99 Ways to Tell a Story - Reviewed.

   I recently received my copy of Matt Madden's '99 ways to tell a story' after placing the order (Around £8 on amazon) with a certain level of scepticism. I was pleasantly surprised and became immediately stuck in the pages of this methodical, inventive, illustrative work of (almost) genius.
   Madden takes his inspiration from Raymond Queneau's 1947 work of the same title, and re-appropriates the concept into a coherent illustrative style that I would recommend to anybody with an interest in any field of Art, Design, Literature or play with Word and image.
   After glancing through the pages of this book and appreciating Madden's endless imagination, conjuring up 99 suitable takes on one extremely mundane sketch, you will find yourself constantly challenging your own imaginative skills and attempting to create 99 versions of everything; taking a photograph, making a coffee, developing ideas for an Ad Campaign... You get the idea.
   Madden has forced himself to think outside the box by exhausting every possible method, style and theory. This work is an effective demonstration of how; the most inventive work comes along when we have exhausted all know possibilities. We are taught to do this from A Level and Foundation, however, when we are left alone to our own creative instinct without active participation from a tutor, we appear to forget any method of idea generation other than thinking. I would recommend this book to anybody studying of working wothing the creative field.