"Occasionally, a small press produces books whose value is instantly apparent - in the way they look and feel — to readers who are willing to take a little extra time to appreciate a book as a piece of art before cracking it open. Case in point: Vernacular Press in New York City. On the surface, the mission of Vernacular Press — 'to discover, preserve, and promote the expression of original voices' — is like many others. But the collectible books in which those original voices are preserved are unique. Launched in 2002 by Hilary Hamann, Vernacular has published only a handful of books, but with plans for several more titles, a magazine, and a literary contest open to high school and college students, the six staffers are, to use the vernacular, swamped."
Kevin Larimer, Poets & Writers Magazine

"Vernacular Press is a New York publishing company — but not a typical one. Vernacular's launch title, Anthropology of an American Girl, has gotten rave reviews as a work of literature, and also as a work of art. The advance galleys, hand-crafted and beautifully packaged, caused quite a stir and have become quite collectible."
Independent Publisher Online

"Vernacular Press is one of a small number of publishers today bringing high standards to the content and manufacturing of its books. With Anthropology of an American Girl, beautiful materials and exquisite bindings compliment H. T. Hamann's first-class debut novel."
Royal Books, Baltimore, MD

"Walk into the Soho offices of Vernacular Press and you get the distinct feeling you're entering a place where art is created. And indeed it is — art in the form of words on paper."
Women's National Book Association, New York City Chapter

“An extraordinary debut, updating the 19th century social-psychological novel of romance and manners. Like Jane Austen, George Eliot, or Edith Wharton, H. T. Hamann critiques her era and culture through the tale of a precocious young woman buffeted by the accidents, values, and consequences of her age. Poetically rendered, astute perceptions. It rivets through a rawness of complex emotion. Hamann's particular gift is language, syntax-laden with metaphor and analogy which fly effortlessly from Evie's philosophical, sensual way of seeing. Gorgeous detail and nuanced thought. An insightful, page-turning read.”
The Providence Journal

“A cinematic and emotionally ripe debut novel. Set in 1970s-era Eastern seaboard, the story follows the evolution of an artist from adolescent to adult in gorgeous language and with brilliant observation.”
Ms. Magazine

“Not a stereotypical ‘American Girl,’ nor is the book a standard coming-of-age story. Although the driving theme is the attraction between Eveline and Rourke, the book derives its strength from Evie’s vision, her way of observing the people, events, and objects around her. Always intelligent and insightful, Evie thinks deeply with an honesty and naturalness that are refreshing and often amusing. Henry James meets the 21st century.”
Library Journal

“Hamann’s prose pulls you under the skin of her character. You walk with Eveline, draw her breath, drink in her world through jade green eyes and the delicate shells of ears that are not your own.”
Rosebud Magazine

“A modern Jane Eyre—a stunning novel to be read and re-read. What Catcher in the Rye did for high school youths troubled by the onslaught of adulthood, Anthropology does for college women struggling to reconcile their dreams with reality. Few women could read this book without finding parallels to their own lives. It's the story of your mother, sister, aunt or best friend—of you. American Girl is poignantly devastating because it is your life. A beautiful reminder of reality.”
Columbia Spectator

“Not only the fictional account of an American girl’s ascension from childhood, but a commentary on contemporary American life.”
Sag Harbor Express

“H. T. Hamann has created a masterpiece for the 1980s as Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, and J. D. Salinger did for earlier generations. [Eveline] is truly a heroic character, able to admit her errors and learn from them. Space cannot adequately cover all the wisdom and downright fun within this large, incisive novel.”
The Best Reviews

“This beautifully written, poetic novel is leaps and bounds ahead of the typical coming-of-age novel. A throwback to the days when the joy from reading came from the quality of writing. It is rare today to see a novel targeted to a below-30 audience that avoids the usual stereotypes and seeks greater meaning from the character’s relationships. The book is in the style of a confessional, but it laces poetry and brilliant descriptions throughout so it sometimes seems as if you are reading a painting. A book you will savor—I did not want it to end.”
Beyond Chron, San Francisco

“Startling honesty and accuracy. The narrator could be anyone: she could be you, which is part of the beauty of the book. Reading Anthropology is like suddenly developing telepathy: you can hear every one of Eveline’s thoughts. The only catch is, Eveline can also hear yours. Exhilarating.”
Daily Californian

“An imaginative piece of fiction in an original stream-of-consciousness style.”
Underdog Online

“Read of the Month”
Elle Girl

“Being a girl knows no geographic or political boundaries. Anthropology is based on the universal theme of growing up, or rather, growing up artfully. Evie is always specific, always herself, always pinpointing her eye on the smallest detail that shows how much alike our growing up experiences can be. Proof that books as products can reflect the artistry within.”
Foreword Magazine

"Densely composed and carefully wrought."
GOTHAM Magazine

“The language immersion that takes place while reading the novel is mesmerizing. A detached and otherworldly aura surrounds Eveline’s observations and analyses. The East End of the novel bears no resemblance to the East End of media hype.”
East Hampton Star

“An honest, in-depth study of life in America through the lens of popular culture and the eyes of intelligent and artistic teenagers and young adults. Hamann's book is not lightweight; it is a psychological journey along the lines of Catcher in the Rye. The book openly and honestly addresses sex, drugs, relationships, and personal growth.”
Broadside

“J. D. Salinger meets Edith Wharton.”
Suicide Girls

“Told from the perspective of the young girl's mind, Eveline's thoughts are beautifully expressed in a very evolving self-awareness kind of way.”
ANG Newspapers

“This is by no means a coming-of-age story; it is a coming into life tale. A book of superbly drawn scenes. Hamann flawlessly opens Eveline’s life through an ever-changing camera eye that adapts instantaneously to people, events, and surroundings. Her natural storytelling pours Eveline's life onto the page exactly the way all of our lives spill forth from moment to moment. The magic is that we start the journey seeing through Eveline's eyes and by the last page we realize we are, indeed, seeing through our own in a slightly different way. The heart of this novel, in itself a force of time, place, and people, is the story of love.”
Small Spiral Notebook

“Hamann presents a wealth of fresh, absorbing, raw data in Girl, and it is the privilege and mission of the reader to properly assimilate it. By the close of this half-fanciful, half-academic, fully-realized novel, Hamann's collected evidence provides proof that she possesses a keen, questioning mind and a precise, empirical method. A book worth studying.”
Seattle Weekly

“4 1/2 Stars & Top Pick [Highest Rating]. This intense love story could be designated a literary novel, but it shares one of the most important tenets of genre romance—that a sexual relationship without love ultimately destroys the possibility of living wholly. Hamann’s prose, perfectly and consistently written in Eveline’s voice, has been compared to Carson McCullers, Harper Lee and Willa Cather. In fact, Tom Wolfe, James Joyce, and Emily Dickinson are more appropriate. Read this for its poetic narrative, its wealth of metaphors that cast the familiar into the extraordinary, and its romantically uplifting ending.”
Romantic Times Book Club

"Notable Fiction"
Writers Notes Magazine Book Awards

"Fiction Finalist"
Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards

"The first in a series of multidisciplinary education books-titles on chemistry and biology are forthcoming-this gorgeous book edited by Sefusatti (research associate, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, IL), artist John Morse, and writer Hilary Thayer Hamann (Anthropology of an American Girl) looks at the relationships among science, art, and literature. Categories is designed to encourage readers to make connections among science, art, and literature and to inspire a lifelong appreciation of them. A great addition to general science collections, this book will appeal to readers high school-aged and beyond. Highly recommended for mid- to large-sized public libraries and academic libraries of all sizes."
Library Journal

"In an effort to promote scientific literacy, foster an appreciation of the humanities, and encourage readers to make 'informed and imaginative connections' between the sciences and the arts, New York City–based Vernacular Press recently launched a series of books titled 'Categories' with the February publication of Categories—On the Beauty of Physics. The book uses literature and art, including collages by John Morse, to explain principles of physics that readers might otherwise banish to the farthest recesses of academic memory. The image on the left is used in Chapter 21 of the book, along with excerpts from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, to illustrate the concept of 'Motion.' The image on the upper right appears in Chapter 4, along with an excerpt from The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, to represent 'Antimatter.' The image on the lower right is paired with a soliloquy from Hamlet to symbolize, of course, 'Uncertainty' in Chapter 34. Elsewhere in the book, Shelley's poem Ozymandias is used to explain 'Entropy,' Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury illuminates 'Field,' Campus' The Stranger represents 'Radiation,' and Beowulf exemplifies 'Angular Velocity.' Forthcoming from Vernacular Press in the 'Categories' series is On the Beauty of Biology and On the Beauty of Chemistry.
Poets & Writers

"This book combines the arts and sciences, offering a unique take on how to appreciate both."
Elle Girl

"Writer Hilary Thayer Hamann traces the genesis of On the Beauty of Physics to a visit to a New York City art gallery, where she happened upon a collage of Rome's crumbling Coliseum by the artist John Morse. She subsequently hung the collage over her desk, and as she pondered the building's decay, she began to read up on entropy and to embark 'on an adventure in learning' which introduced her to the ideas of, among others, physicists Lee Smolin and Janna Levin. It also inspired her to craft a book that would use fine art to stimulate interest in science as well as encourage readers excited by science to visit art museums. The result is an amalgam of art, literature, and basic science, which weaves the uncertainty of Shakespeare's Hamlet with the uncertainty of quantum mechanics, detects the notion of antimatter in a delicate 1952 blue-and-white collage called Venus by Henri Matisse, explains torque with an 1899 lithograph of a twisting dancer by Toulouse-Lautrec, and integrates Beowulf with the Big Bang. By stepping over traditional boundaries, On the Beauty of Physics reveals that science is not merely mechanical or utilitarian but radiant, colorful, and graceful too."
Discover Magazine

"By weaving together the worlds of science, literature, and art while also providing thoughtful suggestions for active learning, this book invites the reader on a creative and liberating journey of the mind. Categories—On the Beauty of Physics is a wonderful educational tool for both the child and the adult, the novice and the expert"
Raina A. Lampkins-Fielder, Whitney Museum of American Art

"Categories—On the Beauty of Physics is a fascinating exploration of the hidden connections between science and art. It provides an avenue to scientific literacy that does not sacrifice an appreciation for the humanities. Our children need more books that meaningfully connect ideas from as far ranging sources as Sir Isaac Newton, Edward Hopper, and Marshall McLuhan."
Lea Ybarra, Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth

"This wonderful book will provoke thought in lovers of science and art alike, and, with knowledge comes the inspiration to preserve the beauty of life on Earth."
Helen Caldicott, Founder and President, Nuclear Policy Research Institute

"As Categories—On the Beauty of Physics elegantly proves, the concepts native to science feed the imagination as much as they draw from it. Thoughts of particles, for example, wing their way from subatomic blurs to Seurat's pointillism, to Proust's memorable madeleines and back to the mysterious dark matter defining most of the universe. A treat for scientists and poets alike."
John Rennie, Editor-in-chief, Scientific American

"Everyone talks about the beauty and elegance of physics, but this is the first beautiful and elegant physics book."
John Katzman, Founder of The Princeton Review

"We cannot all write like Shakespeare, but we can all appreciate the beauty of his sonnets; in the same way, we cannot all be Nobel-prize winning physicists, but we can all get a glimpse of what it is those physicists have achieved. This book is an excellent place to begin that process of understanding."
John Gribbin, Author of The New Scientists & In Search of Schrödinger's Cat

"A beautiful synthesis of science and art, pleasing to the mind and to the eye."
Alan Lightman, Author of Einstein's Dreams

"A feast of discovery, a symphony of learning! This fusion of science and art confirms that creative approaches to learning are thrilling and inspiring, and that art remains the best vehicle through which to transform minds and lives—both young and old!"
Jacques D'Amboise, Founder of the National Dance Institute

"A gorgeous book—proof that beauty can be found in equal measure in words, images, and ideas."
Steven Pinker, Author of How the Mind Works & The Language Instinct

"An extraordinary, beautiful, and stimulating book. The physics texts are jewels of descriptive clarity and, in the weave of science with the arts, there are moments of true revelation. In a world of growing interdependence, this book is a must—read."
James Burke, Author and Producer of Connections

"The carefully chosen literary quotations and visual artworks illuminate and extend the physics in ways that entice the mind to wander outside the boundaries of recognized academic disciplines. A valuable and fascinating book."
Alan Chodos, American Physical Society & World Year of Physics 2005

"This book gives some very nice, easy to understand explanations of a wide variety of ideas in modern physics."
Robert Ehrlich, Author of Why Toast Lands Jelly-Side Down

"A remarkable example of what wondrous things can come of a fruitful collaboration among scientists, writers, and artists. This book is an outstanding testament to the inherent interdependence of all human thought and creativity."
Henry Petroski, Author of To Engineer is Human & Pushing the Limits

"This is a remarkable and unique book."
Martin A. Uman, Author of All About Lighting

"Categories—On the Beauty of Physics is a strikingly handsome and interesting combination of science, art and literature, educating and enchanting the reader at the same time as it points to myriad new paths for exploration. A different and interesting new kind of venture."
Gino Segré, Author of A Matter of Degrees

"This book should prove to be of interest for Prism readers seeking creative ways to engage their students. It also provides a pleasurable departure point, allowing one to revisit familiar and favorite works of art, literature and scientific inquiry, as well as to discover new works and ways of perceiving. How many of us ponder the scientific concept of chaos when viewing Paolo Uccello’s 15th depiction of the Battle of San Romano? After reading Categories, such associations may come more effortlessly."
Prism

"Several years ago a friend tried to explain to me the beauty he found in Mozart. Being somewhat deaf and with little understanding or appreciation of music, his comments fell on deaf ears (so to speak). I, in turn, attempted to explain to him the beauty I see in Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the music of the spheres, so to speak. He couldn't appreciate what I saw any more than I could appreciate what he heard. This book attempts to bring together the prominent theories in physics with art, with literature, with life. You won't come away from this book ready to conduct research into the big questions in particle physics or the characteristics of a neutron star. But maybe, just maybe you can see the beauty that resides in the work of scientists over the centuries. Maybe you can see the connections you didn't see before. And maybe you will go on to looking for sub atomic particles. Oh by the way, this is physics at a conceptual standpoint, you don't need to know the tensor calculus that Einstein used to develop his theories."
Books-On-Line

"Categories—on the Beauty of Physics published by Vernacular Press is a science book for the literary and art minded person. The book is an all around delight. The pages are heavy, glossy paper and all the original art and the reproductions are in full color. What I liked about this book is that it not only makes the concepts easy to understand, but it also provides a wider context for them. I've not come across any other book that can bring a concept like 'particle' to life in science (atoms, electrons, dark matter), art (A Sunday in La Grande Jatte by Seurat) and literature (Swann's Way by Proust). It really shows the interconnections between art and science and just how much they depend upon each other. Categories is definitely worth your time."
So Many Books

"The stimulation provided by the connection between the scientific world and the world of the arts is considerable, and the broad scale 'field' of reference in which the book was developed will serve to enlighten and change the way we view our world and our place within it. What more could a reader ask for from a book, except for great beauty and elegant, intelligent prose. This book offers all those things."
The Compulsive Reader

"Categories—On the Beauty of Physics is 280 exquisitely illustrated pages long and consists of 39 chapters, each dedicated to an single physics concept. Much of the excitement of the book derives from a sense of interactive discovery - and from the continual revelation of integral, but unexpected, connections. Once you and your kids have thought, read, and talked your way through Categories—On the Beauty of Physics, you'll not only have a whole new take on the world around you, but an education and a half. The book's express intent is to 'cultivate the connected mind' and at that it succeeds beyond its wildest dreams. For teenagers and up, but a superb multidimensional resource for all."
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