The Principles of Uncertainty

by Maira Kalman

Maira Kalman paints her highly personal worldview in this inimitable combination of image and text

An irresistible invitation to experience life through a beloved artist's psyche, The Principles of Uncertainty is a compilation of Maira Kalman's New York Times columns. Part personal narrative, part documentary, part travelogue, part chapbook, and all Kalman, these brilliant, whimsical paintings, ideas, and images - which initially appear random - ultimately form an intricately interconnected worldview, an idiosyncratic inner monologue.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Memoir, Philosophy, Comics, Essays

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2007

About the author

Maira Kalman was born in Tel Aviv and moved to New York with her family at the age of four. She has worked as a designer, author, illustrator and artist for more than thirty years without formal training. Her work is a narrative journal of her life and all its absurdities. She has written and illustrated twelve children's books including Ooh-la-la- Max in Love, What Pete Ate, and Swami on Rye. She often illustrates for The New Yorker magazine, and is well known for her collaboration with Rick Meyerowitz on the NewYorkistan cover in 2001. Recent projects include The Elements of Style (illustrated), and a monthly on-line column entitled Principles of Uncertainty for The New York Times.

She lives in New York and walks a lot.

(http://www.saulgallery.com)

Reviews

[Meen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to categorize this book, but it was such an awesome experience. Definitely not just a "read." I was "reading" it in the Barnes & Noble Starbucks, and this old man came up to me as he was leaving and said, "It was a joy to watch you reading that." I was smiling, and laughing, and almost crying. It was definitely an interaction beyond just consuming text.

:)

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can anything be any more lovable than this little book? How can I not have loved it all along? How can I not have seen it, or read it, or perhaps just heard about it? How can such charm and sweetness and wit be unread for so long? This book is like Agnes Varda's later films in book form. But less something. And more something else. She has that same creative-no-boundaries-super-smart-but-not-academic kind of thing. How can I have just heard about it today, checked it out of the library, and read the whole thing already? This book, this book by Maira Kalman. This book full of illustrations.



Dodos and hairdos, this Maira Kalman. She who loves hairdos and oh does she love hats and mustaches too. And she loves sofas on the side of the street. And she loves collections of things. And she loves strange clothing, and old dead people. And she loves Sebald and Walser and Pina Bausch, for instance, just like I do. And she loves superfluous tassels, yes she does. She loves the backs of people, walking away, she loves taking photos of them like the kid in Yi Yi. She loves colors, oh boy. She loves colors and I love her colors too. I love her oranges and her yellows and her light greens and especially her yellows. I love her brush strokes and her squarish faces and her slender pinched faces and her squiggly hair. I love her fabrics which she embroidered with scenes from Goethe's 'Faust'. Oh I love the appendix! The appendix is one of the best parts, don't forget the appendicitis which it causes, and I love her humor and her breeziness and her meandering likeness.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very Jewish book - I don't know if that is a bad thing to point out or not, but it is full of Jewish sounding names and the author Maira Kalman refers - if somewhat obliquely on several occasions to the Holocaust. For example she writes about and illustrates her collection of old suitcases.

I think this book is what you would call a Graphic Novel - her paintings and photographs certainly take centre stage with the writing done in a pleasantly quirky hand-script.

She lives in New York and her book is full of images of the people and buildings of this city - and then there is a trip to Paris in November. Each section is split - like a diary into the months of the year following the period May 2006 to April 2007 - so a diary - all her observations and visuals that took her fancy throughout that time period.

I really like her collections chapter - her collection of candies and scrubbers and old linen - from all over the world. Her friend Carol collects air - there is a jar labelled "Teargas Air Paris 1963" - there's not a lot to see.

I suppose her other focus is famous philosophers; she tends to run them down - which is fine by me.

I liked the humour, her quirkiness and her observations of old and young - and of course her passion for fantastic hats. Underlying this focus on objects is the constant question - what are humans doing, what do all these objects demonstrate, amount to - which I think again touches on the detritus of human lives left behind. She quotes Bertrand Russell, who says"... all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction." I don't agree with this.

Underneath the quote Kalman says "So now, my Friends, if that is true and it is true, what is the point? A complicated question."

I think her book is original and certainly easy to follow and understand and also enjoyable, but I don't agree at all with what appears to be her central concern.

[Lanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished this book. To be fair, I put it down somewhere in the middle and didn't pick it up for a few weeks (bad habit), so maybe I lost the momentum of the flow of the book or something....

but I was generally un-impressed. I thought I would love it, because it just seemed like my kind of thing...constant journal-er and picture snapper that I tend to be.

But I was not blown away as I expected I would be. Most of the "profound thoughts" that the author seemed to document ended up seeming pretty mundane and sort of self-indulgent.

("takes one to know one!" my inner critic is yelling right now, as I think of the number of times I've written self-indulgent insights in my journal, thinking they were quite profound at the time..."but I wouldn't publish them!" I think....but maybe given the opportunity, I would.)

I guess my main disappointment with the book is that I don't feel like I walked away with any new insight at all, and it seemed like the author was trying to write a book that would make people go "aha! it makes sense now!" and that's just not what happened for me....not once.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

i came across this last night at the enormous used bookstore. it was laying on its side and the spine immediately caught my eye. the dustjacket is a nice heavy paper. the weight of the book. i opened it to perfect drawings and photographs. i want to unstitch this book carefully, saving every thread in a ball jar and staple them to telephone poles in succession. or populate a bleak city wall with them so day workers, away from their babies and lovers and family and friends can slow their walk. bundled up against the winter cold. or feeling the warmth of a southern sun on their backs like the hand of their grandmother who patted them and made them dumplings when they were little. there in the sunlight. or against the winter gray clouds, crayola crayon drawings from their youth stuck with the letter a magnet on refrigerators that chug along. this was the weight of the book. and i bought it with money i should be using for lunch.

[Karima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, Octhober 2007: In 2005 Maira Kalman brought a fresh vision to Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, filling the pages of the reference classic with her whimsical illustrations. And much like its multi-talented creator--who has illustrated children's books and New Yorker covers and collaborated on fashion projects with Kate Spade and Isaac Mizrahi--her new book, The Principles of Uncertainty, defies easy classification. Is it philosophy? Art? Memoir? Travel? Sociology? The answer is All of the Above (and more). This charming collection of text, paintings, and photography presents a "profusely illustrated" year in a life, with illustrated musings that range from a young Nabokov "sitting innocently and elegantly in a red chair" to two stuffed rabbits in the window at Paris's Deyrolles taxidermy to Kitty Carlisle Hart at home in her "pearly pink palace." Delightful, inspiring, and often very moving, this little charmer is a a book you might find nestled on Wes Anderson's coffee table. --Brad Thomas Parsons
From K. Bondi:
Absolutely delightful! A picture book for grown-ups. This book puts me "somewhere else." Where? you may ask....somewhere very, very nice. Somewhere I want to be more often. Somewhere that feels French and childlike. I can hear Maurice Chevalier singing "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" like he does in "Gigi."
I would love to have this woman over for dinner. I want to buy this book for everyone I love.

[Mon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What can I tell you? The realization that we are all (you, me) going to die and the attending disbelief - isn't that the central premise of EVERYTHING?

*illustration of a scared blue bunny rabbit in pink striped socks and brown shoes*

It stops me DEAD in my tracks a DOZEN times a day. Do you think I remain FROZEN? NO. I spring into action. I find meaningful distraction.

Lately I have become enamored with fruit platters. I paint them.

*illustration of an Italian three tier fruit platter*"


--------------------------------

I love Kalman's attention to details. I love the random things pop up in her paintings - the confused looking dog accompanying a local celebrity, the even, cotton clouds circling a donuts shop, the warm dots of leaves in the background of some famous dude. I love how she shades with colour, and the background is always a palette of subtle hues. I love how not every page makes sense, and sometimes the writing is just whimsical like if you would peek into a little girl's diary. I love how it is rich with history, both global and personal. I love how we get to know her family. I love her hand writing. I love how her illustrations make me want to gobble the book up.

*happy dance*

[Ilana (illi69) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very special book which is very Maira Kalman... if you’re familiar with her work you recognize her approach and her illustration style which is naive and charming and her wandering from one subject to another seemingly at random accompanied by a handwritten narrative of sorts, which is partly inner monologue and partly commentary on the images which are based on photos she takes. She is a collector of odds and ends; ticket stubs, things that fall out of books, postcards of waterfalls and saints, a lover of unusual hats and hairdos. Family, war, existential questions, Russian authors and their love stories, it’s all there as a collection of anecdotes, all treated in a picture book format for adults. If you’re familiar with this artist you will love this book, and if not, this is a great introduction to a quirky and original mind. There’s even a recipe in the appendix for the honey cake she mentions sharing with her 88 year-old aunt in Tel-Aviv which I’ll definitely try out; I haven’t had homemade honey cake in ages and it’s really quite delicious.

[sarasirgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

prácticamente lo único que leí este año pero me da igual!! hay momentos y años para todo y este no fue para leer, desde luego. pero dar con este artilugio en la sección de novela gráfica en una librería de segunda mano en hadley(massachusetts) fue algo que tenía que pasar. esto era exactamente lo que necesitaba leer, y digo leer por no decir vivir. estas páginas están llenas de vida, de la vida de kalman y de la vida de todos los demás. me sobra admiración para aquellos que ven algo que contar en todas las cosas del mundo… todo todo todo está en este libro!!! 🤎

[Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book cost me about 30 cents at Barnes and Noble and took me less than an hour to read... but what an enjoyable way to spend 30 cents and an hour! In this humorous, illustrated memoir of sorts, Maira Kalman intertwines the minutia of her life (pages dedicated to her empty box collection, candy collection, and unusual hats) with philosophical questions about LIFE and HUMANITY. The effect is quirky and thought-provoking, rather than pretentious. I particularly liked her freehand embroideries of quotes from Faust and Abraham Lincoln.

Here's a link to Kalman's blog, part of the New York Times online. If you enjoy it, you should pick up the book. It's definitely worth more than 30 cents.

[Kaion · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole world is her museum, and she its curator. She renders its grandness small so it may be held close, seen.

Can we all live such beautiful, artistic, well-appointed, colorful, jet-setting, hushed, thoughtful, tasty, grateful, collected lives as Maira Kalman?

Probably not, especially the well-appointed and jet-setting parts. For a little while though -- an hour or two all at once, or five minutes a morning with her, we believe we can. We do. Rating: 4 stars

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whimsical, random, sometimes insightful, sometimes funny and thoughtful... very recognizable artist, a year of her life in painting and a few photos and odd reflections....what's the point?! Exactly, she would say. I liked it quite a lot. Pretty entertaining in its randomness...its uncertainty.

[Janani Sree Ganesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like a long conversation with my grandmother over a cup of tea while looking into a photo album, on a late winter evening! Every chapter segues into the next in weird ways but it seems just right. So many stories, so much art. And it's all worth it.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maira Kalman takes us on a tour of all the things she loves---old abandoned couches, found numbers, hats---as she shares thoughts and recollections and speculations about life.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biden administration announced an $8 cap on late fees charged by credit card issuers that have more than a million accounts.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful book. I almost didn’t buy it. It was expensive and I have been buying so many books lately. But I am so glad that I did buy it, so happy to own this little piece of perfectly odd and ordinary moments captured in the unique perspective that is Maira Kalman’s images and words. It’s a book that really can’t be adequately described, although some of the reviewers on this site (not me) have made valiant and laudable attempts. The best I can do is to say that if you are interested in alternative memoir, in sketch journaling, in quirky ordinary moments, take a look at The Principles of Uncertainty.

[Shellie (Layers of Thought) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original review posted on Layers of Thought.

A stylized yet simple graphic novel which questions life and its inevitable uncertainties, where the author asks about the meaning of life and death within a one-year segment of her life.

Thoughts: Author Maira Kalman is the illustrator for The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, as well as the author and artist for a number of children’s books. As a collector of many curious things, she has compiled her thoughts, drawings, and photographs in this book which reflect her feeling on some of the oddities within life. All compiled here in an adult’s picture book of sorts. It’s a philosophical, sad, yet mildly funny trip where the examples of human experience she shares also have a very universal feel. As the reader follows her path and the author questions life and the inevitable ups and downs of it all, we are left with more questions than are answered.

She has included her lovely drawings and photos she has taken, with her simple yet dryly lyrical thoughts around a year in her life. A lovely books which is easily read in one sitting but is one I would like to pick up again and again – it’s a meditation on life, art, human nature, all of its disappointments and within them, hidden joys. Asking the quintessential human questions in a slightly different and adult way: what is life about? Why do I feel sad? What happens after we die?

Highly recommended reading for adults who like stylized art and contemplating the nature of life. It’s a 4 star in my opinion and would make a lovely gift.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Maira Kalman. It’s quite possible that she is the most charming person in the whole world. I would like to think that we have some things in common. I, too, have an adoration of jaunty hat wearers. And I believe that I really do need a pleated green skirt for “the occasional seaside hotel afternoon dance.” Or maybe just a walk about town. My heaven on earth is also my aunt’s kitchen (or my mother’s. Or my friend Mel’s. Or my own.). Tea and stories. And hats. There are beautiful things. And tragic things. And I want to remember them all and throw many parties.

The “thank you” page made me cry. Utterly charmed.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

if you’re a neoliberal or a zionist, you’ll love this book. i’m neither, so i didn’t. the art is great though!

[Kari Yergin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting Maira Kalman piece. More art than book in a weird way.

Excerpts:
My sister and I go to Israel during the short, furious the world – is – doomed war. For a wedding. Because you cannot postpone weddings in dark times – especially in dark times. Who knows when the light will come on again. Are things normal? I don’t know. Does life go on? Yes.

Gurdjieff came up with a series of sacred dances that would enable people to discover their true essential cells. People admitted it was no easy task, but dancing always brings joy – so maybe he was right.

A girl with a fuzzy pink coat. Thelma. Lime Jell-O. Glorious women. Fortunetellers. Addled eggs. Canasta players. Marcel Duchamp. Lemon pound cake. People who are willing to answer questions. Music.
A quote by Bertrand Russell: all the labor of all the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction…
So now, my friends, if that is true, and it is true, what is the point? A complicated question.

I go home and wash the dishes. Washing dishes is the antidote to confusion. I know that for a fact.

The point is, rick’s father, Hy Meyerowitz, a dry cleaning supply salesman from the Bronx, won the Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in 1931. That is a very big point in the plus column of life.

On the wall was a dress that 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 any anymore, give me a break.” But I was wrong. It means I have enough. And that is utterly true. I happen to be alive. End of discussion. But I will go out and buy a hat.

I loved her thank you page at the end.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, sad, brilliant, funny. A tour of random thoughts, following people, drawings of sofas on the sidewalk, a caliope of sounds and sights and strangeness. Freud had an affair with his sister-in-law?! Eternity and not at all, and dreams. It's a party favor of a book. Get a copy for yourself and celebrate life, death and everything in between.

This is the book that should be left on a bench. In a park (in plastic, marked safe from weather), outside the food co-op, at the train station, in the lavatory at the airport. Some lucky person will pick it up, read it. Leave it on a bench. At the Cuban sandwich popup, on the table at that cute bistro, at the bike rack in Ann Arbor...

[Stefanie Onieal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am officially obsessed with Maira Kalman’s writing and painting. Her sense of humor slays me. Her quirkiness speaks to me. I just love everything about everything I’ve read by her.

[danes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumbled and messy, but always thoughtful. The art is just my favorite.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork in this was incredible.

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this book was a delight: writing, illustrations, story line. Read it in one sitting then promptly read it all over again.

[Alyssa Chartier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treat

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a joyful book! Stunning paintings and musings and historical references make for such an enjoyable journey through Maira Kalman's mind and life. I truly love her artistic expression and was continually delighted and surprised throughout this book.

[jay k. ❤︎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

the introspections and philosophical musings had the depth of a frying pan but i quite enjoyed the illustrations and photographs. i was captivated by kalman’s confessional art style and her appreciation for the little things after reading “women holding things” so i was looking forward to picking this up.

that being said, this will be the last book of hers i read, as i was unaware she was a zionist. the tone deafness with which she described israel’s occupation of palestine in this book, as well as referring to their series of bombings in 2006 as “a war” made me incredibly disgusted.

actual passages from this book that i can’t believe made it to print:

“my sister and I are going to israel during the short, furious the-world-is-doomed war. for a wedding. because you cannot postpone weddings in dark times—especially in dark times.”

what about palestinian couples that had to postpone their weddings due to being bombed by your genocidal state? or worse yet, what about those that were bombed and killed during the wedding? must be nice you’re able to travel to israel at all “during war.” meanwhile, it’s next to impossible to travel to the west bank and the only gaza airport was destroyed in a bombing by israel.

“who knows when the light will come on again? are things normal? i don’t know. does life go on? yes.”

yeah, for you because you are not affected by what’s happening in the slightest. nothing is normal for the palestinians under siege and many of them have lost their lives.

“the watermelon man still sells watermelons from his cart. the ice cream man still sells lemon ices on the beach.”

“we still go to the arab restaurant called the old man and the sea, which still serves 20 different appetizers all at once and giant hot pitas.”

palestinians can barely find food or money for food, their restaurants are being bombed left and right, but you get to mope about how scared you are of “war” while indulging in their cuisine you’ve stolen but get to claim as your own? fuck off.

“for me, heaven on earth is my aunt’s kitchen in tel aviv. my aunt is 88. until recently she swam in the ocean at dawn every day of the year.”

must be nice to not have to fear a bomb falling over you every day for 88 years. or have police boats from the occupation guarding your waters so you can’t flee to safety. or contaminate your water in an attempt to not make it swimmable.

“we sit in the kitchen but we know where we are. we are in a land fractured by endless conflict. our history is tragedy and heartache—to the marrow. but we will have none of it right now.”

easy for you to say as a colonizer. palestinians have been “having all of it” for years.

“my sister and i go to visit my mother and grandparents in the cemetery. it is evening. the birds are chirping, oblivious to where we are. i stand before the graves and silently implore them to do something to stop the war. they must talk to someone who knows someone—pull some strings. they must use some heavenly cosmic force to bring about peace in the middle east.”

….when i’m in a ‘having a victim complex and lacking self awareness’ contest and my opponent is an israeli.

yeah i’m done. we as a society have progressed past the need for these kind of artists with dismissive, complacent, pacifist takes on matters of oppression. you’re adding nothing to the conversation, your attempt at neutrality especially with the woe-is-me attitude is offensive, and you’re simply taking up space from voices of palestinian artists or those that have a backbone to actually make revolutionary art that makes meaningful contributions to these topics.

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is Maira Kalman's first work for adults (her children's books, created with her late husband, are legion and legendary), deserves to be put in the hands of everyone who could use cheering up. It is a life affirming work that makes short shrift of our troubles without gainsaying them. This is a book of found joy by a woman who knows where to look for it and how to"Kalman" it.

Its twelve chapters are taken from the internet column she wrote under the same title for TimesSelect five years ago. The columns appeared on the first Wednesday of the month starting in May of 2006 (back when the Times on the internet was free) and, with a bit of hunting, are still available on the Web. The illustrations are so artfully artless that you'll want to commission the artist to paint the family dog.

"The Man Dancing on Salt," the illustration on the cover, depicts the dancer, leaning forward for balance, arms behind him, making his way, step by graceful step, through the mishegas of another wintry day on the treadmill. It is the work of a deeply humane and witty observer of the passing scene.

The book's index (that's right, it is fully and usefully indexed) will help you find the two-page drawing of the Watermelon Man on the seat of his horse-drawn farm wagon, a welcome anomaly in this age, and to all of the other beguiling visual treats that await you. Check "hats . .. completely sensational" for a splendid self portrait of the artist in her new hat.

After the index comes an appendix full of surprises: a typed list of all the names (from Mr. Pavlishtchev to Zalyozhev) in Part 1 of The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky; photographs of sofas discovered by the artist on her wanderings; a collection of "Waterfall postcards" and reproductions of "Things that fall out of books." Her grace notes for the help she received in creating "The Principles of Uncertainty" provide yet another treat. In the page long love letter that ends the book, she thanks the people without whom "all would be lost, lost I tell you and I could not have done a thing and there would have been no ardor to muster, no life at all."

End note. In what has to be considered a publishing house master stroke, The Penguin Press commissioned Kalman to provide the illustrations for "A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's `The Elementsof Style". She gets it! Take a look at "None of us is perfect," her illustration accompanying Strunk & White's dictum that "With none, use the singular verb when the word means `no one' or `not one." Last year she published "And the Pursuit of Happiness," her appreciation of the (mostly) men who got this country off on the right foot, and, next January, will publish "Look at Lincoln." About to start collecting books? Kalman would be a great choice. Nearly all of her books are in print or available and are bound to give pleasure for as long as you are able to read.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember feeling bitter disappointment when I read “Why We Broke Up”, a collab between Daniel Handler (Aka Lemony Snicket) and Maira Kalman. It was the most beautiful book ever, written by my childhood fave, and yet was SO BORING! The only redeeming quality was Kalman’s illustrations.

This was very similar to Drifts by Kate Zambreno, or 10:04 by Ben Lerner, or any of the books in that same tradition of “walking around NYC looking at stuff, bit of memoir, practicing the Art of Noticing The Little Things, name dropping the usual suspects like Walter Benjamin, Dostoyevsky, Nietszche, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Spinoza, etc. Except it consists entirely of drawings (with a few photographs) and all the text is handwritten. It is a little bit annoying and a little bit charming, the way these things often are. This one skews more quirky/twee than melancholic.

Because of the format it feels more like looking at someone's notebook/sketchbook over the course of a year or so. I love to look at peoples sketchbooks and notebooks. There was an attempt at a theme of “does x figure know who he is? How does anyone know who they are?” and I didn’t find that very compelling. I preferred the anecdotes about her family and loved ones or thoughts about strangers on the street. The love letter to both new york & being jewish comes through much more strongly and full of heart than the philosophical musings. Kalman visits many 90+ year old friends and has tea and I liked to hear about those visits.

My favorite sequence was the drawings/photographs of people from behind walking around the city (and a few that seem to have been taken in India). I’m always of two minds about voyeuristic photography and of taking photos of strangers without their consent, because I would be really upset if a photo of myself just existing on the street ended up in a coffee table book, but there are sometimes some valuable images that come from that sort of thing. Everyone on their own little journey being a tiny world looking so lonely in a sea of people etc. I like that, their faces not being in it, it’s more anonymous.

There’s another review on here that says you could only like it if you’re a “neoliberal zionist” and, well, yeah. There are lovely pages about her family history and then it will be like “then they moved to Palestine :)”. Having trouble reconciling that bc this is obviously not meant to be a political treatise or anything but it’s also inextricable from the book. Even aside from these quandaries, I feel similarly to the way I felt reading Why We Broke Up– that the content doesn’t quite live up to how beautiful of a book it is.