dark.
    • 5/5
      Oh, what to write about this book? First of all, I did enjoy reading it, although I'm not sure that "enjoy" is the correct word. I was caught up in Happy's story from the beginning. I know that this novel is the sequel to The Cheese Monkeys which I read so long ago that I remember nothing of its story at all, but I do remember not liking it that much. However, this book was different. I would describe it as captivating. It is the story of a new college graduate who is intent on working for an advertising agency in which a former college professor of his had been employed. By luck, he does land a job there with some very colorful characters which the reader gets to know throughout the story. Happy is a bittersweet name for the protagonist who gets caught up in many dark moments, including a reunion with a former classmate, an experiment which affected both of their lives, and an embarrassing moment when Happy tried to reveal his idea for a new ad to an important prospective client.This book fooled around a bit with type which I loved, but it also had "intermissions" which I could not quite figure out so I skipped their relevance to the story. I also am not sure if I understood the ending. I'd love to hear how others interpret what happened at that time. By that, I mean the "ultimate" outcome.
    • 2/5
      My official overall opinion of this book is that it was alright. I loved the first book, [The Cheese Monkeys] which is why I wanted to read this, but I think it fell very short of the first novel. I think I would have enjoyed it better as a stand alone book with a completely new cast of characters. The Learners follows the main character “Happy” after he graduates from college with a degree in graphic design and gets a job at the ad agency where Winter (his GA professor from the first novel) had his first job as a graphic artist. We are then introduced to a new group of people who work for the agency all with their little quirks, including the head of the agency who is literally in love with her dog, and hired Happy on the notion that the structure of his ears made him destined to be a genius. Happy runs into Himillsy (his crazy BFF from The Cheese Monkeys) once then finds out a few weeks later that she killed herself. In an effort to explain to himself why she did it he remembers from their lunch conversation that she was doing “memory exercises”, and linked that to an ad he actually created for a research study on memories. Happy then volunteers for the research study himself which was actually Milgrim’s study on obedience, a real study conducted in the early 60’s to try to explain why so many of the Nazis followed Hitler’s lead during WWII. I remember the study from Psyc. class from a few years back and it was interesting to read about the thoughts of a person who participated in the study, fictional though they may be. As a very brief overview; Milgrim’s Obedience study consisted of telling the participant to administer an electrical shock to the other supposed participant (who was actually part of the experiment) whenever they were unable to correctly identify the second word in an earlier stated set of word pairs. The shocks went up to 450 volts, enough to kill someone, and when a participant asked to stop or expressed concerns they were told “The experiment requires that you continue.” And that “The shocks were harmful but not fatal”. The man participants thought they were shocking was safely in another room and his cries of pain and agony were actually on a recording. Happy, as well as 60% of actual participants did manage to administer the full 450 volt shock to a person they had never met before, all the while believing that they had killed that man. When the experiment is revealed and the participants were asked why they continued even though they believed they were killing an innocent person, many of them, as well as many Nazis gave the excuse that they were “Just following orders”. Fascinating! I actually found this to be the most interesting part of this book and would be interested in reading more about the experiment and its findings. Happy is tortured by the idea that he had within him the potential to kill another innocent human being, and this thought consumes him. He is then reminded again of Himillsy and the way she intended to deal with this information, and tries to follow her example. In the end he finds a way to redeem himself in his own eyes and prove to himself that he is in fact, a good person. Again, I think this may have been better as a stand alone novel. Happy’s choice to move to New Haven to work at the ad agency was almost irrelevant to the main story, and it could have been centered around anyone already living there who decided to volunteer for the experiment. Happy’s involvement with the ad agency seems almost like background fodder to me, and his somewhat troubled but mundane character didn’t have the balance of his out-of-control friend Himillsy, or the demanding-with-reason professor Winter that the first novel had.
    • 2/5
      This is a sequel to the author's first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, where graphic designer Happy (a nickname), finds a job and then gets involved in Stanley Milgrim's notorious Obedience to Authority experiment. The story is set in 1961 and is mostly about Happy's reaction to participating in the expirement and about graphic design. The author is a well-known graphic designer himself, especially of books. It's a thin story though and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as The Cheese Monkeys. It has its moments but it's not a book I'd recommend. There isn't much in the way of characterization and the secondary characters are flat. Mostly, this is an excuse to yammer on about graphic design in a cute way. Skip it.
    • 4/5
      this was a random “snatch off the endcap at the library” book. i have very spotty luck with this approach. this time, however, i was most pleasantly gratified by the results of my choice.an engaging blend of strange elements, this novel is amusing and poignant, visually interesting and a tactile treat. i am a great sucker for the heft of a book in the hand, and this one was a winner. the pages are heavy with a sensuous weave. the typeface is not only pleasing to the eye, but has a voice of its own within the tale. moreover text, type, form, and content are all characters in this strange and moving tale. i found myself utterly absorbed and completely entertained.nominally the first person narrative of an ad-man circa 1960 (Mad Men: The Zeitgeist) it is also social and literary criticism and a work of art. one that is utterly self-conscious, but no less artful for that.an easy read that was wholly rewarding.recommended.
    • 4/5
      Love Chip Kidd - brilliant.Really interested sequel to his first book, "The Cheese Monkeys."This one also takes place in the early '60's and combines Happy's first job in a New Haven ad agency with the obedience training studies at Yale.Weaves in some characters from the first book, and all done in Mr Kidd's most unique way of writing and graphic design elements.Look forward to more from the mondo talented Mr Kidd!
    • 5/5
      This quirky book is an creative entertaining read. The main character's charmingly naive enthusiasm for the working world enables him to crisply assess the career and lives of his coworkers and enables him to discover how people can lose themselves by becoming part of something. This is the second in a series, but you don't need to have read the first to enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      The Learners picks up 3 years after The Cheese Monkeys left off. Happy gets a job at the small advertising firm that his Sophomore teacher worked at when he designed the Wrigley packages.Chip Kidd continues to show that he is just as talented with words as he is with design. The wit and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue make it easy to forgive the few flaws with plot pacing and a bit of a clumsy hand writing emotion.This is definitely on par with The Cheese Monkeys, but because the main character and one other character is reoccurring, I would recommend reading The Cheese Monkeys first.
    • 4/5
      Clever and readable follow-up to "The Cheese Monkeys" details a graphic designer named Happy and his first job in the advertising world in New Haven in the 60's. The Milgram Experiments of the period play a pivotal role. Very enjoyable.