The Bare Essentials - Modern Minimalist Covers

by Julie Oreskovich

Flying Leap
Judy Budnitz

Stories chronicling the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

It should come as no surprise that we love beautifully designed books at AbeBooks. The books highlighted on this page all share the same cover characteristics: minimal usage of fonts, images and graphics. Minimalism is popular in the design world and has definitely made its mark on countless book covers. Each one of these books is simple in layout but extremely effective in capturing the eye.
According to the dictionary, the term minimalism means "a style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterised by extreme spareness and simplicity." By eliminating distracting images and text, many of these book covers are able to highlight the main topic which effectivley describes the pages within the covers. Good examples of the minimalist cover include Philip Hoare's Leviathan, a book about the history of the whale, An Ethics of Interrogation by Michael Skerker which uses a simple illustration of a hanging light bulb and the stark white cover of Joshua Trotter's book of poems, All This Could Be Yours.
From poetry to thrilling page turners to the analysis of the global oil industry - these books are varied in content but similiar in their minimalist covers.

Minimalist Book Covers

All This Could Be Yours
by Joshua Trotter

Trotter's debut collection of poems was listed as one of the top five poetry books by the National Post in 2010.

Silver Linings Playbook
by Matthew Quick

A story that proves that no matter what life deals us, everything will work out in the end.

The Toothpick
by Henry Petroski

A celebration of culture and technology, as seen through the history of the humble yet ubiquitous toothpick.

Young Austerlitz
by W.G. Sebald

A word-for-word – and illustration-for-illustration excerpt from Austerlitz covering Austerlitz's description of his childhood in Wales.

The Mirror of Ink
by Jorge Luis Borges

Seven short stories selected from the author's "Collected Fictions", issued for Penguin Books' 70th birthday.

Columbine
by Dave Cullen

A close-up portrait of hatred, a community rendered helpless, and police blunders and cover-ups.

Oil
by Matthew Yeomans

A brief history of petrol, analysis of America's love of the automobile and a political anatomy of the global oil industry.

Piracy
by Adrian Johns

Explores the intellectual property wars from the print culture in the 15th century to the reign of the Internet in the 21st century.

The Separation
by Christopher Priest

Priest's finest novel in his 30-year-career as an award-winning writer, newly packaged.

Varieties of Disturbance
by Lydia Davis

A collection of stories that take every form from sociological studies to concise poems.

The Crow's Vow
by Susan Briscoe

Following the story of a marriage come undone, the poems are a statement on the end of love and its eventual renewal.

The Verificationist
by Donald Antrim

A deadly serious, desperately playful, off-the-wall, and perfectly on-target book about a group of psychoanalysts.

Dying
by John Hinton

The rational and irrational emotions associated with death are discussed.

Wet Apples, White Blood
by Naomi Guttman

Naomi Guttman's new poetry collection was inspired by the role of nursing in human evolution and culture.

Against Happiness
by Eric G. Wilson

Wilson argues that melancholia is necessary to any thriving culture and it is the force underlying original insights.

An Ethics of Interrogation
by Michael Skerker

Confronts a host of issues related to the topic of interrogation including the right to privacy and the rights of suspected terrorists.

Security
by Stephen Amidon

From local politics to deep family secrets, this novel uses well-drawn prose to unravel the events of the night when the town's security failed.

The Sheriff of Yrnameer
by Michael Rubens

Sci-fi comedy at its best—mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page-turner.

Leviathan
by Philip Hoare

A personal account and history of the whale, based on a fascination for the creature and the writings of Herman Melville.

The Divided Self
by R.D. Laing

Explores the relationship between what is considered "sane" & "mad" in contemporary society.

Heat
by Bill Buford

From working in an Italian restaurant to visiting Italy, this book details the complex aspects of Italian cooking and its long history.

The Spectacle of the Scaffold
by Michel Foucault

Foucault argues that punishment has gone from being mere spectacle to becoming an instrument of systematic domination over individuals in society.

Mental Models
by Indi Young

A roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful.

Ugly Man
by Dennis Cooper

A collection of short stories from acclaimed cult-writer Dennis Cooper.

Subtraction
by Alexander Gelman

Considered a modern day classic - highlights Gelman's work as modern and contemporary artist/designer.