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Disturbing closeups of lipsticks; a collection of heartbreakingly earnest lost-pet posters; painstakingly documented differences in the scribbles produced by Eraser Mate or Dynagrip pens all help make up Speck: A Curious Collection of Uncommon Things. The author, art director of the New York Times Op-Ed page, presents various odd obsessions of 25 artists in various media, and the result is this set of 200 color and 50 b&w illustrations of "projects" that come dangerously close to drawing charges of haphazard artmaking and are all the more engaging for it. Exploring the hidden mysteries of the everyday this book sets out to give meaning to the things in life that we usually deem ordinary, or ignore.